On Day 3 of WAVES 2025, Aamir Khan conducted a one-hour-plus-long masterclass on ‘The Art of Acting’. It got an incredible response and many aspiring actors learned how to be a better actor, that too from the perfectionist himself.
Aamir also made it interesting by sharing anecdotes from his memorable films. The audience was left stunned with his trivia on his directorial venture, Taare Zameen Par (2007).WAVES 2025: Aamir Khan says that he was STUNNED when Darsheel Safary confessed that he had NEVER cried in his life; reveals how he SMARTLY filmed bathroom crying scene in Taare Zameen Par: ‘You’ll feel ki woh ro ro roke behaal ho raha hai. But in reality, he WASN’T crying at all’
He said, ‘We had shot 40-50% of Taare Zameen Par. One day, we were going to shoot a scene where Ishaan (Darsheel Safary) has been dropped in the boarding school. The shot was of Ishaan who is crying profusely in the dormitory bathroom. Then, he opens the tap and washes his face.’
Aamir continued, ‘Darsheel came to me and said, ‘Aamir uncle, I don’t know to cry’. This is normal. When you tell actors to cry, toh woh thoda sa ghabra jaate hai. I assured him that we would manage. He told him, ‘Actually, I have never cried in my life’! I was puzzled and asked, ‘What do you mean? You must have fallen down, got hurt or your mother must have slapped you. Kabhi toh tum roye honge’. He maintained, ‘Main life mein roya hi nahin hoon’!’
Aamir Khan added, ‘I cross-checked with her mother, ‘He claims that he has never cried in his life’. She said, ‘That’s true. Yeh aaj tak roya hi nahin hai’. I was stunned. Nevertheless, I had to accept that he had never cried before. Now, how do I make him cry? I can’t slap or pinch him to make him cry. Some filmmakers do that and that’s wrong. That should never be done.’
He then revealed, ‘Finally, I got the idea. I told him, ‘You don’t cry. Aap tension hi mat lo. Can you copy me?’. He replied, ‘Yes, I can’. I told him to copy my breathing. I took a deep breath and exhaled; he followed suit. Then I changed my breathing to broken breathing. When you cry, your breathing breaks.’
Aamir Khan demonstrated it and it led to claps in the hall. He remarked, ‘As you can see, I am not crying. I am only showing your broken breathing.’
He then added, ‘Darsheel began to do broken breathing. Now, I told him, ‘Imagine your stomach is aching a lot. Now, how will your expressions be?’. I instructed him, ‘Bas tu broken breathing de and imagine ki tere pet mein dard ho raha hai. That is crying in a simple way’!’
He ended his answer by saying, ‘In the film, you’ll feel ki woh ro ro roke behaal ho raha hai. But in reality, he wasn’t crying at all!’