SRK Detained!
Shah Rukh Khan
Sorry about the sensationalistic headline, but it could be worse as many Western newspapers are reporting the detention of ShahRukh Khan today at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, USA as the holding of the “King of Bollywood”.
On his way to an Independence Day celebration in Chicago, he was detained by US Immigration and Customs officials for questioning.
I waited to post this as the early reports from this morning were somewhat one-sided, and now American Customs Officials state that he was held for questioning for about one hour. It will be difficult to get full accounting of the events as US policy is to not give details for why names appear on the no-fly list or why certain individuals are held for questioning. Even one of the most prominent politicians in the US, Ted Kennedy, has had his issues in the past with being held for additional screening.
It is a Catch-22. We want the prominent and famous to not be singled out for special treatment, to be treated just like one of us. But, when one of the most famous men in the world is held for questioning, one has to wonder about the efficacy of US policy.
It is interesting to note that this comes at a time when SRK has spent quite a bit of time in the US shooting My Name Is Khan. The jokes about publicity are inevitable, but it is a shame that they have to be made at all.
Links to stories:
BBC News
The Washington Post
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
I agree it could be a news item but front page coverage??? 3/4th of the front page was this news and a side note said “21 farmers committed suicide in 40 days” What really gets my goat is that SRK is using this to promote the film. The headlines start with “My Name is Khan”…. Now, need I say more?
Another stupid media stunt around a silly news. I feel its quiet legal to interrogate a suspect , if required. Whether he is a local super actor , or actress or politician or magician, doesn’t matter. If the talk is abt racism , why is Sharukh going there 5 times every month..? Is there any ‘Khan’ starer , which was completely shot in India…? As far as I remember all of them were mostly shot in the ‘racist’ country…?To me , it’s quiet legal and I sincerely appreciate the US security process and proceedings , as long as they manage to maintain comfort for their citizens. We don’t really have the credibility to question that. do we ?
and I suggest , Sharukh shud stop shooting his movies in US and keep up his Pride high…! Kal ho na ho…god bless..!
Surely its a publicity stunt , nothing else !!
I was not expecting this discussion on PFC…
well sorry to beat the bush but somehow i get the gut feel this is a publicity stunt…
no1 bothered when CA frisked Dr. Kalam in India, they were let go with mere apology, the guy was generous enough not to bring it to attention.. tht was a mjor voilaton, can u imagine an indian arline frisking clinton in US airport…. but whole nation/ internatonal media goes crazy when this actor is just questioned that to when in america… nt every1 knows outside india who he his… indian govt. should issue a special passport whch proclaims he is the most famous indian and is above law / security…
SRK is no different than an ordinary citizen for the US officials even if he is the Kingmaker or Milkshaker of Bollywood. He is intelligent enough to stir up rampant debates in the media and webscapes just for the promo.
Well, the way the world revolves now!
This whole Shahrukh Khan detention issue smacks of a badly veiled promotion campaign for his next Karan Johar Film–My Name is Khan.
Why else would NDTV display a slick poster of the forthcoming film(with a US Flag in the bkgroud) as part of their coverage of the outrage?
I remember a prime time/mid-week one hour discussion on ‘dis-integrating family values’ that had aired on NDTV in the same week that Kabhi Alvida Na Kahna was due to release.
On the ‘expert’ panel that spoke on the issue that night were SRK, Karan Johar and an oddly delighted and over-made up Burkha Dutt.
Since KAKN didn’t do well, this must be Karan Johar’s new strategy to upp the audience’s curiosity level towards his next 100 crore venture. With Fox already having bought the world rights for the film and upped the stakes, its the least a tortured creative soul like KJ can do.
I am aghast by the coverage this news has got. Morever MoE calling up the American Ambassador is Disgusting to hear. When we get over this obsession with Super stardom. Iys a cheap way of getting Publicity for his film.
Thank God SRK is not doing a movie called “My Name is Condom”
Ha ha!!! Good one!
Its a pity that our authorities got disappointed of the Security proceedings US is having…! Do we have the credibility to question that? Do we even have a system in place here..? I think our officials shud stop cribbing abt some cheap publicity stunt and check if they can do something to assure minimum security to our own countrymen.
And for our Khan , nyways he will need to keep flying to US every now and then for his movie shoots.If he is so hurt, he can stop that..but then I have no idea , what else he can do! Nyways, I heard that he just assured his fans that he will not stop visiting US , so that his fans in America can sleep well tonight! WTF.!
On the Independence day just gone by, I have a fervent prayer. I wish my fellow countrymen would rise above such cheap publicity gimmicks and once…JUST ONCE shun the people involved in it. Oh dear God, what a day it will be if everyone saw through this and bycotted his next movie ‘My name is Khan’. It is disgusting, demeaning, revolting, patehtic. To stoop down to such a level in order to sell a product. How sad will it be to see him actually getting mileage out of this and people thronging to see his movie. I feel belittled. Imagine if all the intelligent voices would speak at once and refuse to endorse his movie or the cheap publicity move. We, the people of India, surely have a voice left in our throats, don’t we??
I am not sure whether he is using this as a tool to promote his film now or not because I haven’t read his statements..
