Aamir Khan yesterday decided to use his celebrity and position as an actor and a creative person to support freedom of speech. Or did he?

Aamir Khan yesterday decided to use his celebrity and position as an actor and a creative person to support freedom of speech. Or did he?

Khan has not yet seen AIB Knockout, by his own admission, but he has seen some clips and like all good Indians, he does have an opinion on it. Khan says he was deeply affected by the dialogues and most “disappointed”. He felt it was a very “violent event” and clarified that “violence” is emotional or verbal also. When you insult someone, you are perpetuating violence. He believes everyone has different opinions and should be allowed to have them.

He believes AIB Knockout was a violent show. He scolded Karan Johar for taking part in it. You see, he is not impressed by bad language. He only likes jokes which don’t hurt anyone and if AIB has indeed broken the law, then they should face the consequences. But nothing should be banned. According to Khan, if you don’t like someone’s work, you should tell them so in no uncertain terms and appeal to them not to do such things again. He also thinks an age lock should exist, so children don’t see the video (someone point the man towards the parental control software). In his words – “As a creative person do I have the liberty? Yes, I do. But do I have the responsibility? Yes, I do. As creative people, we have freedom of speech, but we have to know how to use that freedom of speech”.

Enough has been said on AIB Knockout and AIB’s apology to the Archdiocese. My opinion on the matter is that freedom of speech is absolute. Should AIB have apologised for any of it? It’s easy for everyone to sit on their high horse and claim disappointment at that as well, but let’s see how many people when faced with a legal battle and a criminal case, will not cow down. Far wiser to say sorry, and just get back to what they were doing.

The roast itself was very brave, given how politically correct we are and how certain Bollywood truths (of having lovers – of the same and opposite sex, casting couches, having low IQ) are never spoken of in public. AIB is young; none of them are from rich, industrialist or Bollywood families. They have been trying to do something different and earn a living from it – and been doing it very well. The roast was on the same lines as any international roast. Not appreciating the humour in it is similar to being shocked that there are nude people having rampant sex in a porn film.

Or being shocked that Comedy Nights With Kapil Sharma makes fun of women every day.

Or being shocked that in Hindi films starring Aamir Khan in the Nineties, it was ok to pretend to rape a paramour or give her a tight slap across her face.

That the Conscience Of The Nation also has an opinion on AIB does not surprise me and it isn't as though everything Khan has said made me raise my eyebrows. There is certainly something to be said for actors and performers making responsible choices, but is Aamir Khan really the one to claim this higher moral ground? Especially since he hasn't watched the roast in the first place.

Only seeing clips was enough to convince Khan it was a "violent event" and he kept reiterating this statement and talking about the impact it has on viewers. It would make sense if this wasn’t the same man who made films like Ghajini – trust me it doesn’t get more violent than that. And I’m not talking about the shoddy script.

Does Khan realise far more people get to see Hindi commercial cinema with ticket prices ranging from Rs 5 in small towns to Rs 200 in metros? On top of that, his cinema is in Hindi, a language understood by far more people in India than English. Contrast this to AIB Knockout, to see which you had to buy tickets costing Rs 4000 each or have an internet connection, knowledge of YouTube and All India Bakchod. I’m not even getting into the truly violent assault on the senses which Mela and Fanaa were.



Also, qualifying freedom of speech and moralising about responsibility by someone of Khan’s stature is simply – to borrow his word - disappointing. Whether something is in poor taste or crass or crude doesn’t matter. This is a conversation on whether or not they, we, have the liberty to express ourselves freely.

I can’t but compare Khan to a George Clooney at the Golden Globe Awards, who used that platform and his celebrity to make a comment on the Charlie Hebdo attacks. This is what he said, knowing that his fans and millions of viewers would be watching and his words would influence them. “Today, there were millions of people who marched. There were Christians and Jews and Muslims and leaders of countries, and they didn’t march in protest. They marched in support of the idea that we will not walk in fear. We will not do it. So je suis Charlie. Thank you.”

Now, if Clooney was Khan, he would have ended this by saying that while he supported Charlie Hebdo’s freedom of speech, he did think that the cartoons were in very bad taste, poorly drawn, offensive to his finer sensibilities, perpetrating violence, and ultimately disappointing him. Maybe he could have said - “They shouldn’t have been killed, but they really should have been more responsible and not made such ‘violent’ and ‘vile’ cartoons”.

And therein lies the rub. When supporting freedom of speech or expression – and I do feel this is especially true of creative people and actors and actresses in India – who have a larger fan following than even cricketers sometimes - you simply cannot qualify freedom. You have to also believe in the right to offend. Otherwise it defeats the entire purpose of the argument and again falls into the trap of “I don’t like it. It offends me”. That’s the whole point of freedom of expression, it doesn’t matter if it offends you or not. It is my right to say, draw, wear what I want. If you don’t like it, ignore it or voice a comment; don't file a criminal case or ban it.

Speaking of responsibility, Khan should also realise that it’s not very responsible to be making films with a convict who spends more time out of prison than inside. As far as I recall, the said convict, Sanjay Dutt, is in jail for safeguarding a slew of “violent” items. As for an age lock to be put on the video, there was a massive disclaimer in the videos of AIB Knockout. Maybe if Khan had watched the video he would have noticed it. As for complimenting himself on how responsible Khan was as a creative person when he made Delhi Belly and insisted on an A certificate, let's rewind a little and see what kind of a warning Khan issued to his audiences.

Long live the internet.

It’s sad that in India, celebrities and artistes who can influence the right to absolute freedom of speech, either keep mum or when they speak out are too busy talking tripe or praising themselves. But hey, keeping with the spirit of freedom of speech and expression, more power to Aamir Khan. He can say what he wants. I can only listen and then take his advice and tell him I’m very disappointed, and that I believe his words have a “violent” effect on my senses and beseech him to think before he speaks next time.

Of course, unlike him, I watched the full video of his comment before reacting to it.