Filmmaker Vikram Bhatt has offered a candid reassessment of Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan's widely celebrated image, arguing that the actor is not a perfectionist in the truest sense — but someone driven by a relentless need to outdo himself. Bhatt shared these views during the promotional circuit for his latest release, 'Haunted 3D', in Mumbai.

The Distinction Bhatt Draws

Bhatt was pointed in separating two ideas that are often conflated. 'I just feel that he's been given this tag of perfectionist, but he's not a perfectionist. He just wants to do his best. And I think there's a difference between the two things,' the director said. He elaborated that a perfectionist is someone who accepts a final, settled standard, while Aamir consistently refuses to treat any outcome as good enough — always believing he can do better.

In Bhatt's framing, this distinction matters. Perfection implies arrival; Aamir's approach, he argued, is one of perpetual striving — never fully satisfied, always pushing toward a higher bar that keeps moving.

Lessons from 'Ghulam'

Bhatt and Aamir Khan collaborated on the 1998 action drama 'Ghulam', and the director recalled that their working relationship was far from friction-free. The two had frequent disagreements on set, but Bhatt framed those clashes as productive rather than destructive. 'He has always argued with his directors when he saw that there's been some kind of a compromise. And it's a known compromise,' Bhatt said.

He used a telling analogy to illustrate what unsettles the actor: 'Sometimes you don't know that, oh, you can have used a Mercedes for this scene, but you ended up using another car, which is not as luxurious. But when you know that it's available and that it should be this thing and you don't use it, that I think is something that irks him.' The point, in Bhatt's reading, is not vanity — it is the discomfort of knowingly settling for less when better is within reach.

Bhatt's Own Caveat

The filmmaker was careful to frame his remarks as personal observation rather than authoritative characterisation. 'These views expressed are only of the speaker, which is me, and not necessarily what Aamir is or what he thinks of himself. But this is my understanding,' he said, with a smile. The self-aware qualifier adds credibility to what could otherwise read as presumptuous commentary on a peer.

Context: 'Haunted 3D' Promotions

Bhatt made these remarks while promoting 'Haunted 3D', his latest directorial outing. The film marks a return to the horror genre for which he has become known in Hindi cinema. His comments on Aamir Khan have drawn attention separately, reigniting a long-running debate in Bollywood circles about what the 'perfectionist' label actually means — and whether it does the actor more justice or less.