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“I am 57 years old but in my head I am still 18!”: Aamir Khan

From life lessons to film scripts to the economics of movie making, the actor covers them all and keeps his audience spellbound with his take on the facets of management in films and life

06 AUGUST, 2022: A cloudy Bangalore sky, a packed auditorium and a roar from students that reached a deafening crescendo greeted dapper actor-director-producer Aamir Khan at the iconic IIMB campus this afternoon, 13 years after the movie, ‘3 Idiots’.

Invited by the organisers of Vista 2022, the business fest hosted by the two-year MBA students at IIMB, Aamir had the audience eating out of his hand. “The moment I drove into the driveway I was nostalgic and I have fond memories of every nook and corner of this campus where we did naughty things,” he said, striking an instant rapport with the audience when he sought to know if there were still students at the auditorium from 13 years ago! “No? Well, I am glad everyone cleared their exams,” was his instant comeback.

The panel on Facets of Management in Films and Life comprised Aamir Khan, Naga Chaitanya and Mona Singh, and was moderated by Prof. Vasanthi Srinivasan, Faculty in the OB&HRM area at IIMB.

“Versatility and excellence are the hallmarks of your 30-year-old career. What keeps you going?” asked Prof. Vasanthi Srinivasan to which Aamir replied: “Fear”. Explaining, he said, fear and insecurity have their uses. “I don’t want anyone to see a weaker moment of mine as an actor. I am driven to entertain people in a better way. I am 57 years now but in my head I am still 18! However, I am constantly working to stay relevant to young people. That’s why I want to do films for children ever so often because when a five-year old loves your film, they will stay loyal to you for the next 15-20 years. That keeps me relevant to a younger audience.”

Recalling his meeting with the director S S Rajamouli after a special screening of Lal Singh Chaddha in Hyderabad, he said Rajamouli’s response made him pause and think and redo his entire voice-over. “The energy it took out of me was draining but the fear kept me going. I did not want to leave any stone unturned,” he said.

“My biggest challenge is human management, not creative challenges. As director, you need to get the best out of everyone on the sets. During COVID, especially, I went through a lot of introspection. I have grown greatly as a person. It made me realise that it is the emotional and mental wellbeing of each one of us that makes us do good work. All of us must focus on emotional and mental health.”

On the subject of creativity in different fields, he said: “Teachers and creative people play a very important role in society. If you have a bad engineer, a bridge may collapse but with bad teachers entire generations can collapse,” he remarked.

Mona Singh, who successfully transitioned from television to movies, said she always knew acting would be her choice of career. “I’ve adapted to theatre and movies. I only have Plan A – and I work towards making it happen.” Aamir interjected at this juncture, saying: “Mona has been exceptional – she has hit the ball out of the park with her performance in Lal Singh Chaddha.”

From Naga Chaitanya, who hails from the first family of Telugu cinema, Prof. Vasanthi Srinivasan sought to know what it takes for him to carve out his own identity. “Initially, there was a lot of pressure. I looked at it as a responsibility. Every generation is unique to its times and trends. Be adaptable and flexible and remember that trends may change but emotions are constant.”

On working with Aamir and Hindi films, Naga Chaitanya confessed that his Hindi was “very bad” and he used the time he got during the pandemic to improve his Hindi language skills. “I had the script six months before we started shooting and that helped,” he added.

Vista Elite Speaker Series

The theme for Vista 2022 is ‘Dream Dare Deliver’ and, through a series of events, the fest has been capturing the evolving nature of business. On Friday (5th Aug), the fest was inaugurated by Mr. Anil Agarwal, Chairman, Vedanta, Prof. Rishikesha T Krishnan, Director, IIMB, and Prof. R Srinivasan, Chairperson, Post Graduate Programme in Management (PGP) at IIMB. In his address, Mr. Agarwal dwelt on his definition of success and encouraged students to be fearless in their pursuits. The second session was led by BOAT Co-Founder and CMO Aman Gupta who spoke of his journey starting with finding what he likes to do, working hard towards it and making it a reality. He also discussed how to make a brand and sustainably grow it, while focusing on consumer insights. His 3P mantra, he said, was “Peeche pado (Be Persistent), passionate raho (Be Passionate about what you do), aur paise kamao (Make Profits).” Mr. Punit Renjen, Global CEO, Deloitte, spoke about purpose-led business growth that stands to serve the community that one lives in. He touched upon several sustainable development initiatives carried out by Deloitte, and the challenges faced by the business during the pandemic.

