Already, the comparisons have started. Says Soham Shah, the director of Imran Khan's new film Luck (one of the few projects that got a green signal from Uncle Aamir Khan), “Imran is just like Aamir, absolutely punctual. In fact, he’s been reaching our shoots before time. And, like Aamir, he asks for the script in advance and understands it fully before he comes on the sets. ”

However, unlike his famous maamu, Imran will hopefully remain media-savvy and not switch on and off as per mood and market dictates. Of course, after coming out during Taare Zameen Par, Aamir has discovered the delights of speaking his mind in print, on prime television and on his blog. He also saw the fruits of Shah Rukh’s overkill before Om Shanti Om and let loose Imran in similar fashion.

So, currently, there’s been Imran, Imran everywhere, on the net, on TV, on every conceivable medium. One only hopes the lad has also been readied for the onslaught that comes after the honeymoon with the media is over. For instance, everybody already knows that Imran has come in with a steady girlfriend by his side (Uncle Aamir took her everywhere that Imran went, including Shammi Kapoor’s house to release the music of Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na and to the IPL finals) and that the young lady was once Ranbir Kapoor’s girl too!

Uncle Aamir has certainly changed many of his self-imposed rules. What definitely has changed is that maamu didn’t ask Imran to hide Avantika Mallik, his girl, until he was accepted by the audience. People who were around during Aamir’s own debut film Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak would recall that his marital status was kept hidden from the public all through the making of the film. Although Aamir was already married to his Pali Hill neighbour, Reena Dutta, the new, young, romantic hero had to arrive looking unattached and available. And so, Aamir’s marriage was kept a secret until QSQT was declared a super hit and he realised that the audience couldn’t care less what he did when the camera wasn’t on.

Today, the wise, 40-plus actor is confident that whether he is a philanderer/loyally married/ divorced/ remarried or a bounder in real life, as long as he makes films like Lagaan, Taare Zameen Par and Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na, the audience won’t desert Aamir Khan. It won’t distance itself from nephew Imran either, irrespective of whether he is single and footloose or joined at the hip to a steady girlfriend. And so, Aamir relaxed his rule and let Imran-Avantika be seen together publicly.

That really leaves us with only one other embargo that Aamir had imposed —on attending awards functions. Despite carrots like the trophy for best film, best director, best debut director (all for Taare Zameen Par), Aamir hasn’t succumbed so far. If he made an exception for a Lata Mangeshkar Award or has agreed to attend a prestigious awards function in Chennai this August, it can’t really be construed as a step towards attending all those fake, sponsored events that are so obviously designed for television only. Will Aamir relent when it comes to nephew Imran making an appearance next year at these functions?

As we all know, Aamir did make an uncharacteristic exception for the Oscars when he pulled out the stops as the producer of Lagaan. But perhaps Aamir would like to know what some of his counterparts in the West think of the Oscars. Here’s what Colin M. Jarman’s The Nasty Quote Book has come up with:

After Tristiana was nominated for Best Foreign Movie —

“Nothing would disgust me more morally than winning an Oscar. Nothing in the world would make me accept it. I wouldn’t have it in my home.”

Luis Bunuel: Variety (1970)

“The Academy Awards is all politics and sentiment, and nothing to do with merit.”

Truman Capote: “The Oscars are some sort of masturbatory fantasy. I would rather have a good three-man basketball game than sit here in my monkey suit.”

Elliott Gould

“The Oscars are obscene, dirty, and grotesque, no better than a beauty contest.”

Dustin Hoffman

“The Oscar process is offensive, barbarous, and innately corrupt.”

George C. Scott (1970)

“Oscar time is the intellectual rutting season…a thoroughly awful and debasing time.”

Dalton Trumbo

“You can’t eat awards…nor, more to the point, drink ’em.”

John Wayne

Doesn’t most of it sound like Aamir himself scoffing at our desi too?

Bharathi S. Pradhan is managing editor Movie Mag International