8:16 pm (20 minutes ago)

ƯShakti

my article fr aamir .......shakti prasad

~I have to admit, my all-time favorite actor would have to be Mr.Aamir Hussain Khan. I know, he doesn’t have hypes like other actors, but when you think of the talent the person has,you have to admit, it shows more versatility than being able to 'speak' and be funny. There aren't many of Aamir's films I haven't seen; right now I can't think of a one I have not seen. There is one in particular that I have a hard time watching, simply because it makes me cry. Wanna take a guess as to which one it is? Well, if you guessed "GHAJINI", you are correct. It is so sad.It shows how aamir khan connects to its audience
That kind of interaction is evident in the movie.

When ever someone talked or thought of inventive use of brain and his portrayal of grotesque characters. He/she only had 1 name in mind that’s Aamir Khan.

It is difficult to relentlessly pay close attention to detail with a diligence and passion that is always directed towards offering the best in front of the camera. As an actor, Aamir Khan has done just that. Without letting commercial considerations influence his careful career selection of projects (save a few hasty choices early in his career), Aamir has devoted time and attention to every project he has undertaken His refreshing down-to earth persona combined with the unusual intensity and commitment with which he tackles every role has earned him undying love and respect from his audience.

8:17 pm (20 minutes ago)

ƯShakti

The unforgettable characters that he has essayed over the years have left an indelible impression of cinegoers. Films like Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, Dil, Raakh, Dil, Dil Hain Ki Manta Nahin, Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander, Andaaz Apna Apna, Hum Hain Rahin Pyaar Ke, Akele Hum Akele Tum, Rangeela, Raja Hindustani, Ishq, Ghulam, 1947 Earth , Sarfarosh ,Rang de basanti, Mangal pandey,Taare zameen par,Ghajini constitute a body of work that any actor would be envious of.
For me Aamir khan is a Living Legend...for me it’s an honor/pride that I am an Aamir khan fan!!!!!
BELATED HAPPY BIRTHDAY Mr. AAMIR KHAN…….!!!!

The Dashing Aamir Khan celebrates his Birthday with his fans!

                                                           The Superstar descends

Aamir came down to interact with his fans who were waiting outside his home. Although he looked as cute as ever in his bright red tee, we could make out he didn't have the Ghajini look anymore. There we have our lean chocolate boy back!

                                                 Make a Wish!

Aamir makes a quick wish and blows all his candles placed strategically on the beautiful cake.

                                                      Still A Boy!

Age doesn't seem to be reflecting on his face as it lights up with a boyish smile.

                                  

And this one is for you little girl
                                         

Aamir takes time to interact with his fans and sign autographs.

                                                       Say cheese
                                                   

The birthday boy strikes a pose for a picture with all his fans - young and old. 

Here's to the Dashing heart throb Aamir Khan! Happy Birthday and Best wishes from all your fans!!! You rock, Ace!

Source - http://www.starboxoffice.com/newsDetails.aspx?xfile=2009/March/News_20090314_77

Aamir Khan tops Filmfare Power List!

The Ace of Bollywood – Aamir Khan has never screamed from the roof tops that he is the star who actually rules Bollywood. Yet we knew that over the years he has gone one step ahead of his contemporaries and his films have turned out to be most anticipated ones.

Now what has been slowly and silently evolving for a long time has been officially recognised. Aamir has gained the top slot in the new power list of Bollywood that has been brought out by Filmfare.

Aamir has certainly towered over his contemporaries in terms of popular status and box office success.His  ‘Ghajini’ rewrote box office history and became the country's first Rs 1 billion project and was the decisive weapon that Aamir used to prove himself to be a mass hero. It  spring vaulted Aamir, way ahead of all his contemporaries to make him the undisputed numero uno.

Aamir has scored both as a producer and a director. His home production Jaane Tu...Ya Jaane Na did phenomenally well at the Box Office. And his directorial debut as well as home production, Taare Zameen Par,  continued to dazzle people. It was also selected as India's official entry to the Oscars.

