| Hello and welcome to Mind the Gap, a newsletter that looks at the week’s gender developments. Supreme Court judges can’t agree on the Karnataka government ban on the wearing of hijab by schoolgirls. Details of a grisly crime in Kerala (trigger warning!) and a song that’s becoming the anthem of the Iran revolution. Women, Life, Freedom. Solidarity. THE BIG STORY: On the performative wokeness of Bollywood celebs No matter what he does, film, ad or a talk about intolerance in India, Aamir Khan has long been a red flag to the Rightwing ecosystem. The latest furor comes over an ad that follows a story line where it’s not the bride, but the bridegroom (played Khan) who enters his wife’s home. The outrage has followed predictable lines, Khan is anti-Hindu, why doesn’t he condemn polygamy etc etc. The ad comes days after Khan’s latest film Laal Singh Chaddha flopped following a boycott call issued for the same reasons mentioned above, though how much of its fate was influenced by the boycott or just merit n(and lack of) is hard to say. I won’t comment on the boycott call except to say it is thuggery and bullying by the mob. But I also have a problem with the ad (and yes, Khan didn’t write the story board, but did agree to act in it). Instead of challenging the traditional belief about a woman’s rightful place first with her father and then with her husband, there’s a lazy role reversal – look! Husband is entering his wife’s home -- that does nothing to change the stereotype. Surely the message is that if daughters are not anyone’s property, neither are sons. In the past, Khan has freely aligned himself with causes he believes: Narmada Bachao Andolan (2006) and Anna Hazare’s movement (2011). His 2012 talk show, Satyamev Jayate touched on issues from female feticide to child abuse. In 2015, his comments on growing intolerance in India cost him a lawsuit and two endorsements, Incredible India and Snapdeal, ironically proving his point about intolerance. Chilling effect The threat of boycott (and tax raids and even arrests) has had a chilling effect on those in a position to influence public opinion. Last week, Priyanka Chopra, a UNICEF goodwill ambassador since 2016, expressed solidarity with Iranian women demanding regime change and was called out for her silence on schoolgirls in Karnataka fighting for their right to attend school in hijab. The silence is not that hard to understand in an industry that is constantly under scrutiny. If you’re a professional who wants to survive, there are certain topics you need to steer clear of: Hindu religious figures, history that isn’t aligned with Rightwing standards, current affairs and politics (unless it’s to heap praise on the government). [Read Samanth Subramanian’s comprehensive New Yorker essay, When the Hindu right came for Bollywood.] Shameful silence But what explains the silence over the shameful rehabilitation of a man like Sajid Khan, publicly accused by nine women for flashing his penis, watching porn publicly and demanding sex for roles? Why has no leading actor asked how such a person gets a free pass to reality show Bigg [sic] Boss on Colors TV anchored by actor Salman Khan? The few who’ve spoken up against him and other #MeToo accused like Anu Malik (now a judge on Indian Idol), Vikas Behl and Kailash Kher include singer Sona Mohapatra who speaks in virtual isolation. Delhi Commission of Women chief Swati Maliwal has received rape threats for demanding that Sajid Khan is taken off the show. Meanwhile, the Federation of Western India Cine Employees has actually supported the film-maker, saying he has the right to ‘earn his living’. Any sympathy for the restrictions on the free speech on actors and public figures, rapidly evaporates in the face of the film industry’s self-imposed omerta on its own faults and functioning. How many demand POSH committees? How many challenge its worst kept secret about casting couches? How many question prevailing stereotypes in story lines? How many question the absurdity of men playing college students well into their fifties, romancing women less than half their age? In the ad, a 57-year-old Aamir Khan plays bridegroom to a 30-year-old Kiara Advani. Performative wokeness cannot be a substitute for a conscience. | 
