Every television audience was in a
state of boundless suspense till the most expected debut TV program
by Aamir Khan went air on Sunday (May 6) at 11 am on Star Plus. And I
was equally hinged to my conviction that the program would be an
out-of-the-box creation, not because Aamir Khan during his entire
career in Hindi film industry has proved to be Mr Perfect, but often
he has convinced to public that he is not just an entertainer, rather
he is the epitome of social movements at a time when the citizens of
this country have lost faith in our system, be it political,
bureaucratic, or judicial. Aamir Khan just proved it right.
Absolutely right. The program was worth watching for every genre of
audience across social hierarchies.
Many would question the format of this
program for its semblance with reality TV. But it was an altogether
different breed of program that Indian TV viewers got to experience
it first time with a different expectation. I wish all the viewers
would at least internalize that difference. Started with a quite
moving emotional anecdote by touching upon the role of mother in everyone's life
and then building up the synchronized viewers' empathy, Aamir
logically came down to brass-tacks – the sordid state of female
foeticide across the country.
Although everyday we come across with
myriads of reports on female foeticide in newspapers and television
programs, what's different here in this program was the story-telling
by Aamir along with glaring evidences from a panel of victims who
certainly were not only from the lower strata of our society, which
is often misconceived by majority of people, rather an eye-opening case was there
from an elite family living in the capital of this country. Remember,
the victim who's a doctor and married to a doctor as well and lives
with a family of educationists ranging teachers and professors,
essayed her story with great poignancy. Unbelievable. Under the hood
of elitism and false tradition, how these hypocrites are engaged in
such heinous crimes without fear for the consequences.
What's more startling was that when a
Delhi-based doctor revealed that how the government in 70s started
sex determination test in typically government hospitals as a measure
to check the growing population of this country - the most abhorrent
fact that any citizen of this country would like to assimilate. And that
was a hard fact indeed. The program that was started under the auspice of
government patronage eventually multiplied its tentacles and now the
sex determination test is a Rs 1000 crore plus industry in India. The
politicians and government machinery in tandem have been beguiling us
for many decades and still we hardly have time to introspect.
The nexus was even deeper and
devastating. When two journalists, who carried out sting operations
on “female foeticide and integral role of doctors” across many
districts in Rajastan, exposed the dirty kinship between government
and judiciary, the trust of public in a democratic system could have
touched the nadir. In the recent past we have observed the
fashionable judicial activism in selective cases; however, when it
comes to an endemic social issue, the same loaded activism loses its
steam.
I wish the viewers of this program
couldn't have expected more than what Aamir reiterated at the end -
the magic wand. When the Prime Minister of this country helplessly
cries that there is no magic wand to check corruption, on a very
distinct and compelling note Aamir accentuated, yes there is a magic
wand, and it's we the citizens of this country. Only we can bring in
the desired changes in this country by participating in such
movements. A great thought indeed. Kudos Aamir. Hope you equally
overwhelm us in the coming episodes.
No comments:
Post a Comment