Aamir Khan says he refused Dangal's Pakistan release over demands to remove Indian flag, national anthem
Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan's Dangal is the highest-grossing Indian film, having earned ₹2,000 crore at the global box office. A significant portion of the film's earnings came from its release in China. During his appearance on Rajat Sharma's Aap Ki Adalat, Aamir revealed that he had rejected the film's release in Pakistan after their censor board demanded the removal of the Indian flag and national anthem. (Also Read: Aamir Khan says it is his 'dream to make Mahabharat', wonders if he'll 'have a role in it to play')
Aamir explained that, historically, the censor board restricted filmmakers from directly referring to certain countries. They were instructed to use terms like 'neighbouring country' instead. He pointed out that his film Sarfarosh was the first Indian film to openly mention both Pakistan and ISIS. Despite initial concerns from director John Mathew Matthan that the censor board would reject it, Aamir was confident they could justify the inclusion.
He further addressed why Dangal was not released in Pakistan and said, "After Sarfarosh, I got a lot of negative comments from Pakistan about what we were showing about them. When Dangal came into theatres, Disney was one of the producers, and they presented the film. They said that we have got a reaction from Pakistan's censor board and they have asked us, 'Geeta Phogat ke jeetne par jo tiranga upar jaata hai aur humara rashtra gaan bajta hai, toh aap yeh dono nikal dijiye or we'll not pass the film' (remove the Indian tricolour and national anthem that comes after Geeta Phogat's win or we'll not pass the film)."
Aamir added, "So I told Disney in just one second that our film will not release in Pakistan. So they said, our business will be affected, and we will suffer a loss. I said, Jo humse kahega humara Indian flag nikal do aur humara national anthem nikal do, unse mujhe matlab hi nahi hai (Anyone who tells us to remove our Indian flag and national anthem — I have nothing to do with them). I don't want that business."
The biographical sports drama, directed by Nitesh Tiwari, featured Aamir as Mahavir Singh Phogat, an amateur wrestler who trains his daughters Geeta Phogat and Babita Kumari Phogat to become India's first world-class female wrestlers. Fatima Sana Shaikh and Sanya Malhotra portrayed the adult versions of the Phogat sisters, while Zaira Wasim and Suhani Bhatnagar played their younger versions. Sakshi Tanwar played their mother. The film collected ₹387 crore in India and ₹2,070.3 crore worldwide at the box office.
Meanwhile, Aamir is now gearing up for the release of his upcoming film Sitaare Zameen Par, a spiritual sequel to his 2007 hit Taare Zameen Par. The film also stars Genelia D'Souza in the lead role and is scheduled to release in theatres on 21 June.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hindustan Times
15 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
China's nature reserve opens ₹6,000/day jobs for 'savages' to dance around, eat raw food, entertain tourists
A popular tourist destination in central China has sparked widespread attention after announcing a unique job opening, hiring people to dress and perform as 'savages' for visitors, reported the South China Morning Post. The Shennongjia National Nature Reserve, located in Hubei province and recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage site, began recruiting for the role on June 7. Since then, around 10,000 people have reportedly applied, according to the reserve's management company, which spoke to The Beijing News on June 9. Also read: ₹20 lakh role, no one qualified: Indian tech company shocked after 450 interviews lead nowhere The job, which pays 500 yuan (approximately ₹6,000) per day, will last from July to August. The reserve is known for its untouched forests, diverse wildlife, and age-old myths about wild men inhabiting its mountains. It's also a popular summer escape, with average temperatures hovering around a pleasant 20°C. As per the recruitment advertisement, 16 individuals will be selected. Their responsibilities include wearing 'savage' costumes, roaming the forested areas, dancing, and interacting with tourists. They'll also be expected to record and share their experiences on social media platforms. The advertisement further states that actors must be open to accepting and consuming food offered by tourists. There are no restrictions on age or gender, but applicants must present medical proof of good health. 'Those with an open personality, who are creative in shooting short videos and accustomed to living in the wild for a long time, will be preferred,' said the company. 'Those who like to eat raw food will also be given priority,' it added. Also read: 'I went to Sushant Singh Rajput's home': Mumbai CEO recalls actor's unexpected offer to help, pays tribute There are also strict rules: the performers aren't allowed to speak, they can only make a purring sound, except when asked for directions to a toilet. They're forbidden from touching wild animals and must run away upon encountering any unidentified creatures. Working hours are from 8 am to 5 pm. The quirky job post has gone viral on Chinese social media, drawing humorous reactions. 'I am interested in this job. I can do it for just 300 yuan a day,' said one online user. Another joked, 'What if I meet real savages?' Shennongjia isn't the first location to embrace this unusual tourism strategy. A scenic area in Liaoning province had also made headlines last year for hiring 14 'savage' actors at a monthly pay of 5,000 yuan (about ₹60,000).
