Aamir Khan Takes Up For Daughters

Whether he’s playing an ageing wrestler who trains his daughters to become the country’s biggest wrestlers or collaborating with wife Kiran Rao to set up Paani Foundation, Aamir Khan has always believed in a partnership of equals. As he shoots for Femina’s anniversary cover with  Fatima Sana Shaikh and Sanya Malhotra who play his daughters in the new film Dangal, he opens up to Sandipan Dalal on the milestones that have defined 2016.

- Sandipan Dalal

Looking back on 2016, one memory lights up Aamir Khan’s face. When Nitesh Tiwari started narrating the script of his upcoming film, Dangal (releasing December 23), the actor knew right away that he wanted to do it. “There is no difference between a girl child and a boy child—and we should give the same opportunities to girl children because they can be as successful as boys. The story of the empowerment of a girl child is told with a lot of humour (in the film). I found that very endearing,” he says, sipping on diet cola at his sea-facing home in Mumbai’s Bandra suburb. In March, the 51-year-old actor completed shooting for the film, based on the real-life story of Mahavir Phogat and his wrestler daughters Geeta and Babita (played by Fatima Sana Shaikh and Sanya Malhotra; he appears with his on-screen daughters for the first time on Femina’s anniversary cover). In April, he and his wife Kiran Rao set up Paani Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation working towards a drought free Maharashtra. The foundation is manned by the same team that handled his talk show, Satyamev Jayate. The CEO is Satyajit Bhatkal (director of Satyamev Jayate) and the COO is Reena Datta (his ex-wife). “It has been a fulfilling year,” sums up the actor, who also delighted in a few milestones of his children. He flaunted his youngest son Azad’s drawings on his T-shirt, seen his daughter Ira make exquisite sketches, and oldest son Junaid dabble in theatre in Los Angeles. Femina caught up with the mega star just days before the trailer of Dangal was launched at the Jio Mami Mumbai Film Festival, a festival entirely led by women.