I am not a Shahrukh Khan fan, in fact as far as I can remember, I have always been a Shahrukh Khan critic. Shahrukh Khan for me is a mediocre actor who found the movie success formula very early in his career. Often, his films are inspired by his previous films.
I am not a fan of Shahrukh Khan’s ideologies either. His tacit support to the intolerance brigade was pretty naïve to say the least. Rajdeep Sardesai dug a pit for him and he jumped right inside it. Now Shahrukh is loathed by a large number of Indians and that can be gauged from his sinking stardom which can be gauged from the decreasing box office collections of his movies. That said, I do not hate Shahrukh Khan. Shahrukh Khan is entitled to his opinions just like I am entitled to mine.
Shahrukh Khan was detained for 90 minutes at the White Plains airport near New York. It is the fourth time Shahrukh Khan has been stopped at U.S. immigration. In 2012 he was held for questioning for around two hours at New York’s White Plains airport. Shahrukh Khan, whom I consider a terrific entertainer (outside cinema that is) once said “Whenever I start feeling too arrogant, I take a trip to America. The immigration guys kick the star out of stardom”.
BUT, it was disheartening to see the open carnival over the news. I understand that people haven’t forgotten Shahrukh Khan’s jibes, his arrogance in the Wankhede Stadium and his endorsement of intolerance in India, but the way I see it, an Indian and a very famous one at that was detained for no fault of his in an arrogant country called America. An arrogant country which didn’t even spare the most loved Indian president.
In November 2011, former Indian President APJ Abdul Kalam was frisked at a New York airport. They had his jacket and shoes briefly taken away. America, the self-proclaimed first in command of all global affairs bombs nondescript nations, pushes democracy down their throats, has more r*cists and xen*phobes per square Kilometer than any other country and then never fails to sermonize other nations about the virtues of tolerance and equality.
If it was about the Khan part, then it was not just arrogant but also stupid on America’s part. People like Shahrukh Khan and Abdul Kalam don’t go around bombing Pubs and Buses, Omar Mateens do.
America’s world famous intelligence system couldn’t stop Omar from massacring forty-nine people at a gay nightclub, it couldn’t stop an Islamic Terrorist from staging a suicide attack in Chattanooga killing five dead, it couldn’t stop another terrorist from shooting fourteen dead in San Bernardino. Or possibly the frenzied frisking is because of America’s frustration about its complete failure in curbing Islamic Terrorism.
Coming back to Indians, it is good to confront people who aren’t exactly proud about their nation. But the countering should have decency; it should have a coherent reasoning. Hatred for the heck of it is naivety in its purest form. And celebrating the detention of a fellow Indian is sadistic, strictly in my humble opinion.
Now Shahrukh Khan must also understand how tolerant this nation is. How this nation never judged him for his religion or ideologies? How this country made Shahrukh Khan a superstar and a huge brand name? And how he called his country intolerant because a bunch of politically motivated anti-nationals were saying so. Shahrukh should understand that his Shahrukhdom is confined in India, for all others he is just a potential suspect with a grenade hidden under his pants.