If you have to enter films, you need to know about writing. Even if you don’t become a writer, you need to know about writing,” Aamir Khan told film students who congregated at Whistling Woods International, Mumbai, on May 5 for the third Screen Academy Masterclass. The actor has been credited as a screenwriter in only two films across his 42-year career — Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke (1993) and Ghajini (2008). But Aamir insists that even students, who are not aspiring screenwriters, must learn the craft to be one with the film they are making. For this, Aamir strongly recommends the book, The Art of Dramatic Writing (1946) by Hungarian playwright and teacher Lajos Egri. “It’s the mother of all books on writing. It’s primarily about theatre, but translates very well to cinema as well,” he said.The very first chapter of the book is about setting the premise, similar to what his late father and veteran filmmaker Tahir Hussain would ask every screenwriter even after getting a three-hour long narration: “Narrate the story in one line. If you can’t do that, your film won’t work,” Hussain would say. “I used to find it very unreasonable,” confessed Aamir in a conversation with Priyanka Sinha Jha, COO, Screen Academy. The Screen Academy is an initiative to nurture and showcase new voices in Indian cinema.“Later on, I realised what he was trying to say: that you need to have clarity of your premise, of what you’re trying to communicate. For instance, in Dangal, we were trying to say, ‘Humari chhoriyan chhoron se kum hai ke (Our girls are no less than the boys)’. That was our premise,” he says, referring to his 2016 blockbuster, where he played a retired Haryanvi wrestler who trains his daughters to follow in his footsteps.The Art of Dramatic Writing also underlines the importance of goal-setting in a movie. “Unlike in a book, in cinema, you only have two to two-and-a-half hours to tell your story. That’s where the economy of telling a story comes in,” said Aamir, “So, the goal-setting needs to happen early. For instance, in Lagaan, when Bhuvan says, ‘Sharat manjoor hai (we accept your challenge)’, you know the goal is locked. The audience knows where the film is headed,” he said, illustrating from his seminal 2001 sports drama, which revolved around a team of misfits from a village uniting to compete with the British cricket team as a desperate attempt to waive off exploitative taxes in colonial India.Aamir also clarified that while one is free to break these screenwriting rules, one must be well-versed with them in the first place. He’s no stranger to that, having gone against the mainstream order with blockbusters such as Lagaan; Rang De Basanti (2006), his 2007 directorial debut Taare Zameen Par and Dangal, where he played an overweight, 51-year-old father to four girls. “When you love something, make it with full passion and honesty. It may or may not seem ‘mainstream’ then. More than half of the films I did weren’t supposed to be mainstream,” he said. Aamir Khan played a retired Haryanvi wrestler in Dangal.When asked about that dividing wall between commercial and arthouse cinema, he answered, “According to me, everything is commercial. Each and every film you make ought to make money. Filmmaking is an art form. So, every film is commercial, and every film is art, to different degrees.”Aamir, however, also cautioned film students against approaching a mainstream film with an uncompromising arthouse approach. “Once you’ve committed to a film, you need to be honest to its flavour. For instance, when it’s Andaz Apna Apna, it’s a whacky comedy. The pitch or the sur is very high, so if I do a very realistic performance, I’d stick out like a sore thumb,” said Aamir, in reference to Rajkumar Santoshi’s 1994 cult classic comedy, starring him and Salman Khan.Story continues below this adHe maintained that irrespective of his star stature, he’s always in service of the film. “For me, what character I’m playing comes secondary. The only film I did because of the character, and not so much the story, which bounced very badly is Thugs of Hindostan,” confessed the actor, referring to Vijay Krishna Acharya’s 2018 period action adventure film, which failed at the box office. “Firangi is such an unreliable character. You don’t know when he’s speaking the truth and when he’s not. He’s only about himself. But I found him to be a very attractive and engaging character,” admitted Aamir. Aamir Khan says Thugs of Hindostan is the only film he did because of the character.At the Masterclass, held in partnership with the Lodha Academy and the Sivasailam Foundation, Aamir also debunked the myth that he’s a method actor. “It would be very presumptuous for me to say I’m a method actor because I’m not trained in acting. I follow my own method. For me, it’s very important to get into the headspace and energy of the character,” he said.But contrary to what some may believe, he’s never struggled with coming out of his character. “Even if I’m able to be the character during the shot, it’s a big deal. I consider myself blessed when I get into that zone. It’s very rare. I’m not such a great actor that I become that character for all my life,” he quipped, before adding, “Sometimes, it takes you a while to get out of the zone, but not more than 15-20 minutes.”Even when Aamir is completely invested in the filmmaking process, he ensures he casts an objective eye on the film before it’s made available for wider public consumption. That’s why testing – showing his film before release to a diverse test audience through multiple screenings – is a crucial part of his filmmaking process. “Before I open my film out to the entire audience, I’d like the opportunity to make mistakes and correct them first. So, the abuses you get in test screenings, hopefully you won’t get them after the release. It’s just my survival instinct which tells me it’s better to test,” said Aamir, who has been conducting test screenings ever since his first mainstream film, Mansoor Khan’s Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, was released in 1988.Story continues below this ad“My common sense tells me I haven’t quite gotten it right. Filmmaking is all about communication. Sometimes, what you’re trying to communicate, the audience is receiving something else. You need to be aware of that communication gap. You need to go back and tweak your communication, so that the person feels differently,” explained Aamir, revealing that his production house starts the testing process after the film’s first cut is ready and at least six months before the scheduled theatrical release.Testing comes with its own share of skills. These include reading between the lines while assessing audience feedback as well as being receptive to criticism. “In a test screening, the moment you defend your work, the reactions will stop coming. If someone says, ‘I didn’t like that girl’s costume,’ and I start defending it, the rest of the audience realises that I don’t even want to listen. So, even if you don’t agree, you should make an effort to accept what the person is saying,” said Aamir.Also Read — ‘Nobody wants to copy Kareena or Alia anymore’: Karan Johar says Bollywood no longer sets trendsHe recalled how the first test screening of Taare Zameen Par was so bad that they had to go back and make changes in the edit, leading to more positive feedback in the subsequent screenings. “You need to be able to recognise where the problem is. It may not be in the scene when the audience says they’re getting bored. It could very well be much earlier, leading to the weight of that problem being felt later in that scene,” said Aamir.Story continues below this adAamir’s film Sitaare Zameen Par won the “Cinema of Courage” award at the Chetak Screen Awards last month.Screen Academy is not-for-profit initiative which provides scholarships to filmmakers from around India. We are grateful to the academy’s founding patron Lodha Foundation, and the generous support of TAFE.