Children being taught to race ahead by hook or crook: Aamir

Rueing the trend that teaches children to race ahead "by hook or by crook", Bollywood star Aamir Khan on Saturday said society should instead teach them to move forward together and bring about a change for good.

The actor-director said he himself never subscribed to this way of "grooming children" and tried to convey the message through his latest film 'Taare Zameen Par'.

"The trend in our society is such that we infuse our children with a spirit of competition from a very early age, killing sensitivity within them, with the result that our children grow up into adults who want to race ahead by hook or by crook", Aamir said at the ongoing Literature Festival here.

There was nothing wrong in trying to move ahead but the instinct of "racing ahead at the cost of others was wrong and this was what we were instilling in children, he said.

"We should teach our children to not only realise their strengths but also the weaknesses of people around them, and hence, lend them a hand, so everyone is able to progress...If we adopt this approach in our lives, a whole generation would change for good," he said.

Asked whether as a public figure he felt tempted to speak out his mind on issues concerning society, Aamir said his experience of doing so had left hi bruised.

"When I spoke for a public cause, I did not get enough support from other quarters of society. I got a taste of politics unusual for me and it left me bruised," he said in an apparent reference to the attack on him for his stand on the Narmada dam issue.