Aamir has not only emerged No. 1 in the overall Power List. He has been ranked No. 1 in the Top Actors (male) list. and No. 1 in the Top Directors list as well. It was Aamir's extraordinary charisma, combined with his unique directorial skills that have made him the numero uno director in the film industry's eyes today.

His production house, Aamir Khan Productions has been ranked at No. 2, making him the second most powerful producer after Yash and Aditya Chopra!

Truly, Aamir Khan reigns supreme!

Arch rival Shah Rukh Khan, despite the not-so-impressive box office fate of ‘Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi’ and ‘Billu Barber’ occupies the number two spot in the Filmfare power list.

Film makers Yash and Aditya Chopra follow third. Producer Ronnie Screwwala, Karan Johar, Akshay Kumar, Farhan Akhtar, A.R.Rahman and Hrithik Roshan are also the other occupants of the powerlist. The surprise element here is the lady sitting comfortably in the 10th slot.

None other than Kareena Kapoor, the only heroine who has found her way into the list. With or without awards and blockbusters the endorsement queen of B-Town still managed to find herself a spot on the Power List.

Aamir Khan : The One-man Marketing Army!

Aamir Khan does not employ a marketing agency to help him devise all those ideas behind his film promotions.

A few weeks before Ghajini was to release, I found Aamir Khan’s handwritten note resting at my desk. Although it is now old news that he had written personally to a select few journalists — a marketing gimmick of sorts — it was also a glimpse into the actor’s marketing skills.

While Ghajini broke box-office records and emerged as one of biggest hits of 2008, Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, another film marketed by Khan, emerged as one of the more successful movies of 2008.

Clearly a one-man army, whose endorsements aren’t managed by any celebrity management company (“he’s his own manager,” confirms a spokesperson at Spice PR, a company that does marketing for most of his films), Khan may not have beaten Shah Rukh Khan’s number one position in the endorsement market (source: TamAdEx, 2008), but still commands the highest fee, as an insider explains. “While others charge Rs 10-12 crore for a period of three-five years, Aamir Khan charges Rs 12 crore per endorsement for one year,” reveals this source.

According to his spokesperson, “Aamir has a wide net of endorsements, ranging from colas, to watches to mobile phones to even socially relevant causes. He works on just one condition; he needs to believe in the brand that he endorses.”

Little wonder then that people who’ve worked with him closely insist that Khan is so serious about his brand that if one meets him, he’ll be found drinking Diet Coke (for which he had, reportedly, charged Rs 6 crore in 2003 and renewed it recently for Rs 10 crore), eating Parle G between shots, wearing only Titan, driving an Innova, watching TV on Tata Sky at his residence and talking only, and only, on Samsung. What’s more, he also has two honorary endorsements including “Incredible India” — the commercials of which were on air recently — and the Lead India campaign. And though he doesn’t like delving into details, some of his friends say that Khan does make time to reach even far-flung destinations to teach children in the interiors of the country.

“He adds a very sharp sense of credibility in all his endorsements,” says Harish Bijoor, brand specialist and CEO, Harish Bijoor Consults, who has also met the actor personally. “He may not be the most down-to-earth person but that’s not what you see on screen,” he says, adding that Khan’s biggest asset in terms of endorsements is that he still remains one of the “freshest faces in the industry with immense experience and talent on his side”.

What’s more, says Bijoor, “while in most endorsement deals you don’t find an immediate connect, all of Aamir’s brands are immensely personal. You can feel his involvement in promoting the brands that he endorses.”

Khan works on the creative aspects of the advertisements personally and that’s a reason why, for instance, the marketing skills extend to almost all of his films that he supports and acts in. Ghajini’s release, for example, saw a special Samsung handset which was promoted in the film.

A leading multiplex owner reveals that before the release of the film, some multiplex owners even met the actor at his Panchgani residence where he worked a marketing campaign personally for Ghajini. What followed later was the now-famous haircut that was sported by employees in select multiplexes.

