Fans stretching from Malaysia to China came to catch a glimpse of legendary Bollywood actor and producer Aamir Khan, who was in the city-state for the 37th Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF).
Kuala Lumpur-based legal secretary Caroline Simon – who failed to secure a ticket to the 25th anniversary screening of the 2001 Hindi film Lagaan at the Golden Village theatre in Vivocity on Oct 23 – still chose to make the trip to attend the highly-anticipated red carpet segment.
“He’s my all-time favourite. I missed him the last time he came (to Singapore) about nine years ago. I brought my daughter, but we didn’t get to see him,” the 61-year-old said.
This time, she came alone and arrived early alongside many other fans, who stood behind the barricades that carried the SGIFF banner.
She had an unobstructed view of Aamir as he walked out to raucous cheer from the crowds. After posing for several shots, he proceeded to the stands and signed autographs for a few lucky fans – Ms Caroline included.
She cited 3 Idiots and Lagaan as her top two favourite Aamir films.
“He’s a perfectionist. He thinks more from the human perception, and at the point in time, when his movies came out, India was not as open. I’m sure there was backlash, but he’s a very determined person,” Ms Caroline explained.
Lagaan, an Oscar-nominated film about a team of rural Indian farmers who, against the odds, beat their colonisers in a game of cricket, was featured as a Special Presentation showcase under SGIFF’s Landmark section.
After around 600 audience members watched the film together, Aamir and Variety’s Asia Editor Naman Ramachandran engaged them in a Q&A session.
The actor shared that although he had liked director Ashutosh Gowariker’s script, he felt that it was a difficult film to make and “didn’t have the courage to do it” at first. Aamir eventually started his namesake production company as he thought no producer could do it justice.
He added that people management is an important aspect of filmmaking, which resonated with many aspiring filmmakers in the audience.
One praised the actor for “being one of the best storytellers” in the industry, while another tried to shoot his shot and brought a bound copy of a fully-developed script to show Aamir, but his security detail took it instead.
The festival lineup also included a panel discussion with Aamir on Oct 22, at the Marina Bay Sands’ Grand Ballroom, where the actor received this year’s Screen Icon Award from friend and Hong Kong-born director Peter Chan.
Moderated by Singaporean stand-up comedian Rishi Budhrani, the dialogue was the right balance of light-hearted moments and sentimental reflections.
Rishi commented that Aamir is a “reactive viewer”, which the latter agreed and confessed that he gets teary-eyed during screenings because he does not blink, reflecting the passion and intensity with which he watches films.
The actor was also pleasantly surprised by the sizable non-Indian turnout, driven largely by the popularity of his films such as 3 Idiots and Dangal in China.
“I think (3 Idiots) inspired me a lot when I watched it in secondary school. It’s great to see, as a Chinese, that the perspective, creativity and art of filmmaking from the other side of the world can have similar cultural values,” said Rochelle Lei, 34, a design architect from China who currently resides in Singapore.
