COURTESY IANS
Director has worked with the actor in path-breaking films ‘3 Idiots’ and ‘PK’
Director Rajkumar Hirani says that actor Aamir Khan’s statements on leaving India were “innocent”.
“… He’s clearly said, ‘I feel distressed, I feel sad that my wife once said this to me.’ To me, it was a very innocent answer,” said Hirani at an event in Mumbai, which was also attended by veteran writer Javed Akhtar.
“Perhaps he shared something from his family conversations with the public. And according to me, that should’ve been ignored. But the manner, in which people have attacked him, I see a bit of intolerance in that, in certain sections,” he added.
Hirani also said that people need to become “a bit more tolerant”.
“I feel we need to pick up on positive things and talk about those things. We all need to be careful,” he added.
Khan is embroiled in a row that began at the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards where he discussed numerous social issues and said that his wife had once suggested they leave the country due to the growing clime of religious intolerance.
“If you analyse that interview, it’s not that Aamir Khan called for a press conference and said, ‘this is what I feel’. He was called for an award function. He was asked on various topics and one of the questions happened to be this [on intolerance],” Hirani said.
The Punjab unit of the right-wing political party Shiv Sena had offered Rs100,000 (Dh5,497) to anyone who would slap Khan, while one of its leaders said that the PK actor should go to Pakistan — and the Sena went so far as to book tickets for the Khan family to Pakistan.
“And this fact was connected to the incident that he is a Muslim. This thought had never even come in our minds. I’ve celebrated every Diwali at Aamir’s house. Today, I’m sitting with Javed sahab [sir], but this thought that a Hindu and Muslim are sitting together didn’t come to our minds,” Hirani said.
“This thought should be the last thought. The manner in which this is spreading, I feel there is a certain divide that’s been created,” he added.
Hirani has worked on two blockbusters, 3 Idiots and PK, with Khan.