How does he manage to reinvent himself again and again? According to a Spice PR spokesperson, “Aamir doesn’t have any brand manager planning anything for him. He just does everything on his own. So if he believes in a cause, he’ll do it, not worried about what others might think.” Bijoor adds, “There’s one major difference between Aamir Khan and the others. Audiences, without putting him on a pedestal, can relate to him. They want to hear what he says, because he’s very seriously involved.” Prathap Suthan aka Pat, national creative director, Cheil Communications, feels that Khan fits the bill for the Incredible India campaign because he just carries tremendous respect. Suparna Mitra, global marketing head, Titan, says, “The fact that Aamir constantly reinvents himself — on his own — and is a leader in his field, makes it beneficial for us to have him as a brand ambassador.” Samsung, in fact, has emerged from the number four position to number two position in GSM handsets, within just a year of being associatewith the actor, says Asim Warsi, GM (marketing), mobile division, Samsung Electronics. Even Vikram Kaushik, CEO & MD, Tata Sky, feels that Aamir’s association with the brand has been immense. “He’s willing to take up challenges, even if it means having his face half made-up as a woman, and another half, as a man,” he adds, speaking about the Tata Sky advertisement that was on air sometime last year.

With films like Delhi Belly (an adult comedy) and 3 Idiots (loosely based on Chetan Bhagat’s Five Point Someone) coming out from his production stable, Khan is already working out logistics to promote them to his audiences. He knows the art of marketing and this time round too, success will continue to be Khan’s second name.

Source - http://www.business-standard.com/india/storypage.php?autono=351264

Kamlesh Pandey: "Rang De...was Aamir's Best performance ever"

Kamlesh Pandey, the celebrated screenwriter of Rang De Basanti fame, on how Aamir uplifted the screenplay of Rang De Basanti with his performance and how Rang De Basanti was Aamir's best performance ever...

An excerpt from his interview to PlanetBollywood.com:

A few years back, at a conference, you mentioned that actors are worried more about their scene and don’t care about the entire screenplay. Could you tell us a bit about the script-pitching process and film narration process?

Many actors are not really film-literate. They are only concerned about their own role and performance and what they are doing in the film, not the what the film is all about. Which leads to the bad quality of films done by some of our major stars. Aamir Khan is one of the very few actors who looks at the entire screenplay. The skill with which he calibrated his own performance in Rang De Basanti to the level of the rest of the group went completely unnoticed by all the so-called film awards and film critics. I was the only one who told him that it his best performance ever because he understood that it is an ensemble story and he needed to mingle in the group. Any other mediocre actor in Aamir’s place would certainly have tried to stand out like a hero and ruined the film.

Read the entire interview here - http://planetbollywood.com/displayArticle.php?id=s022809105529

This speaks volumes about Aamir's craft which is above all so-called awards given out by gossip magazines! Way to go, Aamir!

Aamir Khan is by himself a Revolution

3:04 pm (1½ hours ago)

Ashutosh

In a totally unexpected way the Hindi film industry today seems to be a child of the revolution Aamir Khan launched more than half a decade ago with Lagaan. Unlike Sholay, a film that bred entire genres and codes of film-making, Lagaan's impact has been far more structural. It could not be said that Sholay altered the essential dynamic of the film industry. That movement was in place at least since Zanjeer and even in 1975, the year Sholay released, Deewar was an equally influential film and perhaps moreso for questions of genre. In any case Sholay and Deewar formed a double helix for 70s 'masala' genres and in some ways we are still inheritors of that legacy, not least because it is so intertwined with the unequalled career of Amitabh Bachchan. Lagaan's impact however has been crucial in terms of defining the 'meta-narrative' of 'Bollywood'. It is not that Lagaan has bred other similiar films. This clearly did not happen. What did however occur was a sea change in the way 'Bollywood' started functioning from this point on. If Sholay offers a study in influence Lagaan re-defines the terms in which such influence might come about.