Hindustan Times
17 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Women's ways of seeing history & penning poetry
Strap: Two interesting books by city writers of a forgotten struggle & singing over bones I belong to the times when women were far and few to find in the literary world, heavily populated by men. Of course, there were the prominent ones who had made their way despite the pride and prejudice of the male dominated society across the many Indian languages. To name just a few of the daredevils of the 70s: Kamala Das in Malayalam, Maha Shveta Devi in Bengali, Ismat Chughtai and Quratulain Hyder in Urdu, Krishna Sobti in Hindi and of course our very own Amrita Pritam to name just a few. Of course women writers were always there and invariably since mythical times they were iconoclasts. But here in these 800 or so words, I speak only of the times of which I was 'sakshi'(witness). But by and large literature was a man's world. Interestingly, those were times of mushairas and kavi sammelans which called for poets to sit on the stage and recite their verses one by one. In a gathering of some three dozen poets competing to loot the show with their art, one would find one or two women, pretty to look at, but not yet evolved into being a challenge to the loud male voices swinging in tarannum or otherwise. But given a chance, the second sex had it in them to cast a spell. Many recall that after a few years of the cruel Partition of India in 1947, an Indo-Pak mushiara was held in Karachi and a young woman was there in the lineage of stalwart male poets of the two countries of the greatest and bloodiest parting ever in the world. When this young woman got the mic, she spoke just one couplet, everyone was stunned and soon tears were running down the eyes of the audience, both men and women as well as seasoned poets on the stage. The two liner just said: 'Ashiyane ki baat karte ho/ Kis zamane ki baat karte ho!'( You talk of your abode do you/ What era are you referring to) and the young woman was none other than the celebrated Zehra Nigah, now aged 90, who had migrated with her family from Hyderabad in India to Karachi at age 12, but her young eyes had seen it all and her tender heart had felt what it was to be forced out of your own home. And now onto the daughters of Zehra... Holiday in Andaman started it all How did Rana Preet Gill, a veterinary doctor with a flair for letters, penning light middles and soft fiction, become a chronicler of the failed Ghadarite movement of Punjab? The answer to this is to be found in a family holiday she made to the Andaman islands in the winter of 2013. Gill recounts that her senior colleague Rajiv Bali took her to take look at the statue there of his ghadarite brother Ram Rakha Bali installed in the park facing the cellular Jail. So she did, posing with the statue of the patriot and sending it to Bali. The matter ended there but seeds of curiosity were sown in her mind. She recalls: 'Bali was a Ghadar revolutionary from Hoshiarpur, where I had been living for since 2013 but busy with my work I knew little about the rich past of the Doaba region. So I started exploring'. Well, her explorations took her to the right address and soon she was in the company of Harish K Puri, renowned scholar who had received a Fullbright scholarship in the early 90s and deeply researched the Ghadar movement at the University of California, Berkeley. Author of the 'Ghadar Movement A Short History', Puri says of Gill's book: 'Based largely on the study of the many published accounts of the struggle available to her, this book includes her own retelling of the self-sacrificing actions.' Scholars have held that although the movement was dismissed as a failed movement, yet it had a deep impact on the freedom movement in raised many questions in the minds of the Indian labour abroad and gradually and the dream of an Independent India took root. Gill adds: 'Women write from a different perspective. They view through the prism of a woman's heart. What would other women feel? Like in my book, I have mentioned towards the end the pain of loss felt by women in the lives of Ghadarites. Men become martyrs so do bear the burden of a painful life.' She adds, 'Women tend to write from the perspective of the oppressed and they always acknowledge the role of other women. They do not negate other women.' Singing over bones The past decade has seen Amy Singh active in organising poetic symposia, open mic, poetry symposia in the city gardens, her famous letters to Lahore have made this pretty girl well-known here and across the border too as she started a letter writing mission to keep the dialogue open. She was at the forefront of the women's protest at the road near the Leisure valley being christened the Gerhi Route in which young men took pride in chasing girls or in the