Aamir Khan, see you break ke baad!

Aamir Khan ’s public announcement that he is taking a break from acting to be with his mother and children, couldn’t have come at a more opportune time. His last two films have been unequivocal disasters. Thugs Of Hindostan in 2018 was a shocker. Aamir realized he was no longer in the race at the top with the other two Khans Shah Rukh and Salman. It was a sobering realization and one that placed Aamir in a career conundrum.

After the debacle of Thugs Of Hindostan, Aamir was in dilemma. Should he take a break , or try to regain lost ground? His trusted inner-circle, which includes his former wife Kiran Rao and his cousin Mansoor Ali Khan , advised him to strike back while the iron is out.

“You cannot afford to do a Dilip Kumar in the day and age,” one of Aamir’s close friends advised him.

The great Dilip Kumar took a break from acting in 1998 after the gawd-awful Qilla bombed at the boxoffice. Dilip Kumar immediately inferred the truth: being Dilip Kumar was not enough to ensure success. Clever mind that he had, Dilip Kumar realized that the cinema being made starring him was too small to carry the weight of his image.

Barring Ramesh Sippy’s fabulous Shakti, all of his ‘comeback’ films (the Thespian had taken a break from 1976 to 1981 after his triple roles in Bairaag proved too much to digest) were deeply disappointing to his diehard devotees. Dilip Kumar made the best possible decision: he quit completely, never to look back. So did Suchitra Sen and Vyjayanthimala who never looked back once they made up their minds to quit while they were ahead.

Aamir’s “break” seems like a bit a con-job. What break is he talking about when he says he will return in a year or a year-and-a-half? That’s not a break. That’s a pause, a marketing strategy , a stopover to gauge the public’s reaction. In the past Aamir has taken much bigger breaks than this.

In 2001 after Aamir scored two back-to-back historic happenings Lagaan and Dil Chahta Hai (the latter was actually not a commercial success), Aamir took a four-year break from acting.

In an interview Aamir did with me after the release of Lagaan and Dil Chahta Hai, he had said, “In fact I haven’t been offered any new films. Since I’ve been travelling constantly no filmmaker was able to get in touch with me. I’ve been putting all the offers in the last two years on hold. My office complains that I need to take time off to read all the scripts that are waiting for my attention. I guess I should sign more films. I feel the times are changing. As an actor I’ve been trying to do different but universally acceptable films. Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, Dil Hai Ki Manta Nahin, Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar and Andaz Apna Apna, Sarfarosh, Lagaan and Dil Chahta Hai were all different for their times. I’ve always been excited by fresh and pathbreaking material. I’m happy that all these films have worked.I’m doing films that I believe in and enjoy doing. And I’m thrilled people love them. When I stop doing good work their appreciation will obviously stop there.I just follow my instincts. I feel very vindicated, happy and proud that the audience across the country share my enthusiasm for a different kind of entertainment. That is very encouraging. With every film I’ve gathered the strength to try something different in my next film. I think I’m going about it the right way.”

Aamir returned with the disastrous Mangal Pandey in 2005.Since then he has featured in one or two films every year except 2019, 2020 and 2021.After Laal Singh Chadha he needs to take a long break. Maybe explore the idea of directing a film. A one-year break from acting is meaningless. After Zero in December 2018, Shah Rukh Khan took a five-year break and is all set to return with Pathaan, Jawan and Dunki, refurbished and ready for another innings.

Aamir needs to seriously reinvent himself. He can’t lean into the swashbuckling genre or a remake of Hollywood classic to revive his glory. It has to be an unexpected jhatka, like Lagaan, 3 Idiots or Dangal.

Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based film critic who has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. He tweets at @SubhashK_Jha.

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