阿米尔·汗：一个演员的使命

By+Devi+Shetty+and+Anand+Raj+OK

他是《三傻大闹宝莱坞》中离经叛道的学生兰彻，他是《我的个神啊》中状况百出的外星人PK，他是印度宝莱坞的国宝级演员阿米尔·汗。尽管阿米尔·汗的每一部电影几乎都能带来票房和口碑的双丰收，但他并不满足于仅仅通过表演来为观众带去欢笑。从2012年起，阿米尔·汗开始主持一档社会纪实节目《真相访谈》，揭示印度社会的种种弊病。节目一经播出便引起巨大的社会反响，甚至推动了印度社会的变革。原本可以带着明星光环享受光鲜的生活，为何要直面社会的阴暗与残酷？或许正如阿米尔·汗在节目的开篇寄语中所说：“我无心激化矛盾，只为能改变这个时代。无论是谁的心中，只要有星星之火，必将成燎原之势。”

The stories were shocking， raw and deeply unsettling.

A call centre worker， Amisha Yagnik from Ahmedabad， western India， described the trauma she had to undergo after her husbands family forced her to abort her fetuses1）—six times in eight years—only because they were girls.

Parveen Khan， from Morena， Madhya Pradesh， her face deeply scarred， recalled how she was savagely bitten by her husband after she gave birth to a girl child against his wishes.

Schoolchildren in a village in northern India whispered how they were forced by teachers to clean the schools toilets and sit apart from other children only because they belong to a lower caste2）.

A widow revealed how her husband was murdered—for the crime of falling in love with her and marrying against her familys wishes …

These were just some of the people who opened up their hearts on Bollywood superstar Aamir Khans groundbreaking television show Satyamev Jayate （truth alone prevails， in Hindi） to expose first hand， some horrifying ills that are still dogging3） Indian society.

Clearly， there had never been anything quite like this on Indian television and more than 90 million people across the country stayed awake way past 11 pm on Sundays to watch the diminutive4） star bring to their living rooms not just harrowing5） and heartrending6） tales but also stories of hope， fortitude7） and human resilience.

“I wasnt attempting to change anybodys life with the show，” says 48-year-old Aamir in an exclusive interview with Friday.

“As an entertainer I wanted to connect with the people but I also wanted to prove that entertainment need not only make people laugh every time. I wanted every family to watch the show and connect with it. And Im glad that the people liked it.”

The show not only struck a chord8） with viewers but was powerful enough to echo in the echelons9） of power， goading several state governments to take stringent10） action.

The governments in northern Indian states such as Rajasthan and Haryana promptly initiated measures to curb female foeticide11）， coming down hard on12） illegal scanning centres that were encouraging female foeticide and shutting several down.

In southern India， the government of Karnataka， after viewing an episode that featured the plight of poor patients who were forced to buy prohibitively expensive medicine for their health conditions， immediately set up fair price shops selling medicine at highly subsidised13） prices.

In the capital New Delhi， a parliamentary committee also invited Aamir to share the knowledge he and his team gained while researching an episode on medical malpractice. One of the suggestions was for doctors to prescribe generic14） medicine instead of brands.

“I feel very happy， proud and humbled that the show was such a success，” says Aamir， who in April， 2013 was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine and featured on the cover of its Asian edition.

Although clearly thrilled with the viewership， the one-movie-a-year-star nonchalantly15） says， “I dont relate to ratings. What matters to me are the on-ground changes， the various governments that have reacted， the doctors in Rajasthan who have banded together to advise their errant16） colleagues to change ... This is what I set out to do and that it can happen on this scale is what thrills me.

“But its wonderful to see so many peoples attitudes changing around you. I think one of the biggest accomplishments of the show is it encourages us to publicly debate issues that otherwise we dont discuss， that were very uncomfortable talking about publicly.”

While his show held up a mirror to some of the ills plaguing Indian society， it also portrayed amazing stories of perseverance： of a street-side vegetable vendor who lost her husband because there were no doctors to help in her village but who put all her savings into building a hospital treating people free of cost; of a couple who were so devastated by the sights they witnessed in the aftermath of the 2001 Kutch earthquake that they decided to take in 56 children and look after them as their own in their house …

“I wanted to portray stories of hope as well，” Aamir says.

But making socially relevant shows is not Aamirs only forte17）. While proving that he can make intelligent movies—Lagaan， Taare Zameen Par， among others—that set the cash registers18） ringing， he was also not averse to acting in full-length commercial potboilers19） like the most recent Dhoom 3. “I chose to act in Dhoom 3 because I loved the script. I was excited by it.”

