Traditionally, actions revealed more than words. But in the new world, the same actions reveal different things. A few days ago, when Aamir Khan met the Turkish First Lady, Emine Erdogan, he incurred the wrath of social media. However, this was not the first time that the actor met the Turkish premier, directly or indirectly or ruffled feathers across the spectrum.
In 2017, Khan had met with the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, photos of which flooded the internet after this latest visit. While it would appear that it’s the same Khan and the same Erdogan, a lot has changed between then and now.
The reaction to most celebrity actions operates on two planes. One deals with the opinion per se, while the other works on a much-broader theme of the individual’s worldview. In the case of a celebrity, as with most people, the former is short-lived, and its propensity to change depends on the stance that follows. The latter tends to be more deep-rooted.
When it comes to public stance, Khan seemingly tends to side with the popular (read politically correct) notion irrespective of the era or the dispensation. A few years ago, the standing joke among those who wrote on films was that every time an Aamir Khan film released there would be a social stance that the actor was bound to pick up. The most popular was at the time Rang De Basanti released. Khan met Narmada Bachao Andolan activists and gave statements on how he was expressing his concern for the displaced people.
In some way, there is no difference between the Aamir Khan of 2017 and the Aamir Khan of 2020. Both visits to Turkey were work-oriented—this time Khan was on a location recce for Laal Singh Chaddha, his remake of the multi-Oscar-winning film Forrest Gump. Khan’s public display, in the manner of speaking, is mostly in sync with his socio-political stance. He was conspicuously missing in the photo-op with Benjamin Netanyahu during the Israeli PM’s ‘Shalom Bollywood’ interaction with the fraternity.
There is also probably no change in Erdogan’s views on India, only that in the last one year Turkey has made its anti-India stance extremely vocal and public. The Turkish premier, who fancies himself as saviour of Islam and Muslims, is pushing for a non-Arab alliance where Pakistan would play a significant role. The two have been cosying up against India.
While most commentators once again await the answer to a question celebrity actions pose—Should celebrity action not consider the changing geopolitical reality?—some of us can ponder about an offshoot of Khan’s visit to Turkey. If the waters around it change, does the ‘ship of Theseus’, still intact with all its components, fundamentally change?
By Invitation
Gautam Chintamani
Film historian and bestselling author gautam@chintamani.org