America needs to offer more warmth
After his detention at a US airport sparked a furore in India,
Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan on Monday asked people back home not
to take the issue further, but added that while everybody loved what
America had to offer, "I think it needs to offer a little more warmth
and speed in its processes."
In Houston, where he arrived from Chicago to attend a 'Meet and
Greet' carnival, Khan, who was 'inspected' at the Newark airport on his
arrival from India, said he respected the procedures the US required
incoming foreigners to follow, but maintained his experience was 'not
pleasant'.
Shar Rukh Khan greeting fans at the Indian airport |
"I didn't mean it to be like this. Because I had to make a few calls
to get out of that place, so I guess it became a big piece of news," he
told CNN IBN.
Khan, 43, was stopped and questioned at Newark airport on his arrival
from India for about two hours on Saturday and was released only after
the Indian consulate intervened, an incident that caused widespread
anger in India with the government saying it would take up the issue
with the US.
The irony
The actor, who is in the US to promote his upcoming film 'My Name is
Khan,' mingled with his fans here and signed autographs. Ironically, the
film revolves around a Muslim character and his experiences in a post
9/11 America.
"The film's issue is much larger than just being a stop at the
immigration. It's not ironic, maybe we made the film because one thinks
this is an issue that should be addressed," he said.
Commenting on the incident in Newark, he said, "I understand a
country has to be a little careful, specifically with the things that
have happened."
Instead of doing a retina and finger scan, which is a normal
procedure, the authorities kept telling him that his name was 'common'.
"They kept telling me 'your name is common', and I was too polite to
ask common to what," he said. US authorities denied that the procedure
they followed with the Indian actor had anything to do with his name and
described it as mere 'inspection', attributing it to the delay in the
arrival of his baggage.
Khan said the US needed to understand that "it's not an isolated
parallel universe existence for this country. There is a whole world
which makes all the good and bad that is happening. So if you are scared
of violence and terrorism, all of us are responsible for it. It is not
that the rest of the world is and America is not," he said.
The Hindu |