Published on: 11/4/2015IST
An Open Letter To Shah Rukh Khan From A Country That Calls Him A Pakistani Agent!
Dear Shah Rukh Khan,
You seem sensible, lucid and reasonable - a fast changing exception in the times that we live in. Which is why it?s even more baffling that you refuse to keep quiet.
You refuse to stick to safe comments on women, movies and devote your life to discussing friendships that lead to fights that lead to friendships with Salman ? stuff you are clearly good for.?
Why talk about ?Extreme Intolerance?? Who led you to believe you could give an interview to Barkha Dutt and say that "the most disgusting thing for you was when your patriotism was questioned?"
Do you not know that you have to do it every time there is a blast, every time someone is arrested, when a man is lynched for eating beef that turns out to be mutton or even when India plays (and doesn't) play Pakistan! You may have taught us romance, given us a way of living, taught generations to speak to women and done about a billion things in the 60 odd movies that you have done ? but how did you forget your place?
We don?t deserve?you?or any good?Muslims, hell; we don?t even?deserve any good people.
We don?t deserve any people who?d complain about being shouted upon.
Which is why Sadhvi Prachi called you a Pakistani Agent and asked that you be deported to Pakistan. This is why Kailash Vijayvarghiya, felt he could say your ?Soul was in Pakistan.? Vijayvarghiya who has since then recanted is a man who has made a living uttering complete and unmeasured trash, but his tweets weren?t as?flash-in-the-pan?inflammatory as Sadhvi Prachi?s. They were more thought out ? he felt he could question your patriotism ? ask why you were silent on the 26/11 bomb attacks.
He felt it was ok to connect your ?Extreme Intolerance? remarks to an attempt to sabotage India?s bid for a UNSC Seat - a connection more laughable than what AIB has managed with their new show. Exactly a decade ago in an interview, you?d told me ? ?One of the biggest folly of youth was being young and stupid." You were 40 then, I was 22 ? but a lot changed in that decade, hasn?t it? Except you. You?ve said what you wanted to say and you?ve been trolled, dragged through muck, dared and then egged on to respond ? you haven?t. But it?s time the rest of us did.
I?ve tried time and time again to make sense of what?s happening in India right now and failed miserably.
But then that?s what it is ? indescribable ? strangely enough,?you managed to put it across in a manner that can connect to India, and that?s what they hate ? a sane opinion from someone who isn?t frothing at the mouth. Something they aren?t getting from you.
So far, us in the great 'Indian Middle Class' could afford to turn a blind eye ? the men returning their awards were Graying Leftists, privileged assholes from another planet. We washed our hands off Dadri because the man being lynched was a poor man who lived in a village, didn?t speak English and probably didn?t have a FB account.
But it all changed when you decided to say something ? the middle class that blows everything out of proportion and the masses that follow could no longer afford to ignore the issue ? and that?s why these shameless attacks on your nationality. They?re afraid more people would connect to them.
You did respond to their allegations, even before they made it. It?s likely they didn?t quite get it.
You?re an Indian born in India, you are an Indian movie star, you are also an Indian movie star whose father was one of India?s youngest freedom fighters. You deserve this country more than a lot of us, we?re just not sure if BJP and the rest of those frothing at the mouth deserve you and your magic.?
- A Shamed Nation
11/4/2015 | | Permalink