Aamir Khan defends Laapataa Ladies against allegations of being ‘poverty porn’, presenting ‘backwards mentality’ of India

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Aamir reacted to the interviewer’s observations about Laapataa Ladies presenting a ‘backwards mentality’ that ‘plays into the idea of poverty porn’, and said, “Not all the films we make are set in villages. A lot of our films are accepted all over the world. I don’t think audiences all over the world have any major misconceptions about how India is any more. Maybe at one time this was true, that they felt India was a land of snake charmers and elephants… But that’s a thing of the past now. I don’t think people have misconceptions about what India is like anymore, not to that extent, certainly.”

He also dismissed the suggestion that films set in cities don’t connect with international audiences. “We should give them more credit, they’ve seen films from all over the world,” he said. Laapataa Ladies premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last year, and was released in theatres to positive reviews some months ago. It emerged as a modest box office hit but found critical acclaim and love once it was released on streaming.