However, regardless of all that, this is definitely a big deal…not because SRK got detained, but because of the way non American citizens are treated when coming into America.. Seriously, the USA needs to get over 9/11. IMAGINE THAT on 9/11, six hours after the assault on the twin towers and the Pentagon, terrorists had carried out a second wave of attacks on the United States, taking an additional 3,000 lives. Imagine that six hours after that, there had been yet another wave. Now imagine that the attacks had continued, every six hours, for another four years, until nearly 20 million Americans were dead. This is roughly what the Soviet Union suffered during World War II, and contemplating these numbers may help put in perspective what the United States has so far experienced during the war against terrorism. They have already killed more people in Iraq and Afghanistan, so they need to stop behaving as if the world came to an end on 9/11.
Its ridiculous that the people are treated this way…a gross violation of basic rights.
Ok now coming back to the SRK issue..what India and SRK and his fans need to realize is that in the subcontinent, “might is right” policy works and works really well, in the West, the mechanism is slightly different. The law is the same for all..When making The Namesake, Irfan Khan was detained as well for hours and questioned vigorously. Nobody cared back then. Its ridiculous that people are burning the effigy of Obama now and needless to say, Indian media’s conduct is despicable. So whether you are some movie star or a dolebludger, if the law requires you to be interrogated, then thats how it is, regardless of how ridiculous the law itself is.
Honestly I don’t think we should blow this up and generalize it to the american treatment to non americans. That would be insane.
Yahoo Buzz-ing it up
One word of advice to SRK, the Indian Media, Ms.Ambika Soni, and all the “offended” folks- GROW UP PLEASE.
Actually as an Englishman I can say that SRK and this hysteria has made all Indians look a littly bit sillier and a little bit more naive and less worldly in the eyes of the world. Sorry to say my Indian friends.
You are right Roger! That’s what we are. We have a silly and unscupulous media and naive public. So, people like shahrukh can work up any storm. There are many idiots who get swayed by what media writes about shahrukh and they deserve the reputation they have earned.
“I don’t feel like stepping into the US Again says King Khan”-
Breaking News: SRK diverts attention from Swine Flu. Medical authorities relieved.
Uh-
I guess you are certainly right about the same.
A country = it’s people, SRK epitomizes this, we are fixated with this VIP syndrome, in a democracy no one is above the law. The Americans may be paranoid after 9/11 but this paranoia has served them in good faith, nine years after 9/11 not a single attack has taken place in US and the U.S Govt must be commended for this.
I don’t see what the damn big deal is. SRK is no diplomat, he was flying in a civilian aircraft and is subject to civilian immigration rules, period. Who knows why the INS system flashed an alert against his name? The officer involved was just doing his bloody duty. What if SRK really had “connections” and was carrying something illegal on him? (not to say he was) I mean, why should he be not subject to secondary interrogation, if desired. Just coz he is a global movie icon? I certainly think not.
US immigration rules (not commenting on how logical or illogical they are) are well known to all and sundry, especially regular travelers. If you have such an issue, don’t travel. Simple.
And I am so sure, that no one perhaps told him that you are being detained for “Your Name is Khan” – unless that INS officer works for Dharma Production’s publicity cell
– I mean, lets get real folks. The man goes up on stage and the first freaking sentence he utters is – I was detained coz “my name is Khan” – How low can film PR really get??
And what’s this tit for tat business? And why the fck is every Tom, Dick and Harry in Bollywood airing their reactions in solidarity and expressing how visitors from the US should be treated here?
And if SRK has really said, “If Angelina Jolie were to come to India, I wouldn’t mind frisking her” – then I am not sure if the man is in his senses.
Racial profiling is something which cannot be condoned. It seems that a majority of people here may have issues with SRK, probably justified but I think it should not allowed to affect your judgement on this issue.
In my opinion its a perfect high profile, well publicised case to take up this thing with US govt as its become really pathetic and unfair how US security machinery continues to indulge in such practises. It might seem harmless to us from outside but i guess we will have a different perspective if we come under its radar of racial profiling.
Of course it would have been better and more palatable to people here if the issue would have raised much earlier during the numerous time Iddfan Khan was targeted. But still you got to do with what you have.
nothing but a cheap publicity gimmick. KJO, SRK and the whole gang of MNIK movie, will hype the shit up to no end and of course dimwits like Ambika Soni will make noise, some more. MORONS….
why the f*** should US security care about who SRK is? they dont give a shit who a bollywood hero is.. the security guy is just following protocol.
theres never been one more attack on american soil after 911, they learnt their lessons and know how to keep their land and citizens away from harms way. I guess indian govt is in no position to suggest, since it frikking doesnt seem to know how to stop terrorist attacks…..
This is nothing but attention seeking by publicity hungry shahrukh. I think he gets restless if he is not if focus for long or still worse, somebody else is. I think popularity of Salman’s current show ‘dus ka dum’ has made shahrukh restless. I may be wrong in saying this but that doesn’t make shahrukh right.
He yapped for an hour in a press conference and couldn’t offer one concrete reason for his protest. He is taking contradictory stances like ‘I will never step on US soil but I will go to US if work calls’, ‘I am not special but I expect a special treatment’. Nothing happened but something happened, I am not saying they shouldn’t do this but I think they shouldn’t do this….I am not saying this is wrong but this is not right, there is no discrimination but there is some discrumination …blah blah blah. Meaningless banter so typical of shahrukh! I wonder whether he himself understands what he is talking. It always happens to so called ‘witty’ shahrukh when he has to talk extempore. Anyway, he needed attention and we have given it. So, he can relax now.
Sharukh take an advice from Karan Johar..change ur name as ‘Sharukkh KKhan’
‘My name is Khan’…KKKKAAA..Sharukkh KKhaan..:)