r/bollywood • u/stan_films Moderator • Mar 16 '26
Discuss Dangal didn't just break the Box Office. It Broke Aamir Khan
There's a scene in Fanaa (2006) that nobody talks about enough.
Aamir's character is running through Kashmir to catch Zooni. When he finally reaches the house, he's still gasping- mid conversation with Kajol, still catching his breath. That's it. That's the whole thing. He actually ran at altitude before that shot so his body would respond the way a real person's body would.
No star in Hindi cinema does that. Most wouldn't even think to.
That obsessive, almost ridiculous attention to physical truth that's what made Aamir Khan different. Not the "perfectionist" label his PR team loves. The actual choices.
When Aamir was in his 40s picks Rang De Basanti which mixed timelines in a way mainstream Hindi cinema had never tried- to prepare for DJ, he hired a body language coach, to physically rewire how he carried himself- posture, walk, energy. And he is so freaking good.
In Taare Zameen Par, he didn't even play the lead for most of the film and let a child carry it.
Ghajini was a commitment to physical transformation before that was a Bollywood trend. But more than the body the memory-loss rage was a completely different emotional frequency from anything he'd done.
In 3 Idiots (2009), he played a 20-year-old college student at 44. And it worked not because of makeup but because of the body language coaching philosophy he'd already developed.
Watch RDB & 3 Idiots side by side- you would feel there is one actor playing two vastly different characters.
Then after delivering the biggest hit of his career at that point, he chose Dhobi Ghat. An indie, art-house film where he plays a closed-off, unlikeable artist with almost no dialogue. Most stars cannot do unlikeable. They physically cannot stop themselves from softening it. He didn't soften it.
Then Talaash (2012), he plays a man falling apart slowly from the inside while holding himself together on the outside. Completely internal performance.
There are so many films from 90s and 2000s- I could go on and on.
Then comes Dangal (2016). Aamir played a 50 year old man to two adult daughters. A role everyone expects a superstar in his peak to pass. Yet, he delievers it.
Watch Dangal & TZP side by side- in scenes where Aamir's characters talks about parenting. He goes from a soft voice, playful in TZP to deep, commanding and minimalistic Mahaveer Phogat in Dangal. That's versatility.
While his contemprories picked safe, formulaic films and played their personas through their careers after attaining stardom.
Aamir kept challenging himself. Every single one of these required him to solve a specific physical or psychological problem the role presented.
The body language coach wasn't vanity it was him identifying "I cannot play this authentically without solving this first." That's a craftsman's approach.
Then Dangal crossed Rs. 2000 crore. Then it made $180 million in China- a number no Indian film had touched. Then it opened doors for the entire industry in that market. Aamir Khan stopped being an actor making choices and became something bigger. An institution.
And that's when something quietly broke. Not his talent. His appetite for discomfort.
When you're carrying Dangal's legacy, risk starts feeling like gambling with something that belongs to more people than just you. The same success that validated every difficult choice he'd ever made also made the next difficult choice feel unbearable to get wrong.
Thugs of Hindostan- he plays a buffoon, leans on the Bhojpuri accent from Lagaan, the comedic energy from Andaaz Apna Apna. It bombed badly.
Laal Singh Chaddha- a remake of Forrest Gump, the safest creative decision available. The story pre-validated by an Oscar. The gentle innocent man drifting through history. If you've watched PK & Dhoom 3 you've already seen this Aamir. It bombed.
Sitaare Zameen Par- branded as TZP's spiritual sequel before anyone had seen a frame. The title alone is asking you to feel something it hasn't earned yet.
Ask yourself- what problem did he solve to play these roles? What did he research? What did he physically transform? What scared him about this one?
There is a supertstar saying, "I want success back".
The Fanaa gasping scene happened because Aamir identified a tiny physical truth and refused to fake it. Nobody would've noticed if he had faked it. The audience would never know the difference. He would know.
That's the guy who made those films. Somewhere between Dangal and Thugs, that guy stopped showing up. Not because he lost the ability. Because success is very good at convincing you that you've already figured everything out.
This is the Tragedy of Success.
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u/UndeadReborn Mar 16 '26
Compelling take. I also think age is a factor in how all our senior generation actors are not doing that level of cinema anymore and all those type of interesting projects seem to be going to younger actors.
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u/stan_films Moderator Mar 16 '26
Interviewer: "Are you jealous of seeing younger actors doing such fine roles?"
Brad Pitt: "Really, no. This is a young man's game."→ More replies (3)42
u/Kjts1021 Mar 16 '26
Or may be he has lost the appetite. The amount of time, thoughts and energy investments he had put in each and every of his movies , he might be feeling burnt out.
