Aamir Khan and his ex-wife Kiran Rao, recently recalled in an interview the time when the actor had decided to quit films for good. Aamir, in a conversation with The Hollywood Reporter India, spoke about how he once felt guilty of not spending enough time with his family and thought that leaving cinema should be the way ahead.
“I decided to quit before Laal Singh Chadha. I was going through a personal journey of my own. Towards the end of Covid, I suddenly realised that I have spent the bulk of my adult life, starting from the age of 18 right upto now, all of my bandwidth and focus has been on cinema and films,” he said.
Aamir also said that he felt like he neglected his first wife Reena and Kiran because he was so engrossed in movies. “As a result, I felt that I haven’t been there enough for my relationships – my kids, siblings, and family. Whether it was Kiran or Reena, when I was married to them. I felt that I wasn’t there for these people enough. This was midway through Laal Singh Chadha, because half the film was shot before Covid and the other half happened after that,”. He continued, “So, in the middle of Covid, I went through an emotional moment where I felt that I have given my whole life to cinema and I haven’t been there for my family. I felt a lot of guilt and didn’t feel good about what I had done. And, I have done enough films in the past 35 years, I can now focus on my family. I am glad I realised this at the age of 56-57 and not 88, it would have been too late by then, at least now I can do something.”
When asked how he broke the news to his family, he said. “So, I sat them down and told them that I want to quit films and spend time with you all. That was my reaction, it wasn’t out of any disappointment from cinema. Junaid and Ira convinced me not to quit. I wasn’t going to AKP for at least six months. My family knew that I had quit, but when the time came to tell my potential directors, my kids sat me down. Junaid said, ‘Why do you have to go from one extreme to the other? There is a space somewhere in the middle where you can be in’. They explained that to me and I came back. So, no one knew that I had quit, no practical result came out of it. It was just my personal journey.”
Aamir also revealed how Kiran reacted to the news. “She asked me to come to the balcony to talk alone. She said, ‘You are leaving us’. I said, ‘No, I am not leaving you, I am leaving films’. She said, ‘You are a child of cinema, and if you are leaving films, you are leaving us.'”
Kiran jokingly said that they didn’t want him to stay at home all the time. “Can you imagine him sitting at home and not doing any films? In fact, his daughter told him, ‘Please papa, you can’t spend all your time with us, we will go crazy’. After that, he went straight into six films. 0-6, there is no moderation and balance,” she quipped.
To which Aamir responded by clarifying that he signed six films because he “wanted to make the last 10 years of my active life as actor to be the most productive.” He said,” Hopefully, if I am fine, these 10 years will be the last active 10 years for me in the industry, and I want to work with creative people, including musicians, writers, and directors, people who I feel are really good.”
The actor will next be seen in Sitaare Zameen Par.
