Creative people have no barriers. Ultimately, it's connecting with human beings. There's just one planet. I don't see it as different countries.
— Aamir Khan
When I prepare for a role, I try to get inside the character's head and understand him.
Many people, including me, thought it was too early for me to play a father to two grown-up daughters, but I found the script of 'Dangal' irresistible. I had to do it!
I understand that I'm able to connect with people; I have an emotional bonding with people. My strength lies in my ability to tell stories and to touch people's hearts and to move them.
My films are so new and unique that I don't know where I will end up. Fear keeps me alert. And it's also a part of an excitement.
I am not a perfectionist. Perfection doesn't exist in real life. It's a wrong title for me.
There must be a story within him/her that wants to come out. That's the reason why 'Dil Chahta Hai,' 'Lagaan,' and 'Rang De Basanti' worked so well: Ashutosh, Farhan, and Rakesh had a story inside them. It's very important that the director should have the fire in the belly to tell the story.
I do what I feel is right. I am not scared to walk on the new path and take risk.
The journey that I have undertaken, meeting people from all walks of life and learning from them, has been my biggest achievement.
When material comes to me, I don't care where it's coming from. Japan, Singapore, China, Africa... it could be from everywhere. The material should excite me. It's not important where it's coming from.
For me, acting is not a job. It is something I love. I don't do these things for awards or rewards. I do them because I love challenges.
Our choices are quite different: what attracts Salman and Shah Rukh are, I think, quite different from what attracts me. So in that sense, we are quite different, but I think we are fortunate to have had the kind of success that we've had.
I don't see myself as an activist. I understand that people, with me doing 'Satyameva Jayate,' for example, they will feel that I'm being an activist, but I'm not. Actually, I'm not, because I think an activist, as I see it, as a person who is very, very - takes up one issue and remains with that one issue for his entire life. I'm not doing that.
The way actors interact with their audience via Twitter is a part of their personality. So if I interact less, that is a part of my personality. I am mostly lost in my own world.
If 10 people see my movie and all ten really love it, then that means a lot to me, rather than ten million people go and see it and most of them hate it.
When I am shooting a film, then everything goes soft focus. My family also complains that I don't give them time.
When I was new, I didn't know where my career will go. Initially, my films were not even successful, but then I learned a lot from my mistakes.
I feel that, in India, we have films that have tackled various issues over the years, but perhaps one of the issues that we've tackled less is the issue of caste-ism. That's an issue we've more or less stayed away from... although we touched on it briefly in some films like 'Lagaan.'
If the role is challenging enough, I don't see why I shouldn't play an older man or a father figure. It is not about playing what you are in real life. We are called actors for a reason!
For me, the driving emotion of selecting a film is that I just love that story. It may give a message, it may not give a message - that's fine. I just loved it.
As an actor, the best way I can hope to promote greater social understanding is through my work. If I can communicate with people and touch their hearts through 'Dangal,' perhaps, eventually, I can help change their minds.
Essentially, it is the director who is the creative head of a film. The final authority on all decisions lies with the director. That is how it should be. And then other team members can give their creative inputs.
I don't believe in strategies. I love what I am doing; that's the main thing.
I am happy that I have entertained people and made them happy.
I have had unsuccessful films, but I learned a lot from those films. I give my failures as much importance as my success.
