A Journey of unlearning: Aamir Khan on humanity, humour and the heartbeat of cinema

Few actors embody cinema with the conviction, courage, and care that Aamir Khan does. For over three decades, he has redefined storytelling in Hindi cinema not through spectacle, but through substance. Whether it was confronting the education system in Taare Zameen Par, challenging patriarchy in Dangal, or decoding social taboos on Satyamev Jayate, Aamir has consistently placed empathy at the centre of his work.

In his latest offering, Sitaare Zameen Par, the actor takes a bold step further, delving into the world of neurodivergent adults through a story laced with humour, discomfort, and ultimately, transformation. In a rare and moving conversation, Aamir opens up about playing his most socially insensitive character yet, the art of unlearning, and how working with first-time neurodivergent actors brought spontaneous magic to the set.

Fatima Patel: It’s an absolute pleasure to be talking to you about your upcoming film Sitaare Zameen par. So to start with my first question, this film, touches on children with disabilities, and it’s also about inclusivity.

So how did you prepare to ensure authenticity in portraying the emotional complexity of the story without resorting to cliches or sentimentality?

Aamir Khan: Well, Fatima just a slight correction. This film has, is dealing with ten adults not children, ranging between the age of 18 and above till probably 45, you know, so these are ten adults and that’s what the film is about.

It’s a theme that is very important to me and touches me very deeply. This particular script, uses humour as a vehicle to tell this very important story. And I find that a very wonderful device. It’s a device that I’ve used in the past. For example, in Dangal

It’s actually a very dramatic film and about a very important issue, but it uses humour to tell you that story. Through Omkar the character who’s playing my nephew and he’s the narrator of the film, and that’s where all the humour comes in from. Similarly, a film like ‘3 Idiots’, which is again, something very important, but is using humour, as a vehicle to tell the story.

So, this is a similar genre, and I feel that, it’s because it’s, you know, it’s got a very light hand of touch. So, it naturally stays away from being preachy and, you know.

We’ve all heard how meticulous you are when working on a film, so what conversations or research did you engage in to help shape your understanding of the world of this character?

Sure. Well, actually, this is a topic I have worked in, in various ways. For example, when I did Taare Zameen par, if you remember, there’s an entire section of Tulip school in the film where I’m a teacher with, children with different difficulties and, challenges.

Cerebral palsy, down syndrome, autism. So, that was the first time that I had the opportunity to really, spend a lot of time with people who have disabilities of different kinds, challenges or different things. And that was a huge learning experience for me. And then after I did a show called Satyamev Jayate, in which one of the topics was, about people with disabilities and, so once again, I got to know a lot about, this issue.

Then this film has now come up, this, this film, which is about people with, intellectual disabilities. So actually, to be quite honest, this was a theme that I had already researched a fair amount on, over the years. And in fact, I had to actually do the opposite.

I had to unlearn all that for my character, because Gulshan the character that I am playing, he’s an extremely insensitive person. Politically incorrect. Rude. You know, it’s got a very short temper. He he thinks he’s always right. You know, he’s fighting with his wife. He’s constantly bickering with his mom. He’s lapses. Senior coach. He drives a car into a police car.

And, then there’s the cop that if there’s any place to park, you know, because he thinks he’s right on the day. So, so I had to actually unload on that, and you would be a character who is very insensitive and socially misbehaving. And really, the story is his journey from being someone who’s so insensitive to to someone who’s, sorry, I just my my back is having a slight health issue.

So how do you actually know when a scene has truly landed? Is it a technical feeling, an emotional instinct or just something else?

It’s an instinct. It’s an instinct. Yeah. Instinct. And it’s, when the shot goes right and you, you know, you get a magical moment then everyone can feel it.

Were there many of them on set for this particular film?

Yeah. Oh well (laughs) Actually in this film it happened so many times. And I’m not talking about my performance. I’m talking about the scene. It happened so many times, because we had 10 actors who are neurodivergent. Nine of them have never acted before. This is their first film.

So, one of them, who’s from Kerala, speaks Malyalam has acted in a film or two earlier. So this is his first Hindi film, but the remaining nine acting for the first time. They’re all neurodivergent. They’re very much in the moment. They are very authentic. So often there used to be magic, which we had not planned. And you’re so right to ask that question.

To find out what else Aamir Khan shared, watch the full interview on our YouTube channel.