Aamir Khan

Aamir Khan is an Indian actor, director and producer who works in Hindi films, and one of the most notable actors of Indian cinema over a career spanning more than thirty years. ¹ The media call him "Mr. Perfectionist", and Newsweek has described him as "the most bankable movie star in the world". ¹ He founded Aamir Khan Productions in 1999, whose first film, Lagaan (2001), was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. ^{1 2} His biggest commercial successes — Ghajini (2008), 3 Idiots (2009), Dhoom 3 (2013), PK (2014) and Dangal (2016) — each held the record for the highest-grossing Indian film, and his films opened the Chinese market to Indian cinema. ¹ He also created and hosted the television talk show Satyamev Jayate, and his work as a social reformer earned him a place on the Time 100 list in 2013. ¹

Mohammed Aamir Hussain Khan was born on 14 March 1965 in Bombay, to Tahir Hussain, a film producer, and Zeenat Hussain. ^{1 2} His paternal uncle Nasir Hussain was a leading producer-director, and his cousin Mansoor Khan is a director. ² He first appeared on screen as a child actor in his uncle's film Yaadon Ki Baaraat (1973), and played the younger version of the lead in Madhosh (1974). ¹ He was educated in Bombay and was a state-level tennis champion as a schoolboy, and has said he was "much more into sports than studies". ^{1 2} He left his studies after school and worked as an assistant director to his uncle before turning to acting full-time. ¹

His adult breakthrough came as the leading man of Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988), directed by Mansoor Khan, which made him a star and won him the Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut. ^{1 2} His performance in Raakh (1989) earned him a National Film Award – Special Mention. ¹ In the 1990s he established himself as a leading actor with Dil (1990), Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin (1991), Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar (1992), Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke (1993) and Rangeela (1995), and won his first Filmfare Award for Best Actor for Raja Hindustani (1996), the biggest hit of its year. ¹ He also acted alongside Salman Khan in Andaz Apna Apna (1994), a commercial failure on release that later became a cult classic. ^{1 2}

In 1999 he founded Aamir Khan Productions, whose first film, Lagaan (2001), in which he played a villager leading his community in a cricket match against British colonizers, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and won him a National Film Award and two Filmfare Awards. ^{1 2} Later that year he starred in Dil Chahta Hai (2001), a landmark film that redefined youth-centred storytelling in Bollywood. ^{1 2} He then took a four-year break from acting. ¹ His directorial debut, Taare Zameen Par (2007), about a dyslexic child's struggles, won the Filmfare Awards for Best Film and Best Director and the National Film Award for Best Film on Family Welfare. ^{1 2} His company went on to produce Peepli Live (2010), Delhi Belly (2011), Secret Superstar (2017) and Laapataa Ladies, which was chosen as India's entry for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film in 2024. ¹

He returned to leading roles in Rang De Basanti (2006), which was selected as India's official entry to the Oscars, and Fanaa (2006). ¹ Ghajini (2008) became the highest-grossing Bollywood film of its year, and 3 Idiots (2009) broke that record and became a cult hit in China and Japan. ¹ He is credited with opening the Chinese market for Indian films: after 3 Idiots spread through China, Dhoom 3 (2013), PK (2014) and Dangal (2016) each became the highest-grossing Indian film of all time, and Dangal became the highest-grossing non-Hollywood foreign film in China. ¹ In China he is often called a "national treasure of India" or "conscience of India", and younger fans call him "Uncle Aamir". ¹ Thugs of Hindostan (2018) and Laal Singh Chaddha (2022), his adaptation of Forrest Gump, were commercial failures, and he has said of the latter that he made "so many mistakes in this film on so many levels". ¹ After another hiatus he returned in Sitaare Zameen Par (2025), playing a basketball coach serving community service with a team of players with disabilities, which emerged a hit. ¹

He made his television debut with Satyamev Jayate, a talk show dealing with social issues, on 6 May 2012; it ran until 2014 and was broadcast simultaneously in eight languages. ^{1 2} In 2011 UNICEF appointed him its national brand ambassador for child nutrition, and in 2014 its Goodwill Ambassador for South Asia. ¹ He co-founded the Paani Foundation with Kiran Rao, a non-profit working on drought prevention and watershed management in Maharashtra, and spent years doing shramdaan (voluntary labour) for its water projects. ¹

The English article describes him as a practising Muslim, and records that in 2013 he performed the Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, together with his mother Zeenat. ¹ No source used for this record names a school or legal tradition for him — Britannica names no religion, and Wikidata gives Islam generically — so the museum records his practice as the sources state it, and no more. ^{2 3} He married Reena Dutta in 1986; they have a son, Junaid, and a daughter, Ira, and divorced in 2002. ^{1 2} He married the filmmaker Kiran Rao in 2005, and their son Azad was born through a surrogate in 2011; the couple announced their separation in 2021. ¹ In March 2025 he introduced Gauri Spratt as his partner, and he married her on 5 July 2026 in a private ceremony. ^{1 2}

This section sets out positions as reported in the sources; it is not a verdict by the museum. In 2006 he supported the Narmada Bachao Andolan movement against raising the height of the Sardar Sarovar Dam and asked for rehabilitation of the displaced villagers; the government of Gujarat demanded an apology, which he refused, and an unofficial ban kept his film Fanaa out of Gujarat theatres. ¹ In November 2015, at an event in New Delhi, he said that his wife Kiran Rao, fearing rising intolerance in India, had suggested they "move out of India". ^{1 2} The remarks drew intense backlash from Hindu nationalist groups, poster burnings and a police protection detail, alongside support from a number of public figures; he was dropped from the government's Incredible India campaign, and Snapdeal, a company he endorsed, distanced itself from his comments. ^{1 2} In January 2016 he clarified that he had never said India was intolerant or that he thought of leaving, saying he was "born in India and will die in India", and that his comments had been taken out of context. ¹

He has received nine Filmfare Awards, including Best Actor for Raja Hindustani (1996), Lagaan (2001) and Dangal (2016), and four National Film Awards. ¹ India awarded him the Padma Shri in 2003 and the Padma Bhushan in 2010, and in 2017 he received an award for "National Treasure of India" from China. ^{1 2} He is known for refusing to attend Indian film award ceremonies, saying he does not trust them, and declined a wax figure at Madame Tussauds. ¹ He has been regularly listed among The 500 Most Influential Muslims of the world. ¹

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