Actor Aamir Khan became a star despite having broken ‘several rules of stardom’ throughout his career of 30 years, he said on Friday during a session at the 56th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa.
“I don't know how I became a star. By all logic, I should not have been a star. I broke all the rules and I made everything impractical. So, I feel grateful that I received so much respect and success. Otherwise, practically speaking, none of the steps I took were from the point of view of achieving success,” the 60-year-old actor said.
Aamir highlighted the experimental nature of his films like Sarfarosh (1999), Lagaan (2001), Ghajini (2008), Taare Zameen Par (2007), and Sitaare Zameen Par (2025).
“In fact, almost every film I used to pick, I used to be like, 'I don't know whether this is going to work.' Like Sarfarosh and Lagaan...There was even Dil Chahta Hai which was very unusual for its time and now Sitaare Zameen Par, all these films that I have picked, they were not meant to be successful,” the actor said during the session titled The Narrative Architect of Social Transformation.
“I pick films based on my own personal excitement towards the story. And most often, that goes against what was the norm at that time...When we were doing Ghajini, everyone told me that, ‘Man, you are doing action now. Action films are not running nowadays.’ So, Ghajini came in and with it, action came into fashion,” he added.
However, Aamir stressed that he is not someone who picks up social causes actively.
“I am not an activist and nor am I someone who is interested in actively taking up issues. That's not me. What is me is storytelling, what is me is films. That's my world. And I am very sharply aware that when a person comes to a cinema hall, he or she is not coming there for a lesson in sociology. For that, they would go to a college,” he said.
The actor said that his first and foremost responsibility is to entertain audiences.
“But the word entertain is not just to make you laugh. I can make you cry and still entertain you. Basically, I want to engage you in one way or the other. I can scare you by making a horror film. I can make a suspense thriller. I can make a family drama. I can make different genres,” Aamir said.
The actor added that he is currently looking for his next film.
Aamir last starred in R. S. Prasanna’s Sitaare Zameen Par, which earned Rs 266 crore worldwide during its theatrical run, emerging as the fifth highest-grossing Hindi film of 2025 and the tenth highest-grossing Indian film of 2025.
IFFI 2025, which commenced on 20 November, is set to conclude on 28 November.