Ideas Of India 3.0: Bollywood actor Aamir Khan spoke about lessons he learnt from the failure of his last film, 'Laal Singh Chaddha', at the ABP Network's Ideas of India Summit. The actor also stated his strong belief that the primary goal of cinema should be to entertain people rather than raise social issues.


During a session titled 'Telling Laapataa Tales: Scenes from an Invisible Nation' on the inaugural day of the third edition of ABP Network’s Ideas of India Summit, Aamir Khan was asked about the failure of his last film and the impact it had on him . Khan expressed his deep connection to 'Laal Singh Chaddha', stating, "The film is very close to my heart. Advait, Kareena, and the whole cast and crew worked hard, and it didn’t do well."


Khan humorously revealed the silver lining in the aftermath of the film's failure. "After a long time, my film didn’t work, so family and friends would come home to ask me, ‘If I’m okay?’ I realized that I’m getting a lot of love after a flop. If I had known this, I would have done one or two flops earlier. That was the funny side of it."



Khan swiftly shifted to the impact the film's failure had on him, talking about the importance of failure in the learning process. "The real side is, that failure teaches you what really has gone wrong. It gives you an opportunity to understand what was your mistake in terms of communicating that story," he explained.


He added, "I gave it a lot of thought, it was a big learning for me. I remember telling Kiran once, ‘I made so many mistakes in this film on so many levels. Thank God I made these mistakes in just one film. Emotionally, I’m hurt that the film has not worked, I’ve taken time to absorb the grief and it has been a big learning for me.” 


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On Cinema being a medium to talk about social issues 
The actor expressed his belief that people come to watch cinema for entertainment and highlighted that his script choices are influenced by the entertainment value rather than the issues they raise.


“People come to theatres, they look for a majedar story, and then you can say (social message) whatever you wish to through the film, and even if you don’t say anything, that’s also ok. Like, in some of my films such as, ‘Delhi Belly’, ‘Ghajini’, there’s no social message. Sometimes, when I come across a story like ‘Laapataa Ladies’, or ‘Taare Zameen Par’, and they say something important as well, if I like it, I do it. But I’m not making those films because they are saying something important, I do so because they entertain me, and then I hope other people might also like it,” he said.


“Cinema is a medium where people come to be entertained. I am often asked if I address social issues. I am an entertainer, and I know that people come to the theater to be entertained. Your story should be enjoyable; after that, whatever you want to convey is a different matter. You make a film to entertain people; if a story comes to me, it first entertains me, and then some aspects of it may say something or nothing at all. First and foremost script has to entertain me," he added.


Ideas Of India Summit


ABP Network's third Ideas Of India Summit is taking place in Mumbai on February 23 and 24. The summit aims to serve as a pivotal platform for comprehensive deliberations on 'The People's Agenda' in the lead-up to the very significant general elections in the world's largest democracy. Renowned luminaries representing diverse sectors will convene to delve into the multifaceted dimensions of India's socio-political landscape, reflecting the ethos of ABP Network's flagship initiative to foster nuanced discourse on Indian society and governance.