Dilip Kumar would've made a good president. He has grace, is understated and inspires public admiration. His impeccable Urdu would've floored even Mirza Ghalib. Like the legendary poet, Dilip Saab has an andaze-bayan (ability to articulate) of his own. Lata Mangeshkar's 1974 concert in London is remembered as much for her voice as the thespian's tribute to her: "Lata's voice isn't bound to any faith, any prejudice. It's like a cool breeze, a miracle of nature that knows no home, no village, no country."
Never before nor since has Indian cinema had a better statesman. He'd have succeeded as the rashtrapati where even Dev Anand, the evergreen chocolate hero, would've perhaps failed.
Dev Saab was erudite but too stylish to be taken seriously as the custodian of the Constitution. His boyish smile, high collars, colourful scarfs and the Jewel Thief cap disqualified him. A lot about him was adorable. But little of it adaptable in the presidential lodge where substance must take precedence over style.
Who among reigning stars could seriously take the presidency? AB is out, so are SRK and Salman. Their work isn't presidential. It's largely pulp. That brings us to Aamir Khan, the Mangal Pandey of 1857. Very much like the mutiny, the celluloid rebellion did not succeed. The macho image, or political timbre, came with humbling the British in Lagaan, a sensitive persona in Taare Zameen Par and finally, the commitment to social causes with Satyamev Jayate.
These are the attributes essential for President. Why are political parties wasting time elsewhere? Mr Perfect is there each weekend, oversimplifying, yet enriching the idiot box with his tad filmy treatment of social aberrations.
{{/usCountry}}These are the attributes essential for President. Why are political parties wasting time elsewhere? Mr Perfect is there each weekend, oversimplifying, yet enriching the idiot box with his tad filmy treatment of social aberrations.
{{/usCountry}}The man's appropriated - with Doordarshan's help - the national motto, Satyamev Jayate. Like truth, he stands invincible. He has triumphed over even the hydra-headed media whose soft underbelly he exposed in Peepli Live. With Satyamev's rising TRPs, he has come to symbolise our state of affairs, if not the State itself!
Enter Mahamahim Aamir Khan Sahab, a public-private broadcaster's dream President. If not a young Pradhan Mantri why not then a young Rashtrapati gracing our living rooms each Sunday?