We sat through an entire press conference and yet you did not divulge the name, the concept or the telecast date of your television debut. Why is it such a closely guarded secret?

The intention is not really to keep it a secret or to not share facts. What I am setting out to do is very ambitious. Kuch alag raah pakdi hai maine. It’s an audacious and a challenging idea and the show is very much about real-life situations and real people. There are emotional stories that will touch every Indian. Complex kism ka show hai. This kind of a show has never been made earlier — it’s my own concept. So it’s a little difficult for me to label it just now.

During Taare Zameen Par, people asked me whether it’s an art film or a commercial film and I didn’t have an answer because I find it very difficult to slot my work. I have been a part of a lot of big films, some really huge ones. But this [TV show] is the most important work of my life.

Aamir with Salman Khan on Dus Ka Dum; (above) with Sourav Ganguly on Ke Hobe Banglar Kotipoti

One of the reasons why we held a press conference so much in advance is that over the last one or two weeks, in fact over many months, there has been all kinds of speculation about me doing TV. So Uday (Shankar, chief executive officer, STAR Network) and I thought that let’s make a basic announcement at least and talk about certain things that we are sure about. We are sure that we are doing the show, we are sure that I am doing TV for the first time, we are sure that STAR is the network we are showing on.

Because it’s not based on an international format, it’s a show that is still evolving even as I speak to you. So, there are certain things that are still open in our minds that we cannot give a fixed answer to. Every day I come across something and that changes the way I look at the show. If I can achieve even one-tenth of what I have set out to do, then I will be very happy. It’s a very taxing project and I am saying this not just economically. Yes, we are spending a lot of money on this show, but everything else about it is also on a huge scale. Every day I realise, ‘My god, this is what it is turning out to be’.

There is speculation that the concept is similar to The Oprah Winfrey Show…

I actually haven’t watched much of Oprah but from whatever little I have seen, I can tell you that I am not making anything like that. See, once the show goes on air, it will clear all your doubts. In fact, then we can sit down and even compare the two shows if you want to. One thing that I can tell you is that it is not an activist show. You are not an activist, the audience are not activists, I am not an activist; I am an entertainer.

It’s a show that’s connected to each and every human being. It’s about how our lives get affected on a daily basis. TV is a strong medium and I want to use it to its fullest potential to bring about dynamic change. And I believe that not only does TV have that potential, I believe that people have that potential.

What took you so long to say yes to TV?

Over the years, a number of shows have been offered to me, most of which have been game shows. But there was nothing among them that inspired or excited me. Don’t get me wrong, I love watching and participating in game shows, but I haven’t really been inspired enough to host one. This show has been a dream for close to four years and I think that this is the right time for me to be on TV because I find a certain idealism coming back to people. I find many now wanting to live a life of higher integrity. I am not a social changemaker; I just want to add to the change that I believe is already happening in our country. What I am attempting to do here, television is the right platform for it. As a creative person, as a celebrity, I can use various platforms... there are so many today. What I am attempting, for it to be most effective — and when I say most effective, I mean emotionally and creatively — I think TV is the right platform.

Everything about the show seems very fluid at this point of time…

That’s the way I want it to be. I have kept the format very, very fluid. I don’t want to be bound by any format. STAR ke log mujhe bolte hain ki ‘aisa karna padhta hai, waisa karna padhta hai’ and I am like ‘Kyon? I want to do it my way’. There may be a particular episode in which I may need more time to say something. Then again, when a particular episode comes on TV, we will still be shooting for it. While I am hosting the show, there will be parts of it that will be shot even as it goes on air. We have decided that we will break all rules — humein jo karna hai hum wahi karenge. And because this is my first show, I am being allowed to do what I want!

Do you feel pressured by the fact that both Shah Rukh Khan with Kaun Banega Crorepati and Salman Khan with Dus Ka Dum and Bigg Boss have struck gold on TV?

I am extremely nervous and excited but not from the point of view of what others have done or not done. I am nervous because this is my most ambitious project yet. That is getting me nervous and understandably so. Every film of mine makes me nervous and this makes me 10 times more nervous because I feel that this is 10 times larger than anything I have done before.

Are you wary of the fact that for the first time in your career you will be at the mercy of the TV remote?

That’s a reality that everyone who is on television has to deal with on a daily basis. It’s going to be a reality for me as well. Fact is that if you don’t find me engaging enough, you will switch channels. But what I want to say through this show is so important to me that I don’t want to alter it because of my imagined fear that somebody will change the channel. Let me trust my viewer, is what I feel. And if I go wrong, let me go wrong on my own terms. Let me express to my viewer in the way I genuinely want to, untarnished. Of course I do want more and more people to watch the show, but the quest for TRPs will not change the idea of the show.