Although he began as a child artist in his director uncle Nasir Hussains film Yaadon ki Baraat （Procession of Memories） in 1973， his first commercial success as a hero was in the 1988 runaway20） hit Qayamat se Qayamat Tak （From Doom to Doom） which earned him an award for best male debut. Movie offers soon came flooding his way and it did not take long for 1.68m-tall Aamir to be labelled the Tom Hanks of India.

But he quickly made it clear that he would be picky when it came to choosing roles. “After Qayamat se Qayamat Tak， I got a lot of movies that I accepted but I was quite unhappy doing a few. So very early in my career， around the early 90s， I decided I would not do anything that I was not happy doing. I only wanted to do films I completely believed in，” says the star who was honoured with the fourth-highest civilian award in India， the Padma Shri21）， in 2003 for his contribution to the arts.

The strategy worked and even as his films were picking up awards they were also proving to be commercial successes—a rarity in Bollywood， where commercial and critical success dont often go hand in hand.

Although known for his penchant22） for choosing movies with a strong social message—Taare Zameen Par， which highlighted issues special needs children face in society， and 3 Idiots， which subtly and with generous doses of humour brought to light the inadequacies in the Indian education system—Aamir points out he has also acted in movies that dont have a strong social message.

“Movies with messages are not something I look for all the time. In fact there have been several which did not have a social message as such—Delhi Belly， Fanaa or Ghajini. They revolved around strong emotions. I look for plots that excite me， which touch me.”

He says working on Satyamev Jayate has been a fascinating and mind-expanding experience. “This journey has been exciting and extremely emotional for me. Its also been a journey of discovery. I feel Ive understood the people of this country better now.”

Aamirs easy， informal style of presentation， allowing the subjects to tell their story and not being afraid to reveal his emotions on camera， made the show all the more appealing.

“I am an emotional person and I cry easily，” admits the star.

“I dont believe in hiding my emotions，” he says. “If I am happy， I laugh and if I am sad， I cry. Sometimes when I watch a film that is moving I cry.”

Although he is the hero of blockbuster Dhoom 3， Aamir says it is his television show that “has enriched my life. Whatever I have given to the show， it has given me back 10 times. I feel absolutely blessed to be part of this.”

“I understand my country better. I get to meet the most amazing people who on the face of it23） may appear powerless， but are actually giants. Some of them may not be educated but the strength of character that they possess is simply remarkable. There are some people who show so much bravery even in the face of poverty and stressful conditions that I sometimes wonder if I would be as brave， even though I am in a better situation financially.”

Does he think that people have become more politically and socially responsible of late？

“For sure，” he says. “Actually for me this realisation that the people are ready for a political revolution happened in season one.

“The peoples response to the show was phenomenal. That gave me an indication that things are changing on the ground. People had this desire to change but just didnt know how to go about it. They just needed guidance.

“The fact that they came out in such large numbers on the streets during the Delhi rape case24） itself is an indication that people are ready to take action for change. I am glad that people are wanting to be part of a movement where they are part of the governance.”

So does he consider himself as a saviour of India？

“I dont see myself as a saviour，” he says. “I see myself as someone who is just trying to learn and this is a personal journey for me. A journey for enriching my own life and in the process， understanding my country better and the issues facing us together and the issues affecting our society.

“In the process of learning about those things Im hoping to share that with people. Thats all Im doing.”

And does he have any regrets？

No， says Aamir. “Some of my films may not have done well but I learnt from them. I give my failures as much importance as my successes.”

这些故事触目惊心，如实坦陈，令人深感不安。

印度西部艾哈迈达巴德一个电话服务中心的职员阿米莎·雅尼克在婆家的强迫下八年内六次打胎——只因为她怀的是女孩。她讲述了自己由此所遭受的创痛。

中央邦莫雷那的帕文·汗脸上带着深深的疤痕，她回忆了当她违背丈夫的意愿生下一个女孩后，丈夫是如何残暴地殴打她的。

印度北部一个村庄里的学童们悄声讲述，他们只因属于较低的种姓，就被老师强迫清洗学校的厕所并跟其他孩子分开坐。

一名寡妇吐露了她丈夫是如何被杀害的——他的罪过就是爱上她并违背她家人的意愿娶了她……

上面这些仅仅是在宝莱坞巨星阿米尔·汗制作的具有开创意义的电视节目《真相访谈》（在印地语中意为“真理至上”）中敞开心扉的部分人的故事，他们用第一手资料曝光了至今仍在困扰印度社会的一些骇人听闻的弊病。

显然，印度的电视上此前从未播出过类似的节目。周日晚11点后，印度全国有超过九千万人仍不眠不休，看着电视里这位小个子明星将一个个故事展现在他们的起居室中。这些故事中不仅有令人痛苦和心碎的，也有表现希望、坚强和人的韧性的。

