Why I am grateful for Amitabh Bachchan’s latest PR stunt

As a student of media, I’ve been taught not to take information that reaches me at face value. As part of my study, I’ve read about and discussed numerous examples wherein the masses have been taken for a ride by people in places of power, that give solid reason for why we need to think very intelligently about the motivations of the source I’m being told anything by. This knowledge has indeed helped me shape my perspective on various things at least a tad bit more correctly than someone who is entirely unaware of the existence of hidden agendas, for which I am grateful, BUT —

The Indian superstar, Amitabh Bachchan, recently put up a video of himself reading out a letter to all granddaughters — his own two, and the rest of us young girls. Watch it here.

The letter basically talks about how difficult it is to live as a woman, but we must still be unabashedly ourselves — let the boundaries people try to impose on us not limit us, let nobody tell us that the length of our skirt speaks of our character, let the fear of what people will say never dictate the decisions we make for ourselves.

If you live in India or are aware about how restricted the average woman is in this country, you will understand the need for everyday feminism. Yes, we have a plethora of real, quantifiable problems like female foeticide and infanticide, we have molestation and rape, we have dowry deaths, domestic violence, gender gaps in literacy and wages — and many of these do not directly affect the affluent, urban internet user — the kind of people I tend to interact with most frequently. However, there is one thing that affects all of us, and that is the Indian mindset about women. Needless to say, it is the prevailing mindset which also leads to all the aforementioned measurable issues.

Now, given the dire situation we are in with regards to women’s rights, I am desperate for solutions. Every other week my desperation brings me back to my keyboard to vent, and I share what I write in the hope that it might make the slightest difference. How many people follow me? About 9K on Facebook, another 12K on Instagram, and a meagre 150 or so on Medium. Even making the unrealistic assumption that the Facebook and Instagram followers don’t overlap, that’s 20K. 24,244,284 people follow Amitabh Bachchan on Facebook, and 22.2 million people on Twitter.

If the very important message in aid of positive social change that I try to put out there every few days can reach all these many people, would I say no? Furthermore, wouldn’t it help if it reaches them from a source they consider immensely credible?

However, it seems that by doing this video, Big B just invited big bashing.

Someone pointed out, in reaction to my appreciation of the video, that this is PR. I told her she had a fair point, and that she was right, and that I agree. But people have not stopped at just pointing this out. As life on the internet usually goes, he’s been abused, and his family hasn’t been spared either. Pretty sure I have more of a problem with habitual haters than with this video.

Is this a PR stunt for Bachchan’s upcoming movie? Quite blatantly so. But if I may take inspiration from the film Don — you know that this is PR, I know that this is PR, the average Indian does not know that this is PR. To most of the people this message is intended for, this is just their idol or at least an admirable public figure sharing his thoughts. As a feminist, who wants gender equality to become a reality, I’d shut my all-knowing media-educated mouth for once and let people just get the point, unadulterated by controversy.

If I were to be biased, and insisted on seeing the best in the Bachchan, I would talk about how working on a film like that could genuinely inspire a person to think on those lines and draft a letter like this. I know by experience through working on one life-changing docu-film about crimes against women that it can certainly be an extremely moving process. But I’m okay with your criticism of the man — my problem is that it comes with an automatic diminishing of the message.

Personally, I am a fan of Amitabh Bachchan — the actor, the orator, the superstar. I am also a fan of being skeptical and pointing out hypocrisy and stuff, but more, much more than either of these, I am a fan of gender equality. It’s irrelevant if Amitabh Bachchan is helping me achieve this end goal or Kamaal R. Khan, and their motivations are relatively irrelevant too.

I know that if I had to communicate such ideas to my grandfather, it’s much more likely that he’d consider it sensible coming from Amitabh Bachchan than from me. We can’t deny that given the kind of icon Amitabh Bachchan is, with the mammoth fan following he has, the kind of respect most fans have for him, what he says matters. And if he is saying something so right, and so necessary, I’d let it go for once without subjecting his motives to critical analysis.

If this video helps promote his film, so be it. His profit doesn’t hurt me. Sexism does. This video talks about feminism and I am thankful for it. And if his upcoming film promotes gender equality too, then I’m thankful for that too.

Of all the opportunities we can find to criticize someone, let this not be it. Focus on the message. Let the message get the attention and appreciation it deserves. While I am aware that one video won’t alter anything about our rigid culture overnight, let this be a drop in the ocean that eventually brings change. Let the patriarchal ears of India hear what they need to in this old man’s voice, please.