Zaira Wasim trolled: Why isn't Aamir Khan speaking up for his Dangal daughter?
In his feminist anthem Dangal, Aamir Khan says to his wife, "Mhari chhoriyan chhoro se kam hai ke? (Are our daughters any less than our sons?)", while the entire theatre erupts in applause. That was one of the most defining moments of the film. It made many people's chests swell the full 56 inches with pride, while some tried supressing a stray tear running down their face.
This is Aamir Khan. The sultan of Indian cinema, the messiah who brings to our TV sets the problems people face in the remotest corners of the country.
This is the same Aamir Khan who tells the country that his wife Kiran Rao feared for their son's safety given the atmosphere of intolerance in the country. That Kiran occasionally entertained the thought that they could shift to another country to let their son grow up "azad". Free.
But the freedom to speak is probably not greater than the concern for his film's performance at the box office. Right before the release of Dangal, Aamir told the media that demonetisation is a great move by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It is of little surprise then that we haven't yet seen Aamir commenting anything about his Dangal daughter Zaira Wasim. And the curious case of her (now deleted) social media apologies.
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| Zaira Wasim's (now deleted) apology on social media. |
Since Monday afternoon, right after Zaira took everyone by surprise by posting a long apology on her Twitter and Facebook accounts, there was an unnerving silence from most of bigshot-Bollywood. In case you're not clued in into l'affaire Zaira Wasim, she wrote an open letter telling people that she was "not proud of" what she was doing, that people should remember that she is just 16 years old and treat her accordingly. That she did not want to be a role model for fellow Kashmiri youngsters, and that she did not want people to follow in her footsteps. The apology came in the wake of her meeting with Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti. Wasim was trolled no end for meeting Mufti, and one can hazard a guess even threatened by extremists for her choice of a career in acting.
The tone of the post left many of us very, very disturbed. All of us on social media know how trolls can bite into our daily existence and make it imperative for us to either commit Twitter-cide, or turn pachyderm and not bother. But somewhere, millions of negative comments do get on our nerves.
A 16-year-old artist, a rising star, should not have to deal with such negativity just because she chose to give wings to her dream. While we don't really expect all of Bollywood to rally behind Zaira at a time like this (when has Bollywood ever been united, for that matter?), at least the person who made her a face to remember needs to step up and - if not do - say something.
We have filled reams writing about Aamir Khan's battle against societal ills through his cinema. Time he emulated himself, his characters, in real life too, right?
Surprise us, Mr Khan
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