"Film making is like fighting a war with leadership at the front," said actor Aamir Khan who is in the city to promote his film Mangal Pandey-The Rising revolving around the 'first war of Independence.'

"Much depends on the director of the film. It depends on whether the director has a story to tell, does he feel like telling a story and whether he is bursting with enthusiasm to tell the story," he says while trying to elaborate the factors that could turn a film into a success.

"Ketan (Mehta director of Mangal Pandey) had been waiting for 17 years to tell the story of Mangal Pandey," he said while explaining his decision to work in a historical film.

Working in such a film was a major challenge, says Aamir who plays the role of young Mangal Pandey who had led a revolt agains the British in 1857 over the use of cartridges dipped in animal fat.

"It is a challenge because people already have some impression of a person about whom such a lot or perhaps little is written about. One not only needs to assure that you are close to accuracy on the factual points but also fit into the impression people have of the character," he said.

"Though I love history, I did not choose to play Pandey because of it but because I thought it had a contemporary feel," he said.

"I found that what happened 150 years ago was happening again with Americans entering other countries and exploiting them but pretending they were doing a favour. It was this contemporary feel that attracted me," Aamir said.

The actor, whose earlier 'period' film Lagaan had box office collections, said his choice of films was dependent on the script. "I read a script as an audience and only when it excites me do I work in it. I believe that if I like the script as an audience, perhaps the mass audience will like it but there is no guarantee of the fact," he remarked.

"Moreover, I like challenges. I like to take the path that others would not tread or care to use," the actor said.

On his four-year hiatus, he said "I like to act in one film at a time. But this time, the gap was unusually long because of some personal problems." "But it also took time because when I decided to play Pandey, I realised my hair was too short and I needed to grow it," he laughed.

His one-film-at-a-time policy was also because it took the actor nearly three-four months to study the character, get into the skin of the character. "I can't just like a script and start working. I need to live and breathe it."

"I think as creative people, we are constantly giving outputs but for that we need to have some inputs. Hence, I constantly read, get into conversations, discuss. I need to have some inputs before giving the outputs," he said adding he had now decided to do a film every six to eight months instead of making it an annual feature.