Film industry outraged over treatment meted out to Shahrukh

Mumbai, Aug 15 (PTI) 'Shocking', 'disgraceful' and
'madness' is how Bollywood Saturday reacted to the detention
of Indian cinema icon Shahrukh Khan at a US airport,apparently
because of his surname.

His close friends Karan Johar, Farah Khan, Juhi Chawla
and Aziz Mirza as well as industry veterans like Mahesh Bhatt
and Raza Murad slammed the the ill-treatment meted out to the
megastar.

"Shocked and upset... feeling terrible for Shah
Rukh...," Johar, a well-known film director, wrote on his
twitter page while Juhi said the detention was "as absurd as
Brad Pitt coming to India, being strip-searched, investigated
and interrogated".

Choreographer-turned director Farah Khan, one of his
closest friends, asked, "if he can be discriminated (on the
basis of religion), who else is left. Shahrukh was on Time
Magazine among its 50 Most Influential People. It is not only
discrimination but lack of knowledge also."

Filmmaker Bhatt said, "it is shocking that Shahrukh
Khan, who is by every definition a global icon, should be
subjected to something like that".

Actress Priyanka Chopra, who had worked with Shahrukh
in 'Don', termed the incident as "disgraceful".

"Shocking, disturbing and downright disgraceful. Its
such behaviour that fuels hatred and racism. SRK's a world
figure for Gods sake. GET REAL!!," an angry Chopra wrote on
her Twitter page.

Khan, one of the most prominent faces of Bollywood on
the global stage, was on his way to attend an Independence Day
celebration function in Chicago when he was detained and
questioned for two hours at Nerwark Airport.

His detention is not the isolated case for Indian film
industry. Malayalam superstar Mammootty too was detained at
the JFK airport recently because of his middle name 'Ismail'.

Irrfan Khan, who faced a similar problem last year in
US despite his global fame following the success of 'Slumdog
Millionaire', said, "we should point out loopholes in their
airport security system".

The other film personalities subjected to such
treatment include 'New York' director Kabir Khan and Neil
Nitin Mukesh. Kabir had alleged that he had to go through the
security drill thrice despite being cleared the first time.

Kabir, who made a movie on the paranoia towards Asians
in the post 9/11 US society, said it is a clear case of
fear psychosis. "Shah Rukh just happens to be a superstar so
we took notice of it. It is happening everyday.

"You just type his name on google and you get more
hits than Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise combined. There is a clear
element of arrogance in the entire episode," he said.

Filmmaker Aziz Mirza, who directed Shahrukh first in
TV serial 'Circus' in 1980s and hit movies like 'Yes Boss' and
'Chalte Chalte', felt that whatever the US authorities had
done was "sheer madness".

"Shah Rukh is a big star. Everyone knows him
everywhere. The security officer might have done it out of his
personal agenda and he might have done it in the garb of law,"
Mirza said.

Veteran actor Raza Murad said that the incident was a
clear case of "racial discrimination".

"This is clearly a case of racial discrimination. They
are going out of their way to humiliate Indians and if they
come to know a passenger is Muslim, they try to discourage him
from visiting the US," Murad said.

"Shah Rukh has shot several films in the US. If they
had any doubt about his identity, they could have surfed the
Internet where there are over five lakh images and references
about him," Murad added. PTI