NEW DELHI: According to Forrest Gump, life is like a box of chocolates because “you never know what you’re going to get.” Now, an Indian remake of the movie has been hit by boycott calls over years-old comments by its Muslim star Aamir Khan.
It is the latest example of how Bollywood actors, particularly minority Muslims like Khan, are feeling increased pressure under Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Modi.
“Laal Singh Chaddha,” an Indian spin on the 1994 Hollywood hit with Tom Hanks, is expected to be one of India’s biggest films of 2022.
This is due in large part to its main star, 57-year-old Khan, one of the Indian industry’s most bankable actors with past blockbusters like “3 Idiots” (2009) and “Dangal” (2016).
But ahead of the August 11 release, the Internet is awash with clips from a 2015 interview when Khan expressed a growing “sense of fear” and that he and his then-wife discussed leaving India.
“She fears for her child. She fears about what the atmosphere around us will be. She feels scared to open the newspapers every day,” he said.
More than 200,000 tweets, many from supporters of Modi’s BJP party, have been shared since last month calling for people to spurn the movie with the hashtag #BoycottLaalSinghChaddha.
“Aamir Khan married two Hindu Women, yet named his kids Junaid, Azad & Ira. (Hindu co-star) Kareena (Kapoor) married a Muslim & promptly named her kids Taimur & Jehangir,” said one tweet, referring to the children’s typical Muslim names.
“That’s enough reasons to boycott Lal Singh Chaddha, basically a production from Bollywood’s Love Jihad club. #BoycottLaalSinghChaddha,” it added, using a derogatory term coined by Hindu nationalists who accuse Muslim men of marrying Hindu women and forcing them to convert.
Nicknamed “Mr Perfectionist,” Khan has been credited with pushing films beyond Bollywood’s traditional fare of song and dance into social and cultural issues.
He also hosted a TV chat show — “Satyamev Jayate” — that discussed touchy themes like rape, domestic violence and corruption.
The furor over his new film — which adapts Hanks’ famous line to say that “life is like a golgappa,” an Indian snack — is such that this week Khan stressed his patriotism, a key tenet of the Modi government.
“I feel sad that some of the people... believe that I am someone who doesn’t like India,” he told local media.
“That’s not the case. Please don’t boycott my film. Please watch my film.”
Films have long sparked controversy — as well as violence — in the movie-mad country of 1.4 billion people.
But the heat being felt by Khan, one of a clutch of Muslim megastars in the industry along with Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan, mirrors growing intolerance, marginalization and vilification of the minority, commentators say.
“There is no doubt that Aamir is being targeted by those spreading hatred toward Muslims,” one commentator, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of becoming a target himself, said.
Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) owes its origins to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a militaristic group espousing “Hindutva,” or making India an exclusively Hindu state.
Lynchings of Muslims by Hindu mobs over so-called cow protection — a sacred animal for many Hindus — and other hate crimes have sown fear in the 200- million-strong Muslim population.
Social media is full of misinformation claiming that Muslims will soon outnumber Hindus — due to inter-religious marriages — or that the minority is a treasonous fifth column backed by Pakistan.
Critics say that the world’s most prolific film industry and its stars have been gradually changing their output to fit the government narrative since Modi came to power in 2014.
In 2019, the hagiographic “PM Narendra Modi” was too much even for the Election Commission, which delayed its release until after a vote that year.
There has been a recent string of military-themed movies that have been nationalistic, all-guns-blazing stories of heroics by soldiers and police — usually Hindus — against enemies outside and within India.
This year’s “The Kashmir Files,” about the fleeing of Hindus from Muslim-majority Kashmir in 1989-90, saw incidents of people in cinemas calling for revenge killings of Muslims.
Film critic and author Anna MM Vetticad said the methods to “subordinate India’s Muslims and Christians to the majority community... include demonizing these minorities, and constantly demanding proof of their patriotism.”
But little is expected to change.
“India’s tragedy is that a majority in Bollywood... are apathetic, opportunistic or afraid,” Vetticad said.
Hindu nationalists push boycott of Bollywood ‘Forrest Gump’ remake
https://arab.news/nfywq
Hindu nationalists push boycott of Bollywood ‘Forrest Gump’ remake
- Example of how Bollywood actors, particularly minority Muslims like Aamir Khan, are feeling increased pressure under Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Authorities seize ailing alligator kept illegally in New York home’s swimming pool
- The home’s owner built an addition and installed an in-ground swimming pool for the 30-year-old alligator
- The alligator has “blindness in both eyes” and spinal complications
NEW YORK: An ailing alligator was seized from an upstate New York home where it was being kept illegally, state officials said.
Environmental conservation police officers seized the 750-pound (340-kilogram), 11-foot-long (3.4-meter-long) alligator on Wednesday from a home in Hamburg, south of Buffalo.
The home’s owner built an addition and installed an in-ground swimming pool for the 30-year-old alligator and allowed people, including children, to get into the water with the reptile, according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
The alligator has “blindness in both eyes” and spinal complications, among other health issues. The reptile was sent to a licensed caretaker until a place is found where it can receive permanent care, according to a release from the agency.
The owner’s state license to keep the alligator expired in 2021. The state determined at that time the alligator’s holding area failed to meet safety standards. Officers took action this week after learning the “extent at which the owner was seriously endangering the public,” according to a statement from the agency.
State environmental officials haven’t decided whether to bring charges.
Officials believe a lethargic 4-foot (1.2-meter) alligator found in Prospect Park Lake in Brooklyn in February 2023 was likely an abandoned pet.
