Aamir Khan gave up Bollywood romance 18 years ago. He never gave up on love though

There's something about the way Aamir Khan approaches life. The sincerity behind his choices is hard to miss, as is his distinctive way of seeing the world. It's almost as if he's scripting his own story like a full-fledged Bollywood film - complete with drama, adventure, reinvention, emotion and, going by his latest announcement, romance too.

The superstar turned 61 in March this year and, in June, announced his third marriage to long-time partner Gauri Spratt, 47. Here is an actor who stopped romancing on screen nearly 18 years ago, yet his real-life love story continues to unfold like a full-fledged... you know what.

In Aamir's own words, he has found peace with Gauri. And that exactly what makes this decision so compelling: the enduring belief that life can still surprise you, that you can embrace companionship when you least expect it, and that having someone by your side can make every new chapter worth enjoying. Aamir and Gauri are getting married on July 5 in a private ceremony at his residence. And honestly, if you have been paying any attention to this man's life over the past few decades, your reaction is probably less "oh how surprising" and more "of course he is."

The man who quit romance on screen

Let's go eighteen years back. Around the mid-2000s, Khan made a clear shift. He stopped taking on conventional romantic hero roles. No more boy-meets-girl, no more will-they-won't-they. He shifted towards characters with weight, complexity and social purpose. Rang De Basanti. Taare Zameen Par, which he also directed, Ghajini, 3 Idiots, Dhoom 3, Dangal, Secret Superstar and Laal Singh Chaddha - there was hardly any romance going on.

Among all these films, only Ghajini and 3 Idiots still showed some amount of mushy moments being painted by him on-screen. But largely, Khan's resume either had an action-thriller, a slice-of-life film or a social drama. However, even in the film where a romantic thread existed, Aamir made sure it was never the focal point of the story. He always positioned himself around something larger: a social cause, a moral question, a physical transformation that dominated conversations. And, the romance, when present at all, was plain incidental.

During Laal Singh Chasdha promotions, Khan was asked if he would ever return to doing romantic films. To this, the actor had said, “Agar romantic kahaani hogi toh zaroor. Iss age mein romance thoda uncommon hota hai. Kahaani ke hisaab se agar main character suit karunga toh kyun nahi karna chahunga? (If there's a romantic film I can do, sure. It's a little uncommon to explore romance at my age. If I suit the character and the story, why not?)”

Last year, during a session at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) Goa, the actor talked about how he prefers unique scripts and avoids repetition in his film choices. Fair enough. He had, after all, spent the 90s being the ultimate romantic hero of his generation.

Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak launched him as the boy-next-door who made hearts ache. This was followed by films like Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar, Dil, Rangeela, Mann and Dil Chahta Hai. He understood romance on screen the way very few actors do. He knew when to be boyish, when to brood and when to let a single look do all the magic. Even in Sarfarosh, a film driven largely by action and investigation, Aamir's romance with Sonali Bendre exists on the periphery, but never feels insignificant.

And then, having mastered it completely, he simply walked away from it.

The real life, however, had other plans

This is where things get interesting and where the irony becomes even more apparent.

While Aamir Khan was moving away from the romantic roles on screen, his personal life was doing something rather different. In 2002, he separated from his first wife Reena Dutta, with whom he had two children, Junaid and Ira. In 2005, he married filmmaker Kiran Rao, a relationship that had begun on the set of Lagaan. The marriage lasted 16 years before the two announced separation in 2021. They continue to co-parent their son Azad.

Kiran Rao went on to direct Laapataa Ladies, which was produced by Aamir. They attended screenings together, spoke warmly of each other in interviews and presented what is possibly the most functional post-divorce dynamic in the history of Indian celebrity.

And somewhere in all of that, Gauri Spratt entered the picture.

Who is Gauri Spratt?

Gauri is not a film industry name. She is a Delhi-based woman who hails from Bengaluru and is the mother of a six-year-old son. Details about their relationship and how long they have been together have been kept almost entirely out of the public domain. She is half Tamilian and half Irish. Aamir and Gauri have known each other for more than 25 years. Currently, she is working with Aamir in his production house.

The wedding, planned for July 5, is said to be an intimate affair.

What this says about Aamir

Few stars in Indian cinema have curated their public image as carefully as Aamir Khan. Every film choice is deliberate, public appearance is measured - he does not do things accidentally or carelessly. No wonder he is called the perfectionist. If his personal life reveals anything, it is this: he is a hopeless romantic. Across his adult life, he has loved openly and repeatedly - married twice, divorced twice, and now ready to commit once again. For a man often defined by caution and control, his faith in love remains remarkably intact.

The decision also proves how he keeps trying, believing and choosing to build something with another person despite knowing full well how complicated that can get, especially after a certain age. He stopped playing that character on screen 18 years ago. But he never actually stopped being him.

Indian cinema has always had a complicated relationship with the idea of the hero growing older. The industry's default setting is denial - older actors romancing heroines half their age, refusing to let the image evolve, clinging to a version of themselves that the mirror stopped reflecting years ago. Aamir Khan has largely resisted that. He aged his characters, took on physical roles that required genuine transformation and accepted that different chapters of a career require different kinds of stories.

His personal life has also followed a similar philosophy. Different chapters, different stories and a willingness to begin again.

On July 5, he will begin another one.