3:04 pm (1½ hours ago)

Ashutosh

Aamir Khan introduced to 'Bollywood' what should be properly be called the 'prestige film' and eventually linked his fortunes to this cinema. Basically the star resuscitated a 'Bollywood' that was reeling under the Yashraj onslaught of the 90s and that had in any case not found a mass alternative to the formula genres that collapsed in the 80s. The Yashraj paradigm was clearly the dominant one in its decade but it was never able to breathe oxygen into the industry in any real sense. The love stories or family films the studio created were to start with few in number. There were not many films that literally followed in the Yashraj footsteps and most often it was simply a set of songs shot in Switzerland (and elsewhere) that became the 'Bollywood' response to the former. In other words the Yashraj contribution was 'exotica'. This created a new economic model for the industry by combining major metro (urban) audiences with 'diasporic desire'. Aamir Khan's Lagaan intervention however changed all of this. The star had even in earlier years been evolving towards this goal in various ways but with Lagaan he found the perfect vehicle not just to re-invent himself as a star on a complete different scale but also to re-invent 'Bollywood' at the same time. 'Lagaan' became the first authentic example in contemporary times of a film that seemed to transcend the box office numbers by way of 'prestige'. Of course there had always been such films in Bombay film history but the word had currency as either a notion tied to the big banner film or to alternative cinema with often no overlap between the two. The two in fact usually spoke to different audiences. But Aamir Khan made 'prestige' the very point of his cinema, he achieved the 'overlap' whereby films could have a significant audience, even a mass one, and yet be true to the idea of 'quality' cinema, even 'world' cinema, and to this extent Lagaan's Oscar nomination can hardly be underestimated.

3:05 pm (1½ hours ago)

Ashutosh

A brief note must be added here on Ram Gopal Varma's decisive intervention in the 90s with somewhat similar goals to Aamir Khan's. It is seems rather fortuitous that Ram Gopal Varma essentially began his Hindi career with Rangeela, a film which can also be said to mark the first truly 'different' one (excluding the very experimental Raakh early on) in Aamir's career and one that also was a commercial success. The paths that each took following this film (ironically there was a falling out during the making of the film but this is understandable in terms of the history being traced here) have really led to a sort of marriage in the new milennium where most films of any note seem to be dependent on the decisions taken by either Varma or Aamir Khan in the prior decade. The distinction is that Varma was and remains most interested in subverting genre norms and star signatures, even the very grammar of Hindi cinema, even if he paradoxically does so typically by way of the niche film, somewhat self-defeatingly in terms of his overall goal though over a period of time he has definitely had a snowball effect and impact. Aamir Khan conversely is much more fascinated with the mainstream film and the possibilities that can be explored within the format. Hence 'alternative cinema' is made mainstream while purely commercial genres are enriched with numerous unconventional moves.

3:06 pm (1½ hours ago)

Ashutosh

If Lagaan heralded this new career for Aamir Khan he followed it up rather quickly with Dil Chahta Hai. The latter has become the very prototype of the Generation X multiplex film and has since bred a thousand clones. After a four year hiatus the actor tried his hand at the epic period piece in Mangal Pandey. The film eventually sank at the box office but the idea took root. Much as on a more pop cultural level the decision to grow a moustache, and his hair became a rather influential one imitated since by his peers. Aamir Khan struck back after the failure of Mangal Pandey with Rang De Basanti, a film which offered a variation on the Generation X theme but by marrying it to larger nationalistic concerns that had also occupied the actor for some time. Fanaa then followed, a film which did authentic masala in the guise of Yashraj and in fact this hybrid of 60s and 70s genres did a great deal to subvert Yashraj trends by not opting for the happy ending and having an unrepentant Muslim terrorist as the film's (anti)hero. After another relatively long gap Aamir Khan returned very recently with his first directorial venture in Taare Zameen Par, a film which was truly 'alternative' and nonetheless a very successful one in box office terms. His next project is now an action thriller in Gajini. Much as the actor has played around with his 'look' prompting other stars to do the same in all of his films following Lagaan, Gajini is no exception in this sense.