“我并没有试图用这个节目改变任何人的生活。”48岁（编注：英文原文发表于2014年1月）的阿米尔在接受《星期五》杂志独家采访时表示。

“作为艺人，我希望接触民众，但我同样希望证明，娱乐并非每次都只是要给观众带去欢笑。我希望每个家庭都收看这个节目并与它产生共鸣，我很高兴人们喜欢这档节目。”

节目不仅触动了观众的心弦，其影响力之大甚至在权力阶层中也激起了回响，促使一些地方政府采取了严厉的措施。

印度北部的拉贾斯坦和哈里亚纳等邦政府立即出台措施，限制非法堕女胎，对助长非法堕女胎行为的不法医学扫描中心严加惩处，并关闭了其中的几家。

印度南部的卡纳塔克邦政府看到一期节目讲述了患病的穷人被迫购买价格极其昂贵的药物治病的苦境，随后立即开设了一些平价药店，以享受高额补贴的价格出售药品。

在首都新德里，议会的一个委员会也邀请阿米尔跟他们分享他和拍摄团队在某一期调查医疗事故的过程中了解到的情况。他提出的一条建议是，医生们应该多开非注册商标的药品，而非品牌药。

“节目取得如此大的成功，我感到非常高兴和自豪，同时也受宠若惊。”阿米尔说。他在2013年4月被《时代周刊》评为全球最有影响力的一百个人物之一，并成为该杂志亚洲版的封面人物。

虽然阿米尔显而易见地为节目的收视率感到高兴，但这位每年推出一部新片的明星却平静地表示：“我对收视率不感兴趣。我在意的是发生实实在在的变化，各地政府做出反应，拉贾斯坦邦的医生们联合起来呼吁那些步入歧途的同行做出改变……这才是我想要着手做的事。让我感到兴奋的是它能产生如此大范围的影响。

“不过，看到周围这么多人的态度发生变化是件很美妙的事。我认为这档节目最大的成就之一是它鼓励人们公开讨论一些其他情况下我们不会谈论的话题，一些我们觉得公开谈论会非常不自在的话题。”

他的节目在真实反映困扰印度社会的一些痼疾的同时，也呈现了一些体现人们坚忍精神的动人故事：一名在街边卖菜的小贩由于村里缺医少药而失去丈夫，但却拿出自己的全部积蓄建立了一所医院，为患者提供免费治疗;一对夫妇在目睹了2001年库奇地震的景象后难过不已，决定收容56个孩子，照顾他们，将他们视如己出……

“我希望同时呈现带给人希望的故事。”阿米尔说。

不过，制作与社会现实相关的节目并非阿米尔唯一的强项。在证明自己能拍出《印度往事》《地球上的星星》等既有思想又票房大卖的电影的同时，他也不反对出演如最近上映的《幻影车神：魔盗激情》这类粗制的商业长片。“我决定出演《幻影车神：魔盗激情》是因为我喜欢这个剧本，它让我感到兴奋。”

虽然阿米尔早在1973年就在叔叔纳西尔·侯赛因导演的影片《记忆的涌现》中作为童星出道了，但由他主演的第一部获得票房成功的电影却是1988年上映的大受欢迎的热门影片《冷暖人间》。该片为他赢得了最佳新人男演员奖。拍片邀约很快便纷至沓来，没过多久，身高只有1.68米的阿米尔就被冠以了“印度的汤姆·汉克斯”称号。

但是，他很快就明确表示了自己在角色选择上的挑剔。“继《冷暖人间》之后，我接拍了很多电影，但其中有些我很不喜欢。因此，在我职业生涯很早期的时候，大约是在90年代初，我就决定不会再做任何自己不喜欢做的事。我只想拍那些我完全信服的电影。”阿米尔说。他于2003年被授予印度第四级公民荣誉奖——莲花士勋章，作为对其艺术贡献的表彰。

这一策略取得了成效，他的电影不仅收获了众多奖项，也获得了商业上的成功——这种事在宝莱坞颇为罕见，因为这里的影片往往无法既叫好又叫座。

阿米尔以偏爱选择带有强烈社会寓意的影片而闻名：比如《地球上的星星》，影片突出表现了那些有特殊需要的孩子在社会中面对的问题;还有《三傻大闹宝莱坞》，影片含蓄而富于幽默地揭示了印度教育体系的不足之处。虽然如此，但阿米尔指出，他同样演过社会寓意不那么强的影片。

“我并不总是在寻找有寓意的影片。实际上，我的一些影片本身没有什么社会寓意，例如《德里   事》《为爱毁灭》和《未知死亡》。这些影片围绕着强烈的情感展开。我要找的是那些让我兴奋、能打动我的情节。”

