It’s the storyline that excites me, insists Aamir Khan
BEIJING: When actor Aamir Khan is preparing to film a movie, he isn’t really thinking of the likely audiences.
Instead, what gets him salivating and excited is a good storyline.
During a forum here on how movies can promote culture, Aamir said: “The fact is that when I am making a movie, I am not thinking about the audience, I am not thinking about what my audience is going to be and where the movie is going to be seen, at the time I am just thinking as a person what excites me.”
His simple secret? Focusing on telling local stories.
Hong Kong filmmaker Stanley Tong agreed with Aamir that more cultural exchanges are needed, in the mould of several Sino-Indian movie projects.
In China, Aamir is widely known for his hit films Dangal and Secret Superstar, which earned more than two billion yuan. Since the huge success of Dangal, Aamir has begun appearing more frequently as a cultural ambassador for Indian films at Chinese events.
On promoting India-made movies, Aamir said: “Personally, I think the deeper you go into your own culture, the deeper you go into your own villages, the deeper you go into your own stories, the more international you will be because people from all over the world would like to know your culture.”
Though the number of Indian films imported to China has grown significantly over the past two years, only a few Chinese films have made it into India.
Observed Aamir: “At one time there used to be posters of Bruce Lee in every Indian household, but for many years there have been no exchanges of film from China to India.
“And now I feel as a movie person in India, I want to take films from China to distribute them in India and showcase Chinese culture and Chinese people’s lives to Indian audiences. I think that will bring Indian people closer to Chinese people.”
Noted Cao Yin, director of the CCTV movie channel’s programme centre: “Filmmaking is an indicator of a country’s soft power. In our times today, it should be connected to the destiny of humanity and civilisation.”
Tong, an award-winning director, is known for his Kung Fu Yoga, the 2017 Chinese-Indian action co-production starring Jackie Chan. He had also directed the 1995 action comedy Rumble in the Bronx, which launched Jackie’s Hollywood career.
“The key reason why Chinese kung fu movies became known to the world is not just due to the action scenes, but also because of the ethics and culture connected to those films,” Tong noted.