You have said that a lot of the show is the real you. Any reservations about laying yourself bare before the audience?

I am very happy for the real me to be out there. I have no reservations about people knowing about me the person. Whatever is private will, of course, always remain private. Otherwise I am extremely receptive to people knowing about the real me. When someone tells me his or her story on the show and if it reminds me of something in my life, I will definitely share it on the show.

Everyone knows about the kind of research that goes into your films. Now that you are on TV, are you trying to acquaint yourself better with the medium?

My consumption of a particular medium is not dictated by what I am doing at that point of time. I have been doing films for 22 years and I hardly watch films. I know very little about Indian TV. I have watched some episodes of Kaun Banega Crorepati, but not this season. Sometimes, I watch what my Ammi (mother) is watching. Right now, my house is being painted and so Kiran (Rao, wife) and I are staying with Ammi. She watches a lot of shows like Pratigyaa (on STAR Plus) and some others whose names I can’t remember. I sit and watch with her sometimes. Otherwise, whenever I watch TV, it’s when I want to catch the news. I am interested in sports. I like humour a lot. Whenever there is a Govinda film on TV, I have to watch it. If it’s a Govinda film, my remote goes into freeze immediately! I love Govinda’s acting; his films make me laugh a lot. I am a big fan of his.

I read a lot, though. More often than not, you will find me with a book in my hand. Currently, I am reading the Dune books, a science fiction series set in the ’70s and I am really enjoying it. I can’t remember the name of the author… it’s quite a nice name [Frank Herbert]. It’s said that George Lucas took inspiration from the Dune books for the Star Wars films.

In the press conference you said that you don’t have a marketing plan for the show. Do you really want us to believe that, given that you are the guru of marketing in the industry?

Right now, I am concentrating on the content; marketing will come much later and will be dictated by how strong my content is. Even with my films, I only do films that I feel I will have fun in. I choose directors who are dying to tell a story. And when I am ready with a project, I am so excited about it that the marketing bit comes naturally. In fact, it’s not any strategy; I do it from my heart. I have been marketing my films from my heart since QSQT (Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak). That time, we had very few platforms for promotion, apart from say, a Chhaya Geet.

Every film that comes out has a promotional strategy. I also promote my films like others. But my marketing will not work if I don’t have a good product in hand. Ultimately it’s the product that counts. No amount of out-of-the-box marketing can help a bad film. But yes, I do have different marketing plans for different films. You can’t promote a sensitive film like Taare Zameen Par in the same way as you would promote a physical film like Ghajini. Material always tells me what my marketing plan is going to be. I don’t have to think beyond that.

How much will being so creatively involved with your TV debut impact the schedule of your films?

I can only manage one thing at a time — I find it very challenging to do two things simultaneously. That’s why I have positioned this show between the schedules of my films. My next film — directed by Reema Kagti and jointly produced by Aamir Khan Productions and Excel Entertainment and starring Kareena (Kapoor) and Rani (Mukerji) — will release on June 1 next year. There are still three days of underwater shooting left for the film but we haven’t decided on a title yet. Since it’s a suspense thriller, everyone has just started calling it ‘Suspense’! Then I will be doing this show and then the shoot for Dhoom:3 will start only after the show gets over, post-June 2012.

As with every Aamir Khan film, there is a lot of excitement about Dhoom:3 even before the first shot has been canned…

It’s actually very unusual for me to sign a film so much in advance. But I loved the script so much I signed it immediately. But I told Adi (Aditya Chopra, the producer of Dhoom:3) that he will have to wait for me to start shooting. Waise bhi, me signing a film is a big cause of celebration in my family because such news only comes to them once in a while (laughs). I remember my sister Farhat calling up from the US after I signed Dhoom:3 and everyone was so excited ki ‘Chalo, Aamir ne picture sign kar li’! (Laughs.)

When will you direct a film next?

Creatively, there is a lot of me in this TV show, although I am not directing it. As a fiction director, not till Dhoom:3 ends for sure. After that, I will think about it. A lot of people say that I ghost-direct some of the films I act in. I will not give credit to anyone else for my own work — I am very clear about that!

Finally, will we ever see Aamir Khan at a film awards function?

I have lost value in my heart for award functions. I know that I am made fun of in those functions, par uska kya karein? How can three people or 10 people or 20 people tell me or anyone else how good or bad I am in a film. My audience is buying a ticket and anyway telling me whether my film is good or bad. My biggest reward is when the audience tells me, ‘Wow, what a film. You changed my life’. Awards se kya milega yaar?

Priyanka Roy

Do you think Aamir the entertainer or Aamir the activist will star in his TV debut? Tell t2@abp.in