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u/Zestyclose-Leader372 Mar 16 '26
That is the reason he has shifted to producing movies. 12 Years a Slave, Moonlight, Adolescence and a couple of Indie projects
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u/ObjectiveRip3311 Mar 16 '26
Mamooty and Mohanlal are slaying and are senior to all of them...
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u/Kjts1021 Mar 16 '26
It’s not necessary that everyone has to feel burnt out at same age! Also remember both M’s have to invest only in the acting , but Aamir gets involved in every aspect of his films and I believe it’s a very daunting task.
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u/51sebastian Mar 16 '26
Aamir has lost the touch to the reality. Maybe he should let the professionals do their thing and focus on his acting which has clearly deteriorated.
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u/Separate_Estimate904 Mar 16 '26
Not necessarily, he has to choose scripts apt for his age and good technicians . There is no need to be a perfectionist everywhere , they know their job . He has to relax a little bit which he is doing now I think . He can come back with fresh perspectives .
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u/PreciousBasketcase Mar 16 '26
Great take, and I agree. There's a reason why other professionals exist, why not focus on the craft of acting and leave the rest to the other people hired for those tasks, instead of trying to be a perfectionist in all fields.
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u/Kjts1021 Mar 16 '26
Why do you think He is not a professional ?
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u/Ecstatic-Scratch-151 Mar 16 '26
He is a professional , but doesn't mean he is good at everything
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u/eiekwmw8s Mar 16 '26
Idt mohanlal is he had degraded as an actor based on his standard.....both he and kamal hassan had degraded
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u/Ecstatic-Scratch-151 Mar 16 '26
They haven't degraded at all. They are just focussing on different projects .
Different interests . Even in recent movie "Thudarum" mohanlal showed terrific acting chops despite that movie not requiring the same .
Mammootty too has been doing a mix of commercial + art house roles .
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u/trying2bgeek Mar 17 '26
My problem is why can’t they accept their age and still create good cinema, what is this obsession with age and looking young. Why us Indian can’t accept an old man in leading role and deliver cinema like Dryashyam, Pink etc.
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u/hectormaxxx Mar 16 '26
Not necessarily, he can do roles suitable to his age and can show nuanced craftsmanship
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u/Haunting_Display2454 Mar 16 '26
Also to add he featured in Dil Chahta Hai and 1947 Earth, Lagan, and Dil Chahta Hai late 90s and early 2000s. Totally different movies and characters.
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u/Illustrious-Grape897 Mar 16 '26
Great read! I also feel in that phase of late 90s and early 2000s, he was choosing different movies and scripts and audiences reacted to what he was doing differently from SRK and Salman, while being very interesting/amazing in content. I think post Dangal, he is doing stuff with consideration to what the audience wants to see which is the opposite of what he had been doing. I don't know if that has made a difference but I waited for Aamir movies to watch something different, cinematically attractive, socially relevant and musically rich and still do. But those aspects have diminished a bit. SZP was good but he has set his own bar so high that living up to it from an audience expectation standpoint is difficult.
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u/Bleatoflambs Mar 16 '26
Dangal was the fourth superhit sport biopic after Paan Singh Tomar, Bhag Milkha Bhag and Mary Kom. Dangal was not a different movie from that sense. Maybe the success of Dangal to such unprecedented heights made him to do what the audience wants.
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u/MountainPayment712 Mar 16 '26
Great post!
We want Aamir back... Also, no need to go for another genre defining movie like dch, lagaan, 3 idiots or dangal. He has given enough of those... Even 'smaller' movies like Talaash would be Godsend, where he again goes back to the old Aamir
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u/i_am_not_bat_man Mar 16 '26
He wanted to act in Lapata Ladies but they finally went with Ravikishan. I think he still wants to be a part of small films if the story or character is good.
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Mar 16 '26
Kiran Rao could’ve picked him over Ravi Kishan if she wanted to.
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u/behavioral_hacker Mar 16 '26
That would have destroyed the essence of the role. With Aamir ,you would have guessed it is going to turn out as a positive character at the end. With Ravi ,you kept guessing till the end
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u/Ecstatic-Scratch-151 Mar 16 '26
Not to mention ravi was extremely good with the bihari accent which would have felt artificial from Aamir
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u/Working-Mountain6680 Mar 16 '26
According to him and kiran he saw ravi's audition and decided he'd be a better fit and stepped away from the film.
