Amir Khan Isn't Anti-National... He Is Being Portrayed As One!

Lately, the internet has been going viral with posts about the Amir Khan controversy. Amir Khan, one of the most popular and adored actors of the B-Town has been receiving enormous opposition from the people for comments he did not make! People have literally resorted to calling him a traitor and bashing him online for calling India intolerant and unsafe. My question here is, why is Amir Khan being criticized for a statement that he did not make in the first place? And why are people responding to a statement made by Kiran Rao?

Okay, so I feel everyone has got the freedom of expression in our country that is conferred upon every citizen alike by the Constitution. So, as far as it does not cause loss to anybody, we, the citizens of India, can express ourselves freely and convey our opinions and views in public, just like I am writing this post to express my views on the controversy. Kiran Rao simply made a statement that she feels unsafe in India due to the growing violence and religious discrimination among people. She feels it will cause a bad impact on her children’s mind if such an atmosphere prevails in the country. What’s wrong with that?

As soon as the media reported this issue, trolls and posts started making a buzz on social media and Whatsapp. I have even received posts that suggest Amir Khan to leave India and shift to Pakistan, Afghanistan or Syria if he thinks India is intolerant. Personally, I feel India doesn’t need to be compared with these nations in any way. Of course, the situation is much better in India than these countries when it comes to violence and killing of innocents. Kiran Rao never said that these nations are better than India. She only said she wishes to shift in another country where she and her family could lead safe and sound lives, where her children would be raised in a peaceful environment and grow up to be non-violent, responsible citizens. Do you know there are so many such people in India, or mothers, in particular, who think of this in order to give their children a better life?

Every year, so many people from India move abroad for studies and job and settle there. Many of them, even after completing their education, do not return to India. In fact, following the reservation system in India and many other evils, we have lost so many genius brains to other countries who are now serving companies such as Apple, Google, etc. But nobody blames them or calls them traitors! Why? Even they had the same thoughts in their mind while they moved to these foreign countries to serve huge companies abroad, isn’t it? They did not see enough scope to grow and prosper in India which made them move out and serve other nations. Then why is such as big fuss created when Amir Khan’s wife mentioned about moving out of the country? Is it something new?

Other than the funny ones, Whatsapp and Facebook also witnessed posts stating that Col. Mahadik’s wife who recently had to bid farewell to her braveheart husband forever when he lost his life fighting the terrorists, wants both her sons to join the army and serve the nation. On the contrary, Kiran Rao wants to flee the nation because of her insecurity. Now, this is a case of perspective according to me. Not everyone is brave or has the guts to sacrifice their lives. In fact, most people who criticised Amir Khan and Kiran Rao for their statement themselves won’t be willing to lay their lives for the nation. Col. Mahadik was indeed a brave soldier and has a brave family. But that doesn’t mean someone who is not as brave must be criticised.

Another irrelevant thing that people did was to sort of boycott Snapdeal, uninstall its app from their phones, just because they have Amir Khan as their brand ambassador. Dear people, Amir Khan and Snapdeal are different entities altogether. None of them have any connection with each other’s personal views. So please start thinking rationally before you act!

And, by the way, those who declared Amir Khan a traitor by making an opinion based on posts on Whatsapp and social media, let me tell you that Amir Khan clearly said that the statement that his wife made was disastrous and big. He is clearly not happy with the statement that his wife made, nor does he plan to leave the nation. This is clearly a case on media hype because the media perhaps has no other important issues to report currently.

Please think rationally before you make any opinion!

            

Writers Are Returning Their Awards And The Religious Fuss Is Just Getting Worse!

The last one month has been crucial for the art industry in India. Of course, you know what I am talking about! The writer fraternity in India has been actively returning their awards one by one to demonstrate their protest against the killing of a renowned writer last month and religious intolerance on the whole. Initially, it was only a dozen of writers who had chosen to demonstrate their protest in this way. But the issue has become deeper and more serious with time and seems to have assumed the character of a non-violent movement. And here’s why it is serious and has forced me to come with this article!

The entire fuss began when Maleshappa Kalburgi, an academic from Karnataka, was shot dead at his home last month, i.e., September. The writer had previously gotten threat calls for his criticism on the practice of idol worship among Hindus. It is this killing that has forced all the writers across the country to come together and show their protest. Of course, these are the literate class of people in the society and hence the protest has remained non-violent so far. But, religious intolerance has been rising more phenomenally than we think and know, and, if it grows at this rate, India would soon witness a riot like that which Mumbai experienced in 1992.

