Explained: The row surrounding Laal Singh Chaddha over 'littering' in Ladakh, and what the filmmakers are saying about it

Aamir Khan, who is currently shooting with Naga Chaitanya for Laal Singh Chaddha in Ladakh, has been accused of littering the area by a Twitter user.

What is the controversy all about? 

• A social media user by the username Jigmat Ladakhi shared a video on Twitter, showing the entire area strewn with used plastic bottles. He criticised the “gift” Khan’s Laal Singh Chaddha “has left for the villagers of Wakha in Ladakh.”
• He then pointed out that the actor propounds environmental cleanliness on his social awareness show Satyamev Jayate.
• Check out the video here

This is the gift Bollywood star Amir Khan's upcoming movie Lal Singh Chada has left for the villagers of Wakha in Ladakh.
Amir Khan himself talks big about environmental cleanliness at Satyamev Jayate but this is what happens when it comes to himself. pic.twitter.com/exCE3bGHyB

— Jigmat Ladakhi 🇮🇳 (@nontsay) July 8, 2021

This is the gift Bollywood star Amir Khan's upcoming movie Lal Singh Chada has left for the villagers of Wakha in Ladakh.
Amir Khan himself talks big about environmental cleanliness at Satyamev Jayate but this is what happens when it comes to himself. pic.twitter.com/exCE3bGHyB

— Jigmat Ladakhi 🇮🇳 (@nontsay) July 8, 2021

What is team Laal Singh Chaddha saying on the row? 

• According to Indian Express, the makers of Laal Singh Chaddha argued that the first clip that has been shared is actually an “old video.”

The 3 Idiots connect, and how Aamir Khan was credited for boosting Ladakh tourism

• The climactic sequence of Rajkumar Hirani’s 2009 blockbuster 3 Idiots saw Kareena Kapoor Khan making a grand entrance upon her mustard yellow scooter on the sandy shores of Pangong Lake in Ladakh. There, she is reunited with Aamir Khan’s character. The scene, rich in topographical glory, was so imprinted in public memory that Ladakh tourism skyrocketed almost overnight.
• According to a Media India Group report , around 400,000 Indian tourists visited Ladakh in 2008, a year before the film’s release. The numbers almost quadrupled three years later
• “It happened all of the sudden. Even Aamir Khan himself was not sure that Ladakh would get that much publicity,” said Mehboob Ali, assistant director of the Tourism Department in Leh in an interview.
• “Ladakh was always a hit. 3 Idiots made it a superhit," said Nissar Abdu, promoter of Hotel Spic and Span in Leh, as per an Economic Times report.  He added that earlier, tourists had to be informed earlier to include Pangong lake in their itinerary. But now, they want to go to Pangong Lake first.

Is criticism surrounding littering in such eco-sensitive zones new?

• This sudden tourism boom had raised questions about the sustainability of such eco-sensitive zones even then. “People are not aware of the fragility of the ecosystem. They just drive everywhere in their cars … Some crazy people drive their SUVs in the water,” Dr Tsewang Namgail, director of the Snow Leopard Conservancy-India Trust, was quoted as saying to Financial Express.