Aamir Khan

Biography
Aamir Khan in Mumbai, India, is a highly acclaimed and a prominent National Film Award-winning Indian film actor, producer and director. Appearing as a child actor in Yaadon Ki Baaraat , Khan's career started eleven years later with the film, Holi . He received his first commercial success with Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak and won a Filmfare Best Male Debut Award for his performance in the film. After eight previous nominations during the 1980s and 1990s, he received his first Filmfare Best Actor Award for his performance in Raja Hindustani , his biggest commercial success so far. He won acclaim ...( show more

) for his role in the Academy Award nominated Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India , and received his second Best Actor award at the Filmfare ceremony as well as numerous other awards. Taking a four year break from acting, Khan made his comeback with Ketan Mehta's The Rising . Being a part of several commercially successful movies and delivering highly acclaimed performances, he has established himself as one of the top and most successful leading actors of Hindi cinema.

Aamir Khan was born in Mumbai into a Muslim family that has been actively involved in the Indian film-industry. His roots are connected to the city of Herat in Afghanistan due to him being a descendant of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. His father Tahir Hussain is a producer; his uncle Nasir Hussain was a director. He has acted in a few films directed by his cousin Mansoor Khan. His brother Faisal Khan is an actor, and they have co-starred in the 2000 film Mela. His cousin Tariq was an actor in the 1970s who notably appeared in Yaadon Ki Baraat and Hum Kisi Se Kum Nahin.

Aamir began his career as a child actor in films like Yaadon Ki Baraat (1973) and Madhosh (1974). After eleven years, he made his adult acting debut playing a supporting role in Ketan Mehta's Holi (1984). In 1988 he got his first leading role in Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak which was a huge success and launched his career. After that, he went on to appear in many other films in the early 1990s, which did poorly at the box office. However he had success with Dil (1990), which became the highest grossing film of the year, Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar (1992) and Rangeela (1995), which entered in the top five highest grossing films. Aamir also co-wrote the screenplay for Mahesh Bhatt's Hum Hain Rahi Pyaar Ke (1993), in which he also acted. Khan's first and only release in 1996 was Dharmesh Darshan's blockbuster Raja Hindustani opposite Karisma Kapoor. The film earned him his first Filmfare Best Actor Award after eight previous nominations during the 1980s and 1990s and went on to become one of the highest grossing films of its decade. This was followed by the semi-hit Ishq (1997), which became the fourth highest grossing film of that year and the moderately successful Ghulam (1998), for which he also did playback singing. John Mathew Matthan's moderately successful Sarfarosh (1999) was Khan's first release in 1999. His role as a dedicated cop fighting border terrorism won him critical acclaim. His negative role in Deepa Mehta's offbeat film Earth (1999) also won him acclaim. His first release for the new millennium was the box-office failure Mela where he acted alongside his real-life brother Faisal Khan. In 2001 he produced and starred in the Academy Award nominated Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India. The film became the third highest grossing film of that year and gave him his second Filmfare Best Actor Award. His second release, the successful Dil Chahta Hai (2001) also entered in the top five highest grossing films of 2001 and earned him another nomination for Best Actor at the Filmfare ceremony. For the next three years, Khan had no releases, as he put in a lot of time preparing for the role of the real-life martyr Mangal Pandey in his comeback film, The Rising (2005) Although the film was not as successful as Lagaan, it managed to do moderately well, becoming the third highest grossing film of that year. Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's critically acclaimed Rang De Basanti was Aamir's first release in 2006. His role was well acclaimed, earning him a Filmfare Critics Award for Best Performance and various nominations for Best Actor including the Filmfare Awards. The film went on to become one of the highest grossing films of the year and was selected as India's official entry to the Oscars Although the film was not shortlisted as a nominee, it won a nomination for Best Foreign Film at the BAFTA Awards in England. His performance in his next release, Fanaa (2006) was also acclaimed and the film went on to become one of the highest grossing films of 2006. His latest film, Taare Zameen Par, which marked his directorial debut, opened to excellent responses from critics and audiences alike. Khan had received an offer from Madame Tussauds to have a wax statue of himself installed but he declined. In an interview he said, "It's not important to me. I have been approached but I am not interested. People will see my films if they want to. Also, I cannot deal with so many things, I have bandwidth only for that much. So things that do not interest me, I just let them pass. Each one has their own priorities on what interests them."

Khan fell in love with Reena Dutta but as Muslims, his parents did not approve of her. As soon as he turned 21, he proposed to her. She accepted and their marriage stayed a secret for a while. Dutta made a brief appearance in the popular song sequence Papa Kehte Hain from Khan's first film Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, though not a professional actress and already married to him at that time. It was big news when the marriage was first revealed. Reena Dutta maintained a very low profile and continued her job working in a travel agency. However, Khan's popularity survived the revelation, and his marriage to his wife seemed to have survived too. They had two children (son Junaid and daughter Aira) and led a quiet, publicity-shunning family life. Dutta was even involved, briefly, in Khan's career when she worked as a producer for Lagaan. In December 2002, Aamir filed for divorce ending the tumultous 15-year marriage. Dutta took custody of the children. On December 28, 2005, Aamir married again, to Kiran Rao, who had been an assistant to director Ashutosh Gowariker during the filming of Lagaan. Recently, his brother Faisal publicly accused him of mistreating him and forcing him to take medication. Faisal has been said to be mentally unstable. On 31 October, 2007, courts granted temporary custody of Faisal to their father, Tahir Hussain. Khan's family came out in a public statement supporting him on all counts in this matter. The statement was also signed by his former wife and mother of his children, Reena Dutta. Khan rarely attends award functions as he does not believe in the authencity of the selection and winning process, he made an exception when he attended the Oscars when his film Lagaan was nominated.