Over the last few years, boycotting products of the actors, people do not like have become a trend. People are not wrong for doing so, but they need to be pickier and choosier about the type of products they are boycotting. The release of Akshay Kumar’s ‘Raksha Bandhan’ and Aamir’s ‘Lal Singh Chaddha’ provides us with one such opportunity.
Collections of LSC and Raksha Bandhan
Lal Singh Chaddha has been released. In spite of being a cut and paste of Forrest Gump, Aamir’s movie got appraisal from a particular section of the Indian urban elite (most of them being blue tick holders on Twitter). However, massive boycott calls by another group led to his movie not getting the numbers it used to get in the past. Few places reported 10 per cent bookings while others 20. On day 1, it managed to get only Rs 11.50 crore, a paltry sum for a movie having a budget of Rs 180 crores.
Simultaneously, Raksha Bandhan, another movie released alongside Lal Singh Chaddha, could only bag Rs 7 crore on opening day. It is not bad for a movie budgeted around 70 crore, but it was his worst in 2022. Apparently, a faction also boycotted Akshay Kumar for his views on Sanatan.
Aamir and Akshay have largely been on the same page
There is clearly a stark contrast between both actors’ attitudes towards India. However, when you start to consider their views on Sanatan, both actors are not much different. The Internet is filled with Akshay Kumar’s anti-Hindu quotes. In one such video, he is seen foolishly comparing the divine and sacrifice-based idea of milk donation to the modern Newtonian world of material reality. His pathetic attitude continued in Laxmi Bomb and OMG2 as well.
Oh My God! 1 and 2 by @akshaykumar
Jab tak Hindustan me cinema hai…pic.twitter.com/t5MBBrklVQ
— Gems of Bollywood बॉलीवुड के रत्न (@GemsOfBollywood) October 24, 2021
Same with the case with Aamir Khan. His series Satyamev Jayate witnessed mocking traditions such as Raksha Bandhan, Karva Chauth and many others. In the movie P K, Aamir mocked Hindus at such an uncountable rate that it is tough to earmark the number of times he has done so. The man has not stopped since then.
"Fearless Shiva" mocked, Sadhu disrobed. Mosque towers over a scared Shiva (1 min 50 sec). Film pk by Aamir Khan, who is right now on his way to be in Haryana as an esteemed guest at Khelo India Youth Games 2022
Great way to reward Hindu mockeryhttps://t.co/pKksBFm5o8
— Gems of Bollywood बॉलीवुड के रत्न (@GemsOfBollywood) June 12, 2022
Akshay’s evolution after 2014
However, it would be unwise to always put both Aamir Khan and Akshay Kumar in the same bracket. Simply because both actors vary in their attitude towards India. While Aamir Khan has been found deriding “intolerance” in the country after the Modi government came to power, Akshay Kumar took a nationalist shift in his approach to his profession. While Aamir Khan was found hobnobbing with Turkey President Erdogan’s family, Akshay Kumar was busy kickstarting the Army Relief fund for Indian Defence veterans.
After PM Modi came to power in 2014, Akshay Kumar has reoriented his career. He has reinvented himself and has worked as a pride enabler among Indians. In the post-2014 era, Kumar has given movies like Baby, Airlift, Kesari, Mission Mangal among others. All these movies were centered around nationalism. Remarkable, all these movies have done well at the box office.
Akshay Kumar also entered the hearts of nation-loving Indians with socially crucial movies such as Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, Pad Man, and Good Newwz.
Currently, Akshay deserves more support
It clearly means that Akshay Kumar knows how to go with the flow. No one knows whether he actually believes what he says or he just reads a script outside shootings as well. However, it is certain that he has mended his ways after 2014 and people have awarded him for that on numerous occasions.
If his Raksha Bandhan fails because he has mocked Hindus in the past, it will be a self-goal for the cause as Lal Singh Chaddha is also failing for similar reasons. However, if Lal Singh Chadha fails and Raksha Bandhan gives good returns, then it will be the message from invisible hands of the market.
The message will be that, if you are ready to mend your ways, Hindus will forgive you. However, if you are stern and do not even acknowledge your fault, Hindus will not. Akshay Kumar has done it in the past with respect to nationalism and that is why he needs to be given more opportunities to eliminate anti-Hindu Bollywoodian insects from himself.
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