It’s Aamir Khan’s 57th birthday today. The gifted actor has given myriad memorable performances in his illustrious career. That includes ‘Lagaan’, ‘Rang De Basanti’, ‘3 Idiots’, and ‘Dangal’, to name a few. However, there are also some of his nuanced acts which are relatively underrated compared to his blockbuster films. For this article, we have compiled a list of 5 such underrated and must-watch performances by Aamir Khan which you can watch on Indian OTT platforms.
Thugs of Hindostan (Streaming on Amazon Prime Video)
Although the 2018 period action-adventure film had generally received negative reviews by critics, that cannot undermine Aamir Khan’s sincere and entertaining performance in the movie. Helmed by Vijay Krishna Acharya and set in 1795, Aamir Khan played a charming and untrustworthy Thug from Awadh – Firangi Mallah, who is recruited by the East India Company to infiltrate a group of Thugs led by Khudabaksh Jhaazi (Amitabh Bachchan) and his adopted daughter Zafira Baig (Fatima Sana Shaikh).
Dil Dhadakne Do (Streaming on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video)
Directed by Zoya Akhtar, the film’s underlying plot revolves around a cruise trip organized by the Mehra family and how the super-rich but dysfunctional family members (Anil Kapoor, Ranveer Singh, Priyanka Chopra, Shefali Shah) begin to understand each other during the eventful trip. While Aamir Khan was the movie’s narrator Pluto Mehra (the family’s pet dog) and his endearing dialogues/monologues written by Javed Akhtar gave the film a distinct flavor.
Mangal Pandey – The Rising (Streaming on Amazon Prime Video, MX Player, Lionsgate Play)
Helmed by Ketan Mehta, the film narrated the real-life story of the British East Indian Company sepoy Mangal Pandey (played by Aamir Khan) who played an important role in the events that eventually led to the 1857 Indian uprising against the tyrannical British rule. The film’s story featured Mangal Pandey’s friendship with a compassionate British commanding officer Gordon (Toby Stephens). However, the greased cartridge incident creates a rift between the two besides becoming the cause of the mutiny.
This was Deepa Mehta’s second film of her elemental trilogy which boasts of a criminally underrated act by Aamir Khan. The events of the film are set in Lahore around the time of the partition of India in 1947. The story is narrated from the perspective of an eight-year-old rich Parsi girl Lenny, who witnesses a tragic love triangle between the Ice Candy Man Dil Nawaz (Aamir Khan), masseur Hassan (Rahul Khanna), and her caretaker maid Shanta (Nandita Das). Aamir Khan’s spellbinding act in the film’s climax is every cinephile’s delight.
Akele Hum Akele Tum (Streaming on Amazon Prime Video, MX Player)
The heartrending film was Mansoor Khan’s take on Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep starrer ‘Kramer vs Kramer’. The story revolves around two aspiring singers Rohit Kumar Aamir Khan) and Kiran (Manisha Koirala) who get married to each other. However, the wife leaves the husband and their child (Adil) owing to their marital discord. This leads to an ugly legal battle between the still struggling Rohit and the now-famous actress Kiran for the custody of their son.
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