Aamir Khan on the cover of Time magazine’s Asian edition
The September issue features Aamir Khan under the title “Khan’s Quest”.
According to Time magazine, Khan is “breaking the Bollywood mold by speaking out against India's Social evils”. The cover’s tag line further reads: “Can one actor change a nation?”
With Satyamev Jayate, Aamir Khan aimed to highlight deep-rooted social issues prevalent in India. Debuting in May 2012, the show has so far addressed sensitive social subjects such as female foeticides, manual scavengers, dowry abuse, caste issues, child sexual abuse, domestic violence and violence against women among others with heart-rending case studies.
Time magazine refers to Satyamev Jayate as a prominent show that discussed the social menaces in the Indian society.
“Unlike Oprah Winfrey, Khan doesn't give his audience a break with digressions into health advice, cooking tips or celebrity interviews,” the Time’s cover report on Khan reads. “The world of Satyamev Jayate is full of serious trouble to allow for the respite of a low-fat cooking recipe,” it further adds.
Khan’s show has received positive feedback from both critics and the general public. But earlier this week, renowned sound specialist of South India, Resul Pookutty, was quoted by the Hindustan Times saying Khan’s Satyamev Jayate show was “doctored”.
Since then Pookutty has said that he was misquoted. “Misinterpretation and a doctored story quoting me on Satyamev Jayate in today’s HT. Sad journalism,” Pookutty said on Twitter.
The Time magazine’s feature on Khan also focuses on him as an actor who breaks from Bollywood’s traditional norms of film-making and scripts.
The last Time cover on an Indian personality was in July 2012 when the Asian edition featured the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh under the title “The underachiever: India needs a reboot”. The cover on Singh became controversial and was a trending topic on social media sites such as Twitter. Weeks later, India’s Outlook magazine called US president Barack Obama an underachiever in its cover story on a similar theme adding that “America needed a reboot”.
Aamir Khan is the latest Bollywood actor to be on the cover of the Asian edition of Time. Previously, Shah Rukh Khan (2004), Aishwarya Rai Bachchan (2003) and Parveen Babi (1976) have appeared on its cover.
Other Indian personalities such as ace batsman Sachin Tendulkar, tennis star Sania Mirza and politicians such as Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi have also been featured on its cover.
Khan who is married to Kiran Rao, a director and producer, has a nine-month-old son Azad Rao Khan through a surrogate mother. Khan will be seen on the big screens around Diwali festival when his psychological thriller film Talaash releases (November 30).
