NEW DELHI:
Hollywood star Tom Hanks read about Bollywood actor Aamir Khan’s work for Indian society, and is mightily impressed. He says “giving back” to society is tough.
Hanks, whose new film Cloud Atlas is releasing in Indian theatres on October 26, read about Aamir in the September 10 issue of the prestigious Time magazine, in which he was positioned as India’s “first superstar-activist”.
“I really admire the work that Aamir Khan is doing in India. Very few celebrities take the initiative of coming forward to change the society and he has done a remarkable job,” Hanks said in a statement.
Aamir awakened several television viewers with his 13-week-long small screen debut, “Satyamev Jayate”, a show through which he brought forward several social issues by informing, educating, sensitising and touching audiences’ hearts, backing the information with statistics, with the spotlight on the right to equality.
Hanks feels it is all a part of giving back to the people, who give artists so much love. “It’s the ‘giving-back’ that’s tough. Aamir seems to understand the influencing power of being a celebrity and is using it to act as a catalyst for change in society, something that definitely deserves both appreciation and support from all quarters,” he added.
The show that went on air on May 6 brought forth unknown facts related to child sex abuse, medical malpractice, female feticide, manual scavenging and dowry. The Bollywood superstar met the concerned leaders off screen to ensure the problems are resolved.
The actor, who recently concluded his TV show “Satyamev Jayate”, hopes to come back with the second season of the show.
The Forrest Gump actor will be seen with Halle Berry and Hugh Grant in Cloud Atlas, co-directed by Lana Wachowski, Andy Wachowski and Tom Tykwer.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 11th, 2012.
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Aamir Khan has done a great job..
at last aamir khan succeeded in seeking some attention from Hollywood :p
Not just Aamir Khan but Indian electronic media in general is more mature and progressive and thus influences Indian society and its behavior. This change can be seen in Indian society from the 1990s to current, where people are getting above religious and gender discrimination. They are catching up with Western Media fast, who not only side with government policies but play a larger role in influencing it for the long term benefit of society which they belong to. Our media unfortunately is only busy in political talk shows/wrestling to earn more TRP and amass more money which results in backwardness of the populace on general issues such as over population, electoral process, education, harmony, gender equality and other social issues. They only see an issue when there is some sort of incident that requires their attention for the sake of TRPs and will forget it within weeks when they catch another one.