All For A Good Cause
So Shahrukh Khan says that My Name Is Khan, and that is the reason for being hassled in Newark. That incidentally also happens to be the title of his upcoming film. Not saying anything here, but people have been known to do some rather interesting things to promote their movies.
As always, we jobless Indians are up in arms against the ill treatment of a popular icon who has done a lot for India. Like what? Do his job well? Pay a few crores in income tax every year?
We have a minister calling for tit-for-tat action. Because that’s why we elected a government? Making sure that the pride of India is not bundled up in a room by people who would not bow down in subservience to an actor who is such a big deal that he is above the law?
Reacting to the incident, civil aviation minister Praful Patel on Sunday said that the government will take up the issue with the US government at its highest level. [link]
“Had it been for ten minutes or even twenty minutes (of detention for questioning), one can understand it. But one fails to understand how could they hold him for two long hours?” said Chidambaram, talking to reporters. [link]
If anything, this could have been an opportune time to take up the case for racial profiling. But no, we don’t care about the scores of minorities who face immense discrimination traveling across borders. This isn’t about those ordinary people.
What is this about, then? The pride of an actor who suddenly got a dose of what life outside the bubble feels like? Or is it just our beloved media blowing things out of proportion, in their own animated style?
You are right and I quote “this could have been an opportunity for a racial profiling case”. I almost wished that it was about a minority/ordinary people as you claim. But do you think this would have been gloated and brought about in the news if it was only about you or me? Just a thought. I hate the system sometimes.
As for the media, they would blow anything out of proportion (extremely rare in the case of ordinary people). It’s a waste of time for me to comment about them.
That’s SRK and KJo’s way of promoting their new upcoming movie.
Where were our Ministers when the protocol was breached and Kalam was frisked? :| A mere apology is not enough. How can they breach a protocol and that too on our soil?
SRK and his cronies are promoting his movie by citing religion and fooling common man. There is a scene in the movie where the lead character who happens to be Muslim is mistaken for terrorist and frisked away.
This is so silly and ridiculous. The amount of hours, newsprint that this has had is far more than the 2 hours ! And it isnt any less of a torture for the common man ! To see the likes of a Ambika Soni and a Praful Patel and a Chidambaram rant about this !!
And i am most amused by ‘tit-for-tat’ theories. Who in the first place is asking for special treatment. Make it law that everyone will be frisked. Or detained. And go through it yourself.
Sigh !
AD, I wrote a post on this too. Whether we like it or not, profiling is a fact of life. It happens. If somebody really has a problem with it, don’t travel to the US! But don’t expect your ‘VIP status’ in India to also work for you in the US!
Quirky Indian
I was more angry about Abdul Kalam because if there is a protocol that needs to be honored. SRK and KJo definitely used this as promotion opportunity. And I hate it when a privileged celebrity claims to be a minority. I hated when Azharuddin did it.
And Shashi Tharoor tweeted, SRK reacted with dignity. Little did he know, SRK has taken it to another level in next few hours.
Who does he think he is?
Hi AD.
Saw the new tagline for the blog…..cool.
And on this issue, its normal for any one to behave like this. I would have too. Its just media which needs to give right weightage to issues. Yesterday I saw the clip of Irfan Pathan controversy. Thats not the bad part. I saw that clip atleast 10 times in barely 20minutes I spent on a news channel!! Am sure it was not concentrated to just those 20minutes on that or any news channel.
Grow up guys, I hate it when people just become pooch(tail) of someone…..
SRK belongs to a minority group. The elite group of rich bollywood stars. In a country of a billion, he sure belongs to a minority :D
I hated it more when the media displayed polls saying that “india outraged”. I wonder which india they are talking about.
actually, the indian public has its own frankensteins! first we create the monsters, then we live in awe of them. all actors are gods, and all ministers are their lackeys. or satellites. amitabh b has one, vinod khanna, sanjay dutt, jaya prada, govinda, salman khan, dharmendra, rajesh khanna - all have satellites who use the associated fame and popularity during elections. if actors and politicians are like plants (their roots/feet firmly grounded in manure), then publicity is like the sun’s rays. and who said all publicity is good publicity? he cleverly comes on tv saying that he is not upset and does not need apologies from US, since he knows his lackeys and chamchas are there to do all the dirty work for him! and he needs to travel to the western countries to promote his pathetic films! national security is above celebrity!
empty vessels makes more noise…
by the way your site name is great
now, dear ole arnie has jumped into the fray! almost can imagine him trying to toady up to srk, both immigrants and beefcakes! won’t surprise me if srk heads home after promising american airport staff, ” ah’ll be ba-a-ck!”
and they have only one 9/11 to get over. we resilient indians have 7/11, 26/11, many-more/11s to recover from! so we have the 4 seasons, plus the rainy season and the mango season. now we will have the terrorist season from 1st sept to 30 nov. but never fear, friend. we have brave ministers to guard us - brave enough to hound a poor tiger cub in a cage, surrounded by baton weilding policemen!
What I find really cheap is SRK’s remark that he would like to frisk Anjalina Jolie if she arrives in India! I mean, how angry was he!! And what did they do to him!! There is no justification for that remark of his, however jocular it was.
However, it is okay for him to complain about being frisked. I mean, I think anyone would get upset at the treatment (yes, I am a fan of SRK’s! :) ) and there is no harm him being upset. All of us would have been upset and he is just lucky that he had the contacts he could call. All of us would have used the contacts and talked about how terrible it all was. Sure, he thinks no end of himself, and is completely living away from reality, but well, see how people treat him here, like some sort of a demi-god. I think this experience was good for him. Its shown him that he is no different from any of us. Not in the US at least!
@Kiran - Yea, this became an issue for all the wrong reasons. If SRK really cared he could have made a case for profiling in general, when all it ended up being was the hurt ego of a celebrity.
@Philip - That’s very likely, though obviously being countered aggressively.
@Solilo - I am surprised that union ministers are commenting about this, and talking of taking action. Action on what? The US government not accepting the celeb status of Mr Khan?
@Quirky - I agree. It is very much there. Everytime you visit the US you are treated like you are a prospective terrorist, which sucks for hardworking innocent people like us .
@Poonam - Isnt that the great thing about a multi cultural society like India. Minorities are always just so quick to bring up the race/caste card whenever things dont go their way. Case in point, Mr Hashmi?
@Amlistening - Thanks. Glad you liked the tagline. I have a list of some 10-15 prospective tag lines; settled on this one for now.
As for poonchs that we have many in India. The media. The politicians. They are all just blind followers of people that they love, for whatever reasons.
@Xylene - The media thinks it IS India. They shout out loudly whatever their version of the story is, and in India whoever shouts the loudest is the person saying the truth! ;)
@ms-
he cleverly comes on tv saying that he is not upset and does not need apologies from US, since he knows his lackeys and chamchas are there to do all the dirty work for him! and he needs to travel to the western countries to promote his pathetic films! national security is above celebrity
Very true. First you complain, then act all nice and accepting, when you know that the damage has already been done.
@nrispot - That’s an apt saying! And thanks for the appreciation :)
@ms - This is news to me. I didnt see any reports about Arnie and this matter. I guess as California governor, he does have some commercial interests in mind.
@Nita - I agree. Its time our celebs got a dose of reality and not expect to be treated like royalty wherever they go. Besides, SRK’s movies invariably do very well, so one wonders why he had to resort to such a weird stunt.
Read My Name Is Khan Review http://www.bollywoodinfozone.com/2010/02/my-name-is-khan-movie-review.html