Dear Aamir Khan
Satyamev Jayate Producer
India
First, I would like to congratulate you for taking the initiative to start a television talk show titled ‘Satyamev Jayate’. When a majority of your colleagues in the film industry are busy in promoting vulgarity, immodesty and indecency, you have taken the task of highlighting various issues which the country is facing. Where other superstars are busy using their brand to promote products, you are using your brand to address various social issues. The show had truly a positive impact on many citizens of the country.
Secondly, I would like to congratulate you for being consistent in your approach and successfully completing three seasons of the talk show, which has covered 13 issues in the first season, 5 issues in the second and 6 issues in the third. We just finish watching the show in 90 minutes but I also understand the amount of hard work and time which has gone into doing such in-depth research for every episode. The show has not only helped NGOs to generate funds but has also been very successful in bringing a positive change among the viewers.
Thirdly, I really appreciate your effort to address various sensitive issues such as female foeticide, child sexual abuse, medical malpractice, domestic violence, casteism and untouchability, rape and masculinity. Surely, all these episodes will act a catalyst for people to discuss more on them and come up with better, effective and practical solutions at their levels. I also pray that this programme will have a positive impact on every citizen of the country.
Fourthly, I also have certain reservation about few aspects of our show which I would like to bring to your notice. In the first season, episode number nine which was based on ‘alcohol abuse’, you concluded the episode, asking the audience to drink responsibly if they wish to, but we should also know that people who have the habit of drinking are the ones who go on to over-consume on occasions. Why don’t we try to curb the problem from the grassroots by prohibiting its sales and consumption themselves?
Another objection is on the third episode of the third season which was based on ‘LGBT Community’. The show basically promoted homosexuality and showed that there is nothing wrong in being a homosexual. But on the other hand homosexuality has various drawbacks such as leading to various diseases such as kaposi’s sarcoma, gay cancer, gay compromise syndrome, etc., it denies a child either from a mother, it defeats the society’s purpose of benefiting from marriage, it turns a moral wrong into a civil right and ultimately it is against the nature of human beings. How can we ignore all these issues and on what basis are we promoting homosexuality?
Fifthly, I feel that the show has failed to address some of the bigger issues and problems which our country is facing from a long time. It is easy to speak on simple issues on which a majority of people have acceptance, but it is very difficult to stand against the system. Your shows have just thrown more light on issues which people are already aware of. Addressing issues which are the major point of concern and which the people are not aware of will be of more help for the people and the nation at large. Thus, I would suggest that you also address the following issues in your forthcoming episodes:
i. Education System: Education is the most powerful weapon to change the world. The education system is the most important system of the country, as it decides the future of the nation. According to a report of the Education Commission (Kothari Commission) – 1964-66, “The destiny of India is now being shaped in her classrooms.”
But today our education system is in a very bad state; it has become very materialistic, self-centred. It is only creating people to fulfil the market and industrial needs; it has become a place where education is sold as a commodity, etc. It is ultimately preparing dumb and dead citizens, who are socially inactive. But rather we would want an education system which would be God-centred, which would produce people who would fulfil the needs of the society, which would produce people with ethics and values and which would produce responsible citizens. Highlighting various aspects of our education system would help us build a better nation. It is not easy to tackle this issue at the policy level as many politicians own educational institutes which are a good source of income for them.
ii. Pornography: Pornography is a big threat to any nation. An individual who watches porn gets into a lot of problems. He gets addicted to it and wants to watch more and more each time, loses money, time, memory, intelligence, reasoning, analysing and thinking capacity, has an impact on the marital life as it demands unnatural sex from the partner, leads him to stress, sadness, depression, and loss of self-esteem, leads to bad relationships with close relatives, makes the individual enter into a state of loneliness and boredom, takes him away from his ambitions and goals in life. The addiction takes the individual to a state of tension that leads to the destruction of the soul and indulges in masturbation. And perversion from sex leads the individual to commit sexual crimes. By indulging in pornography we support paedophilia, child sexual abuse and human trafficking. Watching pornography is a contributing factor for people to commit rape. It is not an easy issue to tackle as there is a huge mafia behind it.
iii. Bollywood: It would always be better if we could clean the filth around us before we start pointing fingers at others. A majority of Hindi movies today are filled with vulgarity and indecency. According to the recent UN sponsored global study of female characters in popular films across the world, “India tops the chart in showing attractive women in its movies and as much as 35% of these female characters are shown with some nudity.” Indian films are also third, behind German and Australian movies, in showing females in “sexy attire”. For example, can you please explain the role of Katrina Kaif in your movie Dhoom 3? Was she given a role in a movie, just so that the raging male hormones could be satisfied?
