Rajkumar Hirani: “Aamir Khan’s intolerance remark was innocent”

Renowned filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani��jumped in Aamir Khan’s support amid the hullabaloo created over his remarks on intolerance saying his statement was completely innocent and should have been ignored.

Speaking to Hindustan Times, Hirani said, “If you take the answer what he said, he’s clearly said, ‘I feel distressed, I feel sad that my wife once said this to me.’ To me, it was a very innocent answer.”

“Perhaps he shared something from his family conversations with the public and according to me, that (hype) should’ve been ignored. But the manner in which people have attacked him, I see a bit of intolerance in that, in certain sections,” he said.

Hirani also commented that the people should now become a bit more tolerant. “I feel we need to pick up on positive things and talk about those things, we all need to be careful,” he added.

The controversy erupted at the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards where several other issues were discussed but Khan’s statement that his wife suggested they should leave the country was picked up everywhere, and was slammed and mocked at. “If you analyse that interview, it’s not that��Aamir Khan��called for a press conference and said, ‘this is what I feel’. He was called for an award function. He was asked on various topics and one of the questions happened to be this (on intolerance),” Hirani said.

Khan’s religion also came into the picture among numerous negative remarks on the issue.��”And this fact was connected to the incident that he is a Muslim. This thought had never even come in our minds. I’ve celebrated every Diwali at Aamir’s house. Today, I’m sitting with Javed sahab, but this thought that a Hindu and Muslim are sitting together didn’t come to our minds,” Hirani said.

“This thought should be the last thought. The manner in which this is spreading, I feel there is a certain divide that’s been created,” he concluded.

Hirani has worked on two blockbuster projects; ‘3 Idiots’ (2009) and ‘PK’ (2014) with Khan.