Productions was set up in 1999 by Hindi film actor Aamir Khan with the purpose of producing the film Lagaan. He decided to produce Lagaan after the script was not purchased by any other studio. B. Shrinivas Rao also joined AKP as the line producer on Lagaan. The movie was released in 2001, with Khan as the lead actor. The film was a critical and commercial success, and was nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Foreign Language Film category along with four other foreign films, eventually losing to No Man's Land. The film won many major awards at several award functions such as Filmfare and IIFA. B. Shrinivas Rao later served as the executive producer for Khan's directorial debut, Taare Zameen Par, and became the executive producer for the production company, supervising all of its productions. Khan also starred in Taare Zameen Par, sharing the screen with the child actorDarsheel Safary and Tisca Chopra. The film was initially conceived of and developed by a husband-and-wife team, Amole Gupte and Deepa Bhatia. It tells the story of a young child who suffers in school until a teacher identifies him as dyslexic. The movie was critically acclaimed,. Taare Zameen Par won the 2008 Filmfare Best Movie Award as well as a number of other Filmfare and Star Screen Awards. Khan's wife, Kiran Rao, also worked as an associate producer for Taare Zameen Par. The third film produced by the company was Abbas Tyrewala's Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, released in July 2008. It marked the debut of Aamir Khan and Mansoor Khan's nephew, Imran Khan, and it was co-produced by Ritesh Sidhwani. The fourth offering from AKP was Dhobi Ghat, a low-budget art house film written and directed by Kiran Rao. It focuses on four characters – one of them played by Khan – from different walks of life in the city of Mumbai. The next film produced by the production company was Anusha Rizvi's Peepli Live. This low-budget film was released in August 2010, starring Omkar Das Manikpuri, Raghubir Yadav, Shalini Vatsa, Malaika Shenoy, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, and Naseeruddin Shah. It was a satire based on the suicides committed by Indian farmers due to the financial hardship. Peepli Live had its premiere at the Melbourne International Film Festival on 6 August 2010 at the Regent Theatre, Melbourne. In 2011, the English/Hindi Delhi Belly was released, a departure from the "clean, family entertainment" reputation of Aamir Khan Productions. It was a sleeper hit and immensely popular with urban Indian youth, though it was criticised for strong language. In 2012, the production company released the suspense drama, , which starred Khan along with Rani Mukherji and Kareena Kapoor. It was directed by Reema Kagti and was also produced in association with Excel Entertainment. This movie was a semi-hit at the box office. In 2016, the production company released the sport drama, Dangal, which starred Khan along with Sakshi Tanwar. It was directed by Nitesh Tiwari. Siddharth Roy Kapur has also produced the film. This film was an all-time blockbuster. In 2017, the production company released the drama, Secret Superstar, which starred Khan in an extended cameo along with Zaira Wasim. It was also produced by Akash Chawla. Aamir Khan Productions has been credited with redefining and modernizing the masala film, with its own distinct brand of socially conscious cinema in the early 21st century. The studio's films blur the distinction between commercial masala films and realistic parallel cinema, combining the entertainment and production values of the former with the believable narratives and strong messages of the latter, earning both commercial success and critical acclaim, in India and overseas.
