‘Salman Khan time par nahi aata, was distracted’: Aamir Khan vowed never to work with Bhai after Andaz Apna Apna; says he was treated like an assistant 

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Salman defended himself and said, “When we were working on Andaz Apna Apna, Mr Aamir Khan used to land up on set at 7 am in the morning for a shift that started at 9 am. Because he had one film, and I had 15 films. I used to work 7 am to 2 pm, then 2 pm to 10 pm and then again 10 pm to 5 am. So by the time I used to come, I’d be exhausted, and then he used to do so many rehearsals. I used to tell people to only call me when he was finally ready. So at that point in time, he thought I was not interested in my work.”

Aamir laughed the critique off and admitted that he was “too harsh” and “judgemental” during that time and said, “I constantly used to think, ‘This is not right; that man is not right.’ I was also very hard on myself. Slowly I realised that we are all human beings, and we also had some great moments while filming together.” The hosts asked the two about how this rocky start evolved into a friendship, and Aamir credited a major personal tragedy for him and Salman’s strong bond.

He recalled his divorce from his first wife, Reena Dutta, and said, “This friendship happened when I went through my divorce with Reena. He had come over for dinner, and that is when Salman and I actually, for the first time, connected properly. Junaid has played in Salman’s lap, and I remember that we were doing some shows, and Junaid must have been three months old. During all that time, Junaid was with Salman, and he was very fond of him.” He talked some more about his divorce from Reena and second wife Kiran Rao and said that even though he has love in his life at the age of 60, he doesn’t wish what happened with him upon anyone else.

“People haven’t been through the kind of traumatic breakup that I have. I was very close to both my wives, and I practically grew up with Reena. When something like this doesn’t work, it hits, and it took me 4 years to recover from my divorce with Reena. But I am lucky that both of them are wonderful women, and they are still my family,” said Aamir. Twinkle pointed out that Aamir sounds like a “sheikh” who has been married multiple times because of the way he says the word wives.

Aamir pointed out that even though he loves both his wives dearly, he believes that marriage is just a contract and real relationships can exist without the structure it provides. He said, “Marriage is just signing some papers; I and Gauri are very much committed to each other. You realise these things about yourself as you grow up. Still getting married to Reena and then seeing Junaid come into this world was magical for me, and even though I did what I could, I still feel like I should have been there for my kids more, because if you ask me about the little idiosyncrasies or insecurities that my kids have, I wouldn’t know.”