Aamir Khan reveals details about his dream project Mahabharat: 'Let’s see if I’ll have...'

Superstar Aamir Khan on Saturday said he is actively working towards bringing his dream project to life - a big-screen adaptation of the epic mythological tale Mahabharat. Speaking at the ABP Network's Ideas of India 2025, the actor also said that he wants to make more content focused on children.

"It is my dream to make Mahabharat, so maybe now I'll be able to think of that dream. Let’s see if I’ll have a role in it to play. What excites me is children's content, I believe in India we make lesser children-related content, usually we import that from abroad, dub it here and release it. I want to make stories about children," Khan said.

The 59-year-old star said he wants to nurture new talent in Bollywood through his production ventures. "As an actor, I do one film at a time and I’m happy with it. I’m trying to do more films as a producer. Next month I’ll turn 60, and for the next 10 to 15 years I want to do more work and give opportunities to newer talent," Khan said.

He gave the example of his recent production Laapataa Ladies, which featured newcomers Nitanshi Goel, Pratibha Ranta and Sparsh Shrivastava. The actor produced the Kiran Rao-directed movie through his banner Aamir Khan Productions. "I want to produce new kinds of stories and give a platform to talent across the country. I want to make my production house vibrant."

Khan, known for films like Rang De Basanti, Dil Chahta Hai, Lagaan, and 3 Idiots, said there’s a greater need for recognition and support for writers in the Hindi movie industry. "As creative people, we should give a lot more value to writers, this is one thing that I would like to change in the industry. We should give value in terms of time and money to writers. We need more cinema halls. In China, there are more than a lakh cinema halls. We’ve 10,000 cinema halls, we should have cinema halls that will cater to a wide audience," the superstar said.

Khan also spoke about the box office failure of his son Junaid's recent film Loveyapa, admitting that it left him disheartened. "I feel the film is good and Junaid also did a good job in it. As a father, I was ten times more stressed for my son's film. Two weeks before the release of the film, I was wondering, ‘Why I'm so stressed out about the film? It is not my film, neither I've acted or produced or directed it.' But still I was anxious," he said.

"I felt it was an important moment in my life. This is the emotion of a father. I don't know how to explain it. Whatever we do for our kids we will always think we are not doing much," he added. Junaid will grow and learn things, said the actor. "We are doing a film with Junaid, which will be released in November or December. It’s a romantic story, it's a good story. This is a field where you've to face success and failure, Junaid is young and he is positive," he said.

As an actor, Khan will next be seen in Sitaare Zameen Par, which is most likely to come out in theatres by mid-2025. The upcoming film is a sequel to Khan's 2007 movie Taare Zameen Par, which marked his directorial debut and received critical acclaim. "Both films are thematically the same, however, the characters are different. The major difference is, that Taare Zameen Par is an emotional film, and Sitaare Zameen Par is a comedy and humorous movie. It uses humour as the vehicle to narrate a sensitive story. It is like how Raju Hirani’s story has drama and uses humour as a tool to narrate a story," Khan said.

Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DNA staff and is published from PTI