Aamir Khan on content-driven films: Every film is ultimately judged on its own merit

Of late, content-driven movies are doing the rounds of the Bollywood film industry. As the industry evolves, the audience evolves with it. Movies namely 'Bareilly Ki Barfi', 'Newton', 'Shubh Mangal Saavdhan', 'Trapped' and more were content-based and it totally impressed everyone including the audience and the critics.

Recently, while in an interaction with the media, Aamir Khan was asked if he thought that audience today has started to prefer content-driven films over commercial ones. To this, the actor replied, "I don’t think that this observation is applicable to Secret Superstar. Unusual films were made even earlier and they will be made after this as well. This film will succeed only if it is a good film. Just because it’s unusual doesn’t mean that it would succeed. You can make a very bad unusual film. Every film is ultimately judged on its own merit. It’s not as if a big mainstream film would not do well henceforth. A well-made mainstream film will always do well. I think Judwaa 2 is doing well very at the Box Office."

Speaking further about the film he stated, "I am not talking about the Box Office as that is something I don’t enter into. For me, it is a much bigger film than Dangal because I think the film is trying to say something that is much bigger. Both films are about the empowerment of the girl child. It is trying to put a spotlight on the issue of gender equality. The difference is, in Dangal, a lead character is still a man. It is Mahavir’s dream that is being fulfilled. It is when he decides – Beta nahi toh Beti kar sakti hai... It is his decision. Not the daughter’s decision. However, Secret Superstar is driven by a female character. It chronicles the story of a 14-year-old girl from Baroda (in Gujarat). There are lakhs of girls from small towns in India with a lot of dreams and aspiration. Dangal spoke to parents that do not have a difference between girls and boys, whereas Secret Superstar talks to the teenagers about their dreams, aspirations, challenges and constraints. So, in this film, the attempt is much larger."

Aamir concluded by saying, "In the trailer, you might have seen Shakti Kumar helping the girl, but in reality, the girl uses him. She is a 14-year-old girl who is very spunky. She doesn’t need help from any man. Zaira was the first choice for Secret Superstar. She first tested for Dangal and then I told Advait about her and then we checked her for this movie. And then we selected her. She became that character in the auditions."

So what did you think about Aamir's take on this? Stay tuned for more updates.

Credits: PINKVILLA