New Delhi: Bollywood star Aamir Khan is no longer the face of the 'Incredible India' campaign as the superstar's contract had expired. His contract with the advertising agency McCann Worldgroup is over and a new star is likely to endorse the Tourism Ministry campaign.
According to a report, Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma said that it was purely a contractual matter with advertising agency McCann Worldgroup. The Rs 2.96-crore contract with the agency, which featured Khan in a film for the ministry, recently ended. "Our agreement was with a media agency namely McCann. That was for a particular work. That work they have delivered to us. They have completed that project. Hence, that contract is now over," Sharma said.
Some unconfirmed reports claim that the Centre is likely to rope in Bollywood stars Shahrukh Khan or Amitabh Bachchan for the endorsement. Sources said that the matter will be discussed on Friday.
Reacting to these developments, Aamir Khan has issued a statement. In his statement he said, "It has been an honour and a pleasure for me to be the Brand Ambassador for the Incredible India campaign for the past 10 years. I was happy to be of service to my country, and will always be available for it. I would like to clarify that all public service films I have done till date have all been free of any cost to me. It is always an honour for me to be of service of my country, and this is how it will always be. It is the prerogative of the government to decide whether they need a brand ambassador for any campaign, and if so, who that ambassador should be. I respect the decision of the government to discontinue with my services. I am sure they will take all appropriate steps to do what is best for the country. Whether I am brand ambassador or not, India will remain Incredible, and that's the way it should be".
Commenting on the developments, Prasoon Joshi, CEO, McCann said, "we have already delivered on our assignment for Incredible India for this year (2016). Now it is up to the government whether they will give us (McCann) the assignment for next year too. As for Aamir's involvement next year that is their (government’s) call too."
Speaking at the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards in November 2015, Aamir Khan said that his wife Kiran Rao has suggested that they should leave India due to a "sense of growing disquiet" and "growing despondency" in the country. Following the uproar over his comments, the Bollywood actor said he stood by his comments but that his family had no intention of leaving India. He accused those creating a storm of "deliberately trying to distort what he said".
On November 25, 2015, Khan wrote: "Let me state categorically that neither I, nor my wife Kiran, have any intention of leaving the country. India is my country, I love it, I feel fortunate for being born here, and this is where I am staying. To all those people who are calling me anti-national, I would like to say that I am proud to be Indian, and I do not need anyone's permission nor endorsement for that."
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