When Imran Khan hinted at giving up the famous life in 2014, said he found living in a Bollywood bubble ‘suffocating’
As Imran Khan turns 38 on Wednesday, here is looking back at his surprisingly candid AMA on Reddit, which gave an insight into his off-screen personality.
Imran Khan burst on the Bollywood scene in 2008 with Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na. He became an instant success as the lovable boy-next-door, Jai Singh Rathore aka Rats. However, just a few years later, he quit acting and disappeared from the public eye. His last release was Katti Batti in 2015.
As Imran turns 38 on Wednesday, here is looking back at his surprisingly candid Ask Me Anything session on Reddit in 2014, which, when viewed in retrospect, perhaps hinted at his intention to give up life in the spotlight. He fielded questions on a variety of topics, from nepotism to what happens at Bollywood parties.
One Reddit user asked, “From the interviews I have seen, you seem like one of the few actors who are not completely consumed by Bollywood. You seem to be in touch with the real world. Do you make a conscious effort to keep in touch with the outside world? Also, do you consider yourself an 'insider' in the industry?”
Imran replied, “It's not really a conscious effort. I'm genuinely not interested in most of the hoopla. I like my quiet, peaceful life, I like my old friends, I like my cats and dogs... Ideally, I'd just make movies and skip the rest of the media circus.”
Answering whether he considered himself an industry ‘insider’, Imran, the nephew of actor Aamir Khan, wrote, “My family has always been on the fringes of the industry. You might find it hard to believe now, but there was a time when Aamir was seen as a maverick outsider who had all these ridiculous notions of ‘bound scripts’ and ‘only shooting one film at a time’.”
On being asked how it felt to ‘occasionally see (himself) on TV or the internet’, Imran wrote, “I don't watch TV... I've worked hard to avoid living in the 'Bollywood Bubble', eating, breathing and living movies. It can get very suffocating.”
Imran addressed a question on nepotism. “How do you respond when people accuse you of only making it in Bollywood because of your connection with Aamir Khan?,” one Reddit user asked. He wrote in his response, “I don't... what kind of response could possibly satisfy those people?”
Imran also opened up about the kind of influence Aamir had over his career and said his role was ‘not as important as most people assume’. “He's never read one of my scripts, or asked a producer to meet me. (seriously, if he was, do you think I'd have done half the films I have?),” he wrote.
When a Reddit user asked Imran to spill the beans on what happens at Bollywood parties, he wrote, “Exactly the same thing that happens at all parties; people drink, dance, stand in corners and bitch about people they dislike, there are drunken hookups and fights, and people keep going to the bathroom, even if they don't have to pee.” He also shared the weirdest experience he had as a celebrity. “A guy at the urinal next to me once tried to shake hands with me. While urinating. He seemed upset when I refused to shake his hand,” he wrote.
