My favourite Aamir Khan performances: Part I

May 12th, 2008Related|Filed Under

I have left out Raakh since I cannot recall movie or performance!

18. Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke (1993)
Aamir and Juhi always made a good onscreen pair. Although their chemistry doesn’t reach the heights of Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke still makes for a good family entertainer. As Rahul Malhotra (irony of the name being that Shahrukh Khan usually springs to mind), Aamir puts in a confident performance as the guardian of his dead sister’s children. A mature character then what the industry was use to at the time from Aamir, the performance and film had substance.

17. Dil (1990)
As Raja, Aamir nails the rich, arrogant college kid character well. He is solid in his comical timing in the first half and along with Madhuri excels wonderfully in the second half with dramatic moments enacted well. Dil is your typical rich girl, poor boy, angry parents story. But it came fairly in the 90’s and had a fresh feel to it. My favourite scene is actually the rape scene, somewhat a daring way in which the two lead characters fall for each other. Also the film had one of the best soundtracks of the early 90’s with Udit Narayan at his near best. Aamir plays his character well, though I still feel he was fairly raw at this point in his career. His chemistry with Madhuri was superb in my opinion and its shame they haven’t work more often since.

16. Ghulam (1998)
Speaking of chemistry, Aamir and Rani were pretty good too in Ghulam. As Siddharth, Aamir displays the anger and frustrations of a senstitive ‘gunda’ well and does well in the action sequences at the end. However, overall not one of his more memorable performances, mainly because I find the film overall fairly clichéd and overated. The best moments are shared between the lead pair and Aati Kya Khandala is the highlight of the movie for me.

15. Andaz Apna Apna (1994)
Andaz Apna Apna was a laugh riot long in the making. Dialogues are simply hilarious and it is amongst my favourite comedies because it is just full of ridiculously etched out characters who act and mouth dialogues utterly like no other comedy. There is a plot, but you find yourself immersed in pure slap-stick comedy. Outrageous is a word that comes to mind when thinking of AAA. I like the songs in the movie because they are so different to other movies at the time.
As Amar, Aamir’s dialogue delivery is top notch but I think Salman scored on him with body language and comfort. Comedy is probably not Aamir’s strongest characteristic, but this is a more then competent performance in a film that bombed at the box office but is now ranked as one of the best comedies to come out Hindi cinema. A good comedy turn for what was his first fully fledged comedy role.

14. Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander (1992)
JJWS is a brilliant ‘underdogs’ movie. And Mansoor Khan the right kind of director to keep the sensibilities in check especially with many sub-plots in play. For some reason Mansoor reminds me of Hirani, not sure why, but it’s probably because with the kind of scripts they have they could have gone overtly melodramatic, but they manage to infuse the right amount of drama before getting too cheesy. College campus rivalries, love struck college kids, brother-father relationships and a sports theme interwoven with a cult youthful song makes this one of the best entertainers of the early 90’s.
As Sanju, Aamir is the pivotal character in the film mainly because he is pretty much involved in most the sub-plots of the movie. In another young, college boy role, this role epitomised Aamir’s ‘chocolate boy’ tag. His character matures as the film proceeds and he pulls of drama, comedy and anger well. And Pehla Nasha, a great song, is pulled off with great youthful exuberance.

13. Raja Hindustani (1996)
By this time, I think Aamir was maturing as an actor, moving away from college boy roles and Raja Hindustani is a pretty fine performance if not for the melodrama of the second half. Interestingly, not many like the film today and I’m not surprised because it’s fairly run of the mill; the only saving graces are the performances of the lead pair and the film’s music. Raja’s mannerisms and dialect are good, his English attempts fairly funny too. The one memorable moment (till today) is a long, lingering 2 minute snog between the lead pair, which of cause had the theatre gasping for air (much like Karishma probably!)

12. Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin (1991)
A refreshing pair, that exuded immense chemistry, as Raghu, Aamir played this character so well in my opinion and Pooja Bhatt excelled (for once). In fact it was a tailor made role for aamir. A typical plot but decent enough to still watch, Aamir plays a confident, smart mouthed reporter superbly. A good soundtrack too, this kept up Aamir’s sequence of delivering something significant every year in the early 90’s despite a spat of flops.

