“Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you are going to get.”  This epochal line celebrated the genius of American actor Tom Hanks in the all-time Hollywood classic, Forrest Gump. It ended up winning six Oscars, deservedly so. Aamir Khan, considered by Bollywood to be the ultimate manifestation of method acting and blessed with a cerebral impulse, is bringing the remake of Forrest Gump officially (not a legerdemain unofficial version) as Laal Singh Chaddha. Khan is a brilliant performer who has consistently pushed the envelope, and yet delivered amazing blockbusters. Chaddha should have got us all excited to head to the nearest multiplex especially after being cocooned in our claustrophobic precincts over a hellish two years. But no! There is a deeply muffed mob of internet trolls who have been meticulously organising a #BoycottLaalSinghChaddha trend. No one has seen the film obviously (it releases August 11), so this has nothing to do with artistic merit or creative liberalism gone rogue. So that begs the question; why are some piqued souls demonstrating such angst and animus against an innocuous cinematic offering? Truth is, we have weaponised hate and demonised minorities. What we are seeing is partisan trench warfare.

On being questioned at a media event about the state of the nation, the erudite actor known for doing offbeat films along with commercial potboilers, talked about the despondent social climate, which had prompted his then better half to contemplate moving abroad. Khan had in fact termed that as a “disastrous proposition”, terribly gobsmacked that they had even entertained another passport. Khan was hinting at the exclusionary nationalism being practised by political panjandrums. The year was 2015. That was a period that saw a rising communal temperature in India, the savagery of religious bigotry resulting in the dastardly lynching of Mohammad Akhlaq in Dadri village of Uttar Pradesh. The rest is history. As things stand today, tragically Khan was being clairvoyant. I list some points to highlight the growing metamorphosis of India into a cauldron of hate. We are a dangerously polarised polity.