Panchjanya, a weekly magazine of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), has criticised actor Aamir Khan for meeting Turkey’s First Lady Emin Erdogan recently. In its latest edition, the RSS mouthpiece has carried a cover story titled “Dragon ka pyara (Aamir) Khan” to attack the actor. Magazine’s editor Hitesh Shankar stated that even though Aamir Khan had acted in patriotic films like Lagaan, Sarfarosh and Mangal Pandey: The Rising, his current actions and response were very much contrary to the nationalist hue.
“ The meeting between Aamir Khan and Turkey’s First Lady Mrs Erdogan hurt feelings in India as the Erdogan government has been opposing India’s legitimate actions in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). We also wanted to decode why Aamir Khan was so popular in China compared to other Indian film stars, why Dangal did better there than Sultan (starring Salman Khan) which had almost the same content. Aamir Khan also endorses particular Chinese brands and no one flourishes in China till the Chinese state decides to promote them,” Shankar said.
The cover story also lauded actors like Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn and Kangana Ranaut for choosing films based on the sentiments of nationalism and Indian armed forces and for continuing the ‘lost’ tradition of the film industry. “After Indian and Chinese forces face off in Galwan Valley, film star Ajay Devgan announced a film on the incident. This was enough for a few English-speaking intellectuals to state that after Akshay Kumar the bug of nationalism seems to have bitten Devgn. It seems that Devgn’s move sparked some vested interests,” the article said. Various OTT and streaming platforms have also been lauded in the article for channelling web series based on ‘nationalism’.