Imran Khan

We’re sitting in a hotel room in Nagpur after a pretty hectic day, and mamu (Aamir Khan) has handed his precious laptop over to me so I can respond to the wonderful messages you have all sent in. Here goes.

First off, THANK YOU all so much for the completely overwhelming opening weekend. I swear, I had never expected our film to open this big. We were always happy with the film, we were pretty confident that people would like our film, but to have the film open to near 100 per cent collections was… insanity.

I feel like everything might be a dream, and that things can’t really be going as well as it seems. I feel like I might suddenly snap out of it and find that the last few days were highly exaggerated. That the hype we’ve seen was only for Aamir, and not for Genelia, Jaane Tu… and me. Everyone is asking me what it feels like to be a star, and I never know how to reply… how does a star feel? I don’t feel any different, am I really a star? I don’t see myself as one, perhaps it will come with time.

Here ends the rambling, and I shall (finally) get down to business. There are so many people to thank, and not nearly enough time to do it all properly; thank you Abbas for writing a beautiful story. You always refer to yourself as a storyteller, and that’s what my Nana was to me. A storyteller first and foremost. That’s what I like and respect the most about you. I hope that fire burns inside you right till the end, as it did with him. To never stop telling stories. Thank you Mansoor mamu for never hesitating for a second before coming to help us make this film. I know what it took of you. Thank you my friends and co actors, who made every day on set a joy. Thank you Lobo, Stevie and all the technicians who worked behind the scenes to make us look so good. And last of all, because it will take the most space, thank you Aamir mamu.

Throughout the time we were making the film, and promoting it, I’ve ragged AK quite a bit, we’ve cracked a lot of jokes about one another, but I never really said the most important thing. Thank you. Some might think it odd that I’m choosing his blog as the platform to thank him, but really, what better place? What better than standing up in front of all his fans, his well wishers, the people who love him the most, and telling them all he’s done for me?

The question I’m asked most frequently (besides “will you sing a few lines?”) would have to be “what tips did Aamir give you?”. I always tell them he didn’t give me any, which is technically true. He never sat me down and said “Come nephew, I shall give you wisdom”. He has, however, taught me a lot. A lot more, I think, than even he realises. He has taught me integrity, honesty, courage and grace. Without ever saying a word. He has taught me to stand on my own, and to pick myself up when I fall. He’s encouraged me to think for myself, and never be afraid to do what is right. So this one’s for you, mamu. It all started with you thanking your uncle for the faith he had in you. Here’s me thanking you for being an inspiration to me, and to more people than you’ll ever realise or admit. With love and respect.

Genelia

... let me tell ul exactly what jaane tu is to me.. apart from the fact that abbas gave me a fantastic character to play and guided me all thru this journey of jaane tu as much as imran was the biggest pest biggest bully in the world to me (jokes apart hes awesome) apart from the fact that the gang the rest of the crew was simply terrific, theres one person who made me believe im worth it and honestly whose belief in me made me believe in myself and yup ul guessed it right… it is aamir khan.. I term jaane tu as a new beginning and I credit it to this one man.. I wondered how he managed to do things so perfectly and accurately and I honestly believe its bcoz of the kinda person he is..when people ask me whether im in awe of him… he often jokes around and says that both me imran were never in awe of him but I can say I can never get more spellbound than this by a personality like his. and im so so proud to be part of his production house..

so ya jaane tu started of, being my dream and today post release im still dreaming and guys its out of this world..firstly with the gorgeous words mr Bachchan said to us on aaj tak's live show which for me is the biggest and best compliment I could receive, also we have just been to delhi and nagpur and im telling u its an experience of a lifetime.. I know we cant be fooling ourselves and thinking that all these guys came for us coz v know exactly who they came for but inspite of all the hype we got due to our producer, what touched my heart was that so many people loved jaane tu.. so many people cheered for us.. so many people called me meow and that felt the best.. I actually felt that aditi (my character) had grown into the people and that was my biggest reward and today at nagpur it was tremendous.. the amount of people.. oh my god.. it was crazy but as gorgeous as ever..

neway I think im boring ul a bit tooooo much but after reading aamir’s blog and reading what all u guys had posted for us, I thought its only fair I share my excitement with people who r genuinely happy for me. so on an ending note pls pls wish me loads of luck coz I definitely need it and something I learnt from aamir is to just be true to ones heart and that’s the way I intend to continue…thanks guys

[Note: Reproduced from http://www.aamirkhan.com/blog.htm]