Aamir Khan celebrates 46th birthday!

Following a four-year break from acting, Khan made his comeback playing the title role in the historical Mangal Pandey: The Rising (2005) which was a rare instance of BO flop in his career, but he bounced back with a Critics Award for Best Performance for his role in Rang De Basanti (2006). The following year, he made his directorial debut with Taare Zameen Par, for which he received his first Filmfare as Best Director. This was followed by Ghajini (2008), which became the highest grossing film of that year, and 3 Idiots (2009), which became the highest-grossing Bollywood film of all-time at that point, unadjusted for inflation. The Government of India honoured him with the Padma Shri in 2003 and the Padma Bhushan in 2010 for his contributions towards Indian cinema.

In his personal life, Aamir has two children, Junaid and Ira, of his first wedlock with Rena Dutta who was part of the production team for his Oscar niminated film, Lagaan. Incidentally, Kiran Rao, his second and curent wife happened to be the assistant director to Gowarikar on the same project at that point. While Reena and Aamir parted ways in 2002 with Reena gaining custody of the children, Aamir tied knot with Kiran in 2005. This never media friendly Khan has not only infamously been absent from all Indian award ceremonies, tagging them as 'lacking credibility',but also happens to be one case of a kind in having turned down the offer from the museum of Madame Tussaud's (London) to have him waxed as a statue.

Nonetheless, Aamir has been a longtime favorite among countless ardent fans worldover, for his sheer dedication to his work - whatever the controversies with his personal life may have been.