Aamir Khan’s sermon at a Youth for Governance seminar in Mumbai on February 10 to the participants of the All India Bakchod Roast, which he described as a form of verbal “violence”, is in keeping with the actor and producer’s carefully constructed image of a well-behaved, responsible and thoughtful film celebrity who will never put himself or his followers in harm’s way.

Audiences who suffered through Khan’s risible Dhoom:3 in 2013 might disagree, but they are clearly in a minority, since the heist drama is said to have earned over Rs 200 crore. PK, directed by Rajkumar Hirani and starring Khan as an alien who takes on a fake godman, has also entered the record books for mopping up over Rs 300 crore.

Thus Khan makes pronouncements as somebody with Brobdingnagian bona fides. Here is an actor and producer who has his finger firmly on the pulse of middle India and who appears to know its every twitch and jerk.

Who is offending whom?

However, it should be noted that Khan has himself been accused by conservative groups of giving offence on at least two occasions. Before PK, which irked fringe orthodox religious groups for its irreverent depiction of deities, there was Ghajini from 2008, the ultra-violent remake of the Tamil movie of the same name, which was passed with minimal cuts and a UA certificate. If it bleeds, it leads – the movie was one of the earliest entrants in the Rs 100-crore club.

Khan’s home productions include Delhi Belly, an Adults-only movie with the notorious track “Bose DK”, whose refrain does not refer to a Bengali gentleman but sounds like a common vulgarity. The theatrical screening of Delhi Belly might have been restricted to adult audiences, but its trailers and promotional videos were blasted on television and radio stations for several weeks before it was released, reaching the under-18 audience that the certification board had banned from cinemas. A truly responsible producer would have held back from broadcasting the lewd song on television and radio, let alone commission a special video for the song featuring its lead actors. But the pragmatic Khan went ahead anyway.

Delhi Belly proved to be a turning point for the Central Board of Film Certification that was headed by Leela Samson. The CBFC’s former Chief Executive Officer, Pankaja Thakur, barely managed to live down the decision to allow the movie to enter cinemas uncut (the DVD, which is rated UA, has many more snips and bleeps). Delhi Belly’s ability to get away untouched was seen as proof not of a mature CBFC that allows adults to handle a swear word or two, but of an influential celebrity who got his way.

Pragmatic strategy

Khan’s defence of Delhi Belly will be the same as any other producer’s – there is nothing wrong in such films so long as they are consumed by adult audiences. AIB must have made the same calculation. There is also no equivalence between a line or two of profanity and a show packed with it, but commitment to freedom of expression cannot be measured in tea spoons.

Khan has unmatched cultural capital, and had he chosen to acknowledge that the freedom of expression includes the right to offend, he would have given a huge boost to the beleaguered AIB comedians, and also sent out a signal to sections of the movie business who feel that Karan Johar, Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor went too far that notorious night in Mumbai in December making jokes about themselves and other Bollywood personalities.

Khan’s message seems to have been aimed more at his peers than the comedians. Since he is one of the canniest brains in the movie business – a star who knows exactly how much his stardom is worth and how it is to be leveraged – his stern comments can be interpreted as words of caution to industry insiders against being manipulated into denigrating themselves and their trade. Aamir Khan has spoken, and everybody in the industry will be taking notes.