Aamir Khan claims he’s never chased money as his primary priority over the years. Immediately after scoring Indian cinema’s first Rs 100 crore club hit in AR Murugadoss’ 2008 action thriller Ghajini, one of the films he signed after was Reema Kagti’s 2012 thriller Talaash. Aamir knew the film wouldn’t earn more than Rs 500 crore, or even more than Rs 200 crore like his previous hit, Rajkumar Hirani’s 3 Idiots (2009), but he loved the story so much that he gave it a nod.
Talaash: The Answer Lies Within revolved around a Mumbai cop (Aamir), who’s lost his son in an accident, and is still recovering from the grief until he finds himself gravitated towards a sex worker (Kareena Kapoor). The film, written by Kagti and Zoya Akhtar and produced by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani’s Excel Entertainment, also stars Rani Mukerji, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Shernaz Patel, and Rajkummar Rao among others. In an interview with the Times of India, Aamir predicted Talaash wouldn’t even hit the Rs 100 crore mark, and would hover around Rs 70 crore. However, it went on to do Rs 90 crore at the domestic box office.
In an interview with Radio Nasha earlier this year, filmmaker Kunal Kohli, who collaborated with Aamir on the 2006 hit romance Fanaa, claimed that when he watched Talaash at the premiere in 2012, he told Aamir and producers Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani (of Excel Entertainment) that the film would only do Rs 90 crore. While Aamir was surprised by Kohli’s assessment, the producers appreciated his honest feedback.
A couple of weeks ago, Aamir Khan made a historic move when he announced that his latest hit film, RS Prasanna’s coming-of-age sports comedy Sitaare Zameen Par, would skip a streaming release and premiere on his YouTube channel instead on a pay per view basis. However, this detour got flak because Aamir dropped the film on YouTube within six weeks of its theatrical release, after criticizing the short, standard eight-week gap between theatrical and OTT releases.
Now, Aamir has addressed that criticism by claiming that with this new model, his only goal is to make Hindi cinema reach more people. He clarified that his loyalty is to cinemas primarily, instead of theatres, which are just a medium to help cinema reach the audience. Aamir argued cinema came first, and theatres came much later in order to serve that cinema. A cloth screen was put up to show cinema before brick-and mortar cinemas came about, Aamir added.
Aamir maintained he’d still support the theatrical experience as all the future films of his banner Aamir Khan Productions will release in cinemas first, followed by a YouTube release on pay per view model. Aamir claimed while he may have gone the YouTube way, he still champions cinemas. He believes the collective cinema experience that a theatre offer is unparalleled and can’t be replaced by any other model.
He admitted that the theatrical experience can’t be recreated at home while watching films on YouTube on television with one’s family, but given the low theatre density and exorbitant ticket prices in cinemas today, the YouTube pay per view model seems to be the only feasible model to reach the Indian masses. Aamir lobbied for more theatres in the remotest parts of India, particularly in the districts where there’s not even one theatre. However, he added that he wants those theatres to not just be physically accessible, but also be economical.
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The audience can pay Rs 100 to watch old and new offerings of Aamir’s production house on the recently launched YouTube channel Aamir Khan Talkies that will also show old titles produced by his late father Tahir Hussain. “This is my private cinema chain. Think of it like Aamir Khan Productions has opened a new cinema chain, which is in everyone’s house and in everyone’s pocket,” Aamir had told PTI.
The actor-filmmaker said he was offered good money from streamers to release his film on their platform. But internet and UPI payments are increasing in India, even in rural pockets, and YouTube’s accessibility could mean massive change in the way movies are distributed after their theatrical release. “I don’t want those ₹100-125 crore from OTT channels. I want to earn ₹100 from my audience,” Aamir added.
