A filmmaker has filed a complaint against Bollywood Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan for referring to Delhi’s policemen with the derogatory slang term “thulla” in his 2014 blockbuster ‘PK’.
The complaint was filed by short-film maker Ullhas PR on Sunday in East Delhi’s New Ashok Nagar police station. The complaint comes weeks after a controversy over the usage of the term by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
Mr Ullhas cited the complains filed against Mr Kejriwal by a policeman in July. The Delhi Chief Minister had apologised for using the term after the complaint. The case has been admitted by a metropolitan court.
“I saw the film on July 26, on TV. In the film, Aamir has called a police officer ‘thulla’ in one scene. Since last four to five days, I was thinking if a complaint can be filed against Delhi CM for using the same word then why hasn’t any police official filed a complaint against him, whose films are seen across the world,” Mr Ullhas said.
“I’m not a member of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). From this complaint, one thing will be cleared whether the central government wants to pressurise Delhi government or Delhi Police actually feels offended by this term,” he said.
Mr Ullhas said he had earlier filed a complaint against Mr Kejriwal with the Home Ministry, after he called his government ‘Kejriwal sarkar’ in advertisements instead of denoting it as “Delhi government”.
He gave DVDs to the police of the particular scene in which Aamir is seen relieving himself on the walls of Red Fort before using the slang “thulla”.
Mr Ullhas said the police officials told him that they will take his complaint to higher authorities for further consideration.
Asked why he filed the complaint against Aamir only and not the makers of the film, Mr Ullhas said, “Aamir has used the term in the film. If police feels bad about it, then they have to take the case further. I don’t have any personal enmity against Aamir… Neither I’m a friend of Kejriwal. The law is same for all.”
The Delhi-based short film maker, had earlier filed a complaint against megastar Amitabh Bachchan for “not singing the National Anthem in a proper manner”.
‘PK’, which released on December 19 last year, tells the story of an alien who comes to Earth. He befriends a television journalist and questions religious dogmas and superstitions.
Directed by Rajkumar Hirani, the film, which also starred Anushka Sharma and Sushant Singh Rajput, faced controversy earlier too for taking a snipe at so-called godmen.