'Had anyone asked me if I was Aamir Khan, I would have admitted to it.'
Senior movie journalist Roshmila Bhattacharya flips through the pages of her many interactions with Aamir Khan, who turned 60 on March 14.
Sixteen years ago, Aamir Khan went on a Bharat Darshan.
But he didn't go as Aamir Khan, the movie star.
He attended a sangeet in a small pind near Ludhiana as a Mexican tourist.
In Varanasi, he was unrecognisable as an old man.
While reflecting on his travels later, the actor was quick to point out that at no point during the trip did he lie about his identity or travel as someone else. 'Had anyone asked me if I was Aamir Khan, I would have admitted to it,' he said then. But he is such a chameleon, and not just on screen, that no one did.
In fact, everyone he met in the mohallah in Varanasi took a break from work to help the elderly gentleman find the house where his ammi had lived till she was 10 years old.
The Discover India journey was a part of the innovative promotions for 3 Idiots and Aamir's game plan was revealed at a crowded press conference I attended simply because the invitation had come from the man himself.
A surprise call
The previous evening, while I was taking my usual stroll, my cell phone rang.
I didn't recognise the number nor the voice at the other end, claiming to be Aamir Khan.
I thought it was an old friend, K S Sanjay, playing his usual pranks, even though the caller insisted that he was really Aamir.
It wasn't till his publicist confirmed it that I believed him and, driven by curiosity, went haring off in the middle of edition -- unthinkable when we were working for a daily newspaper -- to attend his press conference only to discover that Aamir, like his character in 3 Idiots, Ranchhoddas Shamaldas Chanchad aka Rancho aka Phunsukh Wangdu, had disappeared.
He had left behind a recorded message daring anyone to unmask him during his journey.
I stormed back to the office, livid that I didn't even have a story to explain my disappearance.
His publicist promised that Aamir would give me exclusive details when he returned.
I didn't believe her till he called.
Laughing, he introduced himself as Aamir again and this time I believed him.
His travels had taken him across the country, from Varanasi to Chanderi, from Kolkata to Ludhiana, from Palampur to Mahabalipuram.
In a small school in Gujarat, he had come across a young fan who carried his picture in his shirt pocket while in Mahabalipuram, his guide, Shankar, who had seen only one Hindi film in his life, Shalimar, would not have recognised Aamir even without the wig and dentures.
He however ensured that Shankar saw his second Hindi film, inviting him to a special screening of 3 Idiots.
Food for thought
While in Kolkata, Aamir was invited to cricketer Sourav Ganguly's Behala home. Since it was a Thursday, the day dedicated to the Goddess Lakshmi in most Bengali households, he was served a traditional vegetarian meal.
It surprised me how much Aamir, who admittedly loved his kebabs and biryani, relished the meal, making sure he got the names and pronunciation of the dishes right by enlisting the help of his then wife, Kiran Rao, who had lived in Kolkata till she was 18.
He reeled off the entire menu, from luchi and begun bhaja to sukto and aloo posto, ending on a sweet note with mishti doi, sandesh and roshogollas, rolling his 'os' over the latter like a true-blue babumoshai.
If this was a surprise, then an even bigger one was to see him happily feasting on a pile of vegetable sandwiches when prepping for Dangal, a film that gave him the licence to binge.
Forget meat and fish, Aamir wasn't even eating regular mithai and chocolate because, on the eve of his 50th birthday, he had decided to turn vegan after watching an hour-long video by a doctor who listed out 15 fatal diseases and how they could only be prevented through diet.
Even his tea was made with soya milk.
He tipped the scales at 95 kilos to play wrestler Mahavir Singh Phogat, then took off to a health facility in the US, losing 13 kilos in three weeks through hiking, biking, training, mountain climbing, swimming, tennis and a healthy diet.
When he cut short his six-week trip and returned home still 20 kilos overweight to bring in his 51st birthday with his 82-year-old mother, his only wish was to buy back Zeenat Hussain's ancestral home in Varanasi from its present owners and gift it to her.
Inaccessible yet affable
Aamir has always been careful about not being misinterpreted or misrepresented.
Years ago, when he was shooting for Shekhar Kapur's aborted film Time Machine, an interview at RK Studio had gone on all day because, after answering my many queries, he had made me read out all his answers and then set about reevaluating them.