One of the 10 most followed journalists in the world and an early adopter of social media, Barkha Dutt, said her sense curiosity keeps her going as a journalist. “Never think of yourself as too old, too big or too arrogant to learn new things. I do not want to follow the curve; I try and stay ahead of it. So, I must find the characters to tell my human stories. I must keep the sanctity of my story. That is where my skill, my training and my craft and my experience come to the fore.” Barkha, the Founding-Director of Mojo Story, was in conversation with Prof. Prateek Raj, faculty in the Strategy area at IIMB, on the ‘Evolution of Journalism in the Indian Context’, on the morning of 6th August.

In the afternoon, Mr. Sudhakar Naik, from Bank of Baroda, one of the sponsors of the fest, spoke on the evolution of banking technology. “Foreign banks and new generation Indian banks are all technology driven. What is good is that public sector banks too adopted technology. From having overstaffed brick and mortar branches with no machines, not even calculators, to moving to Core Banking Solutions, Internet banking and Mobile banking, public sector banks have come a long way,” he said. Fintech companis, he said, were now disrupting the banking sector with their swift and agile operations and acumen, forcing banks to keep pace.

On 7th August, the Elite Speaker series will include an online address by Peyush Bansal, Co-founder and CEO of Lenskart, Nikhil Vyas, Co-founder and CEO of ITW MediaWorx, and an in-person address by actor Boman Irani.

Q&A session with the stars 

Aamir Khan

  1. How often do you use the phrase “All is well” in your own life? 

AK: A lot! 

  1. How do you choose scripts and how can we, as business management students, benefit from your process?
    AK: When I listen to the story, I am the audience. I don’t second guess the audience choice but I go with my own instinct as a viewer. I allow the script to come to me. If it moves or excites me, I greenlight it. First, comes the creative aspect. Then, comes the business aspect – the economics of it. With the decision making, I go with my heart but after that I have to think of budgets, markets etc. If I had thought rationally, I wouldn’t have made Taare Zameen Par or Lagaan. Mr Bimal Parekh, my CA and an important person in my life, has always warned me against films that I ended up actually doing  – Dil Chahta Hain, Lagaan and Sarfarosh. By the way, he is still my CA! Whenever I am confused about my choices, I go him and when he warns me against signing on, I go ahead! Mr Parekh almost had a cardiac arrest when I signed on Satyamev Jayate because I stopped doing endorsements during that phase. I earned a lot of happiness but lost a lot of money. No matter which profession we are in, something gives us joy – we must stop and do it. Don’t disregard that feeling. 

  2. What is the next opportunity for movie producers?

AK: I am not quite sure. I am lost in my own world most of the time. COVID has changed movie watching behaviour. For me, the platform does not matter as long as I can tell my stories. If it’s long content, I would like to do it for OTT; if it’s a piece, I would like to do it for theatres. But I see that increasingly the film industry is telling the audience that don’t bother to come to the theatre; we will come to your home in 4 weeks! Until the industry gives value to the work they’ve done, no one else will. Once my film comes to the theatres, I will not bring it to OTT for 6 months. Having said this, I know that OTT has given plenty of work to artistes and technicians.

  1. Life lessons?

AK: All is well! And never hurt anyone. My mother taught me this.
 

Naga Chaitanya

  1. You’ve ventured into the food business. Why?

NC: Food is my passion. It speaks to me. I also love to start something and watch it grow and blossom – a food start-up ticks these boxes in a fairly quick period of time, unlike films.

  1. Life lessons?

NC: Be aware and be grounded

Mona Singh

  1. Which role do you covet?

MS: Many! I am jealous of good roles – Gracy’s in Lagaan, especially!

  1. Life lessons?

MC: Keep moving. If you can’t run, walk; if you can’t walk, run; if you can’t walk, crawl but keep moving.