Recently, India's top actor Aamir Khan made it to the country's headlines for not so positive reasons. Apparently his wife Kiran Rao made a comment asking if they should think of moving out of India looking at the current situations of intolerance in the country and for better future of their child.
Now I am till date unclear on when and where he made the comment; whether it was Facebook or some debate show on intolerance; I am not sure. Honestly, I don't give a damn to all these gossips and useless trash that media shares - whether its Facebook or News.
It just so happened, that in one of the family function my cousin read out the statement and said folks are trashing Aamir Khan on FB saying "Leave this country"; "This country made you Aamir Khan" etc... And that's how I got to know about this. Even then, I did not try to learn more about it.
Next couple of days I could see videos, comments etc... shared on whatsapp. Some people started comparing him to a martyr army officer's wife who told in an interview that she was proud of her husband and will put her son also into Indian army. And of course a series of religion biased comments followed asking him to move to Afghanistan or Pakistan. As much as I stayed away from this news, some or other source of information was being shared and it got me thinking.
I don't write much about political and religious views; not because I don't have one; but because these are heavily based on individual's perspective and cannot be analyzed logically. This event made me write today. Here's my perspective.
There was nothing wrong with what Aamir Khan shared.
Remark 1 - "India made you Aamir Khan. Now you comment on India" - He might be a super star for the world; but he is still a common man in his home; a husband, a father, a caretaker of his family.
90% of folks I know of who have come to USA or UK or New Zealand, have second thoughts of going back to India not just because of the better lifestyle these foreign countries have to offer, but because of the lack of basic security in our society today. Increasing reports of rape of minors, kidnapping, child abuse, road accidents etc... have got people to make a choice between their country of birth versus a country with better future for their child. When a common man like us can think of options; why can't that thought cross Aamir Khan and his wife Kiran's mind?
Remark 2 - "You are not an Indian." - Patriotism doesn't mean that one closes his eyes to all ill happenings. All Aamir Khan did was state in words publicly that; what was going on in the minds of lakhs of people in this country today. Because he is a high profile person, the country heard his voice and reacted.
Remark 3 - Don't remember the comment but it was to do with him being Muslim. A single such comment comes across and a section of people start raising flags of religion. Until then he is Aamir Khan, a perfectionist that country applauds and looks upto; and the next moment he is labelled as just another Muslim turning against the country.
Per me; The only thing he probably did incorrect was mention this on a public forum without safeguarding statement.
India is a country where people idolize Cricket stars, Bollywood actors/actresses, Revolutionary & Historic War Heroes. People look upto them as their role models; and anything they say or do bears a lot of importance to them. Even today, well educated professionals get nasty when topic of Amitabh Bacchan v/s Rajnikant arises.
In a country like this, when a star like Aamir Khan who has country wide fan following makes a remark as such in a public forum, people will tend to get emotional and react. With the fame comes responsibility. Especially a person like Aamir Khan, who has actively participated in representing the society through his movies like Peepli Live or shows like Satyamev Jayate or being brand ambassador for Incredible India; who has been out there being a responsible citizen of this country; he should have been more cautious of this statement. He definitely is smart enough to know the domino effect it would cause; so he should have conveyed it better, with more facts and reasoning. Instead of just stating the problem, he should have stated what needs to be done as well.
One of Maharashtra's political leader stated it well - Media will show things to get higher TRPs, if viewers stop watching such trash their importance will eventually die down. What some Aamir Khan felt was okay, he felt it, he shared it, topic closed. The more you react to it the more media will debate and make news out of it. Why give him that attention?
There is a growing sense of intolerance, insecurity in the society, it is true. And much of it being caused by ill thinking minds which definitely are not Aamir Khans or Salman Khans. Let's admit, if Aamir can feel it, common man can as well.
The focus should not be on how can Aamir Khan can say this; he definitely can say it as much as you or others can. He does not need to prove his patriotism to the rest of the country. He carries a heart of an Indian, like we all do, and we don't go around proving we are Indians. We know we are proud Indians; and so we feel responsible for what's happening around us; we feel for it and we comment. If Aamir has to leave India, he will, he does not need to be branded or banished. But that's not the solution to the problem he is trying to state.
Come on guys, we cannot say we are better by comparing ourselves to struggling nations. We definitely are a much better society and country; we cannot degrade ourselves by lowering our standards of comparison. We have been a logically thinking set of people, we co-exist with such wide community of mixed religion and culture. There is no other country in the world like India; and no matter how much rest of the world tries to bring up flaws of this country - lets admit, deep within everyone respects our country and envies it as well. So let's try to better ourselves, correct our flaws, and progress in positive direction instead of closing our minds to the problems.