On another occasion, while offering his point of view on a casting controversy, he had suddenly whipped out a bulky tape recorder and put it on the table alongside my dictaphone, pointing out that this way we would be doubly sure he was not misunderstood.
He used to be so wary that even when it was a fun feature, he was overthinking his answers till, finally, my exasperated colleague snatched the list of 20 questions from him and told him firmly to just say the first thing that came to his mind to each.
There came a time when, to quote him, he was 'shell-shocked by the aggressive stance of the press towards personal issues and their lack of personal responsibility'; he stopped talking to certain publications for almost two years.
His inaccessibility didn't affect his films -- Fanaa and Rang De Basanti were huge box office hits -- but his absence from our pages didn't make my heart grow fonder.
But Aamir remained affable whenever I bumped into him at a film studio.
One afternoon, I was standing under the sweltering sun, waiting for an actress I had come to meet to call me into her make-up van, when he passed by.
Smiling politely, he enquired how I was doing.
Five minutes later, his man Friday hurried across with a chair, asking if I would like a cup of tea.
Ban and after
The impasse ended before the release of his home production and debut directorial, Taare Zameen Par.
It's a film very close to his heart and his well-wishers reasoned that this little big film needed all the publicity he could muster to reach as many people as possible.
I dashed to his office, then trooped to his home since Aamir was under the weather, for the long-awaited interview.
I relentlessly hurled speculation, allegations and accusations at him.
From his supposed rift with Amole Gupte to ghost-directing Lagaan, Sarfarosh and Fanaa.
From divorcing with Reena to rumours to the fact that all was not well with second wife Kiran either.
From Amitabh Bachchan being upset with him to delaying Ghajini to wrap up Taare Zameen Par first.
I didn't even try to soften the blows. I was aggressive, abrasive and antagonistic.
Another actor might have ended the interaction abruptly and prematurely but Aamir took all the questions head on.
When I finally got up to leave, he looked ambushed.
When the publicist wandered in asking if she could bring in the next journalist, he sighed wearily, saying he needed a break.
After the interview came out, I felt no pleasure for having been a public prosecutor, judge and executor all at once.
I didn't stop asking the hard questions but I adopted a softer tone and approach after that.
When Aamir wanted to romance Kiran... onscreen
The last time I ran into Aamir was at the trailer launch of Laapataa Ladies, produced by him.
After the screening, he allowed himself to be swept away for an impromptu interaction with the media.
He was surrounded by almost two dozen journalists and all of them had questions on why Laal Singh Chaddha had failed, his son Junaid's launch and his reason for backing Kiran Rao's off-beat film.
One gentleman in particular didn't even give Aamir time to answer before posing his next.
He also shared that Junaid and his daughter had studied in the same school and she had got him the star's mobile number.
'Did you call me?' he wondered, and when the journalist shook his head, shot back, 'Then how do you know Junaid gave her the right number?'
While on my way out, I spotted Kiran and was reminded of the interview I had done with Aamir and her back in 2011.
On a scale of 10, she had given him nine-and-a-half and half as an actor and a director and a perfect 10 as a producer.
Aamir himself had given her a nine as a writer, director and actor, admitting that he had tried to persuade her to play Yasmin in Dhobi Ghat.
But Kiran wouldn't bite and the role eventually went to Kriti Malhotra.
'It would have been fun to romance Kiran on screen,' he sighed wistfully, compensating by wooing her during our photo session instead.
Let's talk Oscars
Kiran's journey with Aamir began with his first production, Lagaan.
She was one of Director Ashutosh Gowariker's assistant directors.
Lagaan was India's official entry to the Oscars in the Best Film in a Foreign Language category. It was nominated but narrowly missed out to the Bosnian war film, No Man's Land.
I was watching the ceremony on television and had teared up when the award hadn't gone to Aamir and Ashu as expected.
I was told later that even the 50-odd unit members who had gathered around a television set in Aamir's office to watch the awards live had started crying watching history slip by.
Hope flared again when his Laapataa Ladies marched to LA last year.
But competition was fierce and, despite winning the hearts of the jury, it could not make it to the top five.
I was disappointed because it was one of my favourite films of 2024 but this time there were no tears.
I'm saving them for when he does bring the Oscar home.
I have no doubts that he will one day soon because like Rancho, Aamir does not chase success.
He chases excellence and success follows excellence.
Photographs curated by Satish Bodas/Rediff.com
© 2025