5 times controversies on Aamir Khan helped his films do better

Dangal

And now that Dangal is about to release, Aamir himself fell into controversy due to his infamous ‘intolerance’ statement. He was criticized by political parties and people alike, only to have gotten out of it in no time. Immediately after, he has now come into collaboration with Chief Minister Devendra Fadvanis to solve the water crisis in Maharashtra. We wonder if he wants to stay safe from all the troubles that Dangal may fall into but create enough hype to make his movie a blockbuster again. Only time will tell...

PK

Remember the controversy surrounding PK? Who wouldn’t? The poster of the film with Aamir posing nude with on a radio cassette recorder sparked a huge amount of controversy. Even after the Censor Board gave it a pass, the All India Human Rights and Social Justice Front demanded a ban to its release saying it promoted nudity and vulgarity. The Supreme Court however dismissed their plea and gave the movie a green signal. Later, the movie was demanded ban for hurting religious sentiments and showcasing Godmen in wrong light. That too however passed. The surprising fact here was that OMG: Oh My God!, starring Akshay Kumar and Paresh Rawal, which had a somewhat similar message as PK, was passed without any controversy. Sceptical? PK too was a huge hit.

Fanaa

Soon after, came Fanaa. This time around, Aamir Khan made a few comments regarding the Gujarat chief minister's handling of the Narmada Dam and the necessity to rehabilitate the displaced villagers, which infuriated the BJP and as a result the movie had to be banned in the state. But, did that affect the film in any way? Well, no. The movie was declared as a blockbuster and went on to earn one billion as its worldwide collection.

Rang De Basanti

His next outing Rang De Basanti had a scene where Aamir Khan was seen riding a horse. Maneka Gandhi objected to the same, as the scene was shot without permission and it had to be deleted from the movie. Soon after, Kavita Gadgil, who was the mother of an Indian Air Force pilot Abhijeet Gadgil who was killed when his plane crashed, on whose life, the film was loosely based on, objected to the release of the film as the producers did not show her the film before release. The film went on to be a huge hit and garnered many awards and good amount of money at the box-office.

Mangal Pandey

Soon after the release of the film, a petition was filed in the High Court which said that the film had portrayed Mangal Pandey in a bad light. The movie showed Mangal Pandey having a relationship with a nautch girl, and the petition said it was not based on any historical evidence. Not just this, soon after in August 2005, the BJP asked for a ban on the film stating that the movie indulges in character assassination. But the controversies did not stop here; the Samajwadi Party leader Uday Pratap Singh also demanded a ban on the film in the Rajya Sabha owing to “inaccurate portrayal” of Mangal Pandey. The movie however went on receive positive reviews and also had a bumper opening collection.