In a nutshell, the current movies promote love and sex outside marriage, alcohol and portray women in an indecent manner, just to attract the audience. All these things might look very attractive and entertaining but in reality they are not the same and are also dangerous to the nation. Addressing this issue would help your fraternity to realise the damage which they are causing to the country in the name of entertainment.
iv. Capitalism: India is under the control of its largest corporations. Wealth has been concentrated in fewer and fewer hands. These few corporations now run the country and, in some ways, run the political parties and they run the media. This is having devastating consequences for hundreds of millions of the poorest people in India. Various richest Indian corporations, such as Reliance, Tata, Essar, and Infosys are employing similar tactics as those of the US based Rockefeller and Ford foundations.
Speaking on this issue would be the most difficult for you because you will have to speak against big corporates of the nation as they are unofficially new rulers of the world. This would be even more difficult for you because you will also have to speak against Reliance as it plays a significant role in the country’s capitalist system and they are your philanthropy partner as well.
v. Interest Based Economic System: Today, we are living in an interest based economic system which is unjust. It only favours the rich and has nothing for the poor. The interest based system is making the rich richer and richer and making the poor poorer and poorer. The interest based economy contributes to the increase in the cost of living, flow of money from the poor to the rich, farmers’ suicide, etc. Speaking against the system is not very easy as it is going to raise a question on the economic system of the entire world as it is based on interest.
vi. Farmers Suicide: The farmers’ suicide is one of the side effects of the capitalistic system which India has adopted. And farmers play a very important role in the development of our country as agriculture is a significant contributor to India’s GDP. At least 2,70,940 Indian farmers have taken their lives since 1995, NCRB records show. This occurred at an annual average of 14,462 in six years, from 1995 to 2000, and at a yearly average of 16,743 in 10 years between 2001 and 2011. That is around 46 farmers’ suicides each day, on average or nearly one every half-hour since 2001.
In spite of so many suicides the Government has still not taken the issue seriously as it is the poor who are suffering. Some of the major contributors to farmers’ suicide are habits like drinking, gambling, family problems with spouse and others, daughters’ marriage, political affiliation, property disputes, failure of crops, debt burden and too much of borrowing. Generally, rural India is ignored or is not given due importance while making policies. Thus, it is the need of the hour that we discuss these issues, put pressure on the Government and come up with practical solutions for our farmers.
vii. Advertisements: Today’s advertisements rather than conveying the message are corrupting the minds of viewers. They are just made with an objective to convince the viewer to buy the product by hook or by crook. There are four major drawbacks of today’s advertisements. First, women are treated as mere commodities; secondly, children are used in ads which have a romantic angle; thirdly, promoting immoral concepts; and fourthly, provide misleading information. All these advertisements are having a very strong impact on the culture of our country and a much stronger impact on the children who are watching them.
For example, Ads by Fastrack, Arrow, Flying Machine, etc. treat women as a commodity. Ads by Vodafone, McDonalds, etc. use children with a romantic angle. Ads by Channel V, Virgin Mobile, Airtel, Tata DoCoMo, etc., promote various immoral concepts such as homosexuality, live-in relationship, changing partners, etc. Ads by Fair and Lovely, Loreal, etc. provide misleading information. It is high time that some serious steps are taken in this regard and the concept of current advertisements becomes a matter of discussion among the public and the policymakers.
Based on my limited knowledge and research, I was able to highlight these seven crucial and critical issues. Your research team would be able to bring forward many more serious consequences of all these issues. If you really want to help Indians march towards making a better India then addressing all these issues should be your priority. Satyameva Jayate.
Syed Kazim