An open letter to Aamir Khan

Dear Aamir,

I wish to congratulate you on the wonderful effort at trying to repay your debt to the society. Your effort is much appreciated, and I was your biggest fan. Please note, "was" your biggest fan. The first few episodes of the show Satyamev Jayate were a massive hit, causing a million people to shed tears. Off-late, your episodes are almost leaning towards taking sides rather than becoming a platform for voicing peoples' opinions. I was thinking as to why this tendancy was not noticed in the initial few episodes? And I seem to have found the answer. 

The first few episodes were about issues such as dowry, woman abuse and female infanticide. These are issues which cannot possibly have two sides, at least going by your show. You show us a video of a woman whose nose was bitten off; there is no human being who can take your opposite side. Therefore, we all agreed with you and your opinions. Then there was a story of a woman whose kids were thrown off the stairs. Again, nobody can disagree. But will you show the store of a man whose life was ruined becasue his wife and her family filed false cases using the Dowry Act? No, you won't and we all know the reason. That won't capture the audiences' attention I guess. I was a huge fan and I have also shed many a tear hearing stories on your TV show. But all thse negative thoughts never came into my head until I saw the last few episodes, especially the one about "Effects of Pesticide".

The Kasargod incident was aired about 5years ago on news channels and is heart warming. The lack of planning in the spraying of pesticides is despicable and no punishment is enough for those responsible. There are NGOs fighting this and people who have given up their lives for this cause. This was aired on CNN-IBN a few years ago. Now my question is: What are you trying to achieve through your show? Is it like a show on Discovery Channel where you give us information that these issues exist in your country? Or is it like a forum where you urge people to take action? I am totally confused now.

You are almost taking on the role of one who has already taken sides and made up his mind before entering an argument. The way the MD of the India Phosphorous Ltd., Mr. Shroff, was made fun of was absolutely unacceptable. What are you trying to achieve? Are you challenging him with your repeated questioning on the alternatives of farming? What did you expect? That he would say: "Thank you for enlightening me Aamir. I now close down my company". It is a friggin 8000 crore rupees turnover company. You make a sarcastic comment and the crowd laughs and this is like a jester leading his monkey on. I noticed one lady who was nodding her head for every comment, both for and against. Who are all these people to laugh at him? If you really thought that by you calling big names and insulting them on stage, you have made your point; you could not have been more wrong. If you are challenging him with an alternaltive, you are asking him to say:"yes we don't need any more pesticides". And assuming that in your utopia, the pesticide industry is closed. Will you employ those people who are emplyed there? They are more than a lakh in number. By stopping pesticides, the productivity will go down. There is no denying it. Who will suppost their sustenance during the transition to Organic Farming?

I don't believe it. This is like a set of 10 people handing out Panacea to the whole world. 

Dear Mr. Aamir Khan, the world is not so black-and-white as you think. I appreciate your effort, and I am fully for the fact that we need a better India and a better society. Let us all work together. But just becasue we follow the show does not in any way put you in a position to take sides and propogate the same via the show. Please give different sides of the story, and let people decide who is wrong and who is wrong. At the beginning of the show you say:"Please use your intelligence to make a decision". And then you have 60% of the show talking about one side of the story and the other 40% insulting the poerson of the other side. Please correct this, else you will lose more fans like me.

Even I conducted a research and it shows that watching TV can cause damage to the eyes. I am sorry, I need to switch off your show as of now. 

Your fan,

Abhiram Kramadhati