11. Dil Chahta Hai (2001)
This amongst my favourite films of the decade and is a superb ‘buddy’ film. No doubt the last 20mins or so go haywire, precisely the point at which Akash displays public affections of love to Shalini in complete filmi style. But before that and the poignant ending, the film is a class apart. The characteristics of each of the characters is well etched and the humour is witty, situational and ‘actually’ funny rather than the no story comedies we see now.
Akash is Aamir’s character, a witty, smug brat who professes to not believing in love. Aamir is pretty good here, though probably again one can see the effort and strain comedy puts on him. The dialogues, story and camaraderie between the males is refreshing and the film is probably the beginning of the era of multiplex movies. A cool, hip performance overall from Aamir, who showed in 2001 what a fine actor he had become. His behaviour as Akash was pretty good. A twitchy character, always one who cannot concentrate, Aamir played it well with good body language.
Film has so many scenes I like; it would be too long to list. But amongst my favourites are Saif recollecting a story about Sonali and her boyfriend, Aamir prompting and setting up Saif to go and see his girlfriend and Aamir breaking down. Visually something new, a somewhat western and urban feel to the movie, the music too was peppy and well in tune with the film. This film has stood the test of time remarkably well in my opinion and remains Farhan’s best. Easily would fine a place amongst my personal top 10 of the decade, but not in my top 10 Aamir performances.

There Are 58 Responses So Far. »

  1. Comment by JustaFan on 12 May 2008:

    Aamir got his first FF best actor award for Raja Hindustani because it was an all time blockbuster. The movie itself was crap and I don’t think Aamir’s performance was that great either. Heck, even I would even rate his performance in MELA over RH. Also, I am surprised that you have DCH rather low.

  2. Comment by rks on 12 May 2008:

    Good write-up.

    Mansoor’s movies are remake of English movies but his Indianization is very astutely done. Only part where I haven’t liked his direction is ending of Josh (the courtroom and prior scene).

  3. Comment by jayshah on 12 May 2008:

    Justafan, DCH could easily be higher, I did toy with that idea. RH is not a great movie at all but I did like Aamir in the first half. The second half is a blank out for me.

  4. Comment by satyam on 12 May 2008:

    Good piece here.. I look forward to the rest. My single favorite Aamir performance is Fanaa followed by MP probably. In general I like him just about everywhere over the last decade or so. DCH is one I like less for the Aamir performance.

  5. Comment by satyam on 12 May 2008:

    Raakh incidentally is worth watching though I guess it’s not easily available..

  6. Comment by rks on 12 May 2008:

    I haven’t bothered to watch Raja Hindustani after night show on First day. It ran for (atleast) 13-14 weeks in Kanpur Regal and weekend shows were always houseful.

  7. Comment by JustaFan on 12 May 2008:

    rks…even though I am a huge fan of Mansoor’s QSQT and JJWS, his ‘indianaization’ of KRAMER VS KRAMER was rather weak. AHAT is a nice movie but it could have been much better. JOSH was just an average movie where Chandrachor singh was severely miscasted.

  8. Comment by jayshah on 12 May 2008:

    rks, Mansoor’s 3 films with Aamir IMO were gems. Feel good movies, good drama and not succumbing to overseas audience and overseas visuals. Agree his indianization is good in his movies.

    Raakh I cannot recall at all. Shame because quite a few have said it is a decent film. I will say I like Baazi too, a good cop movie.

  9. Comment by JustaFan on 12 May 2008:

    Jay man….you like BAAZI?? (which was a rip off of God knows how many american movies). I have said this before about Ashotosh Gowarikar…..There is no greater difference between any two movies made by one director back to back as there is with BAAZI and LAGAAN.

