Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan, 50, has been called a “thinking man’s
actor” and Mr. Perfectionist by some. Others have called him “publicity
hungry” and “pretentious.”
But whatever he says or does manages to stir a debate in India.
On Monday, Khan said he felt “despondency” and “alarm” over certain recent incidents in the country.
“As an individual, as a citizen, certainly I have also been alarmed, I can’t deny it, by a number of incidents,” he said at a discussion organized by the Indian Express newspaper in New Delhi.
Khan did not specify the incidents, but he was answering a question about several artists and authors who have returned their national awards to protest what they called a growing climate of intolerance in India — triggered by the debate around the killing of a rationalist scholar and the deadly beating of a Muslim man by a Hindu mob in a village outside New Delhi over false rumors that he had eaten beef. Many Hindus regard the cow as holy and eating beef as a sin.
Khan then quoted a conversation between him and his wife, Kiran Rao, who is Hindu, about the incidents.
“Kiran and I have lived all our lives in India. For the first time, she said, should we move out of India?” Khan recalled. “That’s a disastrous and big statement for Kiran to make to me. She fears for her child. She fears about what the atmosphere around us will be. She feels scared to open the newspapers every day. That does indicate that there is a sense of growing disquiet.”
This is not the first time that Khan has spoken out about social issues. In his popular Oprah-style television chat show, he has spoken boldly on female infanticide, masculinity, honor killing and child sexual abuse.
The government said his comments were politically motivated. Officials released data that showed that fewer people had died in religious clashes this year than in 2014.
"We won't let Aamir leave the country, he is safe,” said Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, deputy minister of minority affairs in the government. “This kind of comment influenced by a politically motivated campaign insults those who have given so much honour to Aamir in India.”
A little-known short-film director named Ullhas P.R. in New Delhi filed a police complaint against Khan saying that celebrities must not "scare people" by making such remarks. Khan's posters were burned in several cities. Police increased security outside Khan's residence in Mumbai on Tuesday.
The article is taken from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/11/25/a-bollywood-star-who-objects-to-intolerance-in-india-faces-a-volley-of-criticism/
But whatever he says or does manages to stir a debate in India.
On Monday, Khan said he felt “despondency” and “alarm” over certain recent incidents in the country.
“As an individual, as a citizen, certainly I have also been alarmed, I can’t deny it, by a number of incidents,” he said at a discussion organized by the Indian Express newspaper in New Delhi.
Khan did not specify the incidents, but he was answering a question about several artists and authors who have returned their national awards to protest what they called a growing climate of intolerance in India — triggered by the debate around the killing of a rationalist scholar and the deadly beating of a Muslim man by a Hindu mob in a village outside New Delhi over false rumors that he had eaten beef. Many Hindus regard the cow as holy and eating beef as a sin.
Khan then quoted a conversation between him and his wife, Kiran Rao, who is Hindu, about the incidents.
“Kiran and I have lived all our lives in India. For the first time, she said, should we move out of India?” Khan recalled. “That’s a disastrous and big statement for Kiran to make to me. She fears for her child. She fears about what the atmosphere around us will be. She feels scared to open the newspapers every day. That does indicate that there is a sense of growing disquiet.”
This is not the first time that Khan has spoken out about social issues. In his popular Oprah-style television chat show, he has spoken boldly on female infanticide, masculinity, honor killing and child sexual abuse.
The government said his comments were politically motivated. Officials released data that showed that fewer people had died in religious clashes this year than in 2014.
"We won't let Aamir leave the country, he is safe,” said Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, deputy minister of minority affairs in the government. “This kind of comment influenced by a politically motivated campaign insults those who have given so much honour to Aamir in India.”
A little-known short-film director named Ullhas P.R. in New Delhi filed a police complaint against Khan saying that celebrities must not "scare people" by making such remarks. Khan's posters were burned in several cities. Police increased security outside Khan's residence in Mumbai on Tuesday.
The article is taken from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/11/25/a-bollywood-star-who-objects-to-intolerance-in-india-faces-a-volley-of-criticism/
