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Aamir Khan has cheated fans and let down India

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Dipin Damodharan
Dipin DamodharanNov 24, 2015 | 18:49

Aamir Khan has cheated fans and let down India

Aamir Khan is one of my favourites in Bollywood who has acquired some incredible skills to make you think and laugh through his movies. His social interventions in the form of Satyameva Jayate are commendable as he made use of his celebrity status to actively involve in the fight against social evils. I have great respect for his approach towards life as he has shown the habit of thinking and acting logically in India's complex ecosystem.

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Unlike many Bollywood heroes, this Khan has got a nationalist image before middle class Indians. But, it was really a shock to hear Aamir's lamentations on intolerance at the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards. "When I chat with Kiran at home, she says, 'should we move out of India?' That's a disastrous and big statement for Kiran to make. She fears for her child. She fears what the atmosphere around us will be. She feels scared to open the newspapers every day. That does indicate that there is this sense of growing disquiet, there is growing despondency apart from alarm," Aamir said. The grammar, gravity and substance of this statement must be questioned and dismissed without any second thought.

Joining the chorus of intelligentsia to brand India as intolerant makes no sense for an actor like Aamir. His dissent can neither be treated as a bold statement nor be conceived as a good message to his followers. It's purely an act of irresponsibility from a much-hyped responsible film star. He has failed to sense the pulse of the times, to be precise the pulse of India. The artificiality of his statement was candid and there's nothing for his family to fear here. He may know that well. As Anupam Kher pointed out, instead of spreading hope, Aamir is on the move to spread fear. Kher lashed out at Aamir through a series of tweets: 

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

Aamir Khan's intolerance jibe at this point of time can be easily interpreted as a substandard act of playing victimhood. Dear Aamir, what did you try to communicate by saying your wife wants to leave India as she feared for her child. Without any doubts, I can say this is the most disastrous statement you have made in your life. If the child of a super celebrity like you is not safe in India, then which child has the social immunity to live in this country? You have made a terrible statement to mislead your fans, including the common man who have offered their unconditional love for you.

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Dear Aamir, before making immature statements, you could have thought that communal violence is also a social evil like female feticide and violence on women. Instead of spreading awareness, you thought about leaving the country. Going beyond the political barriers, celebrities like Aamir should be engaged in constructive criticism.

Surprisingly, the intolerance lament was on the destructive mode and he confined himself to the four walls of religion. Either you didn't think about the implications and consequences of the statement, or you had some well-calculated motives to make such a statement.

When I went through the Twitter reactions on Aamir, Ram Gopal Varma scored well this time with Anupam Kher. "In a predominantly Hindu country, if three Muslims can become the biggest iconic super stars, that proves the majority aren't intolerant," he tweeted. Of course, RGV makes sense this time.

Last updated: November 24, 2015 | 18:49
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