Anupam Kher: I don’t have a problem with Aamir

Veteran actor Anupam Kher says he has a lot of respect for Aamir Khan but feels the superstar has developed a habit of sharing his opinions about everything.

Kher, 60, earlier lashed out at Khan for saying he was “alarmed” by the rising religious intolerance in India.

“I don’t have any problem with anybody. They all are my friends. Aamir is a friend too and we did a lot of films together like Dil, Dil Hai Ki Manta Nahin, but that time he wasn’t ‘Aamir Khan’. He then, rightly, over the years cultivated himself and became Aamir Khan.

“He then thought he should give opinions on everything. Whether it’s the controversy of AIB, or whether it is this [intolerance] or that,” Kher said.

The actor was speaking on the topic of “Whose intolerance is it anyway” at the Times Lit Fest.

The 60-year-old star shared an incident from the 1991 film Dil Hai Ki Manta Nahin, where Khan had a problem with Kher’s interpretation of his character.

“[Mahesh] Bhatt sahab told me Aamir is saying your interpretation of your character is rubbish. This is not how he thought the character should be portrayed. So, sometimes people have this habit that they think, ‘what I am saying is right and rest of the world is not right’.”

Kher said he admires the work of the Ghajini actor, including his TV show Satyamev Jayate, but feels a celebrity should be careful with his words.

“I have great respect for him but I just felt with great stardom comes a sense of responsibility. It is very important to have a sense of responsibility. I admire him and that is why I was a little sad. It’s important to give hope sometimes and not spread fear.”

Kher, whose wife Kirron Kher is a BJP politician from Chandigarh, has not shied away from sharing his own opinions.

From criticising filmmakers returning their National Film Awards to leading a tolerance march in the national capital of New Delhi, Kher has been vocal about his disapproval of those questioning the safety and religious tolerance of India, which has also included Shah Rukh Khan.

“Everybody should speak, there is no treason, no anti-national issue. They are as patriotic as I am. It’s very easy to portray me as a villain, who is opposing all these people. I am the same person who sat in Anna [Hazare anti-corruption] movement and stuck my neck out.

“May be I have taken panga [issue] with lots of people, they don’t want to take me in their films, because they think I have spoken wrong about them. But it needs lots of guts to do that. It doesn’t need any philosophy,” Kher said.