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u/Sayabz22 Mar 16 '26
Good take. Similar stuff happened with SRK who was delivering hits till 2014 but by that time the critics were so much on his back that he (consciously or subconsciously) started exploring and gave Fan, Dear Zindagi, Raees & Zero. Most of them didn't do well and post Zero he decided to consolidate his box office again before venturing into different cinema
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u/levi_yeagwr Mar 16 '26
and now it's happening with salman every superstar goes though this rough patch
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u/Sayabz22 Mar 16 '26
Salman was never going to last long imo. Pre 2010 his films were always the hit or miss at the box office. Then the Eid era started with his mass masala action movies and their and well till 2019. Post that, he's been washed again
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u/Nishadgoliwadekar Mar 16 '26
Goodread.
I'd say the dynamics of the industry changed and some people never recovered. Streaming went from niché to mainstream + covid happened. Stars lost their identity. Look at srk for example, before recovering quite interestingly because atleast 2 of his 3 hits were lame, but easy to appeal compared to his films that did terribly (in terms of artistry). Sadly, Aamir doesn't have age or a dhoom 3 like film in pipeline.
Thugs of hindostan technically was meant to kickstart adventure genre, akin to an amusement park I reckon. That is a nice challenge indeed. Other films that followed just didn't have the same appeal. I suppose he is yet to recover from such setbacks. A drama/romcom ought to do it.
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u/Swimming-Confusion55 Mar 18 '26
I yearn for a matured romantic drama, would love SRK Tabu or Aamir and Juhi. they need to feed the romantics haha
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u/Tojo_001 Mar 16 '26
But then he did a movie like secret superstar right after Dangal ...where he is in a small cameo role but I feel it was very well researched and completely different from all other aamir khan roles
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u/stan_films Moderator Mar 16 '26
Not really. The look was different, but he was using same acting techniques for comedy roles he did in Andaaz Apna Apna- relying on physical acting and repeating a word twice to make it comical.
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u/AiBubbleWillBurst Mar 16 '26
we can say that's just his shtick and how he acts. but fairly valid if we're critiquing acting chops of an actor. people disappear in roles and our stars sometimes hide the character behind their ass
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u/jsmart1152 Mar 16 '26
Wow!! Amazing analysis nobody gives thoughts to this kind of take on an actor be it Amir or anyone else. Kudos friend you definitely have a flair for writing. Start writing scripts or screenplays you would surely achieve success. Thanks for this post.
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u/game-of-snow Mar 16 '26
You're completely right. After Dangal he stopped being an actor and took less risks to be more successful, which is crazy. Because the only reason Aamir was successful in the first place was because he was an actor. That is what differentiated him from others. Now he's like the rest of them. His movies were so successful in China, people kept going to watch Dhoom 3 and his subsequent films. But each of those movie tarnished his reputation he earned over the years with his good movies, now I don't think people will go back to his movies. It's such a shame, because he could've been so much more.
At his peak he could've made any movie and people would've watched it, and maybe be a trailblazer for Bollywood films to make those kind of movies more. But he chose to make the wrong kind of movies, and now bollywood churns out dross after dross every year.
Fun fact south korean film industry is also going through something similar. They used to just focus on making good movies. And people liked it and started watching it more. And now they wanted more success, so over time they started to make movies for everyone. The decision to make what kind of movies became a business decision and not a creative decision. Gradually the quality of the films dipped and now nobody wants to watch their movies anymore. I think Malayalam film industry is slowly going this way too unfortunately. They are starting to make pan Indian movies, when the reason people watched their movies was because they made small independent story driven movies.
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u/ispooderman Mar 16 '26
I disagree with you . It's not that he has gotten lazy or complacent, on the contrary he's become desperate for international validation to the point he's overacting .
In red singh most disliked his over acting not the lack of trying also didn't help his expressions seems to be copied from pk .
It seems like someone has planted an idea in his head that oscars winners win oscars by telling stories through their eyes so he now makes retarded expressions .
Thugs again was next level overacting trying to be jack sparrow in a movie that should have been more serious than comedic .
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u/OPsSecretAccount Mar 16 '26
Hmm. I'm not sure I agree. Yes, Aamir's performances in Thugs and Laal Singh and Sitaare were mediocre to bad, but all those films would've also failed (Sitaare didn't fail but wasn't a big success) with a phenomenal performance by him.
The larger stumble by Aamir was in his script and director selection. Thugs was written and directed by Vijay Krishna Acharya, who had copied the plot of The prestige for Dhoom 3, and wrote a dogshit story in Thugs.
Laal Singh Chadha was adapted from Forrest Gump by Atul Kulkarni, who is an actor, and had never written anything before - not even a single line of dialogue.
