Aamir Khan - As we mention the name of Mr. Perfectionist, we begin to recollect all those great films he has given us, along with his astounding performances in it. Also one remembers his meticulous nature, and above all, his contribution towards Hindi Cinema. Many of his ardent fans somewhere do have a small complaint with this ace actor of being very selective about his films.
After doing films like 'Yaadon Ki Baarat' & 'Madhosh' as a child actor, he experimented with films like 'Subha Subha' & 'Holi' (For FTII & Doordarshan), till his first big release 'Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak'. Since then, this actor has worked in around 40 films, which in comparison to his contemporaries are pretty less. However, just like every other actor even Aamir Khan was suppose to be a part of many more projects to which he was then replaced by some other actors. Thus, we decided to talk about the top 5 films where we could have seen Aamir Khan in it.
Even after the super success of 'Maine Pyar Kiya' starring Salman Khan in it, The Rajshri banners wanted Aamir Khan as Prem opposite Madhuri Dixit in their musical extravaganza - 'Hum Aapke Hain Kaun...!.' Aamir being a realistic actor failed to understand the character of Prem in this film and didn't find the same much appealing, where as a result he rejected the film very soon. On the other hand, Salman Khan, who was apparently going through a worst phase of his career during that period, got a new life with this blockbuster hit.
OMKARA:Aamir Khan and Vishal Bharadwaj were doing a film - 'Mr Shah and Mrs Khanna' - along with Kareena Kapoor in it, but due to some differences between the actor and the director, the film got shelved. At that time, Aamir inspired Vishal to make a film based on Shakespeare's 'Othello'. Aamir was fascinated by the negative character in that Shakespeare's play and thus wanted to do that particular role in the film 'Omkara'. However as soon as the script was ready, Vishal decided to cast Saif Ali Khan for the coveted role of Langda Tyaagi. Vishal feared in a lighthearted manner that this film might also get shelved due to Aamir and his creative differences from the past. The role of Langda Tyaagi played a big role in Saif Ali Khan's career. After enacting in this film, Saif broke his cute lover boy image and got praised in front of his critics too where from thereon they started taking him seriously.
1942 A LOVE STORY:After the super success of 'Parinda', filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra decided to make an epic love-saga, which would be set on the backdrop of independence. Once the basic story line was drafted, they started hunting for the main lead role of 'Naren' in the film. Everyone settled down to Aamir Khan after watching his performances in films like QSQT and Raakh. Vidhu also agreed and narrated the script to Aamir, who eventually loved the script. As Vidhu wanted bulk dates immediately for the shooting, Aamir had to then decline the offer, since he was already committed to his next few films on the row. Aamir requested Vidhu to wait, but Vidhu decided to move on and signed Anil Kapoor instead.
Aamir was a diehard fan of R. D Burman who gave music to most of his Uncle Nasir Hussain's films, and also his father Tahir Hussain's few films including Aamir's films as a child-artist. As Aamir too was keen to work with R.D Burman, so losing out on '1942 A Love Story' was also a big personal loss for him.
SAAJAN:'Andaz Apna Apna' has been the most favorite comedy film and everybody simply loved the comic combo of Aamir Khan and Salman Khan. However much before 'AAA', they both were meant to star in a musical love triangle film 'Saajan' along with Madhuri Dixit. This was going to be one of the biggest projects from the renowned producer Sudhakar Bokade's camp, with music composed by Laxmikant Pyarelal. However as things started materializing, Aamir felt that people will see his handicap character only on melancholy level. He didn't wanted sympathy from his fans and thus decided to opt out from this project. The makers then approached Sanjay Dutt who was going through a changing phase of his life and thus readily agreed. With Sanjay in the team, the makers replaced veteran Laxmikant Pyarelal with Nadeem Sharavan, as they felt that the latter will add the much needed youth factor in the film. This decision worked and made a huge impact on the career graph of Sanjay Dutt and also on the graph of Nadeem Shravan.
DARR:This is one such movie to which almost all die-hard fans of Aamir Khan regret till date. Aamir's decision for not doing 'Darr' gave his apparent on-screen archrival - Shah Rukh Khan - a direct pass in Yash Chopra's camp. Earlier Aamir bonded so well with Yash Chopra on the sets of 'Parampara' that Yash Chopra wanted to make many more films with the great actor, and thus the legendary filmmaker decided to take him in a negative role for his next venture - 'Darr', along with Juhi Chawla & Sunny Deol. Songs were recorded in Udit Narayan's voice suiting Aamir's style and the movie was just about to go on floors. However at that last moment, Aamir had some issues with the climax of the film. He refused to agree over the climax fight between Sunny and him in which he would be squashed by the hulk. Aamir thought that the climax should have a fair and equal fight, and demanded for a joint script narration along with Sunny. This annoyed Yash Chopra and he later replaced Aamir and signed Shah Rukh Khan in its place. Well the rest is history, and the movie became a launch-pad for Shah Rukh Khan, and a grand entry in Yash Raj Films.
Along with these top films, there were several others like S. Shankar's 'Nayak', Ashutosh Gowarikar's 'Swades', Shubash Ghai's 'Taal', Mansoor Khan's 'Josh' and many more. He was also signed along with yesteryear's actress Mumtaz for a film to be directed by Mahesh Bhatt. This film was based on a mother & son's relationship, which might have been the basic plotline of Ajay Devgan's National Award winning film 'Zakhm'.
So on this 48th birthday of 'Aamir Khan', we wish him eternal fame, glory and success. At the same time, we request him to sign at least two to three films a year because 'yeh dil maange more'.