The Background:
Not very long back, when a man was lynched in Bisada village in Dadri Uttar Pradesh, Bihar Election was the flavor of the season, Akademi Award winners were returning their trophies and Socialist leaders were sighing on the rampant lawlessness and hatred in India, one of India’s most loved Cinema Stars Mr. Shah Rukh Khan in a twitter town hall hosted by none other than Rajdeep Sardesai himself, uttered these golden words:
“It is stupid… It is stupid to be intolerant and this is our biggest issue not just an issue…Religious intolerance and not being secular in this country is the worst kind of crime that you can do as a patriot,”
When he was asked if he will join the Award Returning Gang, Shah Rukh Khan said:
“I mean just for a symbolic gesture, yes, if I have to.”
Shah Rukh Khan gave us the true definition of a patriot. A patriot is someone who is tolerant as far as his religious beliefs are concerned and is extremely secular in approach. Shah Rukh Khan saw too much of secularism in Congress’s regime. And why not – In Congress Regime, an archaic bill called Communal Violence Bill was drafted. It was intended at the sole purpose of curbing the so called religious freedom of the Majority. In Congress’s regime, many minority friendly bills were tabled, freebies were doled out to minorities, newer reservation groups were created, and riot compensations were issued based on the deceased’s religions. In Modi’s India, the Congress like secularism somewhat vanished, the Hindu Majority of India got more vocal about their electoral choices both on and offline. So using Dadri as the immediate cause, the left liberals, media, intellectuals and cinema stars such as Aamir and Shah Rukh Khan brand-named the directness of the majority as ‘their’ religious intolerance, something powerful enough to trigger a chain reaction of award returns.
People like us fought to show the real picture, presenting stats that indicated that communal conflicts had shown a downward trend in Modi’s Regime but super star Shah Rukh Khan like the revered eminences of India chose to underline the rising intolerance in India hypothesis.
New Developments:
Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan took a U-turn on what he previously commented. He said:
“I tell my children that don’t make judgments about religion and other small issues. These are normal things and everybody does that. But sometimes, people quote out of context. This doesn’t mean there is intolerance for me in the country”
So what caused the change of Heart?
Shah Rukh Khan is awaiting his big release on December 18, 2015 ‘Dilwale’. It is a mega budget movie. It has Kajol along with Shah Rukh Khan, Shah Rukh and Kajol are considered one of the best on screen couples ever and have phenomenal success record under their belt. ‘Dilwale’ is directed by Rohit Shetty, the director behind the super successful ‘Singham’ and ‘Golmaal’ Franchisees. He also did the mega successful Chennai Express with Shah Rukh Khan. ‘Dilwale’ is jointly produced by Shah Rukh’s Red Chillies Entertainment and Shetty’s Rohit Shetty Productions. Red Chillies Entertainment has the exclusive cinema distribution rights in India.
Needless to say that a lot of money is riding on the success of the movie. While it is safe to assume that both Shah Rukh Khan and Rohit Shetty are big enough to take the blow of a commercial failure but the brand called Shah Rukh Khan will take a major hit. ‘Dilwale’ has all the ingredients of a blockbuster so why are we even talking about a commercial failure? Because there are chances that the bomb might just fizzle.
With his intolerance remark, Shah Rukh Khan managed to annoy a large section of audience that include many of his diehard fans. While Shah Rukh has all the rights to explain himself freely and without fear, his intolerance remark made a lot of people believe that he was the part of the intolerance cabal, knowingly or unknowingly. And since then, a large number of cinemagoers have planned to boycott the movie ‘Dilwale’. Shah Rukh Khan is completely aware of the power of people, the same people who caused a dent in the ratings of the Ecommerce Major, Snapdeal and set a record of sorts in uninstalling the Snapdeal application in a single day. If rumors are to be trusted, this public movement also resulted in the cancellation of Aamir Khan’s contract with Coca Cola. So it is only sensible that Shah Rukh Khan has apologized and refuted his own statements. The fear about “Bajirao Mastani” benefiting out of this episode is also a major concern. Money and brand matter!
Some pertinent questions:
Did Shah Rukh Khan call India intolerant just for the heck of it?
Was he a part of the intolerance brigade that was hell-bent on destabilizing India?
Is Money bigger than the Country’s reputation?
Sad! if any of the questions have “Yes” as an answer!