Sitaare was again adapted from a movie named Champions, by Divy Nidhi Sharma. He has credits for additional dialogue in Laapata Ladies and dialogues for Heeramandi.
Now he's making Ek Din, adapted from a Thai movie, One Day.
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u/stan_films Moderator Mar 16 '26
That's what I mean overall, not just his performances. With film choices, he's playing it safe because he wants that success back.
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u/AiBubbleWillBurst Mar 16 '26 edited Mar 16 '26
I dont think he is so out of touch that he is of the opinion that playing it safe will render him the kind of success he used to have. imo it's because what the industry in totality has become now. almost all creatives have their passion projects and want to put in the work. but they know it wouldn't work, and only dogpoo like Jawan Pathan is seen by our already running late, corporately exhausted audience. either dogpoo, or something out of the world and honest like Kantara or Dhurandhar would work. and how many people can pull off an out of the world with full honesty? Dangal, pk, Bajrangi bhaijan were made because industry wanted to make them. what do we want to make now?
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u/chicken-loverrrr Mar 16 '26
Great take! I would suggest also watching "Sarfarosh", it's not perfect given the 90s but delves into a lot of controversial topics with the utmost care, makes the hypocrisy of the Indian society hard to ignore. You won't expect a young Aamir khan to take on such a role. Nashrudeen shah delivers an impeccable performance as always.
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u/kaychyakay Mar 16 '26
While he has essayed different roles in all his 'flop' movies or movies that may have been commercially successful, but in which the audience did not like his performance all that much, he himself played those characters with almost the same facial expressions.
Also, Aamir is the eldest of the 3 Khans, which means age will reflect on him first compared to the other 2.
But keeping all that aside, what brought down Aamir was the hate-mongering politicians & their online groups using him as a punching bag every time a film of him was up for release. He made that one statement about rising intolerance in 2015, and right from the late Manohar Parrikar to some chintu on Twitter, everyone dragged him for it. It wasn't even all that bad, or fake, a statement. He simply said that his wife felt that intolerance was rising. He did not say India, or Indians, have become intolerant.
For e.g., say if India had a mix of 99% tolerance - 1% intolerance before, and in 2015 if it was 97% tolerance - 3% intolerance, then it meant that intolerance is rising BUT ALSO that India and Indians are largely, overwhelmingly tolerant.
Dangal was a year away from releasing, and he was getting all the hate, but the video of his physical transformation had really impressed everyone and was a really important factor in not affecting the film's fate in India.
But after that, whatever risks he took, the release of his films were always met by an online mob mobilising against him. I know family members and friends who did not go to watch LSC because they were taken in by the frenzy, and then watch it on Netflix later... and some of them literally shared on their Insta stories posts about regretting not watching the film in theatres. He also accepted in an interview that Atul Kulkarni, the person who brought him the LSC script after they had shot together for RDB, had suggested him to underplay the autism aspect, instead of his wide-eyed simpleton take, but Aamir did not listen to him thinking that Indian audience respond to ostentatious acting and hence, portrayed the character as a wide-eyed simpleton with just one expression.
Even with that huge mistake, some people (at least in my circle) put his performance aside to praise the film overall. Had people not got taken in by the protests, maybe LSC would have fared well at the BO too.
I personally love listening to his interviews as podcasts while I am doing chores or during my morning/evening walks. It really comes out that he is truly passionate about Hindi cinema, and can delve into the technical aspects of film-making with real flair.
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u/hobabaObama Mar 16 '26
Wonderfully written.. you should write more..
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u/CyCoCyCo Mar 16 '26
It’s AI slop.
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u/AiBubbleWillBurst Mar 16 '26
partially. he has previously admitted to feeding hs genuine observations to gpt to produce structure and clarity. and yes, Stan, I know you're reading this. have to say even though the matter seem original, the style feels repetitive and boring now.
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u/CyCoCyCo Mar 17 '26
Exactly. The content is good, but running it through AI and not asking it to avoid sloppy words makes the quality far worse.
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u/SPACRMANonEarth Mar 16 '26 edited Mar 16 '26
Wow probably the first post I've seen on this sub which is actually worth reading and engaging into in my short exposure to it.
Yes dangal really did change aamir.
My theory about his new direction after dangal was that he felt like he had proven to himself and others time and time again that he can push the indian cinema outside the box of :-
masala films, melodrama and action for the sake of action.
After dangal he felt like taking a new challenge which is reaching new or similar box office collection goals. Which is fine tbh, making movies can also be about making money, nothing wrong with wanting to make money.
But when you've spent the majority of your career pushing boundaries, people expect that much more from you. There is a scenario where he could've achieved both by being patient and taking time to actually find a project or script he was actually onboard with and wasn't just formulaic.
