So when Twitterati and significant number of the Glitterati of Bollywood spoke up against Aamir Khan’s views about rising intolerance in India and his wife’s expressed thoughts about moving out of India, there were various predictable reactions. The trending hashtags #AamirKhan and #IStandWithAamirKhan had fierce back and forth arguments; both sides convinced of being absolutely right.
www.slapaamir.com
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One political party offered a cash reward for anyone who went and slapped the superstar. Another website decided to offer their own ‘reward’. This website that came up, offered to let people slap a virtual Aamir Khan for free! This was the brain child of two Miami Ad School students who permitted people to virtually slap “anti-national Aamir”. So you had to move your cursor over the face and supposedly heard a satisfying little slapping sound. Good way to vent one’s spleen on the transgressions of one of India’s biggest stars; imagined or otherwise.
The website enjoyed amazing success: in 15 hours, Aamir had been “slapped” million times. chalo theek hai… bhadaas nikalli? But the website had actually hoped to send out the opposite message. When a user slapped Aamir, they were directed to claim their ‘reward’: a cheque addressed to an “intolerant citizen” of India and a ‘virtual’ reward of Rs 1 lakh. Calling them the intolerant ones.
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www.kissaamir.com
In case you think this is a great idea and decide to ‘go over’ to hand out your own slap, you’re out of luck. The website creators have now changed it to kissaamir.com; a website “for love and fun purposes only and represents kindness and kisses only. Please spread the tolerance of our love only.” As of now you can only bestow kisses upon Aamir. We wonder what changed their minds. May be they remembered that this is the guy who’s been in some of Bollywood’s most entertaining films. Or maybe the fact that he has tried to do his bit for bringing about positive social change with his show Satyamev Jayate. Or maybe something entirely different.
