Aamir Khan has been called a perfectionist all his life! While the term is usually used to describe his meticulousness as an artist and his commitment to his craft, it’s also earned him some clever quips from his industry peers. You may think the Laal Singh Chaddha star earned this label fair and square after being referred to as a perfectionist by his directors, producers or yellow co-actors, considering he has spent 35 years in cinema.
However, the star recently revealed that he has been called a perfectionist his whole life owing to an incident involving some chai at Shabana Azmi’s home!
Aamir made an appearance at Netflix’s The Great Indian Kapil Show hosted by comedian Kapil Sharma recently. “As you all know Aamir Sir is called ‘Mr Perfectionist’” quipped Kapil as Aamir looked on smiling. Kapil continued, “Someone told me that when he goes for a shave, while the barber opens his kit, Aamir Bhai opens his own geomoetry box, takes out the compass and says, ‘40 degrees from here and 40 degrees from here.’
Aamir burst out laughing and opened up about how he got the label of being a perfectionist early on in his career and also revealed that the one person responsible for this happening was acclaimed actor Shabana Azmi. “When I was new to cinema, I was shooting for the movie Dil, Indra Kumar was the director and Baba Azmi ji was the cameraman, he was the top cameraman and we often visited his home Janki Kutir,” Aamir told Kapil and the show’s panelist Archana Puran Singh.
“One day we were immersed in a discussion and Shabana ji bought tea for us. She asked me, ‘how much sugar do you take Aamir?’ I was so engrossed in the discussion, I didn’t realise what she was asking me. I turned around and looked at her and it took about five seconds for her question to register in my mind. Because there is so much mental clutter when you’re overthinking, it takes time for the question to set in. So I’m looking at her and I’m thinking, ‘is she asking about sugar?’”
“And then I asked, ‘how big is the glass?’ She showed me the cup and said, ‘this is the cup.’ I was still engrossed in that discussion and I’m trying to answer her accurately! So I asked her about the spoon as well and she showed me. I said, ‘one spoon.’ And I went back to the discussion. She narrated the story everywhere. That if you ask3 him for tea and sugar, he will ask about the size of the cup and the spoon!” Aamir revealed.