Mr. Perfectionist, Aamir Khan's long awaited film "Laal Singh Chaddha" is ready for its release on 11th August 2022. It's an official remake of 1995 Academy Award winner, Forest Gump. Actor Atul Kulkarni has penned for the Indian adaptation, while 'Secret Superstar' fame Advait Chandan directed this comedy-drama film. South actor, Akkineni Naga Chaitanya is debuting the Bollywood through this film.
As the film inching it's theatrical release, #boycottlaalsinghchaddha is trending the social media platforms by a section of community. This is due to outspoken Aamir in 2015 during an interview. Few people took his statement through the eyes of media headlines and perceived it their way, ignoring the context of the statement and his real intentions about the political intolerance in the country during that time.
His statement in his words - "As an individual, as part of this country as a citizen, we read in the papers what is happening, we see it on the news and certainly, I have been alarmed. I can’t deny. I have been alarmed by a number of incidents. 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 about what the atmosphere around us will be. She feels scared to open the newspapers every day.
People who are our elected representatives, people who we select to look after us for five years, State or centre... when people take law into their hands, we look upon these people to take a strong stance, to make a strong statement, speed up the legal process, when we see that happening there is a sense of security but when we don’t see that happening there is a sense of insecurity. All individuals have a right to protest and they can protest in any manner that they feel is right as long as they are not taking the law into their hands.”
He never mentioned that he doesn't like India in any of earlier statements at the ceremony of Journalism excellence awards. He raised his voice against few communal attacks where they were punishing someone without involving police or courts. The communal parties played their cards against him, labelling as "Anti National". Earlier, he was part of social reforming program - "Satyamev Jayate" and helped in bringing out and enlighten the people about social issues in our country. Neither this work was taken into conscious, before targeting him.
To another surprise, Dangal, which was released in 2016,post his controversial statement, was turned out to be one of the highest grosser of Indian Film Industry after Bahubali series. If people needs to take a stand against him, it should have been for Dangal. But after more than 5 years, his old twisted statement is brought into limelight by few media sections, which sparks the chance of political blend.
Another point people turned against him was his role in PK, where in the film he was seen mocking Hindu gods and goddess. But in the same movie, there are scenes, where the PK tries to carry alcohol into the mosque and coconut into the church. It was about the terms and chaos we lined within various religions. A similar attempt was done in another film, "Oh My God!" starring Akshay Kumar and Paresh Rawal. Even this movie which showcased the lapses in Hindu rituals was a hit at the box office and got the critical acclaim even from the common man.
An art lover should never be trapped in the net of communal politics. Boycotting a film, which was made not just by one person but instead thousands of craft workers, should be the least.