An Actor Above All ?

The manner in which actor Shahrukh Khan reacted with to his warm reception in the USA is enough to make us all cringe, but even worse has been the Indian government’s unreasonable support for such celebrity tantrums. That the state should go all out and back a non-incident, where an individual was simply subject to normal and regular procedures in keeping with a foreign land’s rules, is an embarrassment to the country.

Shahrukh a.k.a ‘King’ Khan may be an icon, he may be the ‘Badshah’ of Indian Cinema, he may well have hysterical fans across the globe, and more importantly perhaps, he may be a friend of the Gandhi family, but does that give him immunity from procedures that several thousands wishing to enter the USA, or for that matter any other country, have to abide by.

For an immigration official sitting behind a desk and doing his/her job, it doesn’t matter that Khan happened to be on a plane, just like several other passengers. That Khan should even expect recognition, never mind special treatment is perhaps his naivety, if not ignorant arrogance. Haven’t we all gone through similar situations in some airport or the other be it USA, London, Seirra Leone or Macedonia? The questions are not always pleasant, often they don’t even seem reasonable (to us). Some of the questions Khan complained seemed ‘strange’ to him and that he was not asked these before. Well, that is how it is, and a well travelled Khan should know better, unless he expects authorities to perhaps check with him as to what questions he’d rather be asked!

The problem in India is that even after 62 years of independence, we haven’t shed our feudal mindsets that expect privilege for some; we create modern day Maharajas, be it politicians and their families or celebrities like Khan, who believe they are above regulations, security checks, and are in the habit of walking hallowed ground.