That’s about his onscreen avatar, but we have also heard that he has changed a lot off-screen too. Apparently Aamir who was infamous for giving a tough time to his directors by his interference, has changed his off screen attitude. According to a unit hand this is so unlike Aamir as he is not at all interfering on the set. He doesn’t give his inputs to Hirani. He rather prefers to concentrate on his character more than bothering about other things on the set.Well that’s pretty surprising about Aamir Khan. Now the question is has he changed his working style or his faith on Hirani has made him non-interfering!

Hindi film industry’s fortunes are tied to three major films featuring Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and Aamir Khan to be released next month.

December could well turn out to be the crucial month for the Hindi film industry. If Bollywood’s three forthcoming films starring Aamir Khan, Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan in Ghazni, Yuvraaj, and Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, respectively, become commercially hit then 2008 may prove to be a good year for the Hindi film industry, especially at the time of the economic slowdown.

Releasing in December, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi…is a Yashraj film featuring Shah Rukh Khan and the newcomer Anushka Sharma in the lead roles. Yuvraaj is a Subhash Ghai film with Salman Khan, Anil Kapoor, Katrina Kaif and others while Aamir Khan’s Ghazni is the re-make of a superhit Tamil film.

Surprisingly, despite a poor start at the beginning of this year, so far, 2008 has seen about 8-10 per cent increase in the box-office collections of the top 10 Hindi films compared to those in 2007.

According to film experts and leading trade portals, these numbers are based on the overall box-office collections including those reported from the overseas market and from the sale of TV rights, among others.

This means, that the top 10 Hindi films released this year — among them, Singh Is Kinng, Jodhaa Akbar, Race and Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, have generated more cash at the box-office than the top 10 films of 2007 like Om Shanti Om, Welcome and Taare Zameen Par. All eyes are now set on the three important releases of the three Khans of Bollywood.

“It’s a little early to bring out the calculators. But initial estimates are that Bollywood has so far seen over Rs 800 crore in box-office collections from its top 10 films compared to Rs 740 crore generated by the top ten flicks of 2007,” says a film analyst from Mumbai on condition of anonymity.

However, according to him, if the Aamir, Salman and Shah Rukh Khan films to be released next month don’t do well, then the 2007 story may look slightly better compared to the current year.

Says a senior executive of a Delhi-based multiplex chain: “We suffered a dip in the box-office collections because of Indian Premier League earlier this year. A lot is riding on Shah Rukh Khan , Aamir and Salman Khan films and we expect the audience to come to the theatre to watch them.”

Last year, it was Om Shanti Om (November 2007), Welcome (December 2007) and Taare Zameen Par (December 2007) that made the cash registers ring for the Hindi film industry. “We are hoping for an encore with the three December releases this year,” says a trade analyst.

“Aamir needed to establish a rapport with Asin, confirmed the source.”Aamir is an experienced actor and can switch on and off at will but he realised that Asin might not be ready to break into a romantic number at will. They needed to establish a rapport.”The romantic song between Asin and Aamir was shot in ‘dead man’s land.’

The same ‘thin and lean’ looking guy had come out with not six but eight packs, a muscular but toned body, flat chest which would simply woo his fans and leave them in an awe, not only by his acting but also by his bod. After being critically acclaimed for his acting, it’s now time to bask in the attention and glory for a body that men would die for and women would love looking at. Known for getting into the skin of the character, Aamir proved himself yet again with his chiseled physique for the character of a psycho killer. But even after his amazing body being the unique selling point (USP) of the film, the one thing that gripped me to the promos was the deadly expression in his eyes. His trademark and something that only he in the entire Indian film industry possesses-is perfection, be it acting or his body.

For the strongest contender in Bollywood, my vote goes to Aamir, a divine and rare combination of acting beyond comparison and an unequaled body indeed.

Ghajini distributors, Studio 18, plan to play safe and rely on pre release hype to recover their investments in A.R. Murugadoss’ Ghajini. The film will be released on Christmas Day countrywide with 1200 prints, a record that surpasses the 1050 print release of Singh Is Kingg.

“‘Ghajini’ will be the biggest and widest release ever, breaking the record set by ‘Singh Is Kinng’, which was also distributed by us,” says Aman Gill, Director, Domestic Theatrical Distribution, Studio 18.

“With ‘Singh Is Kinng’, we set a precedent in the way the films are marketed and with ‘Ghajini’ we tend to go beyond that,” adds Priti Shahani, Sr. V.P., Marketing & Distribution, Studio 18,

It is likely, the Studio 18 move is motivated as much by their confidence in the film as the jitters from the prevailing economic downturn. What is for sure is they are not banking on word of mouth publicity.

