In Conversation with Aamir Khan: Oscar Not Enough for India

Even though Hollywood is the oldest and most grossing film industry in the world at over 2.4 billion viewers, the Indian film industry leads in viewership with a staggering 3.6 billion viewers. Yet, the diversity and colossal variety of films produced in India have confined representation in Oscar awards.

As Aamir Khan explains it, “India is one country that makes movies in many languages, and one award like Oscar wouldn’t be enough” to encompass such variety.

He added that “for us the audience decides more than the awards. If the audience, the viewers like the film, we have won it. We don’t need an outside entity for affirmation of the [huge] talent in India”, he added.

The Indian film industry has produced remarkable films that’ve made it to Oscars. Aamir Khan’s Lagaan, was one of the only three films to be nominated for Oscars (as of 2014) in the “Best Foreign Language Award”.

The Oscar, which is given in 24 categories, is one of the most reputed awards in the cinema industry. India’s first Oscar award went to Bhanu Athaiya in 1983 for his costume design in Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi while renowned director Satyajit Ray was nominated most number of times for Indian directors –thrice, and Slumdog Millionaire in 1992 for the best movie.

Oscars aside. Here’s about the Secret Superstar, Urdu CBFC certificate and his secret for success.

Aamir’s uncle producer-director Naser Hussain, who gave us many classic films would acquire ‘Urdu’ language Certificate to most of his films fighting all odds. When asked if Aamir Khan, with Urdu being his mother tongue and also having played dominant roles in movies like Fanaa replete with the sweet poetic charm of Urdu, and lyrics of many songs following the linguistic lineage, have sought an Urdu certificate from Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) for his movies, says “I haven’t paid much attention to that. The production team applies for the certificate. Our films are basically Hindustani –  a mix of Urdu and Hindi. It’s more of a Hindustani language that we use in movies. Its neither completely Hindi nor completely Urdu.”

Aamir’s co-actress in the film Secret Superstar Zaira Wasim is all praise for his passion, and confesses support from her family, and encouragement from Aamir Khan. Aamir Khan likes to be involved in stories that touch his heart.

Zaira Wasim, who’s working with Aamir on her second film fervently says “I am very fortunate to work with Aamir, that too in two great films (Dangal, that grossed over 300 crore rupees, and the Secret Superstar). “Aamir’s secret for success is his passion, which is so inspiring.”

The films throws light on the issue of gender equality, and is about the story of a young girl with a penchant for music, who despite social gravity and family odds, secretly pursues her dream, to become a superstar. Aamir Khan, plays a unique ‘tadka’ character in the film in the guise of Shakti Kumar. The film is directed by Advait Chandan, produced by Aamir Khan and his wife Kiran Rao, starring Aamir Khan, Zaira Wasim, and Meher Vij in lead roles.

When asked which actress he would love to romance with onscreen, Aamir Khan wittily responded saying “I would love to romance with my wife (Kiran Rao) on screen. She is a wonderful actor. You won’t believe it, but she is truly wonderful at acting, and I think she would be great if she did movies.”

“But she’s the one heroine who doesn’t want to act with me”, he quips.

P.S: Aamir Khan was responding to questions in the pre-release media conference of Secret Superstar.