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Aamir Khan is an Indian actor, producer, director, playback singer and television personality. Khan first appeared on screen at the age of eight in a minor role in his uncle Nasir Hussain's film Yaadon Ki Baaraat (1973). In 1983, he acted in and worked as an assistant director on Paranoia, a short film directed by Aditya Bhattacharya, following which he assisted Hussain on two of his directorial ventures—Manzil Manzil (1984) and Zabardast (1985). As an adult, Khan's first acting project was a brief role in the 1984 experimental social drama Holi.
Khan's first leading role came opposite Juhi Chawla in the highly successful tragic romance Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988). His performance in the film and in the thriller Raakh (1989) earned him a Special Mention at the 36th National Film Awards ceremony. He went on to establish himself in Bollywood with roles in several lucrative films of the 1990s, including the romantic drama Dil (1990), the comedy-drama Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke (1993), and the ₹871 million (about US$24.5 million in 1996)[I]-grossing romance Raja Hindustani (1996). He also played against type in the Deepa Mehta-directed Canadian-Indian co-production Earth (1998). In 1999, Khan launched a production company, Aamir Khan Productions, whose first release Lagaan (2001) was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and earned him the National Film Award for Best Popular Film. Also in 2001, he starred alongside Saif Ali Khan and Akshaye Khanna in the acclaimed drama Dil Chahta Hai. Lagaan and Dil Chahta Hai are cited in the media as defining films of Hindi cinema. After a four-year absence from film, Khan portrayed the eponymous lead in Mangal Pandey: The Rising (2005), a period film that underperformed at the box office, after which he played leading roles in two top-grossing films of 2006—Fanaa and Rang De Basanti.
Khan made his directorial debut with Taare Zameen Par in 2007, a drama on dyslexia starring Darsheel Safary, in which Khan also played a supporting role. The film proved to be a critical and commercial success, winning him the National Film Award for Best Film on Family Welfare. Khan played a man suffering from anterograde amnesia in the 2008 thriller Ghajini, after which he portrayed an engineering student in the comedy-drama 3 Idiots (2009), and a reclusive artist in the drama Dhobi Ghat (2010), which he also produced. He co-starred alongside Abhishek Bachchan and Uday Chopra as the antagonist of the adventure film Dhoom 3 in 2013, following which he played an alien in the over ₹7 billion (US$100 million)-grossing satire PK. Four of Khan's films—Ghajini, 3 Idiots, Dhoom 3, and PK— have held records for being the highest-grossing Bollywood film of all time. In addition to acting in films, Khan has developed and featured as the host of the television talk show Satyamev Jayate (2012–14).