Aamir Khan discussed female foeticide, gender inequality and honour killing in India at the Women in the World Summit, saying change can be brought by reaching out to people with love and affection.
The actor spoke about his crusade for women’s rights and justice at the opening night of the sixth annual Women in the World Summit in New York on Wednesday during a conversation with Iraqi-American humanitarian Zainab Salbi.
The 50-year-old actor, who has starred in movies such as Lagaan and PK, took up the role of social crusader with his TV show Satyamev Jayate.
With the show, the actor shifted the public’s attention to meaningful conversations to help induce social change in India.
“Every day you read about injustice, poverty, and you really want to do something, and I realised I should do what I know best, which is storytelling, to enrich discussion on the issues we face as a society,” he said.
Talking about female foeticide, a topic featured on the show, he said: “It’s a huge problem in India and connects with people on a gut level,” adding that analysis proves that “people are reacting to it”.
When it comes to issues such as dowry, the actor explained that themes of such a sensitive nature need to be communicated with care.
“In India 90 to 95 per cent of people have either given or taken dowries, and when you are conveying to a majority that what they are doing is not right, it has to be done with love. Only through that you can effect change,” he said.
Khan tackled other highly sensitive issues, including honour killings and the caste system.
“People are very touchy and emotional about certain complicated issues,” the actor said, referring to the topic of Dalits in India.
Masculinity also made an engrossing topic at the session.
“Unless we redefine what it is to be a man, things aren’t going to change. Is a real man a protector or someone who goes and beats people up? You cannot raise a boy telling him not to cry. You are, in effect, distancing him from emotion and then you are surprised when he grows up and beats his wife.
“In India, the conventional wisdom is that real men don’t cry and real men don’t hold their wives’ hands,” said Khan, who pointed out he often gets teary eyed on his TV show.
He mentions that he “cries all the time, not only on all show’s episodes, but also when he is researching for it”.
Khan also talked about the ban on the film India’s Daughter, a documentary about the Delhi gang rape case of 2012.
He said that he hadn’t personally seen the film, but thought it was unfortunate that it had been banned.
“The balance of power in India needs to change. Unless conviction becomes swift, certain things are not going to change and as a society we have to shun the rapist and hold the survivor close,” he said.
