The irony that attacking Aamir Khan for his comments only reinforces what he had to say seems to be lost on bhakts
Lindsay Pereira (MID-DAY; November 25, 2015)

Aamir Khan doesn’t have a new movie coming up. That is what surprised people almost as much as his statement about intolerance in India. After all, it is a truth universally acknowledged that Mr Khan doesn’t say or do anything without the prospect of it affecting a new movie’s release.

Yet, he did speak out. Without it being part of a marketing campaign. The horror! To be fair, all Khan expressed was a certain amount of concern over an increase in incidents of intolerance in recent months, which had supposedly prompted his wife to consider leaving the country. It’s a thought that has cropped up in a lot of sane minds recently; and by sane, I mean minds that aren’t completely in thrall to Narendra Modi’s sustained PR campaigns.

Naturally, because Khan is more important that thousands of regular folk, a lot of people decided to get hot and bothered by his comments. One aggrieved gentleman from Delhi reportedly filed a police complaint against the actor, saying he “as a citizen of this country feels that the celebrities should think before speaking.” Unfortunately for the resident of Delhi — a state known for its residents who often pause to think before abusing someone — the kind of role models we place on pedestals here don’t exactly do a lot of thinking. Here’s a cursory look at the kind of people we look up to: movie stars who haven’t been to school, movie stars who have been to school, cricketers who may or may not have been to school, politicians who certainly haven’t been to school and businessmen, because it’s all about ill- gotten money in this land of spiritualism, honey.

Given this scenario, expecting celebrities to “think before speaking” doesn’t make much of a difference. It would only if our celebrities were writers, philosophers, artists or teachers.

And they’re not. Khan’s comments also attracted hostility from members of his own industry. Like Anupam Kher, for instance, who asked the actor why he didn’t tell his wife that this country “made Aamir Khan.” It was an inane response, but then again, Kher has never found his name on any list of intelligent people. It’s also hard to take the man seriously when he spends half his life playing a misogynistic buffoon on the big screen.



Also attacking Khan was Abhijeet Bhattacharya, a singer who has, in recent years, taken upon himself the need to protect India’s dignity, one grammatically incorrect tweet at a time. He is also the man who famously blamed the poor people sleeping on the street, after Salman Khan’s conviction in a 2002 hit-and-run case. And also the man who referred to Pakistani ghazal singer Ghulam Ali as a ‘dengue artist’ ( whatever that means) from a ‘terrorist country’. And, yes, also the man recently accused of molesting a 34-year old woman at a Durga puja pandal.

When people like these start defining how patriotic we all ought to be, you know India has a problem. Maybe Aamir Khan should not have said a word. Maybe, he should have concentrated on marketing his movies quietly, like actors in this country are supposed to do. Maybe we don’t deserve people with opinions unless their opinions reflect our own.

I don’t agree or disagree with what Aamir Khan had to say. I simply believe he has a right to his opinion because, like most of us, he pays his taxes, isn’t a criminal and hasn’t made awful movies like Ram Gopal Varma does constantly. He should have the right to say what he feels, because we can all agree to disagree. The many rabid attacks on him simply reinforce what he had to say about intolerance. And that kind of irony has always been lost on BJP supporters.

Twitterati react

Raveena Tandon @TandonRaveena
debate hs bcm fully politicised,Njoy d madness ppl,while I go to wish a babyborn of Muslim father Hindu mother,lives in no fear #trueindia

Ram Gopal Varma @RGVzoomin
Isn’t Aamir,Sharuk,Salman,3 Muslims becoming biggest stars of a Hindu country proof enough that india is tolerant?

Anupam Kher @AnupamPkher
Dear @aamir_khan. #SatyamevaJayate u talked about evil practices but gave Hope. So even in ‘Intolerant’ times u need 2 spread Hope not Fear.

Dear @aamir_khan. When did ‘Incredible India’ become ‘Intolerant India’ for you? Only in the last 7-8 months? #AtithiDevoBhavah

After effect
As word spread about Aamir Khan speaking out on growing intolerance in the country at an event in Delhi, his filmmaker-wife Kiran Rao had to face backlash back home in Mumbai. Early morning, she found a group of people demonstrating outside her house. The 20-odd protestors, who claimed to belong to a right-wing outfit called Hindu Sena, were demanding an apology from Aamir for his statements, failing which they threatened to hold protests in other parts of the country.

The Khar police arrested all of them soon after. Two police vans were promptly stationed outside the star’s residence.
Sources close to the family said that Kiran is obviously disturbed by the goings on and apparently felt more threatened because Aamir was also not in town.

She decided to stay put in the house through the day, heeding to the advice of friends and family, says an insider. 

Industry Voices

Filmmaker Anubhav Sinha has come out in support of Aamir Khan’s comments and said his opinion should be respected and heard. “Aamir shared what his wife felt, and what he actually said was ‘what a disastrous thing it was to say’. But everybody is discussing what Kiran said. When such eminent people, who are respected and socially responsible people are saying something then that means there is something wrong. People like Aamir and Shah Rukh (Khan) will never make sensational statements. They don’t need headlines. They (the government) need to pay attention and not ridicule him,” he said. Sinha also condemned people, who have trashed Aamir on social media platforms, calling them “a bunch of nobodies”.

Music composer A R Rahman says he finds the protests against intolerance “poetic” as it is non-violent in nature. “Everything should be done classily and any kind of revolt should be classy. I think it is very poetic what people are doing rather than hitting each other,” he said in an interview on the sidelines of NFDC Film Bazaar. When asked about Aamir’s comments, Rahman said, “Don’t pull me into trouble.”