old usage, eve-teasing them. The brave young girls of the city got together to protest against this and calling out to put an end to the chase and Amy was one of then. And lo, the city administration had to bow to the brave new girls and the nomenclature of the route changed from Gerhi Route to Azadi Route, spelling freedom for women after a stalking incident in 1917. Chirpy and full of beans, our young friend has starred in many litfests at different destinations in the country and is also a favourite at Lahore. But all this was accompanied by struggle and loss of her dear ones, I resurrected myself in words which came to her putting balm on many sores and a lighting her eyes with a twinkle. She says: 'I turned to paper like one turns to God. Not for the sake of poetry but for self-preservation.' She dabbled in the poetic across languages, sometimes in Hindi, sometimes in Punjabi and English too. A book that influenced her was 'Women Who Run with the Wolves' by Caressa Pinkola Estes, an American psychiatrist. The role model before her was that of La Loba, the mythic folkloric woman, who gathers the bones of dead wolves and sings over the skeleton of dead wolves, raises her arms and starts singing until the wolf comes alive and runs into the canyons. Amy says the metaphor touched her deeply and thus we have a collection of poems across the three languages: Hindi, Punjabi and English all in the Roman script. So here is as teaser from one of her feisty poems: 'In our home, things often break/ vase from the side table/ my mother's jewellery, vermillion vows/ I pick up the wreckage after you/ but I leave my own pieces on the floor'. nirudutt@
India.com
23 minutes ago
- India.com
Fathers Day 2025: From Taare Zameen Pars Nandkishore Awasthi To Maharajas Vijay Sethupathi; How Role Of Father In Indian Cinema Has Evolved Over Time
Over the past decades, the portrayal of fathers in Indian cinema has undergone a dramatic transformation. From Aamir Khan's critically acclaimed directorial, 'Taare Zameen Par', to Maharaja as Vijay Sethupathi, as societal perceptions of masculinity in fatherhood have shifted, so have the cinematic depictions of fatherhood. This Father's Day let's reflect on the evolving idea of fatherhood in the cinematic landscape, the evolution which isn't just artistic but also changes through the societal expectations. In the past, Father figures in Bollywood, were often shown as authoritarian, and were largely portrayed as strict disciplinarians with emotionally distant personalities, who rarely express vulnerability, in Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001), Amitabh Bachchan's character Yashvardhan Raichand valued authority over empathy, reflecting a common trend of that era. However, on the other hand, Nandkishore Awasthi, portrayed by Vipin Sharma marked a turning point as to how the audience and filmmakers began to critically engage with the emotional role of a father. In Taare Zameen Par, while Nandkishore did fit the role of strict and emotionally distant personalities, the film overall challenged the opposite, sparking conversations about empathy in fatherhood worldwide. Another haunting portrayal of fatherhood is seen in Udaan (2010), through the characters of Rohan Roy and his father Bhairav Singh, played by Rajat Barmecha and Ronit Roy respectively. Bhairav exemplifies dictatorial parenting taken to an extreme, harsh, abusive, and emotionally absent. His overbearing control and violence create a suffocating environment for Rohan, who aspires to be a writer. The contrast between Rohan's quiet resilience and Bhairav's oppressive dominance exposes the psychological. Another must-talk-about portrayal that can be added as an example is the role of Mahavir Singh Phogat, played by Aamir Khan in Dangal (2016), Mahavir Singh begins as a stereotypical father, training his daughters like wrestlers, yet his gradual transformation letting them lead on their own terms, showed complex dynamic between control and support. On the other hand is the character of Anirudh played by Sushant Singh Rajput in Chhichhore (2019). He is shown as a father struggling to connect with his son who attempts suicide due to academic pressure. Anirudh is someone who is willing to change his parenting approach using his own past to teach his kid. Cut to more recent portrayals of Vijay Sethupathi in Maharaja. It shows the bond between father and daughter, portraying a tender vulnerability rarely explored in older Indian cinema. Though societal perceptions of fatherhood will continue to evolve, cinema will undoubtedly remain a powerful mirror, reflecting, challenging, and reshaping how we understand what it truly means to be a father. Wishing all the fathers out there a very Happy Father's Day, may your journeys, struggles, and love continue to inspire both real and reel life.
