When Aamir Khan ‘would come home and cry’: ‘My career was over’

Aamir Khan is one of the top stars of India today but the actor also had his years of struggle when he gave 'bombs' and was rightly tagged a 'one-film wonder', in his own words. The actor, who had a blockbuster launch with Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, soon realised that it was downhill from there. In a recent address to the student of Bennett university, Aamir likened his career to being stuck in quicksand at that time.

"After Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, I signed about eight or nine films on the basis of stories as the directors were all new and unknown at that time. These films started bombing and I was called 'one film wonder' by the media. My career was sinking. It felt like I was in a quicksand. I was very unhappy. I used to come home and cry," he told the students.

He said people he wanted to work with were not interested and he realised that the films he was doing were no good. "Within the first two years of QSQT, I experienced the weakest stage of my life. The films I had signed started releasing and flopping one after the other. So, I was like, 'I am finished. There's no way I can survive this onslaught', since I knew how bad my other unreleased films were," he said.

Aamir said that was the time he decided that he was prepared to end his career but will not sign on the dotted line till he will get a "great director, great script, and a great producer".

In an interview to HT, Aamir had said a few years earlier, "At the time, I felt I was working with people I couldn't connect with. I didn't know how to get out of that situation. I had committed to some films, so I couldn't have gotten out of doing them. I did those movies, but I was unhappy. At that traumatic time, I made a promise to myself to not do a film till I was satisfied (with the script)."

The actor will next be seen in Laal Singh Chaddha, an official remake of Hollywood film Forrest Gump. Set to release at the end of 2020, the film has now been postponed due to the coronavirus lockdown.