(Reuters) — Aamir Khan, the Bollywood superstar with a conscience, says his next movie about a small town teenage girl who uses the Internet to become a singing sensation will be much bigger than his last film, India’s highest grossing ever.
Khan, 52, plays a sleazy music producer in the film “Secret Superstar” and says he is second lead to teenager Zaira Wasim, playing a schoolgirl who defies her conservative Muslim family to pursue her dream of a singing career.
Khan’s last film “Dangal,” or wrestling pit, was based on the true story of a former wrestler who trains two of his daughters to become champions in the sport. It was the highest grossing movie for Bollywood, as India’s Hindi film industry is known, and was powered by huge collections in China.
Khan was speaking to Reuters in an interview in Singapore ahead of the movie’s release later this month. He and his wife have produced the film.
Three of Khan’s films are in Bollywood’s top four all-time hits. Besides Dangal, these include “PK,” in which he played an alien dealing with religious divisions in India, and “3 Idiots,” about the frailties in India’s education system.
