'I become the audience'

Aamir Khan, who was named as the best actor by Filmfare for his performance in the film Raja Hindustani, said he deliberately keeps away from Filmfare awards and other such ceremonies because he feels that there is a lot of "inconsistency" in the selection criteria.

Speaking to Karan Thapar on BBC's Face to Face, the actor said, "I have no authentic proof to show that it is rigged. But I realised that a lot of strange things are happening which I would like to stay away from. And, in my opinion, it is quite difficult to compare the performance of two actors in two different films."

Disagreeing with the kind of film journalism being practised, Aamir, "on principle", chose not to speak to the press for nearly eight years. "Initially, I burnt my fingers like everyone else. I understand what they want to achieve through the journalism they are indulging in. And I don't want to be a part of it", he said.

The romantic hero, who first acted at the age of seven, says he would not dance to the tunes of the Bollywood work culture. "I can't work the way the system of the Indian film industry wants me to (doing many roles simultaneously). I like to do one film at a time and give it all I have," he said.

Having portrayed a whole range of characters, Aamir said he chooses roles that appeal to his heart. "While reading the script, I become the audience. If it excites me, moves me, then I accept it and want to be totally involved in it," the actor said.

Asked about his preparations before acting in a particular role, he said he gathers as much information about the character he plays as possible.

"For Sarfarosh, I did a lot of research. But for Raja Hindustani, I used more of my imagination as it was an unrealistic and larger-than-life film.

"Once I form the image of the character in mind, everything flows," he said.

A teetotaller himself, he "consumed a bottle of vodka" for the drunk scene in Raja Hindustani so that "the physical expressions, the body language, speech.... is like that of a drunken person."

Describing filmmaking as storytelling, the matinee idol, who has a large number of BO hits to his credit, said, "My first job is to understand how the director sees the movie as he is the storyteller who uses actors as one of his tools."

On his recent foray into film production, Lagaan, the actor said, "I had no intentions of being a producer. But when Ashutosh (Gowarikar), the director of Lagaan, came up with a script which I loved, I decided to produce it myself, even though it was a difficult and expensive project.

"I did not want to take a chance with someone who might not value the subject as much as I do."

Born into a family involved in filmmaking, Aamir said he had a "lovely but not glamorous childhood". True to his on-screen persona, he "fell in love quite a few times" till he met and married Rina, his saamnewale khidki girl, at the age of 21.

PTI