Aamir Khan on brother Faissal Khan cutting ties with him: ‘This is my destiny… how can you fight your family?’

As Mela completes 25 years since its release in 2000, Aamir Khan has opened up about the poor performance of the film, accepting that it had hit him hard at the time. The star also addressed his relationship with brother Faissal Khan; the actor had made the film to relaunch him. The brothers have had a contentious relationship, with Faissal cutting all ties with Aamir and his family last year while levelling serious allegations about them.

Aamir Khan addressed the allegationsand told Bollywood Hungama in an interview, “Kya karein? That is my destiny. You can fight the world, but how can you fight your own family?” The statement comes after Faissal claimed that Aamir locked him up for over a year in his house in Mumbai. At the time, Aamir and his family had released an official statement calling Faissal’s remarks ‘hurtful’ and clarifying that all decisions were taken together by the family based on medical advice.

He also addressed Mela failure and said, “I was obviously disappointed by its failure to achieve its potential. Beyond that, I think it’s tough to answer your question. First of all, let me tell you, every film I do means a lot to me. The failure of Mela definitely made a difference to me. It was hard on Faissal, but it was hard on me as well. I’m not comfortable with the idea of any of my films not realising their full potential. The entire team had worked very hard. We were all disappointed.” Mela crashed badly at the box office, with its director Dharmesh Darshan blaming Aamir Khan.

It was 1996 when Dharmesh Darshan collaborated with Aamir Khan for the first time. By then, Aamir—after Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar, Andaz Apna Apna and Rangeela—had firmly established himself as a bankable star. Together, they made Raja Hindustani opposite Karisma Kapoor, which went on to become a blockbuster at the box office. Made on a modest budget of Rs 5.75 crore, the film earned Rs 76.34 crore, strengthening the bond between the actor and the director and prompting them to plan another collaboration.

In the same year, they decided to make Mela. This time, however, Aamir had a personal agenda—he wanted to launch his brother, Faissal Khan. Faissal’s 1994 film Madhosh had failed to make an impact, and Mela was meant to be his second chance.

Many have described Mela as a loose adaptation of the iconic film Sholay, with Aamir’s character inspired by Dharmendra’s Veeru and Faissal’s by Amitabh Bachchan’s Jai. However, the film’s making was far from smooth. The project faced extensive delays, and both Faissal Khan and Dharmesh Darshan later claimed that the setbacks were largely due to Aamir Khan’s interference. While Aamir maintained that his sole intention behind Mela was to help launch his brother, Faissal has alleged that Aamir deliberately destroyed his career.

Speaking to Pinkvilla earlier, Faissal recalled an incident from the film’s shoot in Ooty: “Dharmesh and Aamir were fighting, and suddenly Aamir called me to his room and said, ‘Let’s stop this film. I will make another film for you.’”

He added that the film underwent several changes over the years, creating a negative atmosphere. “Another problem with Mela was that several artistes were being changed. Rajesh Roshan was replaced as the music director, Aditya Pancholi was dropped. I don’t know what went wrong, but there was some kind of negativity throughout.”

Earlier, while speaking to Raj Shamani, Aamir Khan had said, “I tried to help Faissal a lot when he started his career as an actor. Unfortunately, his first film, Madhosh, didn’t work. I was very worried, and I tried very hard to support his career. I did a film with him called Mela. I moved heaven and earth to help him, but I realised that this is the one field where nobody can help you. All I can do is pray to God that he takes my success and gives it all to him. I couldn’t do a thing beyond that. I tried and failed. Your success in this field depends entirely on your destiny and the hard work you put in.”

Filmmaker-producer Suneel Darshan, brother of Dharmesh Darshan, also weighed in while speaking to Vickey Lalwani. He said, “The original story of Mela was written by me. The title was mine. They went ahead and made the movie. They cast Twinkle Khanna, which was a miscasting. The film needed a Karisma Kapoor, someone who could carry the movie on her shoulders.”

He accused Aamir Khan of making script changes without his consent. “He added the brother’s character. Otherwise, everything else was mine. Later, Aamir realised they needed permissions and consent. He reached out to me, and I had no choice but to agree.”

While Mela eventually released amid controversy and failed miserably, it permanently strained relationships—between the Khan brothers, Aamir and Dharmesh Darshan, and even Suneel and Dharmesh Darshan. Ironically, the only person who benefitted from the film’s failure was Akshay Kumar.

Speaking on Aap Ki Adalat, Akshay revealed, “When her film with Aamir Khan sahab, Mela, was about to release, we were having an affair. I asked her, ‘Let’s get married?’ She said she would marry me only if Mela didn’t work. Everyone believed the film would be a huge success because it was an Aamir Khan–Dharmesh Darshan collaboration.”

He added with a laugh, “Sorry, Aamir Khan sahab, your film didn’t work—but I got married because of you.”