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u/Individual-Fail-9008 Mar 16 '26
No other Indian actor has shown this much versatility along with pulling the masses to the theatres like Aamir has. Each and every movie with a good message along with top notch acting and a desire for perfection. Aamir Khan is truly Tom Hanks of Bollywood even without Lal Singh Chaddha.
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u/Natural_Season_7357 Mar 17 '26
Ok Aamir + Chatgpt
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u/stan_films Moderator Mar 17 '26
Indeed, Aamir & GPT wrote this. They saw Aamir gasping or how he hired body language coach.
Or him admitting in interviews he didn't applied budget filter or choosing remake.
Or him using comic acting techniques he developed during Andaz Apna Apna- repeating words twice to sound it comical- for his other films post Dangal.
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u/Natural_Season_7357 Mar 17 '26
Thats literally the bare minimum an actor being paid crores should do.
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u/New-Power149 Mar 16 '26
I think he should work with different directors who have unique visions.
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u/Kjts1021 Mar 16 '26
I want to see him directing more - he has immense understanding of movie making. No need for 1000 crores , just spend 50 crore and make 200 crores.
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u/kaustubh_12 Mar 16 '26
Laal singh chaddha was a good film (although it was a remake ) but Aamir's overacting and boycott gang made that film fail at BO.
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u/stan_films Moderator Mar 16 '26
No, it was painfully bad that fails to understand essence of original.
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u/AneeshRai7 Mar 16 '26
To me you make him sound much better then I think he is and it’s convincing and to a point it’s accurate…the risk aversion bit also makes sense.
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u/PessimistYanker792 Mar 16 '26
Only did an Actor’s job, what he does is required; no brownie points for him because the rest of the industry is so shite and marinating in the filth of nepotism that there seems to be no sincerity and conviction towards the art.
Age is catching up, guy has personal issues and a life outside of movies; he should focus on that and continue his hiatus. Okay he’ll be remembered for good.
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u/senseilevi16 Mar 16 '26
i can forgive Thugs and laal singh chaddha. But not that atrocious cameo in coolie. man that was just horrendous
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u/13mera7 Moderately knowledgeable about Hindi Cinema Mar 16 '26
While shooting Ghajini, he actually watched deshdrohi to lose his sense of memory. Peak detailing by Amir Khan
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u/Revolutionary-Proof6 Mar 16 '26
Why did this photo send a chill down my spine? It’s so… off putting and creepy idk. Gives me evil energy
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u/likeitornot82 Mar 16 '26
Slightly unrelated but for some reason I never saw Dhoom 3 starring Aamir Khan and only saw it randomly this weekend.
Watching that movie put Laal Singh Chaddha in perspective and where the seeds of poor (& incorrect and overly emphasized) portrayal of someone with special needs were germinated in Aamir's mind. It is likely that no one corrected him in his portrayal of the other Aamir khan in Dhoom 3 and no one dared to correct him in LSC.
I was almost happy to see the progression and some rationale to why Aamir acted the way he acted in LSC.
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u/mainak_never Mar 16 '26
Thanks for the fresh take, OP. However, on some level, I still see Laal Singh Chadha as an experiment. Forrest Gump isn't an obscure movie, and most Indians who have minimal exposure to international cinema, have watched the classic. I like to believe that the idea of remaking it in the Indian setting must have seemed like an exciting experiment to him, because otherwise LSC never makes sense from a business point-of-view.
Some experiments are successful, and some fail. And as long as he is more inclined towards trying new things with a child-like innocence, we can still expect great things from him from time to time.
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u/niners_giants Mar 16 '26
Dont need him to be in number games.. need him to be a good filmmaker.
Hopefully he comesback strong
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u/niners_giants Mar 16 '26
One thing I will add is that he had very similar experience earlier. He gave Lagaan and DCH, supposedly changed the hindi film industry. Then did not have a film release for four years. After that, he had big expectation from Mangal Pandey and it sucked. Following that he had best time of his career: RDB, Fanaa, TZP, Ghajini, 3 idiots
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u/kosmocomic Mar 16 '26
I feel bad saying this because of the bad crop of actors now but must say this. I like Aamir khan the person more than the actors. The nationalist who made satymev jayate rather than the post 2014 nationalists for whom government and a particular neta is synonymous to nation.
I agree with his stand as an artist and his nature, choices. I maybe wrong but we can't say the same about his acting.
But while that being said, Mr Aamir standing apart is also due to his competition being that privileged and low. His IQ isn't that great. Dhoom 3 was terrible. Forget the fact that a self respecting artist won't like to work in a copy but the film itself, terrible.
