Aamir Khan applauds Dangal co-star Zaira Wasim, calls her his 'role model'

Dangal star Zaira Wasim came under fire after a photo of her meeting Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti surfaced on Saturday. She immediately apologised on social media saying, "I want to apologise to all those I’ve unintentionally hurt... I want to make it very clear that I do not want anyone to follow in my footsteps or even consider me as a role model."

The young actor regretted her 'recent actions' due to the state of unrest in Kashmir since the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen leader Burhan Wani on July 8, 2016.

However, her film co-star Aamir Khan was of a different opinion.

In a Facebook upload, the Bollywood actor stood up for Zaira and asked her critics to "leave her alone and respect the fact that she is just a 16-year-old girl"

He added that Zaira was in fact "a role model for kids not only in India, but across the world. You certainly are a role model for me!"

Zaira's apology post was widely shared by Indian news channels and publications after which she promptly deleted it and shared another note, which followed the same fate and was deleted.

"This post was not meant against anyone, just wanted to make sure that people were not hurt by what I was doing," she had wrote.