Aamir Khan says method acting ‘gives people a lot of freedom to misbehave’: ‘I’m not that good an actor’

He added that while being completely immersed during a shot is a blessing, achieving it is extremely challenging: “If, with great difficulty, I become the character for even 30 seconds during a shot, that’s a huge thing. But in real life, to become that character, well, that’s impossible for me. I am not that good an actor.”

Aamir elaborated further: “But even during the camera being on and the director saying ‘action’ to ‘cut,’ in those 30 seconds, one minute, or even 10 seconds, if I become the character, then I consider myself blessed. Because it’s so difficult to reach that zone, you know, when you’re half-conscious of what you’re supposed to be doing as an actor, but you’re so lost that you actually become that person, and you yourself have no idea about it. It’s very rare, and if it happens during the shoot, it’s correct. Ideally, it should happen during the shoot.”

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‘Method acting gives people a lot of freedom to misbehave’

Aamir said that sometimes, it takes a while for an actor to come out of that meditative state: “I agree. When you’re in that moment and the director says ‘cut,’ the whole world has moved on, but you’re still there. You’re thinking, ‘Oh, was that correct or not?’ So I’m still stuck in that same. But it takes 15–20 minutes for you to come out of it. But I’ve never become the character. Never. Not in all these years.”

Aamir also took a light-hearted dig at actors who claim to be ‘method actors’. “I suppose it gives you a lot of freedom to misbehave, by saying, ‘Oh, I’m still in character, I’m still in character.’ I don’t do all that mischief.”

Watch Aamir Khan at the Screen Academy Masterclass here:

3 Idiots 2 in the making

Aamir recently revealed that the long-awaited sequel to 3 Idiots is in development. During a conversation with Amar Ujala, he said: “Rajkumar Hirani is currently working on 3 Idiots 2. I heard the narration, and it has turned out well. There is still more work to be done on the script, but the story is very good. It has the same humour and an unusual story. It tells the story of the same ‘three idiots,’ but set 10 years later. This is one of the films I will be working on soon. I think it’s a beautiful story, and Abhijat (Abhijat Joshi) and Raju have written it very well. So I am also waiting to do that and turn Phunsukh Wangdu once again.”

The Screen Academy event was sponsored by Lodha Academy and Sivasailam Foundation.