  10. Comment by Jesse on 12 May 2008:

    Nice write-up Jay. Looking forward to what you have in store for your top 10, as I surely would have stuck DCH and AAA in there. Then again I’ve seen probably less then half the films all together, and that includes never seeing Ghulam, AHAT, QSQT, and HHRPK.

  11. Comment by Jesse on 12 May 2008:

    My top three Aamir performances would be in Mangal Pandey, Lagaan and Rangeela. Earth is another one that I thought was real good, but it has been a while since I watched it last and don’t recall it well enough.

  12. Comment by rks on 12 May 2008:

    JustaFan: The problem with AHAT was the Indian context. Socially it was against the tide to show a women who is financially strong and independent. So Mansoor deliberately diluted those portions hence weak representation.

    ps: Though Anu Malik scores were stolen but they were very hummable.

  13. Comment by jayshah on 12 May 2008:

    Justafan I like a fair bit of crap too I know. Baazi is a decent cop flick, of course like a few before. Don’t worry, doesn’t make this list! LOL!

    ‘There is no greater difference between any two movies made by one director back to back as there is with BAAZI and LAGAAN’

    Got me thinking on this one and cannot think of anyone yet! You might have a point there.

    Jesse I thought long about where to put DCH. In fact on another day, it may have ended up in top 10. I guess with Aamir, there are a few good performances, and any one could be amongst people’s favs. AHAT and QSQT are still highly watchable IMO, Ghulam has aged a fair bit IMO.

  14. Comment by JustaFan on 12 May 2008:

    rks–I am not sure how much the social message of the movie contributed to it’s failure. Maybe it had a hand but to me, it wasn’t just a Mansoor-Aamir type of movie. They went a little serious compare to their first two movies and the audiences went cold. Also, the nation was still rocking from DDLJ at that time which I am sure had an impact (boxoffice wise).

  15. Comment by jayshah on 12 May 2008:

    I’m not sure why AHAT failed but would say Manisha was a weak link IMO. I didn’t like her in this one, Khamoshi, Dil Se or Mann. The music IMO wasn’t upto scratch compared to QSQT or JJWS.

    ‘it wasn’t just a Mansoor-Aamir type of movie. They went a little serious compare to their first two movies and the audiences went cold.’

    Probably right on here.

  16. Comment by JustaFan on 12 May 2008:

    I like Ghulam though it is hard to find a bigger mismatch in a climax fight then Aamir and Sharat Sexena (maybe that’s what the Vikram intended but I don’t consider him a smart director so there are doubts). Dus Dus ki daud was very well shot.

  17. Comment by jayshah on 12 May 2008:

    The climax was too long IMO. I actually only saw Ghulam for first time couple of years back. It’d already aged IMO, probably a reason for why I don’t think too much of it. I would however love to see Aamir-Rani pairing again.

  18. Comment by JustaFan on 12 May 2008:

    jay…the one lady who I would absolutely love to see Aamir work with is Konkona sen Sharma….kya bhindas actress hai yaar.

  19. Comment by rks on 12 May 2008:

    Jay:”Aamir-Rani ”

    MP

  20. Comment by jayshah on 12 May 2008:

    Oh yea for sure. Infact would have been cool to see her (konkona) in Ghajini in one of the female lead roles. Or if Lajjo was ever made, she’d be a good actress to cast opposite Aamir.

  21. Comment by jayshah on 12 May 2008:

    rks..I know, for some reason MP it wasn’t enough. Even in Mann she has a song at the beginning, pretty good one if I remember correctly.

  22. Comment by JustaFan on 12 May 2008:

    jay…there is no way in the world that I would want Konkona in a movie like Ghajini which will be completely hero dominated. She would have been great in IDIOTS and yes, even LAJJO (though I doubt this one is ever getting made with Aamir)

  23. Comment by JustaFan on 12 May 2008:

    Kaali naagan ke jaise zulfein….MANN had a pretty good soundtrack..too bad the movie was pathetic.

  24. Comment by jayshah on 12 May 2008:

    Idiots yea, I’m not sure about Aamir-Kareena pairing. She is not good luck for Hrithik/SRK/Sallu/Akshay so far!

