‘More Than Mr Perfectionist, Aamir Is Mr Passionate’

‘Aamir
is
really
competitive.’
‘I
feel
that
keeps
him
young.’

Advait
Chandan
was
18
years
old
when
he
first
met
Aamir
Khan
as
a
production
assistant
on
the
sets
of

Taare
Zameen
Par.

Twenty
years
later,
work
titles
may
have
changed
but
the
bond
has
only
gotten
closer.

As
Aamir
celebrates
his
60th
birthday
on
March
14,
the

Laal
Singh
Chaddha
director
fondly
tells

Mayur
Sanap/Rediff.com
about
his
fond
equation
with
his
mentor,
saying,
“As
his
manager,
I
spent
five
years,
day
in
and
out,
with
him.
I
have
woken
him
up
from
his
sleep,
got
his
son’s
birth
certificate.”

‘I
was
a
production
assistant
and
he
was
a
producer’

I
met
Aamir
Khan
20
years
back
when
I
was
a
production
assistant.
I
was
around
18
at
the
time.

It
was
a
very
big
deal
for
me
to
meet
him.
I
grew
up
on
his
films.

I
don’t
think
we
hit
it
off
immediately
because
I
was
a
production
assistant
and
he
was
a
producer.

Slowly,
slowly
it
happened.

I
remember
we
were
shooting
a
night
scene
in
Chembur
(north
east
Mumbai)
during

Taare
Zameen
Par
and
Aamir
said,
‘Advait,
I
want
to
have
an
ice-cream.’

I
was
surprised
that
he
even
knew
my
name.

I
offered
to
get
some.

He
asked,
‘From
where?’

Those
days,
there
was
no
Swiggy
or
Zomato,
and
it
was
past
midnight.

I
told
him
I
would
get
it
from
a
five
star
hotel.

He
said,
‘No,
I
can’t
eat
ice-cream
alone.
You
can
never
eat
ice-cream
alone.
If
one
person
is
eating
ice-cream,
the
whole
unit
has
to
eat
ice-cream.
So
I
want
ice-cream
for
150
people.’

Then
he
said
he
wanted
Choco
bars.

So
I
went
to
those
milkmen
who
usually
sleep
in
their
milk
dairy.
I
woke
them
up,
and
we
got
our
150
Choco
bars.

‘Why
don’t
you
become
my
manager?’

Kiran
(Rao)
was
producing

Taare
Zameen
Par,
she
was
the
backbone
of
that
film.

We
became
close.
Then

Dhobi
Ghat
happened
and
Kiran
ma’am
asked
me
to
assist
her.

After

Dhobi
Ghat,
Aamir
said,
why
don’t
you
become
my
manager?

So
I
became
his
manager
for
five
years.

He
did
about
eight
or
nine
projects
during
this
time,
like

Talaash,
Dhoom
3,
PK,
Delhi
Belly,
Satyamev
Jayate‘s
three
seasons…

One
day,
Aamir
was
in
office
and
I
was
sitting
on
the
office
computer,
looking
at
my
Facebook.
This
was
some
20
years
ago
when
Facebook
started.

He
asked
me
about
Facebook,
and
then
said
that
he
wanted
a
profile
too.

So
I
made
an
account
for
him.
For
the
longest
time,
he
would
call
me
and
ask
me
his
passwords
for
e-mail
and
Facebook.

After
that,
I
moved
out
because
I
started
directing

Secret
Superstar.

‘He
doesn’t
care
about
the
Mr
Perfectionist
tag’

People
started
calling
him
‘Mr
Perfectionist’
but
he
doesn’t
care
about
the
tag.
More
than
a
perfectionist,
he
is
really
just
a
hard-working
person.

He
enjoys
his
work,
and
he’s
really
passionate.

More
than
Mr
Perfectionist,
he
is
Mr
Passionate.

You
give
him
any
task
and
he
will
do
it
out
of
passion,
not
out
of
some
need
for
perfection.

Whether
he’s
acting
or
producing,
he
keeps
working
towards
making
that
story
shine.

‘Working
with
Aamir
is
like
going
to
film
school’

Aamir
is
my
boss,
my
guru.

Everything
I’ve
learned,
I’ve
learned
from
him.

He’s
an
institution.

When
I
was
managing
him,
it
was
like
going
to
a
film
school.

One
day,
he’s
editing,
the
next
day,
he’s
planning
some
marketing,
then,
he’s
in
a
script
session,
one
day,
he
is
shooting.

I
have
learnt
so
much
just
by
observing
him.

‘Aamir
has
a
close
group
of
friends’

He
is
like
a
normal
person;
it’s
not
like
he
takes
more
time
to
open
up
to
people.

But
he
does
not
constantly
hang
out
with
people.

He
has
a
close
group
of
friends,
who
have
been
his
friends
for
the
longest
time.

As
his
manager,
I
spent
five
years,
day
in
and
out,
with
him.

I
have
woken
him
up
from
his
sleep,
got
his
son’s
birth
certificate.

He
has
a
lot
of
patience.

He
doesn’t
lose
his
calm.

He’s
very
understanding.

He’s
not
someone
who
loses
his
temper.

But
I
guess
he
would
get
angry
if
somebody
is
not
giving
enough
time
to
his
film
or
ignoring
work.
I
think
he
would
get
angry
if
someone
messes
with
his
film.

‘Aamir
is
really
competitive’

Aamir
enjoys
playing
games.
Like
now,
he
has
a
pickleball
court
in
his
compound.
He
has
a
table
tennis
table
at
home.

He’s
constantly
playing
board
games
or
foosball.

There’s
a
board
game
called

The
Settlers
of
Catan,
which
has
become
really
popular
now.
He’s
been
playing
it
for
25
years.

He
taught
me
the
game,
he
taught
his
son
the
game,
he
taught
his
whole
office
the
game!

Then
he
has
a
tournament.

He
bonds
over
board
games
and
sports.

He’s
really
competitive.

I
feel
that
also
keeps
him
young.

He’s
constantly
trying
to
defeat
someone
in
a
game,
constantly
trying
to
better
his
technique.

Even
when
I
play
pickleball,
he
spins
the
ball
in
a
way
that
you
can’t
return
it.