3:06 pm (1½ hours ago)

Ashutosh

The other stars have followed Aamir by either attempting the 'prestige' film (even at the cost of the box office in some instances) but by also replicating his work ethic to varying degrees. A few quick examples would be in order. Hrithik Roshan after an early career where he did films quite regularly has since moved on to a model where he does very few films. Admittedly a lot of this was brought about by a string of failures at the former stage but the point is that Aamir Khan's model allows him the luxury to do this without necessarily being seen as 'out of the game'. This kind of minimal work load also hearkens to the Hollywood paradigm but Aamir Khan made it acceptable within 'Bollywood'. Similarly, Shahrukh Khan, who has slowed down in recent times, has also followed this work ethic as a way of dealing with changing trends. In each case these stars have tried to negotiate the pressure of their respective fan bases with the general demand for the 'prestige film'. This model has not enabled these stars to the degree enjoyed by Aamir Khan (who is really in the midst of the best phase of his career, arguably one where there is a plausible claim for him being considered the top star or at least a co-equal one at the top) for a whole set of reasons but nonetheless the former remains in place. Moving on, one sees Akshay Kumar as the great exception to this system or rather the star who survives on formula cinema precisely because no one else attempts it among his major competitors. On the other hand there is the very interesting example of Abhishek Bachchan, the only one of the major stars who promises to marry the Aamir Khan paradigm with the volume of Akshay Kumar. It must be pointed out here that lower visibility has not damaged Aamir Khan much while it has had the opposite effect on a younger star like Hrithik Roshan, for whom being 'under the radar' for extended periods of time has had its costs. One could multiply these star examples.

3:07 pm (1½ hours ago)

Ashutosh

Again it is equally important to note that as one really expands on this entire idea the impact of Ram Gopal Varma also has to be accounted for to a much greater degree. Finally, Amitabh Bachchan himself has been the greatest beneficiary of this new model as it has allowed him at his age to constantly experiment as an actor as well as also appear in 'safe' films that are nevertheless removed from his erstwhile strength genres.


To be fair all of this is not to suggest that Aamir Khan has himself not profited from larger 'new India' cinematic trends but that he has had been most visionary in terms of appreciating what the future would be 'about' and how he could mould it in certain ways to further his career as well as fashion a healthier course for the industry. As a result he has contributed to a cinema that is not only connected with the idea of 'prestige' or the 'alternative' but is also more rooted than it was just a decade ago. In fact his interventions have not been limited to the purely cinematic or just to a new work ethic. He has even heralded a new 'age' with his blog. Today increasingly various 'Bollywood' figures are enaging in the same, irregularly for the most part, but with the all important exception of Amitabh Bachchan who has had a massive response to his blog and really seems to be unsurpassed even in this field! It is Aamir Khan who began all of this.

3:08 pm (1½ hours ago)

Ashutosh

One could end on a somewhat predictive note. Aamir Khan's critical function has been to define a post-Bachchan Hindi film industry (which is to say an industry that comes 'after' his peak period though also one where Bachchan is critical to this project in other ways and even 'necessary'). He eschewed the Shahrukh-Yashraj dynamics in the 90s and since then has really wrested the advantage away from the latter. As indicated above the careers of his peers, as well as the general trajectory of 'Bollywood' bears testament to this. However he might also be seen with time as the 'renewer' in an age dominated by the Bachchan signature. The Yashraj-SRK phase was clearly influential but also part of a post-Bachchan interregnum. Now another Bachchan promises to be the biggest beneficiary of the Aamir Khan revolution even as the prior one is still completely relevant and has already profited from it. The cycle might be close to completion. It is a tribute to the strength of the Aamir Khan paradigm that he himself can forever serve as the 'exception' irrespective of how his peers do. His 'prestige' is just about unparalleled at this point, a fact reflected continually in anecdotal opinion and various polls. It is hard to imagine where the actor will be five years or a decade from now but it seems certain that he is only adding to what has already shaped to be a rather remarkable legacy..