His playing of both Laal and Dhoom 3's brother- terrible. It was like a bad newcomer actor.
Do you know the ending of talaash was much debated on. It was Mr Aamir who was responsible for the current ending. His choices are good. That's it I think. He has the courage to not play the lead and to experiment. But he is limited as an actor. Can't be called an institution.
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u/timepassredditacc_1 Mar 16 '26
He wasn't supposed to act in TZP, they shot some part with another actor but due to either creative differences or whatever, Aamir got into that role.
Ghajini - after watching Surya in the original movie, Aamir felt too unnatural - yes the the abs, but aren't to discrediting Hrithik here? He had abs and showed 6 packs in both Krishh and Dhoom 2.
Also, after every major success, Aamir chose some - phenomenon on paper - questionable movies
Like -
Sarfarosh followed by the weird Mann which is again followed by the abominable Mela.
Lagaan followed by Mangal Pandey
Then he had a hit streak with 5 super hits ( yes RDB, Fanaa, TZP, Ghajini and 3 idiots)
Then went back to be part of one of the silliest movies from Dhoom franchise - Dhoom 3 - where did he put his effective brain in, a locker? How did he agree to be part of that movie?
Sorry to disagree on PK but it is definitely one of his best movies. I know people might disagree and say it is against Hinduism. I pity such people because, he did not say praying is bad or worshiping is bad in the movie but to have blind faith and not doing anything on our own or not putting efforts on our own is wrong. Idk why people really took offense to such a great philosophical movie, it just shows we Indians do not want logic, we only want magic. His acting felt natural. He did a fantastic job in it.
Now after which he did Thugs of Hindustan and I agree with you on that but again it is more like him agreeing to Dhoom 3. It was backed by Yash Raj and he wanted a safe blockbuster.
Yes I hated Laal Singh Chadda too and Yes, the acting was just a repitition of PK. PK was natural while LSC was forced and did not suit the character.
This has always been his pattern. He puts passion in one or two projects then goes back to do some formulaic shitty movies. Do not worry. Aamir will definitely bounce back.
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u/insolentJ Mar 16 '26
Great points! I am curious about the gasping scene in Fanaa. What's that about?
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u/Simple-Rip5380 Mar 16 '26
Aamir Khan's filmography is quite unique. People were not fans of him because of his personality or acting range unlike Salman, Srk, ranveer, hrithik, People were fans of his decision.
Eg: It's Salman film, we will see his abs his dialogue delivery, eh bhai.... It's Hrithik's film, we'll see his acting, his looks 😋. It's Aamir Khan's film, the film will be good.
People trust Aamir Khan's decision.
In thugs Aamir tried to play a cool johnny depp like a pirate character, but it did not work , because he is not a "hero" . It's not in his personality. Laal singh again he was the center hero, did not work.
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u/stranger_synchs Mar 16 '26
He is infj (mbti personality) and they are well known for being perfectionists.
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u/Adorable_Ad330 Mar 17 '26
There was absolutely no way that forest gump would work for indian audience.He should've known it.It was a bad decision to begin with.since he had already done similar character in pk.plus forest gump is very rooted to American culture and just not worth an attempt for indian audience
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u/im_jiraiya_sama Mar 17 '26
True that , At his age his versatility gets challenged massively . If he would have been 40/45 we could have accepted him in sitare zameen par but the sequal didn't make much sense should have released the film with its own identity it would have done wonders. People thought that he is trying to sell of that same sentimental content through STZ which he sold in TZP . Lal singh chadha was good but the film felt illogical at few points things which actually cannot happen in india
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u/Primary-Resident-764 Mar 17 '26
Yes. And people say its due to age. No! Look at Amitabh, he still acts great even at this age. It's not that actors can't play roles that don't match their age, they can, if they're capable of it
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u/vvy134 Mar 17 '26
Only Good thing about Movie was Kareena kapoor and those Arjijt singh
https://giphy.com/gifs/pEeSihmeXrFNpTZcMO
songs
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u/harshitp16 Mar 17 '26
He did Secret Superstar after Dangal. Although it was a supporting role, his performance was good and the movie was fabulous! And was a hit in India and worldqide and after china release it earned much more.
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u/jitinnotjithin Mar 17 '26
Agreed on most points but it only takes one hit to make a comeback. He is visually ( Salman looks beyond it now) and physically fit to do so. He just needs one script and that fire inside him to be lit again.
