Aamir Khan

Calcutta, May 20: After many an accusation of having ghost-directed most of his recent releases, Aamir Khan is finally — and officially — slipping into the director’s chair.

This makes him the first superstar of his generation to make the all-important switch to behind the camera, something Raj Kapoor had done with Aag in 1948 and Dev Anand with Prem Pujari in 1970.

Taare Zameen Par, the first venture of Aamir Khan Productions since the 2001 Oscar-nominated Lagaan, was to be directed by the film’s writer Amol Gupte and featured Aamir only as an actor. But circumstances led to Aamir taking up the creative reins.

A spokesperson for Aamir Khan Productions confirmed to The Telegraph: “Taare Zameen Par will be the first film that will officially credit Aamir as director.”

According to sources, Amol started out directing the film but after the first week of shooting, when Aamir saw the rushes, he was not happy with what he saw. “Aamir felt that what Amol Gupte had written as a script was not translating well on to the screen,” the source said. “He had lost faith in Amol as a director and he called him and expressed what he felt.”

Understandably, Amol stepped down as the director and the production house set about looking for a replacement.

A number of names came up but after many brainstorming sessions, Aamir decided to take on the mantle. The hasty decision had a lot to do with the film’s backdrop — a relationship between a dyslexic school student and his teacher (played by Aamir).

“The film has to be shot in the summer holidays when schools are shut for an extended period,” the source said.

“Any new director coming in would have meant that shooting had to be stopped for four to six months for him to get ready.

“The delay would have automatically pushed back the entire film by a year with the shooting dates reset to the next summer vacations. With Aamir being involved with the script from scratch, he could start shooting the very next day.”

The other reason was that Aamir didn’t want the child actor, Darsheel Safari, to grow up. “It was very difficult to zero in on the kid and Aamir wasn’t too keen to wait and have him grow up,” the source added.

The late Satyajit Ray, too, had rushed through the shooting of his first film, Pather Panchali, lest Uma Dasgupta, who played Durga, grew up.

Earlier, Aamir had often been accused of having more than a creative say in films like Lagaan, Dil Chahta Hai and Rang De Basanti and even the success of these films are attributed to his cinematic acumen. But it will now be Taare Zameen Par which will decide Aamir’s future as an actor-director.

Now in its post-production stage, “the Aamir Khan film” is slated for release this December.