He launched Aamir Khan’s career with Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988) and established him as romantic hero with Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander (1992). But filmmaker Mansoor Khan, despite having the distinction of having all hit films in his kitty, says films were just a “diversion” for him, while his real interest lay in engineering. A former alumni of IIT Bombay, Khan was invited to speak to the Extra Mural Lectures (EML) organised at IIT Madras on Saturday to deliberate on the topic ‘IIT, Bollywood and The Third Curve’.
“I wanted to do engineering because I wanted to understand how the dynamics of the world worked. But, then I got disillusioned by that knowledge and realised the hollowness of western scientific theories. That’s when I turned inwards to find the real meaning of life. Films were just a diversion. I had spent a lot of money in studying abroad (Cornell University and MIT, Boston) and after coming back I wanted to prove before my father (the late Nasir Khan) that I am not that bad,” he smiles.
Talking about his book The Third Curve, Khan explained how the human civilization’s craze for perpetual growth has led to a decline in oil resources of the world.
“Even when I made films, my interest was on human stories — stories that you find around you — and here, at this lecture, I am trying to tell you another human story with a message to not push nature beyond its limit,” he said.