News of Indian cinema’s Mr Perfectionist “retiring” have been swirling both on and offline, but it seems many outlets haven’t realised that the actor silently retired a few years earlier and then made an equally silent comeback.

In a conversation with The Hollywood Reporter India, Aamir Khan and his ex-wife Kiran Rao revealed that he had announced his “retirement” to his family a few years prior. However, Khan’s family convinced him not to oscillate between extremes, and so he silently came out of retirement and returned to the film world. The superstar also found someone to head Aamir Khan Productions for him so he could continue acting.

“I decided to quit before Laal Singh Chadha [in 2022]. I was going through a personal journey of my own. There was no such thing as me being disappointed by cinema. It’s just, during Covid, I suddenly realised that the bulk of my adult life, starting from the age of 18 right up to now, all of my bandwidth and focus has been on cinema and films,” he shared. “As a result, it made me realise that perhaps I’ve not been there enough for my relationships. My kids, my siblings, my family,” he added. Khan recalled feeling a lot of guilt so, he decided to silently quit. “I was very grateful that I realised this age. At least now I can do something.”