他说，参与《真相访谈》的工作是一次引人入胜、开阔思维的经历。“对我来说，这段经历令人兴奋，也特别让人动感情。这还是一场发现之旅，我觉得我现在更了解自己的同胞了。”

阿米尔的主持风格轻松、随和，他让访谈对象讲述自己的故事，他也不怕在镜头前流露自己的真情实感，这让这档节目越发具有吸引力。

“我是个容易动感情的人，很容易掉眼泪。”这位明星承认道。

“我不觉得应该隐藏自己的情感，”他说，“高兴时我会笑，伤心时我会哭。有时我看一部感人的电影也会流泪。”

虽然阿米尔主演了票房大片《幻影车神：魔盗激情》，但他表示，是他的电视节目“丰富了我的人生，无论我为节目付出了什么，它都回报了我十倍。能够参与其中，我感到非常幸运”。

“我更了解自己的国家了。我有幸见到了一些最了不起的人，他们也许表面上看似荏弱无力，实际上却是巨人。有些人虽然可能没有受过教育，但他们拥有的人格力量简直不同凡响。有些人即使面对贫穷和困境依然表现出极大的勇气，我有时不禁自问我能否做到像他们一样勇敢，尽管我在物质上更为富足。”

他是否认为最近以来人们在政治和社会问题上变得更有责任心了？

“那是肯定的，”他说，“实际上，我在拍摄《真相访谈》的第一季时就意识到，人们已经为政治变革做好了准备。

“观众对节目的反响很热烈。这让我感觉事情正在发生切实的转变。民众有改变的渴望，只是不知道应该怎么做。他们只是需要引导。

“在德里强奸案期间，有那么多人走上街头，这一事实本身就说明人们准备好了要采取行动，做出改变。人们愿意加入治理的行列，参与到这场运动中来，对此我感到很高兴。”

那么，他认为自己是印度的救星吗？

“我没把自己看做什么救星，”他说，“我认为自己就是努力地去了解，这是我的一段个人旅程，一段使我的人生变得更加丰富的旅程，一段让我在沿途对我们的国家、对我们共同面对的问题、对影响我们社会的问题增进了解的旅程。

“在了解这些事情的过程中，我也希望和人们一起分享。我做的就是这些。”

他有什么遗憾吗？

没有，阿米尔说。“我的某些电影也许拍得不好，但我从中学到了东西。我把自己的失败看得同成功一样重要。”

《真相访谈》节目画面①②③④

1. fetus [?fi?t?s] n. 胎;胎儿

2. caste [kɑ?st] n. （印度社会的）种姓;种姓地位

3. dog [d?ɡ] vt. 困扰;折磨;使苦恼

4. diminutive [d??m?nj?t?v] adj. 小的，小型的

5. harrowing [?h?r????] adj. 使人痛苦的，折磨人的

6. heartrending [?hɑ?（r）t?rend??] adj. 令人心碎的，使人悲痛的

7. fortitude [?f??（r）t?tju?d] n. 坚忍，刚毅

8. strike a chord：触动心弦，引起共鸣

9. echelon [?e??l?n] n. 领导（或指挥）系统中的等级，阶层

10. stringent [?str?nd?（?）nt] adj. 严格的;严厉的

11. foeticide [?fi?t?sa?d] n. 杀胎;（非法）堕胎

12. come down on：抨击;惩罚

13. subsidise [?s?bs?da?z] vt. 给……津贴（或补贴）;补助，资助

14. generic [d???ner?k] adj. 非商标的;非专利的

15. nonchalantly [?n?n?（?）l?ntli] adv. 冷淡地;不激动地

16. errant [?er?nt] adj. 离开正道的，迷途的

17. forte [?f??（r）te?] n. 特长，专长

18. cash register：现金出纳机

19. potboiler [?p?t?b??l?（r）] n. （以糊口为目的而作的）粗制文艺作品

20. runaway [?r?n??we?] adj. 遥遥领先的;巨大的，压倒性的

21. Padma Shri：莲花士勋章，是印度政府颁发的第四级公民荣誉奖，授予在艺术、教育、工业、文学、科学、体育、医药、社会服务和公共生活等领域为印度做出杰出贡献的人物。

22. penchant [?p???ɑ?n] n. 强烈（或特别）的倾向，偏向

23. on the face of it：从表面判断，乍看起来

24. Delhi rape case：德里强奸案。2012年12月，印度一名女大学生在新德里一辆“黑公交”上惨遭六名歹徒轮奸，震惊印度全国，引发了全国性的示威活动。