another political act by Aamir Khan
IT is Aamir Khan's turn to be Gujarat's enemy number one. The Bollywood star follows a long list of illustrious people - Mallika Sarabhai, Medha Patkar and M.F. Husain among others who have been targeted by the Bharatiya Janata Party mobs.
The BJP's youth wing called for a ban on his new Hindi film Fanaa in Gujarat. His crime: He wanted those displaced by the Narmada dam to be rehabilitated. His earlier movie, Rang De Basanti, was pulled out of Gujarat's theatres in April after they were attacked.
He supported the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), a group seeking proper rehabilitation of oustees.
"Aamir Khan has insulted Gujarat by sitting with Medha Patkar on her hunger strike in Delhi last month," said Amit Thaker, president of the BJP Yuva Morcha. "Medha Patkar is Gujarat's enemy number one, by being with her, Aamir Khan is also an enemy of Gujarat. He should apologise or he will have to face the anger of Gujarat. We will not allow any of his films in Gujarat and will also ban the products he endorses - Titan, Toyota, Coke." In the wake of the protests, Toyota pulled out advertisements of its product endorsed by Aamir Khan.
Full Frontline article here
In case you don't already know, the BJP is a powerful political party that is reflective of the rise of Hindu fundamentalism/fascism in India over the last 20 or so years.
The Narmada Bachao Andolan (Save the Narmada Movement) is a huge peoples' movement in India against the construction of large-scale dams, that are displacing thousands of adivasis, farmers, tribal and low caste people, sucking the water resources away from communities and redirecting it towards middle and upper class people in urban areas who can afford to pay for essential resources like water and electricity. It's the movement that Arundhati Roy donated all the proceeds of her Booker prize-winning novel, The God of Small Things, to.
For more on the NBA, go to the Friends of River Narmada website.
For more on AR's writing, including on big dams in India (read The Greater Common Good), go to this site.
The BJP's youth wing called for a ban on his new Hindi film Fanaa in Gujarat. His crime: He wanted those displaced by the Narmada dam to be rehabilitated. His earlier movie, Rang De Basanti, was pulled out of Gujarat's theatres in April after they were attacked.
He supported the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), a group seeking proper rehabilitation of oustees.
"Aamir Khan has insulted Gujarat by sitting with Medha Patkar on her hunger strike in Delhi last month," said Amit Thaker, president of the BJP Yuva Morcha. "Medha Patkar is Gujarat's enemy number one, by being with her, Aamir Khan is also an enemy of Gujarat. He should apologise or he will have to face the anger of Gujarat. We will not allow any of his films in Gujarat and will also ban the products he endorses - Titan, Toyota, Coke." In the wake of the protests, Toyota pulled out advertisements of its product endorsed by Aamir Khan.
Full Frontline article here
In case you don't already know, the BJP is a powerful political party that is reflective of the rise of Hindu fundamentalism/fascism in India over the last 20 or so years.
The Narmada Bachao Andolan (Save the Narmada Movement) is a huge peoples' movement in India against the construction of large-scale dams, that are displacing thousands of adivasis, farmers, tribal and low caste people, sucking the water resources away from communities and redirecting it towards middle and upper class people in urban areas who can afford to pay for essential resources like water and electricity. It's the movement that Arundhati Roy donated all the proceeds of her Booker prize-winning novel, The God of Small Things, to.
For more on the NBA, go to the Friends of River Narmada website.
For more on AR's writing, including on big dams in India (read The Greater Common Good), go to this site.
posted by burgers and durians at
9:52 PM
3 Comments:
Insulted Gujarat ? The anger of Gujarat ? Wow! What can I say? This sounds ominously like “we the people” where the mob gives itself fancy names to intimidate courageous individuals. What a load of shit! Motherfuckers!
is aamir khan like a lefty or something?
Hey Tony, thanks for your comment.
Yeah, this fits right into the Hindu nationalist ideology - according to their thinking Gujarat, like the rest of India, 'rightfully belongs' to Hindus, the 'only true Indians'. Scary stuff.
Rabfish,
Errrmmm..i think it might be a bit of a stretch to call Aamir Khan a lefty. He's recently been a part of some films that i would say have left leanings - Mangal Pandey was quite strongly anti-colonial, Rang de Basanti was anti-colonial and anti-imperialist, etc. I guess the title of my post is a bit misleading: i don't know if he's ever spoken out for social justice before, but he's played the lead in a bunch of films that advocate social justice. I used the term 'political act' as a pun; not a very good one i think. :P
I do think it was good of him to lend support to those affected by the dam projects though.
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