Shah Rukh Khan talks life as a Muslim post 9/11

Published Wednesday, Jan 23 2013,
By Priya Joshi

Shah Rukh Khan has described what it means to be a Muslim post-9/11.

In an emotive first-person article titled 'Being Khan' featured in Outlook Turning Points magazine, the actor said he feels he has been used by political leaders as a "symbol of what is wrong about Muslims in India".

"I sometimes become the inadvertent object of political leaders who choose to make me a symbol of all that they think is wrong and unpatriotic about Muslims in India," explained the 47-year-old actor.

"There have been occasions when I have been accused of bearing allegiance to our neighbouring nation rather than my own country - this even though I am an Indian, whose father fought for the freedom of India. Rallies have been held where leaders have exhorted me to leave and return to what they refer to as my original homeland."

The star said he was prompted to make the film My Name is Khan "to prove a point" after being repeatedly detained in US airports because of his last name.

The political drama sees Khan playing a man with Asperger's syndrome who is mistaken for a terrorist while travelling in the USA.

"Ironically, I was interrogated at the airport for hours about my last name when I was going to promote the film in America for the first time," he said

Khan, whose wife Gauri is a Hindu, said he chose his children's names Aryan and Suhana in the hope they would not be subjected to the same levels of suspicion in the future.

"I gave my son and daughter names that could pass for generic (pan-India and pan-religious) ones - Aryan and Suhana. The Khan has been bequeathed by me so they can't really escape it," he wrote.

"I pronounce it with my epiglottis when asked by Muslims and throw the Aryan as evidence of their race when non-Muslims enquire. I imagine this will prevent my offspring from receiving unwarranted eviction orders or random fatwas in the future."