As calls to boycott Aamir Khan’s latest film Laal Singh Chadha, a seemingly poor copy of Hollywood classic Forrest Gump, gain momentum ahead of its theatre release, the Bollywood actor has now said that he ‘loves India‘ to get people to watch his film. While some people want to boycott Laal Singh Chaddha because they fear that Aamir has ruined another Hollywood classic, most are boycotting it because of Aamir’s anti-Hindu stance in his movie PK and subsequent anti-India statements despite India making his film the highest ever grosser.
PK may be a distasteful film which mocks the faith of Hindus, who have called for boycott of film instead of beheading like people from other faith do, but Gujaratis have other reasons to dislike Khan.
In April 2006, Aamir Khan joined hands with Medha Patkar of ‘Narmada Bachao Andolan’ and protested against Gujarat government’s decision to raise the height of Narmada Dam. The increased dam height will not only provide drinking and irrigation water to people in parched areas of Gujarat like the Kutch and Saurashtra region but also in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.
Subsequent to his support opposing development work in Gujarat that would bring water to lakhs of homes, Gujaratis had decided to boycott his film Fanaa. When he was asked whether Gujaratis boycotting his film will affect the revenue, Khan had said how losing Rs 5 to 7 crore will not impact the film. Khan had claimed he was not opposing construction of dam but wanted those being displaced by the damn to be rehabilitated. You can read the action taken regarding the rehabilitation of those displaced in all three states, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh here.
I remember he had joined the protests against Sardar Sarovar Dam right around the time his film Rang De Basanti was in the theatre. In the film, he played role of a man who chose to hang around in Delhi University even after he had graduated from the college. One of the dialogues in the film was how he hangs out at Delhi University even after all these years because outside of the walls, no one knows him. Somehow, after death of their friend, who played role of Air Force officer, suddenly bunch of losers in college became revolutionaries and decide to kill the Defence Minister over allegations of corruption in procuring the fighter jets.
In one of the interviews during his ‘protests’, Khan had said how he was inspired by his role in Rang De Basanti and hence was joining in the protests. Khan had dropped in at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi along with his costars of the film and joined in the ‘protests’. Khan had claimed his joining the Narmada Bachao Andolan protests was not to seek publicity for his film. One is to believe that more than one actor of the film that made ‘revolutionaries’ out of jobless men coincidentally appeared at a protest site. Totally believable.
It has been over 15 years since then but Khan has not quite joined any protests in India, even when his peers from fraternity joined them because they thought if so many people have gathered for protests, it must be right. The level of intelligence Bollywood-types exude it is no wonder that when audiences reject their films, instead of introspecting, they blame the audience for not liking trash.
Now, with social media, as more and more people are voicing their views and calling out the Hinduphobic content in films and television, especially when any kind of comment on other faiths leads to beheading and riots, filmmakers cannot get away with offending religious sentiments of majority of cinegoers. However, film actors and entertainers often refer to those who criticise their films as ‘Bhakts’ because somehow in their own narcissistic bubble they are above criticism and anyone rejecting their trash on celluloid is doing so because of their political stand.
No, Gujaratis rejected Aamir Khan’s film and are still upset over his supporting Medha Patkar is because the protests were anti-people. In their madness to oppose anything Modi does, they wanted Gujaratis to die of thirst. Just to give an example, here is a clip from a village in Kutch where Narmada waters reached for the first time.
Locals in Kutch celebrating the arrival of Narmada water in Modkuba canal at Rayan village near coastal Mandvi town pic.twitter.com/ZgtY13CcNp
— DeshGujarat (@DeshGujarat) July 6, 2022
Just look at the sheer happiness. The Narmada waters have travelled almost 750 kms from the Sardar Sarovar Dam to reach this far off village in Kutch.
This water could have reached them years ago if the likes of Medha Patkar supported by Khan and such did not stall projects.
As the then chief minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi launched the Saurashtra Narmada Avtaran Irrigation (SAUNI) Yojana in September 2012. SAUNI word in Gujarati means “everyone’s”. Through SAUNI Yojana, 115 dams in the arid Saurashtra region will be filled by diverting flood waters which overflow from the Sardar Sarovar dam in South Gujarat, a couple of kilometres away.
A spider pipeline network of 1,125 km long was involved. SAUNI Yojana will provide benefit of Narmada water to 737 villages of 11 districts and 31 cities in the Kutch-Saurashra region.
Imagine keeping all these people, animals in drought-prone area deprived of water, just because you don’t like one man, Narendra Modi.
So, Aamir Khan, people are angry with you for having portrayed yourself as mocking Lord Shiva, for having a scene in your movie where you appear to be urinating on a wall next to a suitcase with image of Goddess Lakshmi on it. You have offended the Hindu. Hindus have not called for your beheading for insulting our gods. They just want to show you how Goddess Lakshmi, the divine feminine who only knows how to love, does not shower her blessing on someone who does not respect her.
