When Aamir Khan Spoke About Sarfarosh's Message: 'One Shouldn't Look At All Muslims With Distrust'

News18

4 days ago

As IPS officers visit Aamir Khan's home owing to Sarfarosh influence, here's a look back at when he spoke about the film addressing Pakistan's ISI, terrorism and Muslims in India.
A recent video showing a bus filled with IPS officers entering Aamir Khan's Mumbai residence stirred a wave of curiosity online. Was it an official police visit? A sudden security issue? Speculation ran wild — until a spokesperson from Aamir Khan's team clarified that the IPS trainees had formally requested a meeting with the actor.
Ever since the release of his 1999 film Sarfarosh, in which Aamir portrayed the fearless IPS officer ACP Ajay Singh Rathore, the actor has become something of a symbolic figure for young officers in training.
Back in 2000, in a conversation with NDTV, Aamir spoke about the themes of Sarfarosh — particularly on whether he had any doubts about how the audience would react to a film that directly addressed terrorism, cross-border conflict and religious identity in India.
He spoke about how the film tackled the subject of Pakistan's ISI and cross-border terrorism — but without vilifying ordinary people or generalising an entire country. He said, 'It deals with the ISI, the proxy war that Pakistan is fighting through the ISI. But it doesn't indulge in name-calling. It doesn't say that all Pakistanis are bad because that's a ridiculous statement. I mean, you have human beings all over the world and some people are good and some people are bad. Or some people have their reasons for doing something which is not right, which could be quite unreasonable. Some people have an evil bent of mind."
In the interview, Aamir Khan also spoke about how the film shows the mistrust Indian Muslims sometimes face, especially around national security. He said the film chose to focus on a positive message. 'It talks about distrust towards Muslims living in the country, which is quite understandable because it is human nature. So the film tries to take a very positive attitude towards that and tells all us Indians that one should not look at all Muslims with distrust. All Muslims do not feel disloyal towards India as their country."
Aamir also said that the film does not shy away from calling out the problems on both sides — including a minority of Indian Muslims who feel aligned with Pakistan and a minority of Hindus who blanket Muslims with suspicion.
'There is a certain section of Muslims living in the country, I believe, who do have their loyalties towards Pakistan and this film tries to tell them that this is not right and they shouldn't do that. So it tells that section of Muslims, which I believe is a minority, who do have their loyalties towards Pakistan that that is not the right thing to do. It tells that section of Hindus, which again I believe is a minority, which looks upon all Muslims with distrust."
The film went on to win the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment.
First Published:
July 29, 2025, 10:46 IST
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