-Ninad Vengurlekar

Aamir’s boycott is laughable. 
PK was made by a Hindu called Raju Hirani, written by a Hindu called Abhijat Joshi and produced by a Hindu called Vinod Chopra. The other star cast included Anushka Sharma who is a Hindu, Sanjay Dutt, a Hindu, and Sushant Singh Rajput, also a Hindu. All these people jointly heard the script and decided to participate in the making of PK. Yet, the target of Hindu nationalists and their supporters is Aamir Khan. Why? Because he is a Muslim. 

If the metrics of Hindu nationalists have to be applied, then Canadian national Akshay Kumar and Paresh Rawal had acted in an even more “regressive” film called O My God, which was based on Hindu religious malpractices. But they are not Muslims, so it is okay. 

Aamir has quoted his wife, a Hindu, saying that she feels insecure in India. He later added that he convinced her that India is not intolerant. Yet, the Hindu nationalists did not target Kiran Rao. They abused Aamir Khan because he is a Muslim. 

There is a section of Hindu in this country who will use his majority status to demean a national icon just because he belongs to a minority religion. It doesn’t matter that Aamir played Bhuvan, a Hindu, in Lagaan, which was nominated at the Oscars. It doesn’t matter that Aamir produced and acted in Dangal, a story that celebrated the life of a Hindu wrestler called Mahavir Singh Phogat. In Sarfarosh, he was Ajay Rathod, in Ghulam he was Siddharth Marathe, in Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahi he was Raghu Jetley, in Dil Chahta Hai he was Akash Malhotra, in Taare Zameen Par he was Ram Shankar Nikumbh, in QSQT he was Raj and in Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar he was Sanjay Sharma. 

In his entire life, Aamir has played Hindu characters embedded in Hindu culture and got glory to Bollywood across the world, including Oscars. When he played a rare Muslim character called Rehan Qadri in Fanaa, he played an Islamic terrorist who is killed by his Muslim wife. 

But the Hindu nationalists want to focus on PK because it is convenient to abuse him as a Muslim. This is the smallness of this community that bugs me to no end. I refuse to identify with such losers. It is a shame that they belong to the same religious community I was born in. 
I will watch Lal Singh Chaddha.