Aamir Khan Exclusive

Aamir Khan exclusive: I'm no 'bully'

Media bashing and rights issues have kept the satire in the news for the wrong reasons

Media bashing and rights issues have kept the satire in the news for the wrong reasons. (REUTERS)

Aamir Khan’s promotional tour around the world has kept the actor busy defending his latest political satire, Peepli Live, which has been embroiled in controversies in the last few months.

The latest is the stance taken by India media that is crying foul over the film’s bullying tactics, which targets them as bull-headed sensationalists.

Khan vehemently denied this, saying: “Let me clarify that it’s not a film on media bashing. Peepli Live is a satire on civil society and media is a part of civil society. It’s a satire on administration, politics, media and the civil society.

“In the promo you see the little child, Natha Singh, asking her father when he will die... but that does not mean we are making fun of children.”

He revealed that Anusha Rizvi, the film’s writer/director is a media person herself, “so I don’t think her intention is to bash either the media or anyone else.”

Probe further and he explained: “I think it is a humorous view of life. I also think Anusha’s attitude as a person is not judgmental and I think what she is trying to say is that each one of us at different positions and in different careers are all struggling and doing what we need to do to survive. Before being from the media, we are humans first.”

Prior to this last-minute drama surrounding Peepli Live, its soundtrack – namely the Mehngayi Daayan track on the rising inflation in India – has drawn flak from the government, along with its original creator, Prajapati, claiming he wasn’t paid
his dues in full.

When quizzed, Khan said: “We are not in such a business that we sell songs. Plus, it is important to note that we never had the rights to claim it was our song.

The rights are held by a group of musicians and we have taken permission from them to use the track in our film.

“As a producer, it is my job to ensure all these things are in place, but because I was handling so many things it didn’t cross my mind. We have taken the songs for the film and we will be using it only for the film, not anywhere else. I will not blame my production on this.”

The film has already won rave reviews from the Sundance and the Berlin film festival circuit and Khan believes credit for this should be given to Rizvi alone.

He said: “The story has been written and directed by Anusha. And it was her thought and her voice, which convinced me into being a part of this project. If there’s any credit due, it’s hers to take.”