Mumbai: Bollywood king Shahrukh Khan has exposed so-called secular face of world largest democracy: India, expressing his agony he is facing for being born as a Muslim.
SRK wrote an article titled Being a Khan for Outlook Turning Points magazine.
Khan said in the article many politicians asked him to go back to his native homeland: Pakistan, after 9/11 incident.
“I sometimes become the inadvertent object of political leaders who choose to make me a symbol of all that they think is wrong and unpatriotic about Muslims in India".
"There have been occasions when I have been accused of bearing allegiance to our neighboring nation (Pakistan) rather than my own country – this even though I am an Indian, whose father fought for the freedom of India. Rallies have been held where leaders have exhorted me to leave and return what they refer to my ‘original’ homeland.”
“I gave my son and daughter names that could pass for generic (pan-India and pan-religious) ones – Aryan and Suhana,”Shahrukh Khan said.
“The Khan has been bequeathed by me so they can’t really escape it.
Khan said that he pronounced names of his children with his epiglottis when asked by Muslims and throw the Aryan as evidence of their race when non-Muslims enquired. "I imagine this will prevent my offspring from receiving unwarranted eviction orders or random fatwas in the future,” said Khan.
Khan said that he was pressed to make the film My Name is Khan to prove a point after being repeatedly detained in US airports because of his last name.
He said he was grilled at the airport for hours about his last name when he was going to promote the film in America for the first time.
