Aamir Khan explains why he initially turned down his ‘3 Idiots’ role

B-Town superstar Aamir Khan's success and fame went through the roof after he delivered a stellar performance in the much-revered film, 3 Idiots.

And while the venture is regarded as one of the finest in B-Town, the superstar himself was quite skeptical about starring in the film, fearing that he would get ‘ridiculed.’

Delivering a master class in the basics of learning at Bennett University’s convocation ceremony, he spoke to director Rajkumar Hirani about his directorial, 3 Idiots.

Looking back at that conversation, Khan told Times of India: "When Raju first came to me with the script of '3 Idiots', I loved the script. But I asked him, why are you thinking of me? I am 44 and your role is of a young kid, who is 18 to 21, he is going to graduate. Why do you want me in this film?"

"Raju kept saying, 'No, because these lines are very important, and when you say them, I believe them'. Basically, what he was trying to say was that the core thought of the film is don't chase success, just chase excellence, and when you chase excellence, success comes chasing after you.'”

"Raju said that ‘yaar you have lived by this principle. Your choice of films, your career, you have done Taare Zameen Par, Lagaan, you have done films that were, on the face of them, like when you signed them, not supposed to be successful’,” said Khan.

“‘So clearly, you were the one person who was not chasing success. You were trying to do whatever you felt like and trying to do the best you can. As a result, success came chasing after you because you are not chasing it’,” he added.

"I said woh sab toh theek hai Raju, par jab main 18 saal ka dikhunga nahi toh phir hum kya karenge, matlab main aise classroom mein book pakad ke ghus raha hoon 40 saal ka ajeeb lagega, people will laugh at us,"

“It was one of those rare occasions when I decided to trust somebody else and say okay, I am trusting his judgment over mine.”

“I had seen two of his films by then, and they were both really amazing, and I thought there is something in this guy, he is seeing something which I am not seeing. So I am going to trust his instinct. And that's why I did the film,” he said.