First and foremost, what is religion? And why so much of fuss over it? Religion is something that we people have created to bring like-minded people closer to each other and connect with divinity. No religion, absolutely no religion in this world, preaches people to be violent, to kill the people of other religion or disapprove of them and their ideologies. Every person has a unique way of thinking, a unique of worship and connecting with God. This is what religion is all about! And yes, no individual comes with a religious tag on him. A newly born child doesn’t know which religion he belongs to; it is the parents and the society who teach them to behave in a certain way, act and react in a certain way and practice certain things, irrespective of whether the person approves of it or believes in the ideologies. When children are first admitted to school and get exposed and connected to their numerous classmates, no one asks one another what religion they belong to! Relationships and friendships are irrespective of any barriers such as caste, creed, religion, sex and race.

Something that was created by people to get close to God and divinity and connect with like-minded people has however now taken the structure of violence and intolerance. The writers’ movement is undoubtedly non-violent but what about what is happening across the country? Innocent people are being dragged and killed in what has become the issue of beef ban, bans are imposed by the government on the way people live and eat and people are killing each other over petty issues. Is this what our freedom fighters had fought for? Is this what our soldiers are battling on the borders for? All of these great Indians have a simple belief and desire – to bring Indians together so that they can fight evils together. ‘Unity in Diversity’ is what we are taught at schools! Imagine what those kids must be feeling when they see this violence on their TV sets that results from a thing such as religion!

Why are we Hindus and Muslims and not Indians? Why are we teaching our innocent younger generation to fight with one another on the grounds of religion? Why is violence taking over India? What do people want? Do we want the government to exercise control over the way we live now? Would we be happy if the government now tells us what to eat and what not? If people want beef to be banned in India, why is chicken, mutton and fish not banned? Just because cows are sacred for a particular religion? And what about the chickens who lay their lives daily to fill the stomachs of numerous people in the country? Aren’t they living beings? My only point here is, let people eat what they want. No one has got the right to tell anyone what to eat and what not and, if people are so concerned about the killing of cows, impose a ban on animal killing on the whole! But, do this to save the animals and not in the name of religion!

My entire point of writing this is to suggest people,

Enough of the religious fuss, please, let’s be Indians now!

Disclaimer: This, again, is a topic suggested by my dear friend Sheetal Maurya. Thanks Sheetal. J

The reason I totally loved #PK

A movie that has become the talk of the town, that gave birth to a hell lot of controversies and yet is the No.1 highest grossing movie in minimum time! Who wouldn't guess I am talking about PK! Aamir Khan's PK has become one of the hot topics in the tinsel town; while people have been watching it in large numbers, we also have a large number of critics for the movie! I happened to watch the movie a few days back and I simply loved it for many reasons. The reason I am writing a blog on this is that the movie tends to make a strong comment on the traditional and superstitious thinking of many Indians and break the stereotypes in the modern world. So here's why I simply loved the movie PK!

With a lot of movies by great stars and newbies coming up every month, Aamir Khan and Raju Hirani's PK definitely stands out with its strong script and undoubtedly the great acting of Aamir Khan. A story that begins with Aamir coming up on Planet Earth as an alien, takes several twists and turns and depicts the story and struggles of an innocent Aamir on this planet to survive and understand the different cultures, traditions and religions followed by people in India. What makes the movie really interesting and worth a watch is the humour induced while making a comment on the stereotypical Indian society.

The reason I felt like writing this blog and share with the world why I loved the movie is because there have been several debates and controversies regarding the film which I think are not a big deal! Many groups and people across the country have alleged that the movie hurts the religios sentiments of people and is against Hinduism. In reality, however, I believe that the movie simply conveys a message to people regarding the fakeness of the so called saints and holy people and urges them not to believe in them. I don't understand where the sentiments of people are hurt in this!

Another reason I resorted to writing on this topic is that I was talking about this with one of a colleague while he casually said that he is a critic of PK simply because Aamir Khan is a Muslim. Just like this colleague of mine, many people are in opposition of the movie simply because of such stupid reasons. And personally I do no think that such a great movie like this should be judged based on the religion of the actors in it. Guys, PK is a really good film and a must watch..please do not defame or criticize it for such unnecesary reasons.

One thing that I would surely like to tell people that if we continue with our narrow mindedness and differentiate between people on the basis of religion, what are our children going to learn? No child is born in the world with religious affinity; we teach unneccesary things to our children just to spoil their thinking! It is high time we drop this difference and emerge as a stronger and united nation!