  25. Comment by jayshah on 12 May 2008:

    ‘Kaali naagan ke jaise zulfein’

    Yea, thats probably my fav one in the film.

  26. Comment by JustaFan on 12 May 2008:

    Jay…I know you hated Kareena in JAB WE MET but I just love her performance in the movie. I didn’t like her much before but that movie (and performance) has changed my mind a bit.

  27. Comment by jayshah on 12 May 2008:

    Actually I liked Kareena immensely in Refugee, Omkara for insistance. Its when she is this excessively annoying character that I don’t like her! I don’t know much about Idiots plot wise, but Hirani + Aamir is enough.

  28. Comment by jayshah on 12 May 2008:

    In fact after Refugee she was one of my fav actresses. Till ‘poo’ arrived.

  29. Comment by JustaFan on 12 May 2008:

    As for her being a good luck charm, the movies she did with the 4 actors you mentioned wouldn’t be 5% of the movie that IDIOTS will be…

  30. Comment by jayshah on 12 May 2008:

    Yep I hope so! Anyway it is time for me to head off, catch ya later!

  31. Comment by JustaFan on 12 May 2008:

    Her performance in Refugee was better then every single performance her sister had in her entire career (including Zubeida). That speaks more of a crap actor that is Karisma Kapoor.

  32. Comment by JustaFan on 12 May 2008:

    Sweet dreamz!!!!

  33. Comment by jayshah on 12 May 2008:

    Oh - agree :-) I dis-like her sister even more!

  34. Comment by Aditya on 12 May 2008:

    karisma kapoor is easily one of the two(the other one being kajol) most overrated actresses of the past 25 years. kareena kapoor is so much better, not that she’s all that great…

  35. Comment by Aditya on 12 May 2008:

    i’m rather surprised 2 see ‘raja hindustani” here. the film is unadulterated rubbish. the soundtrack is great, though. i don’t even like aamir khan’s performance in this film. you must see the 1989 film, “raakh”. great film with a great performance by aamir khan.

  36. Comment by Qalandar on 12 May 2008:

    Re: “Kaali naagan ke jaise zulfein…”

    This was ripped off from an Egyptian song, can’t remember the singer (Faudel?) You can still often hear it in lounges and cafes in Dubai…

  37. Comment by rks on 12 May 2008:

    Link

  38. Comment by JustaFan on 12 May 2008:

    wow…I did not realize that pretty much the entire album was lifted….like father like sons.

  39. Comment by Qalandar on 12 May 2008:

    Jay: um, you have EIGHTEEN favorite aamir khan performances? You’re sounding like Q on Maddy now…

    How many films has Aamir done? I’m betting <45-50…so one out of every 2-3 films counts as a favorite?! :-)

    [Sorry Jay, that was irresistible].

  40. Comment by Qalandar on 12 May 2008:

    My favorite aamir khan performances:

    Mangal Pandey
    Fanaa
    Rangeela
    Rang De Basanti
    Ghulam
    Mann (only after the love story begins)

    Don’t think I’ve seen Raakh; always found aamir a bit overrated in Dil Chahta Hai. And the above list of 6 could easily be boiled into a 3-4.

  41. Comment by Qalandar on 12 May 2008:

    oh yeah, Rashid Taha, man that song is soooooo catchy, it’s got a totally “drunk” feel to it that Udit’s voice can’t capture…

  42. Comment by Simply Som on 12 May 2008:

    thanks for this Jay!! a nice incomplete list! :)looking forward to your top 10.

    My top 5 Fav. Aaamir’s performances would be:

    Rangeela
    Earth
    Rang De Basanti
    Sarfarosh
    Mangal Pandey

    Don’t care for RH nor his performance.Blown by Saif in Particular in DCH.

