It?s not ?Dil Chahta Hai?

The Bollywood’s effervescent star’s recent meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s wife Emine, in Istanbul, has created a blitzkrieg on media across the board. Aamir has also earned the ire of Twitterati after photos from his visit were tweeted by the first lady on her verified handle.

She wrote, “I had the great pleasure of meeting @aamirkhan, the world-renowned Indian actor, filmmaker, and director, in Istanbul. I was happy to learn that Aamir decided to wrap up the shooting of his latest movie Laal Singh Chaddha in different parts of Turkey. I look forward to it!”

According to the official website of Presidency of the Republic of Turkey, Emine received the actor at the presidential residence at the Huber Mansion in Istanbul on August 15, India’s 74th Independence Day. As per the statement on the website, during the meeting, Aamir, 55, briefed Emine about the social responsibility projects he is associated with and the first lady congratulated him for addressing social issues in his movies.

Public opinion erupted against Aamir, who was on a recce for his upcoming movie ‘Lal Singh Chaddha’. A remake of the Tom Hanks Hollywood movie ‘Forrest Gump’ (an adaptation of the eponymous 1986 novel by Winston Groom), Aamir’s movie is supposed to be shot in Turkey, in October 2020 since film productions have been stopped in India because of the lockdown.

Aamir stated in a press release that he would complete the shooting of his film in Turkey, as he could not do so in India due to COVID-19. And that he invited the First Lady to the film set. The movie also featuring Kareena Kapoor Khan and Tamil star Vijay Sethupathi was previously scheduled to hit the theatres on December 25 this year but has been postponed to Christmas 2021. Viacom18 Motion Pictures and Aamir Khan Productions back the project.

While several people have called for a boycott of the film, others are of the opinion that given the background of Turkish President Erdogan’s anti-India statements, Aamir should not have visited his wife.

However, commenting on the visit, former diplomat Gopalaswami Parthasarthy said, “Whether it is proper or not is a different matter. But it is not a crime. It is for him (Aamir) to take a decision. He is there evidently on a filming business visit, so he can meet anyone with regard to that visit. He hasn’t met the President, but his wife. That’s his choice. There is no bar.”

Still, senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Baijayant Panda, who, last month, had tweeted having come across shocking revelations documenting personal and business links of some Bollywood stars with certain Pakistanis and NRIs with undeniable track record encouraging violence in Kashmir had a different take on this.

On August 18, Panda tweeted, “Do read. Terrorists kill 3 security personnel in J & K” is the headline today. And every week. They are with LeT of Pakistan and are openly encouraged by some foreign leaders. Anger and resentment in India is only natural when Bollywood celebrities hobnob with those leaders’ families.”

Considering the issues of conflict between India and Turkey, people are questioning, ‘How come these guys end up meeting people who are against India? Did Aamir bother to discuss Turkey’s repugnant stance on the Kashmir issue with her? Whether he reminded her that Kashmir is a state of India? Why he sought to give legitimacy to the Erdogans?’

Expecting maturity from artistes such as Aamir, they expected Bollywood to boycott shooting in Turkey, keeping in mind the fact that Turkey has been speaking against India on its internal matters.

Even though India and Turkey have always maintained a cordial diplomatic relationship, the latter has, of late, been taking an offensive stance against India at different forums. On its part, India has been giving Turkey a fitting response.

Turkey ruffled many feathers at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in September 2019, when it supported Pakistan and was especially critical about the scrapping of Article 370 in Kashmir. (In August 2019, India revoked Article 370 of its Constitution, which gave Jammu & Kashmir special status not enjoyed by other Indian states).

Since then, Turkey has been raising the Kashmir issue at different forums. This year, in February, on a visit to Pakistan while addressing a joint session of Parliament, Erdogan reiterated that he supported Pakistan’s stand on the Kashmir issue.

“Our Kashmiri brothers and sisters have suffered from inconveniences for decades and these sufferings have become graver due to unilateral steps taken in recent times. Today, the issue of Kashmir is as close to us as it is to you (Pakistanis). Such a solution (on the basis of justice and fairness) will serve the interests of all parties concerned. Turkey will continue to stand by justice, peace and dialogue in the resolution of the Kashmir issue,” he stated.

Yet again, after the Delhi riots in February, while addressing a gathering in Ankara, Erdogan criticised India and stated, “India right now has become a country where massacres are widespread. What massacres? Massacres of Muslims. By who? Hindus.”

Freedom of speech certainly does not imply hypocrisy; maligning one’s own country for a fan base should be thrown out in the bin. Bollywood does need a reality check on people’s sentiments, and some stars need to know how, when, where, and why they need to keep their actions in order

Recently, a Turkish foreign ministry spokesperson said that removal of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir has not contributed to peace and stability in the region.

Turkey is among the few countries, including Malaysia and China, that support Pakistan at the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), allowing it to escape being placed on FATF blacklist for terror funding. The implications need to be viewed in totality. f

As experts say, India’s Muslim population has been used as a tool by Muslim countries to put pressure on India. But Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Government has been tactfully countering this narrative by pointedly separating domestic politics from India’s foreign relations.

Importantly, Aamir and his wife Kiran Rao have been vocal about ‘selective’ political issues even in the past. In November 2015, the couple faced a backlash when Aamir commented he was raising his voice against the growing intolerance in the country. He mentioned being ‘scared’ about raising their child in India and showed the desire to leave the country.

While speaking at the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards, when the word ‘intolerance’ was discussed, Aamir said, “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.”

He further stated, “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 what the atmosphere around us will be. She feels scared to open the newspapers every day. That does indicate that there is this sense of growing disquiet, there is growing despondency apart from alarm. You feel why this is happening; you feel low. That sense does exist in me.”

Aamir’s comments were called anti-national and India’s e-commerce company Snapdeal even dropped him as their brand ambassador.

In 2018, when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited India, an event was organised in his honour. But Aamir had refused to meet him. The event was attended by Prime Minister Modi and Bollywood stars including Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Karan Johar and Vivek Oberoi.

Aamir’s dialogue from the movie ‘Dil Chahta Hai’: ‘Waise bhi perfection ko improve karna mushkil hai (It is hard to improve perfection)’ is oxymoronic, as people are livid and consider him a man of double standards as against his tackling of national issues in TV series ‘Satyamev Jayate’. Freedom of speech certainly does not imply hypocrisy, and maligning one’s own country for a fan base should be thrown out in the bin. Bollywood does need a reality check on people’s sentiments, and some stars need to know how, when, where, and why they need to keep their actions in order.