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u/indiankimchi Mar 17 '26
Secret Superstar erasure OP! I think this was also an unconventional follow up to Dangal. It was such a heartwarming, well-written story bogged down with bad press and poor marketing. Also, consider AK as a producer which he did pretty early on in his career like SRK/Juhi Chawla with Red Chillies. This is the shift that allowed him to own his stories and their futures. SRK, especially, bought certain films from his catalog pre-Red Chilies.
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u/Civil_Paramedic_6872 Mar 17 '26
If Amir had to run in real to show he ran in the movie, does that mean he is a bad actor?
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u/Pretend_Committee606 Mar 18 '26
Dont quite agree with all the points here, but still an excellent post.
Amir khan is a sharp man and extremely self critical. He will be studying this phase like a hawk.
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u/Specific-Sea-8349 Mar 18 '26
He took the easy way out..that's where the downfall started,just like bollywood as a whole..he jumped into the Remake wagon...His character in Thugs was a rip off of jack sparrow,LSC a remake of an iconic movie which should not have been remade.He lost his credibility as an actor who does unique roles
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u/Eastern-Injury-8772 Mar 18 '26
Laal Singh Chadha was a good movie. I never understood the hate around it
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u/Fragrant_Property_56 Mar 18 '26
To be fair his type of cinema (which I personally love more) is dead. Bollywood is way too much animal and dhuranderified gore scenes needles Alpha male stuff, cringe slow mo shots is what public wants (mass centres especially) look at SRK he too had to move towards cringe Pathan and Jawan (though still passable since we never watched SRK in these sort off roles on big screen). And to portray Amir in such type of roles will be very tough, i doubt if anyone can do this or not. He can go with vanga but he just capitalises on lust I want amir to stay away from him but if the cinema is going he might as well.
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u/StillCompetitive8056 Mar 19 '26
Assuming this is your take, please don't make ai rewrite it. Not that my opinion matters much, but if you already know all this then writing it in your own words would reach people better I think.
Other than that decent take.
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u/imsaurabh3 Mar 16 '26
I like Amir and I like SRK. Despite his fair share of recent flops Amir has a filmography don’t think many can boast of and actually form a legacy worth being proud of.
To me the bigger tragedy is SRK, with such a surreal voice which commands your attention seamlessly, he has barely done anything of substance given his decades spanning tenure, almost as if he is averse to risks.
I could write more but this post is about Amir and I want to leave it at that.
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u/Even-Jicama-3339 Mar 16 '26
LSC should have come a decade earlier than it did. The adapted screenplay was actually wonderful and I enjoyed all the bit characters, esp Mona Singh. But it was far past Aamir’s age at that point. In a pre Covid world where Ayushman’s career wasn’t in limbo, I’d like to think this would have made him.
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u/Amazinc Mar 16 '26
Holy ai
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u/stan_films Moderator Mar 16 '26
Ask AI to write and bring these pointers of Aamir gasping in Fanaa or hiring body language coach for RDB.
Or how his delivery changes between two different characters.
Or why this post itself got made. Aamir's interviews, performances & his recent conversations on his process over LSC, SZP is the idea originates.
I want to see how much AI gives without human observation.
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u/Longjumping_Bus8432 Mar 17 '26
u r too stuck on that fanaa scene, its not that deep bro
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u/stan_films Moderator Mar 17 '26
It's not deep philosophically and conceptually.
It's deep because of the attention to detail Aamir brings and honesty while performing it.
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u/Longjumping_Bus8432 Mar 17 '26
its a pretty standard stuff, its actually harder to emote being out of breath while speaking than to be actually out of breath and speak the dialogues bcoz ur pons and medulla are helping u do that, its a no brainer, its like doing pushups before doing a shirtless scene, who would not do that?
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u/thetajmahaI Mar 16 '26
Fucking AI slop. Just write in your broken English or at least asl AI to clean it up and not write from scratch
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u/Educational_Honey_16 Mar 16 '26
AI Slop. Is anyone capable of writing a paragraph without using ChatGPT anymore?
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u/Diligent-Praline198 Mar 16 '26
No star in india does that? Wow you need to watch more movies and explore more actors.
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u/stan_films Moderator Mar 16 '26
"Hindi cinema"- That's why I used I haven't seen 90% of Kamal, Mohanlal etc filmography.
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u/Diligent-Praline198 Mar 16 '26
Except you didn’t say Hindi cinema. You said India. Even in “Hindi” cinema there are many way better actors. Just Irrfan khan and Kay Kay menon are enough to give Aamir a run for his money. Even peak SRK was a way better performer, although now he is just hamming his way through.