McDonald’s hit by system failure at Asian outlets
- In Japan, the US fast food giant said it was “currently experiencing a system failure” and “temporarily suspending operation at many outlets”
TOKYO: Hungry McDonald’s customers in parts of Asia had trouble ordering at stores, on cellphones and at electronic kiosks on Friday after a system outage.
In Japan, the US fast food giant said on X, formerly Twitter, that it was “currently experiencing a system failure” and “temporarily suspending operation at many outlets”.
China was also affected for several hours, with the outage a hot topic on social media platform Weibo, but the firm later said its online ordering system had been fully restored.
McDonald’s in Hong Kong wrote on Facebook that its “mobile ordering and self-ordering kiosks are not functioning” but later said its system was “gradually returning to normal”.
Singapore was also hit, as were Australia and New Zealand according to media reports.
India, Indonesia and Thailand were unaffected.
‘Miracle’ birth on Jordan-London flight thanks to junior doctor
- Hassan Khan, 28, leapt into action to deliver baby after crew appealed for help
- ‘I only realized how significant it was after I had the chance to process it all’
LONDON: A “miracle” baby has been born on a flight from Jordan to the UK thanks to the help of a junior doctor, Metro newspaper reported on Wednesday.
The Wizz Air flight from Amman to London’s Luton Airport recorded an extra passenger in the manifest after Hassan Khan, 28, leapt into action and helped deliver the newborn.
Two hours into the flight, a pregnant woman on board went into labor, with the crew appealing for a doctor to help.
Khan, who had been holidaying in Jordan with friends, used his experience working at Basildon Hospital’s neonatal resuscitation unit.
He said: “I told the flight attendants what equipment I needed — which would include a neonatal-sized oxygen mask, a clamp for the umbilical cord and a stethoscope — none of which they had on a plane, of course.”
But the lack of equipment did not deter Khan who, with the help of a fellow passenger to translate Arabic, delivered the baby girl using only towels.
The flight was diverted to Italy’s Brindisi Airport so the mother and newborn could receive postpartum medical care.
The family later contacted Khan to thank him and report the good health of mother and child, which he said caused “a big sigh of relief.”
His employers “were very impressed,” he added. “My consultant congratulated me and said it was a really good job.
“People were saying it was miraculous — I only realized how significant it was after I had the chance to process it all.”
It is just the 75th instance in aviation history of a baby being born on a commercial flight. The rarity can be attributed to medical guidance, which recommends that pregnant women avoid flying past the 36-week mark, or 32 weeks with twins or triplets.
Several births have taken place on flights in recent years. In 2017, a baby was given free air tickets for life after being born on a flight from Saudi Arabia to India.
Princess Kate says sorry for manipulated family photo, saying she was experimenting with editing
LONDON: Kate, the Princess of Wales, has apologized for “confusion” caused by her editing of a family photo released by the palace.
In a post on social media, Kate said that “like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing.”
“I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused,” the post said.
The Associated Press and other news agencies withdrew the photo of Kate and children George, Charlotte and Louis, which was issued by Kensington Palace on Sunday to mark Mother’s Day in Britain. It appeared to have been manipulated, in violation of AP photo guidelines.
The palace said the photo was taken by Prince William.
It was the first official photo of Kate since her abdominal surgery nearly two months ago, and followed weeks of speculation about her whereabouts. Designed to quell speculation, it has sparked even more conjecture.
2 women drove a man’s body to a bank to withdraw his money, US police say
- The two women were charged in court with gross abuse of a corpse and theft from a person in a protected class
ASHTABULA, Ohio: Two Ohio women have been accused of driving the body of a deceased 80-year-old man to a bank to withdraw money from his account before dropping his body off at a hospital.
Karen Casbohm, 63, and Loreen Bea Feralo, 55, were charged Tuesday in Ashtabula with gross abuse of a corpse and theft from a person in a protected class, according to Ashtabula Municipal Court records.
Police said they were called Monday evening and told that two women had dropped off a body at the Ashtabula County Medical Center emergency room without identifying the person or themselves. A few hours later, one of them contacted the hospital with information on the deceased, who was then identified as 80-year-old Douglas Layman of Ashtabula.
Officers responded to Layman’s residence and made contact with Casbohm and Feralo, who told them they had found Layman deceased earlier at the home where all three resided. Police allege that, with the help of a third unnamed person, they placed Layman in the front seat of his car and drove to a bank where they withdrew “an undisclosed amount of money” from his account.
Layman’s body “was placed in the vehicle in such a manner that he would be visible to bank staff in order to make the withdrawal,” Ashtabula Police Chief Robert Stell said in a news release Thursday. Stell told the (Ashtabula) Star Beacon that the bank ”had allowed this previously as long as they were accompanied by him.”
Lt. Mike Palinkas told WEWS-TV that one of the women had been in a live-in relationship with Layman for several years while the other had been staying there for a few months. The women said it was normal for them to take money from the account, but Palinkas said he didn’t have a full explanation for why they went there that day.
“Allegedly, they wanted to pay some bills but outside of that, there wasn’t a specific motivation provided,” Palinkas said.
Casbohm was arraigned and ordered held on $5,000 bond while Feralo is scheduled for arraignment next week. It’s unclear whether they have attorneys; numbers listed in their names had been disconnected. A message was sent to the county public defender’s office seeking comment if the office was defending one or both.
Police said they continue to investigate and other charges are possible. The coroner’s office said an autopsy to determine the cause of Layman’s death could take up to eight months.