By V Gangadhar

The Indian reaction to happenings in the lives of popular heroes is rather unique, to say the least. The people of Bangalore and Karnataka showed how much they ‘admired’ their hero, film star Rajkumar, by reacting violently to his death. They rioted, looted, lynched policemen and held the city to ransom for three days. This was their idea of paying homage to their idol!

The people of Gujarat wanted to show the world they were in no way inferior to the mobs of Bangalore and took it out on popular film actor, Aamir Khan. His latest film, Rang De Basanti is a phenomenal box office hit all over India, including Gujarat but that did not deter rioting mobs from attacking the theatres where the film was being shown and shouting slogans against the star.

What did he do wrong? Aamir was sympathetic to protestors of the Narmada dam and demanded that those ousted by the construction of the dam be rehabilitated properly. The mobs in Gujarat felt he was opposed to the dam and showed their anger with hooliganism.

How quickly hero worship degenerates into hooliganism in our society! Very soon Tamil Nadu will go to polls for the state Assembly and the election scene is full of big, medium and small film stars supporting different political parties. If highly popular star A quit one political party and joined another, he can expect hostile reactions from the party he ditched. His meetings could be stoned, his effigy burnt and so on. Hero one day, heel the next day. That is the concept of hero worship in India.

But the Aamir incident revolves around certain other issues, too. The actor is among the more intelligent variety in Bollywood and had been an articulate spokesman for communal amity. He stood by Tamil Nadu actress Khushboo when politician-inspired hooligans hounded her for her comments on sexual freedom in the state. The Gujarat demonstrators alleged that his comments on the dam were a sort of cheap publicity stunt for Rang De Basanti.

This is rubbish because the film did not need any such publicity gimmicks and Aamir is not that kind of person to exploit issues like the Narmada Dam for personal publicity. The riots only brought out the intolerance of the mobs, which had been fuelled by the Modi government. The dam is vital to the economic progress of the state and any opposition to it fuelled violent reactions. No wonder the pro-dam protesters ransacked the offices of the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) in Baroda.

Aamir is known to stand by his word and appears to have taken the demonstrations in his stride. His support for the NBA would continue and he would not be deterred by protests against himself or his films. The star clarified that while the Supreme Court had decided on the height of the dam, he was only concerned with the lack of progress on the rehabilitation programme. While the Supreme Court had ruled on a ‘land for land’ deal, the Madhya Pradesh government, one of the beneficiaries of the dam, stated it had no spare land to offer to the oustees and offered meagre cash compensation. This was the crux of the issue, according to Aamir.

The NBA could do with such celebrity support. In fact, quite a few celebrities like author Arundathi Roy and actor Shabana Azmi are solidly behind the NBA. Celebrity support is welcome no doubt, but it could involve the movement in certain pitfalls. This depends on the other activities of the celebrity-protestors. Can we have an Anti-Tobacco Day programme presided over by actor Shah Rukh Khan who smoked openly and defended his habit? When celebrities take up causes, they must be sure their slates were clean and they would not be accused of hypocrisy.

Unfortunately, it is on this count that Aamir is involved in another controversy. Arundathi Roy asked how Aamir could support the NBA movement while he was making crores of rupees endorsing a product like Coco Cola. This is a valid argument. For more than a century, Coke has come to symbolise American economic imperialism particularly in the developing countries.

The drink is just ‘fizz’; its health value is nil. More dangerous, effluents from the Coke plants can poison our water sources. The plants, which use up enormous quantities of water, are guilty of tampering with the ground water levels. It was due to these reasons that one of the Coke plants in Kerala had to close down following huge public protests. Following this demonstration, six US universities banned the sale of Coke in their campuses.

Aamir comes out as an intelligent, well-informed person on most issues. That is why his ignorance on the Coke hazards is rather surprising. When reporters queried him on this, the actor replied he would study the issue and then make a decision. But he came out sharply against the comments of Arundathi Roy and snapped, “I do not require her permission to speak on any issue or support anybody”. This attitude smacks a bit of starry arrogance because Roy’s criticism is valid.

Many of our stars make huge amounts endorsing products, which they would not recommend to their own families. How many bottles of Pepsi does Amitabh Bachchan and his family consume despite his long-standing endorsement of this cola drink? While Bachchan is now promoting everything from asafoetida to ‘zari’, Aamir Khan with a better public image could have been more cautious with his endorsements. It is a pity that stars like Bachchan and Aamir do not seem to be aware of the impact of their endorsements of questionable products on gullible people. Sales of consumer products shot up with celebrity endorsements.

Though Arundathi Roy’s comments on this issue were justified, she is also guilty of hypocrisy. While refusing an Indian government’s award for her literary achievements, Roy found nothing wrong in accepting a similar award from American organisations despite her public posturing against the US, particularly its politics of global economic domination, opposition to environment laws and the war in Iraq. Aamir could very well taunt her on such a double standard.

The actor’s comments on the dam reflected a lack of understanding of the different issues. He says he lived in Kutch for nearly six months shooting for Lagaan. Of course, the star’s film unit would have taken steps for continuous water supply. But did Aamir find out how difficult it was for the people of Kutch and Saurashtra to get water? In the burning heat of the region, men, women and even children had to walk several kilometres to get pots of water from water sources, which were drying up quickly. The completion of the Narmada dam was their only hope. Aamir should also understand that while Gujarat had done fairly well on the rehabilitation issue, it was the attitude of the BJP ruled Madhya Pradesh government, which had created the ongoing crisis.

The dispute over the rehabilitation also highlights one of our major dilemmas. Shouldn’t our adivasis and at least some of the farmers look towards a change in their life styles? Look at what is happening to farmers in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and even Punjab who are killing themselves by the hundreds? In the absence of adequate arable land, was it wrong on the part of the authorities to provide the oustees with cash, or help in setting up industries, providing them with schools and a better infrastructure for the future? Should they be permanently saddled with infertile land, debt traps and finally death?

Unfortunately, the Narmada issue has become highly emotional and bristles with ego clashes. Celebrities like Aamir are welcome to speak on this, provided they understand both sides of the problem. Over the years, Medha Patkar had been undertaking several ‘fasts unto death’, which could be interpreted as a sort of emotional blackmail. One also wonders how often do celebrities like Arundathi Roy, who for many months in a year, are in the salubrious climate of the affluent West, visit regions like Kutch and share the miseries of the local population in the never ending quest for drinking water? That is more difficult and challenging than hogging the front pages in the media and endless interviews on the television screen