Thread by @BurntOutCase

Just saw #LaalSinghChaddha this morning and here are my thoughts on it first with some background on why I have been a fan of Aamir Khan.

His first big break was the movie QSQT when I was a teenager in India. Bollywood movies had become stale, loud, violent and uninteresting.

QSQT was a sleeper hit with a clean, fresh young love theme with a amazing soundtrack of songs. The movie became a hit by word of mouth and all of us teenagers were happy to see a movie that appealed to us.

The director of the movie was an IIT grad and a US returned guy that itself was quite a striking fact for young people like us who thought the professional careerist world and show business could never mix.

What came next made me an even bigger fan of Aamir Khan. He consciously chose to get off the formulaic Bollywood treadmill and carved out his own creative space. He worked in experimental films like Raakh which became a cult classic favorite with urban youth kind of ...

... like a desi Taxi Driver moody and angry flick. He also elevated the standards of what a "commercial" Bollywood movie could do. After I came to the US in the mid-90s I lost touch with Hindi movies because they again weren't in sync with that I wanted.

Aamir Khan pulled me back to the theater to watch Hindi movies again with such different movies like Dil Chahta Hai which was set among upscale Indian urban youth and Lagaan set in rural colonial India.

Aamir has never been a great actor, but he has always been a solid and above average actor with a nose for picking great stories and scripts. Over time he also showed his mettle as a movie director.

If Aamir Khan is in a movie it was pretty much a guarantee that you would get your money's worth that it would be a class act project. So that is the backdrop I am definitely an admirer of his work.

Now coming to the political backlash against him the main one were his remarks in 2015 after the election of Modi as Prime Minister the prior year about his Hindu wife feeling that India was not safe for her family.

He has had a 35 year career in show business and one objectionable remark is hardly the basis on which to permanently put an "anti-national" tag on him. An Actor who has been in such patriotic movies like Sarfarosh, Lagaan, Mangal Pandey, Dangal doesn't need to prove ...

... his credentials as a patriot. It was unfortunate that he made those remarks because even if his wife felt that way and he also was not happy with political changes in India he should have realized that he was in a position of enormous privilege ...

... India's mostly Hindu movie watching audience had totally embraced him and made him a star. In that position you need to be careful about what you say about matters of social and political conflict. Also let us be honest he and his wife DID have justification ...

... for a sense of trepidation. I am a BJP supporter but it has become more common to express anti-Muslim prejudices in India that is just a fact.

Now getting back to the movie, it is a remake of Forrest Gump which makes a lot more sense than might be apparent at first glance.

When I watched Forrest Gump what struck me was what a big departure it was from cultural norms in Hollywood. In American culture emotions in movies are held in check under the "show don't tell" artistic standard, being called schmaltzy or melodramatic is considered a massive fail

Forrest Gump was an unabashedly emotional, schmaltzy and melodramatic movie and I remember thinking that it reminded me of Bollywood movies where we are not afraid to wear our heart on our sleeves.

So in that sense it makes perfect sense to adapt this movie into a Bollywood movie. Laal Singh Chaddha is a beautiful and often moving adaption of Forrest Gump into an Indian milieu.

This is a movie that has two halves, the first one being an A+ in my opinion where the focus is on the protagonist Laal Singh Chaddha as a boy and college kid and second one which focused on his relationship with Rupa (Kareena Kapoor).

The first half of this movie has some very sensitive and yet subtle depictions of trauma felt by Sikhs in the 1980s with the Indian Army's siege on the Golden Temple, and the anti-Sikh riots after Indira Gandhi's assassination.

In general the movie doesn't hit you over the head with any political message, major political events of the 1980s and 1990s are dealt with a light touch and little editorial commentary. How you want to feel about it is mostly left up to the viewer.

Some Sikhs (well at least an overseas Khalistan supporting former British cricketer) have criticized the movie for disrespecting Sikhs. Nothing could be further from the truth. This movie has probably the most in-depth portrayal of Sikh culture and religion seen in Bollywood.

There are two very emotionally powerful scenes in the movie that any Sikh will appreciate relating to Laal Singh Chadha's turban that I will not describe because I hate Indian movie reviewer habits of putting in spoilers.

There is also an evocative and beautiful scene of a Sikh marriage that conveys some of the beauty and dignity of the Anand Karaj (Sikh name for the wedding ceremony).

Then there are some ridiculous claims of how Aamir Khan has disrespected the Indian Army. On the contrary the Army is shown as one institution where he is always treated with respect as his skills as a soldier are appreciated.

Another plot element that has been distorted is where he saves a Pakistani soldier during the Kargil war. Contrary to the misleading characterizations of that going around on social media, it makes total sense, does not feel strange or a force fit.

In fact that whole angle is one that any Indian patriot should appreciate because the Jihadi ideology is shown in unvarnished form, the soldier says many bitter things about Pakistan, says he has been brainwashed and begs Aamir for forgiveness.

After watching the 26/11 terror attacks he goes back to Pakistan to setup a school where he tells Aamir he will talk about how he was brainwashed about thinking of Indians and Hindus as the Kaffir enemy.

Now the second part of the movie where the focus is more on the romantic relationship does drag in parts. That said it does pack some powerful scenes and overall I would still give the second half a solid B+.

I have always enjoyed Kareena Kapoor on the screen and she does a solid job here as well. Aamir Khan will never be a Dustin Hoffman level actor in depicting someone with a learning disability but he has always had a pleasant screen presence and he is good enough.

Oddly enough despite tackling some heavy themes, this movie I would say was less hard-edged and bleak compared to dark patches of Forrest Gump. Things are shown with a light touch.

If you go in to this movie without any huge political hang-up's you will find this is a well made movie, well acted and a very disarming and charming film.

Count me as a fan of the movie and once again Aamir Khan has shown that if he is in a movie it will be a high quality product.