My Film’s Name Has Khan

Is there a reason why Bollywood stars have suddenly become touchy about their religion?

Last week, after Shah Rukh Khan was released from the security hold of US Immigration, a news report wrote about him sending an SMS to Indian reporters: ‘I was really hassled perhaps because of my name being Khan.’ It was a nicely worded SMS, considering that his next mega venture is called My Name Is Khan. Even more conveniently, the theme of the movie happens to be racial profiling of Muslims post New York’s 9/11 attacks.

B-town’s most influential actor caught up in a real-life plot that mimicked the script of his latest production is a public relations wet dream. And the crores spent by Fox Star Studios on My Name Is Khan’s distribution and marketing rights is certainly a good enough reason for a bit of theatrics.

At the beginning of the month, another actor, Emraan Hashmi, claimed he was rejected by a Mumbai housing cooperative society because he was a Muslim. A hastily brokered peace with the housing society by the Maharashtra State Minorities’ Commission soon had him endorsing the statement that it wasn’t racial at all, rather a result of the real estate agent’s communication skills.

Profiling is certainly an inconvenient truth post 9/11, but celebrities who perceive religious or racial bias every time they’re denied something or asked to submit to a higher authority endanger the cause of real victims of bias. After all, SRK was quick to find his religion because 66 minutes of his time were spent in a catchment area with commoners.

But that’s just how India’s stars operate. If they think it could be good for their next film, the huffing and puffing meter seems to go up a notch. The mileage that My Name Is Khan stands to gain from this episode is worth more than any stunt a publicity machine could have conjured up.

Anyone can guess the emotional, horror-riven sound bytes that Khan will give in 2010 while promoting the movie. Expect him to recall, with equanimity but quiet anger, his hour of humiliation and how it changed the way he looked at his movie character.

Salman Khan, the perpetual adolescent of Bollywood, commenting on Shah Rukh’s reaction, said that extensive security checks are routine and he’d been through them, quietly like it should be done. It seemed to be the sole voice of reason coming out of Bollywood. After all, his name is Khan too.

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Manju Sara Rajan