You can’t have your cake and eat it too. But it seems that’s exactly what the world wants with Aamir Khan. It seems the ghost of marriages past missed the memo as the horror of the week unfolded with the 61-year-old celebrating his third marriage, this time to 47-year-old Gauri Spratt.
Khan is anti-Hindu if he just romances her and doesn’t marry her. He is the ambassador of “Love Jihad” if he does. He is anti-Muslim if he doesn’t force her to convert. There is no winning here. Not for the liberals, the leftists or the right-wingers, especially not for Khan. Jury’s out on Spratt, though, but society rarely cares what the woman thinks.
Some may argue that Khan should’ve been better prepared; he should’ve expected the backlash, the alarming hate and the widespread controversy. He is, after all, a “Khan” and has previously been in the hot seat for wading into the “intolerance” debate and saying that he felt “alarmed” and had “a sense of insecurity” over what was happening in the country. Guess he didn’t learn his lesson. There is, after all, nothing the internet loves more than bringing Khan down.
Fun fact: Anything and everything can be trolled—Zendaya’s “ancient” earrings at The Odyssey premiere, Alia Bhatt’s acting in some film, Ananya Pandey’s red dress at Wimbledon. So why not a marriage?
I’m not supporting the trolling; I’m just saying that there is nothing to gain here. The fatwa, the controversy, the up-in-arms, even the Rs 5 crore bounty will die down as soon as the next OMG moment hits the fan or a certain someone in orange unleashes another unnecessary war. But this does offer one a chance to look into society’s mirror.
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‘My name is Khan, and I am not obsessed with marriages’
The actor and sometimes activist has finally addressed the controversy, responding with an “actually she’s Christian.” But in a stream of loud and drowning voices, does the opinion of the culprit even matter?
But that is still not enough. Perhaps he should perjure himself before the world and kneel at the altar of public policing?
Poor Mr Khan did not realise when he joined the Hindi film industry in the 1980s that in a few decades, the world would exist entirely online and that every step, comment, and action of his would be open to public scrutiny, opinion, and approval. It is a part and parcel of life in the limelight.
I suppose it is a good thing then that Shah Rukh Khan married Gauri Chibber in 1991. Similarly, it is a good thing that Salman Khan never did. Can you imagine the horror?
Views are personal.