Attempts by Sawf News to get additional information about the release were spurned by the film’s publicists - Spice PR. On an earlier occasion Spice PR’s amusingly ill tempered publicist Shilpa Handa told us, “Sawf News is not important to us. It has no standing!”

Yup, the ‘Perfectionist’ Khan will be seen in his wife Kiran Rao ’s first film Dhobi Ghaat. Besides Prateik Babbar in main role, Kiran’s directorial venture has many new actors and actresses. It is learnt that Kiran wanted Aamir to make an appearance in the film, but the star had made it clear that he will act in it only if the story and script demands so.

Aamir was recently in LA, promoting Taare Zameen Par , India’s official entry for Oscars this year, while Kiran had been shooting ‘Dhobi Ghaat’ in Mumbai.

Upon his return to Mumbai on Kiran’s birthday a few days back, the husband-wife duo reportedly had a discussion which resulted in Aamir doing one scene for ‘Dhobi Ghaat’ with Prateik Babbar. The ‘perfectionist’ was finally ensnared by his wifey.

Kiran Rao’s ‘Dhobi Ghat’ is a documentary-cum-drama flick. This film is entirely Kiran’s conception and is being produced by her production house Cinema 73.

It’s quite possible that both Aamir and Kiran felt that the presence of a star can be an added asset for the movie which has a debutante director and a whole gamut of newcomers.

From what we know, Aamir is doing just a cameo and the details about his character are not yet out. As far as the guest appearance is concerned, we can hardly remember him doing any such kind of role in the past. He had even turned down Farah Khan for a cameo in Om Shanti Om despite repeated calls from her. But then, wife is wife.

Well, being a big star down South, it must have been difficult for Asin to stay away from the limelight for so long!

Jasmine Makujina, who works with a television channel and is one of Khan’s admirers, also feels that the Aamir Khan of Coca-Cola and Titan campaigns is not to be found in the Samsung and Parle commercials.  “Earlier, since his appearances were rare, I could recall his campaigns, which is not the case now,” Makujina says, adding, she would be a little sceptical of his forthcoming campaigns. Santosh Desai, CEO of Futurebrands, begs to differ. It is just that Khan has become accessible to more people, he says, adding, “Aamir Khan was under-marketing himself. Now, in a sense, he has loosened that.”Manish Porwal, CEO, Percept Talent Management, says a Toyota or Titan could benefit from Khan’s larger presence in the media now.But, some feel Khan’s recent campaigns could impact brands such as Coca-Cola. Bijoor, for one, sees a “cascade of negativity” at work. “The cascade works its way upwards from a small brand to a well-known brand.”Desai, too, concedes that brands lose their exclusivity as their ambassadors take on more brands.
Madhukar Sabnavis, country head, discovery & planning, Ogilvy & Mather, the agency that handles Titan, says, “With Khan taking up more brands, marketers would obviously look at someone less commonplace.” He cites the example of Akshay Kumar who has a few brands such as Thums Up and Levi’s. In the end, though, it doesn’t really matter to the consumer, says Sabnavis.

“There is no evidence to prove that Dish TV got affected because Shahrukh Khan has worked with other brands before,” he argues.Porwal says there’ll be no confusion in the minds of consumers if the products endorsed by someone are in distinct categories.  However, remuneration could be an issue. “What Aamir could command if he were endorsing just two brands would obviously be more than what he commands now,” adds Porwal. If Aamir Khan is not careful about the brands he endorses, he could end up being just another celebrity ambassador,” says Desai.Sabnavis feels Khan’s brand equity comes from his films and as long as he picks the right kind of roles, there should be no problem. “But, as he becomes more familiar in the ad world, he will lose some of his sheen.” Another senior advertising professional agrees, requesting anonymity. A few bad commercials are not going to change people’s perception of Aamir Khan, she says. “But that could change over two years if he continues to do what he does now.”

‘You bet, but seriously I don’t think about this too much. For me, first and foremost it was a rewarding professional experience. Of course, personally too it is great to be working with the likes of Salman and Aamir. In this television commercial, our chemistry as a married couple is there to be seen. In fact I have shot for a series of commercials for the brand. They are currently on air’, details Gul.

On the movies front, Gul has an exciting year ahead. While she has just been signed by Ram Gopal Varma to play a pivotal role in Rann, she would also be seen in Hello Darling and Straight in 2009.

However, he bore it with stoic dignity, when critics lashed out at him for his Mangal Pandey debacle and his separation. That’s not all! Aamir received a lot of flak for ‘ghost directing’ his films. But he shut his critics with his exceptional directorial skills. “Aamir was exemplary in his shot angles and script sense. Need we say he was born to be a director and a legendary one at that!” says director Mahesh Bhatt. As Aamir himself says in Dil Chahata Hai, “It’s tough to perfect perfectionism.” However this is just the prelude .