Mumbai, India: January 29, 2010 - IR Summary/TOI -

Aamir Khan blogs, “My cell phone kept ringing middle of the night. I was too sleepy to do anything about it except irritation and hit out wildly in its general direction. Woke up in the morning to see tons of text messages.

Aamir questioned himself what the deal was.? It wasn’t my birthday or anniversary, Eid, Diwali or Christmas. Read the first one and felt a wave of warmth pass through me. Padma Bhushan. Wow! Felt so happy and such a sense of pride. How I wish I was back home in India. I called my mom, my brother and sisters. But still felt a huge empty space of not being back in India. Don’t know how to explain it.”

He adds, “I want to thank my country for this honor. Vande Mataram, ma tujhe salaam. Want to thank all my well wishers, my fans, for their love, respect and unwavering support over all these years. Thanks to all.”

Peepli Live, from his production house, has also been received at Sundance. He writes, “Another piece of good news is that our film Peepli Live was really well received here at the Sundance Film Festival. We had our first screening on the 24th at the Egyptian Theatre, Park City. Super reaction right through the film, and huge ovation at the end. Audience really seemed to love it.”

He says, “I was really keen to see the reaction here at Sundance as I wanted to get a sense of how a non-Indian audience reacts to the film. 90% of the audience was non-Indian. I am now even more certain that this film has the potential to engage a world audience. The big challenge, when we release the film globally, will be to get them in. It doesn’t have any celebrity, and is in a language that they don’t understand.”