Salman Khan gave a candid opinion about SRK detention at US airport. On hearing about Shah Rukh Khan being questioned by US security at Newark, New Jersey, he said it’s good that the country has such a tight set-up.
Salman has a point. SRK might be an icon to Indians, even to the desi public spread across the globe, but to America he is just a visitor. We may be convinced he cannot be involved in anything that’s remotely violent, but the guard given the responsibility of stopping something like 9/11 from happening in his country again will want to take no chances.
SRK says he’s 'upset and angry because it was his Muslim name that caused all this'. Countless Muslims are made to go through extra security checks everyday in America and other Western countries. Is he equally upset at that? He’s probably just miffed that it happened to him, India’s mega star.
There are two layers to the SRK incident and we must peel them off with care. One, it is quite ridiculous that Indians feel their icons are everybody’s icons. What the heck? If Jet Li came to India tomorrow, very few would give him a second look. For that matter, what if Gerard Depardieu came traveling? Matt Damon was here recently and there wasn’t a traffic jam in Delhi. These guys are huge back home.
Allegations that Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan was ''detained'' for two hours on account of his last name are incorrect, US Customs and Border Protection officials said on Saturday, maintaining that the process of clearing him lasted a little more than an hour and even that delay was because his baggage had not arrived on the same flight he did.
Moreover, America doesn’t have a culture of VIP treatment the way India has. Olympic Gold star Michael Phelps got a ordinary citizen treatment when he could not show his driver license. Winona Ryder was sentenced to a threeyear probation for shoplifting. Chinese born Hollywood actress Bai Ling was fined US $200 for petty theft.
We are actually aggrieved because we are 'not like them'. Guess what, it isn’t a virtue. We should be like them and take the security of our country with solemn, no-nonsense professionalism. Frisk Brad Pitt when he lands in India next. Give Tom Cruise the same dose. Who’s stopping you and what’s stopping you? Colonial hangover? Or is it plain callousness? Looks like both.
We are just whimpering over here like hurt puppies because we feel, 'Oh, but we don’t do it to them'. Oh no, we don’t. And it’s a scandal. We should.
Instead of making SRK’s detention an issue, we should think of upgrading our own security apparatus. Theres a lesson in this >> a positive one. The bottom line: Stop fawning, shed the colonial hangover and make no compromise where the country’s safety is concerned.
No comments:
Post a Comment