FIR filed against Aamir Khan.

By Apekshita Sonowal

Laal Singh Chaddha, a Bollywood movie based on the Academy award winning American movie, Forest Gump released last Thursday on August 11. Aamir Khan and Kareena Kapoor Khan Starrer Laal Singh Chaddha directed by Advait Chandan, received a lot of hate much before it was released due to its attempt to remake such a classic, evergreen movie, Forest Gump.

Although there were people who appreciated it especially from the industry, but netizens and many others have expressed a negative opinion about the movie’s content such as the portrayal of the Indian Army and hurting religious sentiments in the movie. This has led to a legal complaint against Aamir Khan, one of the producers of the film, Advait Chandan, the director, Paramount Pictures and other members associated with the film.

The complaint was filed by a Delhi based lawyer, Vineet Jindal to Delhi Police and in his complaint, he mentions, “In the movie, the makers have depicted that a mentally challenged person was allowed to join Army to fight in the Kargil War. It is a well-known fact that the best army personnel were sent to fight the Kargil war and rigorously trained army personnel fought the war but the movie makers intentionally depicted the said situation to demoralize and defame the Indian army.”

According to ANI, the lawyer has sought registration of an FIR against Aamir Khan, Director Advait Chandan and Paramount Pictures under sections 153, 153A, 298, and 505 of the IPC stating there was objectionable content in the movie.

The complaint also mentions of an objectionable scene in the movie where a Pakistani personnel asks Laal Singh Chaddha, “I offer Namaz and pray, Laal. Why don’t you do the same?” To that, Chaddha, played by Aamir Khan, replies, “My mother said this puja paath is malaria. It causes riots.”

The statement and depiction in the movie is not only instigating and provokes sentiments but also causes “enraged emotions among the Hindu religion followers,” said the complainant.

The original Hollywood movie, Forest Gump made in 1994 was a portrayal of a man having low IQ and who was recruited in the U.S army during the Vietnam War and later even made it into the American history books.

The recruitment of low aptitude men during the Vietnam War in U.S army in the year 1966 was a true story. This was proved by the author Hamilton Gregory in his presentation and reading of his book called the McNamara’s Folly: The Use of Low-IQ Men in the Vietnam War, one of his bestsellers which is available at YouTube, video entitled “McNamara’s Folly.”  

Gregory served in Vietnam as a U.S. Army intelligence agent in 1968-69. In the video, he depicts the situation of these low IQ men serving in the war and he shares how sad it was to have witnessed it. The author recalls that in fact, there was a term called the McNamara’s morons that many officers and sergeants used to refer the low aptitude/IQ men who were inducted into the armed forces under a special project called Project 100,000 devised by Robert McNamara- 8^th US Secretary of Defense serving from 1961 to 1968.

Netizens are of the opinion that this fact is a proof that Forest Gump fits into the U.S. Army because the US recruited men with low IQ during the Vietnam War but the Indians did not in the Kargil War.

(Source- ANI/ McNamara's Folly video)