  43. Comment by rudresh on 12 May 2008:

    My fav are:
    1) QSQT–He is really one of cutest guy to make debut.He and Juhi chemistry was damn good in movie.
    2)Mann:I loved the movie,the songs are my fav till date,sometime wonders why film fares badly.
    3)Sarfarosh
    4)Dil Chahta Hai
    5)Rangeela

  44. Comment by Qalandar on 12 May 2008:

    Rudresh: ha I liked mann too, saw it 2-3 times in the cinema…yaar in multiplex waalon ne to meri saari films flop karaa deen…

    :-)

  45. Comment by rudresh on 12 May 2008:

    Ya Q i can rate Mera mann kyoon tumhein chahe mera mann not one of best romantic song but also one of best picturised song.

    I also think manisha also deserves better than what she got(not in movie context but general)

  46. Comment by Myna on 12 May 2008:

    My Fav of Aamir:

    1)Dil chahta hai
    2)Rangeela
    3)Sarfarosh
    4)Rang de basanti

  47. Comment by Khalnayak on 12 May 2008:

    my fav. Aamir performances are

    Rangeela
    Sarfarosh
    AHAT
    Earth
    Raakh

    He is awesome in each of them..his other performances don’t even come close, they are good at best imo!

  48. Comment by satyam on 12 May 2008:

    Let me list mine as well:

    1)Fanaa
    2)Mangal Pandey
    3)Lagaan
    4)Rang De Basanti
    5)Sarfarosh

  49. Comment by sandy on 12 May 2008:

    My fav aamir performances

    1. Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin: Utterly charming and natural

    2. Earth: NO matter how highly I think of Aamir, I’ve never thought him to be as effortless or even talented as actors like Naseer, govinda, Amitabh etc but this one film convinced me how brilliant Aamir performance can be!

    3. Sarfarosh: I’ve always believed Aamir is excellent when he plays the conscientious, serious guy…probably because that’s closest to his own nature.

    4. Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander: For sheer range and believability

    5. Lagaan: beyond the strength of character that Bhuvan had to embody, I think this role also required Aamir to bring in a great deal of physical agility and he did it superbly.

  50. Comment by Kanwal on 12 May 2008:

    Aamir khan has done 33 movies till date.so this list has about 55% of his roles.Aamir khan is great.

  51. Comment by jayshah on 13 May 2008:

    Q - that was a good one. Well I tried to pick also movies that I have liked overall too. But really I do think Aamir has delivered something significant every year he has had a release except 2000. Either critical or commercial. So 18 is excessive but what are fans for!

  52. Comment by jayshah on 13 May 2008:

    Earth, DHKMN, JJWS, Lagaan, MP, Fanaa, Rangeela, RDB, Ghulam, Mann, Sarforosh, QSQT, DCH, AHAT, Raakh, AAA are all mentioned amongst the forums favs. So thats 16 different performances, the one’s not mentioned are RH (still significant IMO because it is blockbuster), Dil (again significant IMO and if I’m correct it was 91’s biggest grosser), HARPK (Q I give you this one) and TZP. I’ve got 18, but in fact 20 have been mentioned overall :-)

    So maybe he is not the kind of actor who has 5-6 standout performances that everyone agrees with…

    Q I couldn’t resist aswell :-)

  53. Comment by N I T E S H on 13 May 2008:

    yet to come.

  54. Comment by SHETTY on 13 May 2008:

    1.Earth 2.AHAT 3.DHKMN 4.Baazi 5.Aatank hi Aatankh

  55. Comment by rockstar on 13 May 2008:

    my personal list:
    1. earth : (last scene where the mob is taking nandita das away and this guy looking at thing with cold heart simply brilliant , may be disturbing for some

    2. sarfarosh: rocked big time was simply brilliant as a.c.p ajay singh so to naseer

    3.andaaz apna apana ( simply brilliant in innocent comedy)

    4.lagaan: trend setter

    5. ghulam

    4.

  56. Comment by jayshah on 13 May 2008:

    A shetty appearance, great :-) Shetty yours is the most different list (4 & 5 in particular), nearly made me wonder if you were joking.

  57. Comment by Qalandar on 13 May 2008:

    Is Aatank hi Aatank the film with Rajni?

  58. Comment by ILG on 13 May 2008:

    Aathank hi … is the Godfather copy.

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