Focus: Has Actor Aamir Khan Overdone His Perfectionism?

Aamir Khan's habit of pedestalling any-damn-thing he acts in, acts as the chink in his perfect armour.

Back in 2008, when his Mr Perfectionist tag was yet-un-abused, Aamir Khan had said in an interview, “One of my favourite authors, Harry Crews, has said, what deserves to be done, deserves to be overdone!” (Uncut: Understanding the Minds of the Khans, Anshul Chaturvedi). Six years down the line, one can’t help but wonder: has this Khan overdone his perfectionism?

If one remembers right, even a decade back, Aamir wasn’t this hardcore a perfectionist as he’s turned out now. There were films like Raja Hindustani and Dil, which helped him gain a firm footing in the Hindi film industry, but that was Aamir minus the perfectionism.
And yes, his audience lapped those films up, as did the critics. He was lauded in most circles; and no, nobody seemed to mind the fact that the Aamir that they were so openly praising to the heavens was not a perfectionist.

Cut to 2014. No mention of Aamir Khan is complete without alluding, at least once, to his "perfectionist" tag. No matter which interview you read; no matter which press conference you attend; no matter which discussion you attend – if there’s Aamir somewhere in the subject line, his perfectionism is bound to come up. So much so, that it has almost become a bit repetitive to hear the same monologues about how Aamir practised staring at a wall intently for four hours just to intensify his gaze in Dhoom 3, or how Aamir – a non-paan-chewer – chewed 50 to 60 paans a day to get into the skin of his character in PK. While initially, right after his return to the cameras with Mangal Pandey: The Rising (2005), after a four-year break, seemed interesting and much admiration inducing, one does need to realise that overdoing something can cloy the senses.

After Lagaan (2001) made its way to the Oscars, and Dil Chahta Hai (2001), to the hearts of his audience, Aamir’s now well-known, self-imposed four-year-long break happened. Once he got back to the screen, the change in this post-hibernation Aamir was way more than visible. While he was always known to experiment with his looks in his films, stepping into the character of Mangal Pandey seemed to have taken place on more levels than one. 

After that, there was no stopping this Khan. He left no stone unturned in perfecting his character in Rang De Basanti (2006), and that hard work of his paid off in catapulting the film to the league of a cult. Then came Fanaa (2006), which had Aamir essaying the much-acclaimed anti-hero. The next year, Taare Zameen Par (2007) hit the theatres. Yet again, Khan’s sweat and tears paid off; the film was massively liked, won numerous awards, and reaffirmed the fact that Khan was a name to reckon with. So far, so good.

In 2008 came Ghajini. Aamir went under the razor; got himself a look that soon many among the Indian youth began to emulate; and did what he began to be best known for – played his character to the hilt. 2009 saw 3 Idiots. Aamir drank up age-reversal potions and got into the shoes of an engineering student. Result: An all-record breaking blockbuster. It is probably after the success of 3 Idiots, one might say, that Aamir’s "perfectionist" avatar was acknowledged by all and sundry.

For Aamir, 3 Idiots set a benchmark that probably no film had done till then. Audiences screamed their lungs out praising the film, and critics filled reams of paper pointing out its good points. Aamir The Perfectionist, who was born right after his four-year break, was now the stuff of legends. 3 Idiots made Aamir disappear from the silver screen for more than an entire year. It was only with Dhobi Ghat, in 2011, that the actor got back to the cameras. He donned the mantle of the producer for Peepli Live (2010) in between. 

Apart from that, Aamir spent time coursing his way through the washermen-alleys of Mumbai; living in a chawl for some time; and researching – for his wife’s directorial debut, Dhobi Ghat (2011). The film was a critical success, thanks to Aamir’s acting – to a large extent; and was a commercial super-flop, thanks to probably the same reason. The story failed to penetrate the heads of most of the masala-film-loving-Indians, the same people who loved his singing-dancing-fighting roles earlier, and Aamir went off to researching for his next film.

Talaash (2012), the much-anticipated supernatural thriller (Aamir pleaded with his fans and followers to refrain from using the word "supernatural" before the release) hit the theatres. And received a lukewarm response at the box office. Yes, here, too, Aamir was his uber-perfectionist self; trying to imbibe the qualities and flaws of police officers. His TV stint, Satyamev Jayate, took place in between – and yet again, we had an Aamir who was way above being just an actor – he was acting the part of being a human now; teary-eyed, shivery-voiced, et al.

It was last December, however, that saw this avatar of Khan slipping down the popularity spiral. The 2013 Christmas release, Dhoom 3, was torn apart by many critics and laughed at by the mass. For it tried to straddle both the hemispheres of being a no-brainer-mass-entertainer – and that of boasting of a cast which included Aamir Khan. People found it a bit tough to digest that Aamir the Perfectionist would be seen doing what he did in the film – murdering logic. But then, Aamir’s area of perfecting his art lay somewhere else: in his trapeze acts, his over-penetrating gaze, his riding a motorbike through Manhattan, and making sure his abs looked original in the posters; logic be damned.

This year, too, we have Khan bombarding us with stories of what all he had to do in order to get his character in PK right. By now, we already know that he had a paan shop installed inside the sets and chewed on the leaf for all his waking hours; that he practiced not blinking at all till his eyelids would no longer play along with the torture; and that he cannot reveal anything – anything – at all regarding his character in PK. 

Yes, he had successfully managed to assure people of the above-average quality of his film, way before even the trailer was released. And it is precisely this – this habit of Aamir’s – of pedestalling any-damn-thing he acts in, that acts as the chink in his perfect armour. One hopes that this film, too, like his last three, doesn’t slip off into that ravine – of not being able to match up to the hype.