'All those claims of films breaking records, it is utter nonsense.'
Aamir Khan, who is credited with being the first Bollywood star to break into the Rs 200 crore (Rs 2 billion) club with his blockbuster 3 Idiots, was brutally honest on a recent trip to Dubai to promote his new film, PK.
Aamir decided to set the record straight about Hindi movies in the Rs 200 crore club.
'Those numbers are fudged,' Khan was quoted as saying in the Dubai-based newspaper, The National.
'And I am being completely honest with you here -- all those claims of films breaking records, it is utter nonsense. In fact, PK is the first film in India to hire the services of Rentrak, a Spain-based company that provides audit services and media measurement. Also, in India, editorial space can be bought, so it's very easy to have the papers say wonderful things about you. Don't believe any of it,' Aamir added.
In fact, he said something like this in his interview with Rediff.com
"It's childish," Aamir had told us. "For some reason, people in the film industry feel that by inflating the figures, they will convince people to watch the film."
"It's meaningless because when you go home, you know how much business the film has done. Even the industry knows exactly how much each film has done."
"You can try and fool people," he told Rediff's Sonil Dedhia, but how many times will you fool them? Ultimately, you are just fooling yourself."
Photograph: Abhijit Mhamunkar
