Actor Amir Khan.
| Photo Credit: ANI

Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan, currently awaiting the release of Sitaare Zameen Par, has spoken out regarding the controversies and criticisms that his film PK attracted post its release in 2014. PK, directed by Rajkumar Hirani, faced criticisms that alleged that the film was promoting ‘love jihad’ and anti-religious sentiments.

In a recent interview with India TV, Aamir defended the film against these allegations, stating, “We’re not against any religion. We respect all religions and all religious people. That film just tells us to be cautious of those who exploit religion to fool the common man in order to extract money from them. You’ll find people like that in every religion. That was the film’s only purpose.”

Aamir spoke about a scene from the film which involves a Hindu woman (Anushka Sharma) marrying a Muslim man (Sushant Singh Rajput). When two people from two religions, especially Hindu and Muslim, fall in love and get married, it’s not always love jihad, he said. “It’s just humanity, which is above religion.”

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The actor asked if his sisters marrying Hindu men is love jihad. Aamir’s sister, Nikhat, is married to Santosh Hegde while Farhat’s husband is Rajeev Dutta. Ira Khan, the actor’s daughter, got married to Nupur Shikhare in 2024. Aamir has been married to Reena Dutta (1988) and Kiran Rao (2005), both Hindu women.

Talking about his kid’s names (Ira Khan, Junaid Khan, Azad Rao Khan), Aamir said, “My kids have been named by my wives. There was no interference from my side. Husbands don’t have too much of a say in these things”. He said Reena named their kids Junaid and Ira. “Ira is another name for (goddess) Saraswati. Have you heard of Irawati? It’s just that Reena wanted to pronounce it differently,” explained Aamir, adding that Ira’s name was taken from former BJP minister Maneka Gandhi’s book Penguin Book of Hindu Names.

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As for Azad, Aamir clarified, “I am sure you would have heard of Chandrashekhar Azad. He was also a freedom fighter. It’s a neutral name,” adding that Kiran named their son Azad after their ancestor, Maulana Azad, a freedom fighter. The Taare Zameen Par star stressed that he is a proud Muslim and a proud Indian. “Both these statements are true.”