Aamir Khan has been in news these days for his comment on "rising intolerance" in India. Speaking at the eighth edition of the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards ceremony on Monday, Aamir said the current situation in India has prompted his wife Kiran Rao to consider moving out of the country.
"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 about what the atmosphere around us will be. She feels scared to open the newspapers every day," said Aamir.
Soon, the superstar started trending on Twitter with a series of anti-Aamir comments. He was vehemently criticised for calling India "intolerant", and some members of right-wing groups also reportedly staged noisy protests in front of his Mumbai residence, besides burning posters of his films.
Several Bollywood veterans like Anupam Kher, Rishi Kapoor and Raveena Tandon took to Twitter and expressed their disagreement with Aamir, asserting that running away from a problem is never the solution.
However, Aamir's supporters raised the point that the actor never said he would leave India, rather it was his wife's sense of insecurity that prompted her to say so. Another point of debate is it was Aamir's views and any individual has the right to express his or her views.
Filmmaker Sanjay Gupta tweeted that Aamir never meant he would leave India, and asked people to watch the full interview before jumping to conclusions.
Meanwhile, former Press Council of India chairman Markandey Katju also said Aamir's comments were taken out of context as he never said he would leave India. The entire episode was unnecessarily exaggerated, he said in a Facebook post.
Some others who supported Aamir on the whole issue are Jackie Shroff, A R Rahman and Shirish Kunder.
Aamir Khan's remark on intolerance: Bollywood divided by reactions
Meanwhile, Aamir responded to the entire controversy and released a statement saying neither he nor his wife Kiran Rao has any intention to leave India. (Read the full statement here.)
The actor said those who have been implying that he would leave the nation have either not seen the actual video or have deliberately distorted the facts. He also added that the obscene comments against him further proved his point.