-Sarita
Dated: 30th Nov 2015
Now I am till date unclear on when and where he made the comment; whether it was Facebook or some debate show on intolerance; I am not sure. Honestly, I don't give a damn to all these gossips and useless trash that media shares - whether its Facebook or News.
It just so happened, that in one of the family function my cousin read out the statement and said folks are trashing Aamir Khan on FB saying "Leave this country"; "This country made you Aamir Khan" etc... And that's how I got to know about this. Even then, I did not try to learn more about it.
Next couple of days I could see videos, comments etc... shared on whatsapp. Some people started comparing him to a martyr army officer's wife who told in an interview that she was proud of her husband and will put her son also into Indian army. And of course a series of religion biased comments followed asking him to move to Afghanistan or Pakistan. As much as I stayed away from this news, some or other source of information was being shared and it got me thinking.
I don't write much about political and religious views; not because I don't have one; but because these are heavily based on individual's perspective and cannot be analyzed logically. This event made me write today. Here's my perspective.
There was nothing wrong with what Aamir Khan shared.
Remark 1 - "India made you Aamir Khan. Now you comment on India" - He might be a super star for the world; but he is still a common man in his home; a husband, a father, a caretaker of his family.
90% of folks I know of who have come to USA or UK or New Zealand, have second thoughts of going back to India not just because of the better lifestyle these foreign countries have to offer, but because of the lack of basic security in our society today. Increasing reports of rape of minors, kidnapping, child abuse, road accidents etc... have got people to make a choice between their country of birth versus a country with better future for their child. When a common man like us can think of options; why can't that thought cross Aamir Khan and his wife Kiran's mind?
Remark 2 - "You are not an Indian." - Patriotism doesn't mean that one closes his eyes to all ill happenings. All Aamir Khan did was state in words publicly that; what was going on in the minds of lakhs of people in this country today. Because he is a high profile person, the country heard his voice and reacted.
Remark 3 - Don't remember the comment but it was to do with him being Muslim. A single such comment comes across and a section of people start raising flags of religion. Until then he is Aamir Khan, a perfectionist that country applauds and looks upto; and the next moment he is labelled as just another Muslim turning against the country.
Per me; The only thing he probably did incorrect was mention this on a public forum without safeguarding statement.
India is a country where people idolize Cricket stars, Bollywood actors/actresses, Revolutionary & Historic War Heroes. People look upto them as their role models; and anything they say or do bears a lot of importance to them. Even today, well educated professionals get nasty when topic of Amitabh Bacchan v/s Rajnikant arises.
In a country like this, when a star like Aamir Khan who has country wide fan following makes a remark as such in a public forum, people will tend to get emotional and react. With the fame comes responsibility. Especially a person like Aamir Khan, who has actively participated in representing the society through his movies like Peepli Live or shows like Satyamev Jayate or being brand ambassador for Incredible India; who has been out there being a responsible citizen of this country; he should have been more cautious of this statement. He definitely is smart enough to know the domino effect it would cause; so he should have conveyed it better, with more facts and reasoning. Instead of just stating the problem, he should have stated what needs to be done as well.
One of Maharashtra's political leader stated it well - Media will show things to get higher TRPs, if viewers stop watching such trash their importance will eventually die down. What some Aamir Khan felt was okay, he felt it, he shared it, topic closed. The more you react to it the more media will debate and make news out of it. Why give him that attention?
There is a growing sense of intolerance, insecurity in the society, it is true. And much of it being caused by ill thinking minds which definitely are not Aamir Khans or Salman Khans. Let's admit, if Aamir can feel it, common man can as well.
The focus should not be on how can Aamir Khan can say this; he definitely can say it as much as you or others can. He does not need to prove his patriotism to the rest of the country. He carries a heart of an Indian, like we all do, and we don't go around proving we are Indians. We know we are proud Indians; and so we feel responsible for what's happening around us; we feel for it and we comment. If Aamir has to leave India, he will, he does not need to be branded or banished. But that's not the solution to the problem he is trying to state.
Come on guys, we cannot say we are better by comparing ourselves to struggling nations. We definitely are a much better society and country; we cannot degrade ourselves by lowering our standards of comparison. We have been a logically thinking set of people, we co-exist with such wide community of mixed religion and culture. There is no other country in the world like India; and no matter how much rest of the world tries to bring up flaws of this country - lets admit, deep within everyone respects our country and envies it as well. So let's try to better ourselves, correct our flaws, and progress in positive direction instead of closing our minds to the problems.
-Sarita
Dated: 30th Nov 2015
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