Actor Aamir Khan had come under sharp attack from the Hindutva supporters after it emerged that he was planning to make Mahabharata, where he will even seen playing the role of a Hindu God.
Many known Hindutva bigots had taken to Twitter to slam the veteran actor for his decision given his religious identity as a Muslim. It had taken noted lyricist Javed Akhtar to shut up a troll, who first questioned Aamir’s decision and provided ammunition to India’s religious fanatics.
So, when the Dangal star appeared a TV channel on Sunday, he was asked to comment if he was making Mahabharata. Aamir appeared to dodge the question to say that his next film was going to be Thugs of Hindostan. He told NDTV, “Main serial to nahi bana raha hun. Filhaal main sirf Thugs Of Hindostan pe kaam kar raha hun. (I am not making Mahabharata. Right now, I am only working on Thugs of Hindostan.)”
When journalist Ravish Kumar repeated his question with a hope to elicit a firm response, all Aamir said with a laugh that his next film was going to be Thugs of Hindostan.
Clearly, Aamir appeared to have learnt his lesson from his past controversy over religious intolerance remarks at a similar media event, organised by Indian Express two years ago. Speaking at the event, Aamir had expressed his wife’s fear on the growing religious intolerance in India under the current government.
His comments caused a full-blown controversy with the central government dropping him as the ambassador of Incredible India campaign. The IT Cell of the BJP had then run a nasty campaign urging e-commerce giant Snapdeal to sever its commercial ties with the Bollywood megastar.
The then defence minister Manohar Parrikar had later admitted that he was aware of the campaign being run by his party colleagues against Aamir. The actor has devoted his life in leading a concerted drive across Maharashtra through his NGO, Paani Foundation, which aims to make the state drought-free using the power of communication.
On Sunday, he shared his moving experiences of having brought about remarkable changes on the ground his through his initiatives.