Ex-couple Aamir Khan and Kiran Rao recently collaborated together on the film Laapataa Ladies, which has been selected as India’s official entry for Oscars 2025. While the former couple have mostly worked together on every film they produced under Aamir Khan Productions over the years, Kiran started a production company of her own, Kindling, just before making Laapataa Ladies.
In a recent interview, the writer-director said that after all these years, she wants to experiment with Kindling by branching out and collaborating with other producers. This prompted a hilarious response from Aamir Khan, who called himself “Ghar ki murgi”.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter India, Kiran and Aamir, discussed their work arrangement post divorce, and the reason behind starting another company. Kiran shared, “We started Kindling a little while before we started working on Laapataa Ladies. The idea was… I wanted something fairly handmade and took on projects that excited us. We were interested to let ideas from different kinds of filmmaking have a place to grow here. We didn’t have a plan beyond just working on Laapataa Ladies to begin with… But, going forward, the idea is once we have projects that are ready to attach to a producer and financer, we will look around.”
She added, “And of course, Aamir Khan, and Aamir Khan Productions, are our favourite people to work with. And we will come to Aamir Khan Productions or other producers to see where the energies lie because I want to do a whole bunch of different kinds of work with different directors as well.”
Kiran said that it is important for her to branch out and collaborate with other producers, though she feels comfortable working with AKP. She said, “I genuinely appreciated the comfort that we get from Aamir Khan Productions, and Aamir, that way, is a great sounding board for me. So, all the projects that we have, I anyway bring around and sound him off, and if he likes some ideas, we are happy to work with Aamir, and Aparna (Purohit).” She added, “I do feel it is important for Kindling to branch out and work with other producers and other studios, because I feel it is important for us to test our wings. Honestly, I feel that different kind of energies yield fresh results. I do want to try and work with other studios.”
Aamir Khan quickly added, “Plus, when you will work with outside studios, you will know my real value. I am ghar ki murgi.” Kiran replied with a laugh, “So, we need a producer who doesn’t say, ‘I am the ghar ki murgi’.”
She continued, “We have a great comfort level working with Aamir and Aamir Khan Productions because there is a great degree of trust and similar sensibility. There is also freedom to be able to argue and fight for what we think is the right decision when it comes to very tricky things, whether it is casting or a location. So, while Aamir will weigh in very strongly and have veto power on everything. He is still open to being persuaded. And we value his artistic judgement.”
Aamir Khan explained, “I have not used my veto power till date. The reason I would like to have the last say on anything creative in any of the films we get involved in because I don’t want something dramatically crazy to be happening. If that happens, I need to stop it. But, otherwise, I would rather go with the instinct of the people who are making the film. She is the one who is helming. Many times, even if I don’t agree with her, I go with what she is saying because I feel that she is a director and let her decide. I give her my inputs and then I let her decide. It’s very rare when I say, ‘Yaar, yeh mat karo’. I don’t think this has ever happened.”
Kiran added, “We do end up convincing each other. We test our films a lot at Aamir Khan Productions, which helps us a great deal. There is space to argue and debate. That comfort we have at AKP. Still, I do want to branch out and try new collaborations.”
Aamir Khan and Kiran Rao tied the knot in 2005 and parted ways in 2021. They co-parent their son, Azad.