Hindustan Times (Patna) - Hindustan Times (Patna) - Live
AAMIR IN THE EYE OF THE INTOLERANCE STORM
This time it is Aamir Khan who has stirred a hornet’s nest with his comment on intolerance
Actor Aamir Khan and his wife filmmaker Kiran Rao had debated leaving India, but now this discussion has made national headlines. Aamir’s comments on growing intolerance in India making them fear for their child has provoked a major backlash.
Many of Aamir’s colleagues in the industry are disappointed by his comment. Veteran actor Anupam Kher called it a “very selfish” statement to make. “Dear @aamir_khan. When did ‘Incredible India’ become ‘Intolerant India’ for you? Only in the last 7-8 months? AtithiDevoBhavah (sic),” he wrote on Twitter.
Actor Paresh Rawal is also unhappy. “It is very saddening and painful to see Aamir make statements like these. Everyone is free to protest against something and he should protest if he wants to, but it has to have an outcome,” he says.
Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma took to Twitter to comment. “In a predominantly Hindu country, if 3 Muslims can become the biggest iconic super stars that itself proves the majority aren’t intolerant. Some celebs complaining about Intolerance should be the last ones to complain becos they became celebs in a so called intolerant country (sic),” he wrote.
However, not everyone in the industry is against Aamir. Filmmaker Hansal Mehta agrees with what Aamir had to say. “The fact that he is getting trolled on social media shows how intolerant we are. When someone like Aamir says something, one takes it literally,” he says.
Earlier this month, actor Shah Rukh Khan had sparked off a similar debate on the same subject. However, SRK went ahead and clarified on Monday night, “I never said India is intolerant. When I was asked about it, I said I wouldn’t like talking about it, but when they insisted, I had just said that the youth should concentrate on making this a secular, | progressive country. Misconstruing my words might or might not suit a particular political agenda, but I am annoyed because I didn’t mean what is being portrayed.”