Big B, Rishi Kapoor and now SRK. They all have one thing in common.
They refused to accept that after a certain point (and age) they just can’t be the *hero* anymore.
Big B needed several flops to realize this.
SRK’s “Harry met Sajal” (mega flop) is a perfect example of his refusal to accept the fact that his audience has moved on and importantly, he hasn’t.
And look at Aamir khan. He has learned from these and has taken up roles where he makes the heroes.
Dangal and now, Secret Superstar.
Aamir is “creating heroes”, is playing the mentor role and he is letting go of the one thing that stars crave for (their internal metrics).
Screen time and presence.
He is sharing the screen time with his costars (who are often not as accomplished as he is). It’s the same thing that Big B did with Black and in the recent times, Wazir and Pink.
And SRK with Dear Zindagi (and Chak de). And he was totally appreciated for it.
That is, a coach / a mentor who by giving away earns more.
In a country (and time) where real life inspirations are few and far in between, creating heroes often gives you a bigger stage than being a hero.
Aamir totally gets it. Harry doesn’t.