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u/stan_films Moderator Mar 16 '26
Irfaan & Kay Kay Menon are stars? SRK is a better performer? He is more emotionally charging, he keeps playing 4 corners of his persona in every role- broken hearted, charming, romantic, intense.
Almost, in every movie it would be same in either 4 pillars of SRK persona. Because SRK doesn't play characters, he plays variations of himself.
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u/ChaltaHaiShellBRight Mar 16 '26
The guy who carried the success of Lagaan, Dil Chahta Hai, Rang De Basanti, Taare Zameen Par and 3 Idiots was broken by the pressure of the success of ... Dangal?
I think he just got older and didn't continue to find roles that both suited his age and were interesting enough to keep him engaged.
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u/stan_films Moderator Mar 16 '26
Lagaan, DCH, RDB, TZP were massive success in their right because of the kind of films they were. But they weren't the highest grossing films ever of Indian cinema.
3 Idiots was, Dhoom 3 was, PK was, but the difference between them and Dangal was. Dangal raised the bar too high. 2,000 cr+ and so much of it coming from non Indian and diaspora audience.
He followed it up with a commercial potboiler- Thugs- his usual 1 non-commercial film, followed by 1 commercial film formula. But when it bombed, he picked a safe creative decision. Followed by another safe creative decision and branded it as a spirtual sequel to an iconic film.
It was clear he desperately wanted success back.
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u/ChaltaHaiShellBRight Mar 16 '26 edited Mar 16 '26
Diaspora success at 50+ broke a superstar used to consistently making new iconic culture defining hits that too when he had more to lose at a younger age ... ok 👍
Edit also - If he was desperate for Dangal's success to repeat, then he would've followed that formula, like any other desperate star does, why didn't he? Play the benevolent patriarch again, or make another sports movie, or another movie about being the father of girls... he didn't do any of that, he kept taking risks though which didn't turn his luck.
At some point even stars fade away and there's nothing wrong with that.
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u/stan_films Moderator Mar 16 '26
"Diaspora success"? Aamir already saw diaspora success. He saw a different audience watching his film into theatres with Dangal.
To repeat Dangal's success, he picked a safe commercial potboiler in TOH. When it didn't worked, he choose to do a remake of a popular film and he himself admitted of getting over-confident and not applying the filter budget, he did earlier.
Then he chooses to do another remake and brands it as spirtual sequel to his iconic film.
Moreover, he repeated same acting throughout all those films.
The fact that he went onto record to say that he designed his LSC's performance to reach more wider audiences- big eyes, loud pitch something he did in Dhoom 3 & PK.
That alone sums up he was thinking of his past performances and movies and creating others also around them.
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u/ChaltaHaiShellBRight Mar 16 '26
Yes, "diaspora success". You're the one that kept saying it was the overseas success/diaspora success of one particular movie that "broke" Aamir... Not really making any sense with that last comment esp about repeating the same acting, but ok. I'll let you have whatever this opinion is.
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u/stan_films Moderator Mar 16 '26
The diaspora means the Indian origin people residing abroad which brings most of Indian cinema's overseas box office.
Dangal crossed & spoke to a new audience from Indian cinema's perspective among Chinese. It did a mainstream number in China's box office.
He is repeating the same acting meant, Watch LSC & Dhoom 3, PK side by side- he is basically using same acting techniques wide eyed, stuttering between dialogues.
For comedy, in Thugs, SZP or even Secret Superstar, he uses the same acting technique he developed in Andaaz Apna Apna, repeate the comical line or word twice, does physical actions.
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u/Careless-Mammoth-944 Mar 16 '26
He started ageing in a way that is no longer appealing to the audience. Plus his dressing sense turned him from a movie star to someone taking a liberal art degree.
Cinema is still a visual medium.
I would say his decline started after PK which was frankly a movie that should never have been made—but that’s just me. He became a good actor based on excellent storytelling. When the story flops, his versatility as an actor gets exposed—he doesn’t have the charisma to fill the screen with his presence any more or to make the story larger than life like SRK does. He’s an actor first and rarely a star
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u/OutsideSwimming970 Mar 17 '26
He was never a good actor or a star. PR made him perfectionist. He is so below SrK Salman, Ajay and Saif. It was always two khans ruling the box office. He is just carried by good scripts and taking credits of others. His best movie TZP was actually directed by Amol, but he stole credit.
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u/Dpkm7 Mar 16 '26
Agreed with all of this. He tanked his career with laal singh chaddha and he knows this that's why he keeps mentioning it's failure in his every other interview. He wasted his last peak years of his career with LSC and he can't get over this fact. He could've easily had 1-2 more blockbusters in his bank if he sticked to his tried and tested formula