By Mohd. Ziyaullah Khan,
Amitabh Bachchan’s recent visit to Gujarat and his praise for the state Chief Minister Narendra Modi are both surprising and dismaying, especially, for the clan of people which he hails from. One can understand his interest in doing such act, since his movie ‘Paa’ is still on the board and he is putting his best to make it alive and fresh at the box office. And, in order to do this, he has to go to such an extent.
However, this sounds really disturbing for his huge fan that moons over him the world over. Perhaps, this could be a start of a real bad end for a man of his stature, who had ruled the film industry for some decades and still admired for his exemplary performances in countless of movies. Or may be, he is a perplexed person at the moment, especially to the fact that his ‘Bade Bhaiyya’ (Amar Singh) sounds lingering nowhere in the political domain. After breaking alliance with the Congress, the Samajwadi Party seemed to be cosying up with the BJP. Jaya Bachchan is also an MP from the SP. Does the Big B’s new found friendship with Modi mean that a political realignment is in the offing or does it mean that the Bachchans too may be moving away from the SP just as Amar Singh did on Wednesday.
So is it a confused move of his that he applauds a person like Modi, or is it a kind of ‘tasting the water’ theory, which he has adopted in order to see the mood of his fans and followers – to decide which road to eventually opt for. Probably, his mood at the moment sounds, trying to tread paths contrary to his conventional nature and zest for which he is known for. The ways or methods, which were never seen when he became the part of the movies like Khakhi or Dev, wherein the character he played showcased a man who stood for justice and peace, regardless to the kind of threat lurking in his life. The movies which mirrored incidences occurred at that time, he had played the character of a spokesperson of marginalized people denied the justice and dignity. Now when we see him becoming a brand ambassador of Gujarat & a marketing man for its tourist places and also shaking hands and sharing dinner with people like Modi (who is virtually a farce creator with a hoax called vibrant Gujarat), it seems nothing but a road towards disaster.
“What happened, Sir? Why this sudden change? Is it mere an effort to make more money from your movie Paa? And that too from a place which is a dry zone for Aamir Khan, since his 3 Idiots has got the unprecedented response. But hang on! his movie is doing good there too. Moreover, movies like ‘Paa’ is nothing but a good effort to unveil certain rarest of rare disease which does exist in our society, just like how we find salt in any dish, so I presume, rather going for U/A grade, it must have a different class, wherein people with background like Medicine and psychology should go and watch and understand this unique disease and its implications in the society. I am still a worried man, since, I see him denying the Honorary Doctorate awarded by the Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia, as Indians were attacked there in Australia, but the same Amitabh Bachchan, goes all the way to Gujarat, meets and appreciates people like Modi, whose hands are still deep in blood of more than 2000 Muslims killed in Gujarat Genocide, whose scares on millions of people still remain deep. I mean, what’s happening, I really fail to understand this dual nature of this person.
(The writer is a freelancer and media activist based in Nagpur, can be contacted at [email protected])