He came, he inspired, and he conquered. This summer Aamir
Khan forced India to cancel all Sunday morning appointments. Generations across
the country, across the world, sat glued to their television sets or their
computers to find out what else is wrong with India.
In 13 episodes, Aamir Khan initiated, established and
supported a movement – a movement for change – change that India and Indians
had been wanting for years. He appeared on our screens and spoke to us in
impeccable Hindi [and several regional languages], bringing a new issue, a new
problem and a new solution to us every Sunday.
A flood of sentiments, arguments, opinions, donations,
questions, monumental praise and even criticism followed every episode. India
was on its feet. Her citizens were thinking, making choices, taking decisions,
and waking up. Or were they?
I waited to watch the last episode depicting Satyamev Jayate’s
journey so far. I waited till an hour ago. It was telecast on August 15th,
2012 in India – the day I flew out of the country to make my way back to a
remote corner of the USA.
TIME magazine featured Khan on their cover with a caption
asking readers whether an actor can change a nation.
If TIME magazine had watched even one of the 13 episodes, or
looked closely at their own cover photo, they probably could have seen the
underlying truth. Aamir Khan is not ‘an actor’. He’s an Indian. An Indian
looking to create, build, and leave behind a better India for generations to
come. I don’t think anyone is that good an actor. Good enough to pull off
something like Satyamev Jayate and actively, personally follow up on every
issue to see it to its destination.
His eyes give him away. They are brimming with grit and
determination to make things happen, to make the right things happen. His gaze
holds your eyes, draws you into the episode with him, makes you weep as he
wipes his tears away, and infuriates you as you learn of new atrocities. No
actor can do that. Only an Indian who, in every drop of his blood, loves and
feels his country can. He can. He did.
So did several before him. Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Lokmanya Tilak, Babasaheb Ambedkar, even
Mahatma Gandhi invoked this level of emotion in Indians the world over. So why
is he different?
Because he is not advocating radicalism or leaning towards
the Left or Right. He’s standing up for reality and advocating humanity,
responsibility, and practicality. His ‘fans’ aren’t extremists or non-violence
practitioners. His followers are the common people who experience these issues
every day and have kept quiet for years thinking no one cared, and that nothing
could be done either way.
Question is, why did we need an Aamir Khan to stand up and
say he would do this? Why hadn’t we done something about either of these issues
ourselves? Or do we always look to Hindi cinema for solutions? We let Shah Rukh
Khan teach us romance, and we wait for Aamir to debut on television to mobilize
ourselves. Why?
Does it not sting you somewhere deep inside that you’re
asking for a Satyamev Jayate Season 2? Is it, on some level, not embarrassing that
we’d need a second season?
Is it only Aamir Khan’s moral responsibility to mobilize the
country every time it falls asleep or begins to doze off? Why do we always wait
till the last minute, wait for a wake-up call? Purely and simply as legal
citizens of India, we are required to follow the law. Everyone from our country’s
premier, politicians, lawyers, doctors, engineers, scientists, painters,
plumbers, tailors, actors, students, housewives, is required to dutifully and
honestly fulfil their individual responsibility as laid out in the Constitution
of India.
We lived under foreign rule for centuries. For 65 years, we
have had the legal freedom to be responsible for our own country, our own
lives. Somewhere down that road, we became complacent, materialistic and
insensitive. Six and a half decades down the road, do we still find it
impossible to initiate problem-solving techniques ourselves and do we still
feel the need for a constant wake-up call or reminder to tell us to do our job
better?
I find it hard to be saying and asking all these things
because: a) I have no idea if anyone is ever going to read this, b) I’m actually
a staunch supporter of the sheer spirit and élan with which Aamir Khan went
about creating and executing Satyamev Jayate, and c) It’s 1:28am and I haven’t
slept in a long, long time so thinking objectively and clearly kind of becomes
difficult.
Despite the severe sleep deprivation, I wonder why people of
India continue to flood Satyamev Jayate’s pages with requests of a second
season. Maybe 12 heart-breaking episodes and windows into reality weren’t
enough to rattle them out of their seats and get them moving, for good.
It makes patriotism look like a battery-powered emotion that
runs out when you overuse it in a short period of time. Then it needs to be
recharged or needs a ‘second season’ of batteries to get going again. Is this
why we became independent?
It took us 65 years to discuss female foeticide, child
sexual abuse, domestic violence etc. on a national, public platform. Do we want
to wait another 65 to discuss the next dozen issues?
If India wants to change, and I believe in my heart that it
does, then why can’t we change without requesting a nudge at regular intervals?
Are we not all Aamir Khans? Aren’t we all the trustees and beneficiaries of our
own country?
