Today I want to highlight one of my new role models – and yeah, I’m surprised too that it’s a Bollywood superstar. A typical Bollywood actor has the winning smile, charisma, lines of girls screaming his name, and a few sports teams or Pepsi ads to keep the bank fat.
Sometimes I get curious about actors. After reading some book on time management or another self-help title by a best-selling author, I wonder, “What does all of this stuff mean to celebs?” To us on the outside, it just seems like they smile for the camera. I admit that sometimes I don’t realize acting is a proper job and these are normal people too.
Regardless, if there is a Bollywood superstar stereotype, there is one man who doesn’t fit in, yet still rakes in the most cash for his movies. I’m talking about Aamir Khan. All of you know of his outstanding work in 3 Idiots, which has become the highest-grossing film in Bollywood, Ghajini his last and previously highest-grossing Bollywood film, and Taare Zameen Par, a movie shedding light on the talents of autistic children and their place in the Indian education system.
Although Khan has done atypical films about un-sexy topics, he has gained a huge following, commercial success, and widespread respect from the Indian and International audience for the work he has done. Recently, I watched lots of interviews of Khan carried out by reputable agencies like CNN and gained an idea for how he thinks and makes decisions.
In seeing him express his views, you see that Aamir Khan is actually like a real human trying to make the best movie he can with hard work, in contrast to the distance and surreality that surrounds other stars. His words emit the passion he has for cinema and demonstrate that he is really committed to showing his best as an artist.
As we saw in Ghajini, he was willing to go from being a short, thin guy which the audience had seen for over 15 years to working out for 12 months and becoming superbly built for an action role – only to lose it to suit his next role! He does only one movie at a time (unlike the standard 3-4 releases per year from other stars) to fully dedicate himself to one character and master his craft for each project. Khan says he takes months to decide which film he will sign and picks work that excites him and that he believes in.
The thing that I am most impressed about is how humble and real he stays despite being so highly acclaimed and successful. Through Aamir Khan, I am able to appreciate that the best philosophy is to love your work, be so passionate about it that you’re willing to go to your limits for it, and take the focus off “success” because that will follow when you strive for excellence.
These are not new concepts and they’re written in countless books, echoed by countless number of people. What’s unique here is that it so well fits in with a celebrity, a group of people who as I group I thought were disconnected from these ideas in the world.
There is a lot more I would like to say about the qualities I admire in Aamir Khan, but I encourage you to find out more about him yourself – it’s like getting the same message you get in quotes and books on life, but with a great example in an entertaining way!
@vgupta11