It’s only on merit that I produced Dhobi Ghat: Aamir Khan

Aamir Khan reveals details about working with newcomers, life experiences and new film dhobi ghat.

MUMBAI: After more than two decades in filmdom, Khan has come to be known as a perfectionist, yet he still craves to learn more. The learning process continued with Dhobi Ghat, which releases Friday and stars first-timers Monica Dogra and Kirti Malhotra.

“One big lesson I learnt while working with newcomers, is that it’s very important to let go off skill. Unfortunately, I learnt that at the end of the film, otherwise I would have applied it at the beginning. It was only when I saw the film, that I realized the power of their real, raw performance,” says Khan.

“There was too much skill in mine. I wish I could drop my skill a little. In my next film, I’m going to try and forget, unlearn everything I have learnt in so many years,” added Khan.

Dhobi Ghat, scripted and directed by Rao, is about Mumbai, its people and its life. While Khan plays pivotal role in the film, the director tells her story based on personal experiences through the actors.

It’s a film Khan is looking forward to enormously, not just because it is made by his wife. Sitting comfortably in his office, the 45-year-old, dressed in black, says candidly that he has no intention of misguiding the audience whom he has been entertaining for the last 22 years.

“I am reducing my audience consciously. I am doing that because I have a relationship with my audience which is now more than 22 years old. They have grown to trust me. It’s very easy for me to market this film as a regular film to bring in the audience in large numbers and take a huge opening. But I don’t want to do that,” he said.

“I don’t want a person to come to see my film thinking that it’s another kind of film. I think what we have made is an unusual film and I would be very happy if people come to see it, but I have to be honest to them before they buy tickets.”

“I have to inform them that if they are looking for an entertaining film, a lot of action, thrill and fast pace, then this is not the film for them.”

“I believe the film is made for an audience who perhaps is more interested in music, art, painting, poetry, reading or people who want to try something different. I also feel people who are  more sensitive will like the film more. Women will like this film more, I could be wrong, but that’s my sense of it,” he said.

Khan, a doting husband, also clarifies that he decided to produce the film because he liked the script and not because it was being made by his wife.

“The only reason to produce Dhobi Ghat was that I loved the script and I saw that Kiran had the abilities of a good director. If I hadn’t liked the script, then I would have not produced it even though it was written by my wife. I would have politely told her that it didn’t excite me, I can’t be a part of it. I would still support her as a husband, but I would not have directly connected with the film in any way. “So it’s only on merit that I produced the film,” said the actor, who is playing a reclusive painter in Dhobi Ghat.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 20^th, 2011.