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Indian star’s pro-Pakistan views may start riots
Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan refuses to retract remarks despite threatened violence
Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan, one of the biggest movie stars in the world and a Muslim, is refusing to back down on comments he made which have angered hard-line Hindus across India – despite the possibility of violence and rioting when his new film premieres in hundreds of cinemas next week.
Khan, dubbed one of the 50 most influential people in the world by the US Newsweek magazine, said last week how sad he was that none of the cricket teams in the Indian Premier League (the IPL) had bought Pakistani players for the new season. The multi-millionaire actor and TV presenter also co-owns an IPL team, the Kolkata Knight Riders.
But Khan's mild suggestion that (Muslim) Pakistanis should be welcome to play cricket in (Hindu) India was enough to enrage the Shiv Sena party, a right-wing group with a reputation for demonstrations which end in violence and rioting. Now Shiv Sena say they will attack cinemas showing Khan's latest film, My Name is Khan, when it opens on February 12 to a first-night audience of hundreds of thousands, if the star doesn't back down.
Khan's hugely popluar films – 2007's Om Shanti Om was the highest-grossing Bollywood movie ever made on its initial release – are watched by Muslims around the world, in addition to their more usual massive Hindu audience. Khan has a reputation for making secular films in which love triumphs over bigotry, and is himself married to a Hindu woman - he has said that his children are being brought up to respect both religions.
Now the actor, whose parents were born in what is now Pakistan but moved to modern-day India before partition, has come out fighting, using micro-blogging site Twitter to defend his views. He wrote: "Should I retract the fact that I am an Indian? Should I retract what my freedom fighter father taught me?
"What did I say that was wrong? All I said was that I wanted people to come to my country."
Indian media pundits have been surprised by how little public support Khan has received from his fellow Bollywood stars, with only his rival heart-throb Aamir Khan standing by him. The pair were quickly dubbed '2 Idiots' by Shiv Shena, a reference to Aamir Khan’s 2009 comedy 3 Idiots.
Shiv Sena members, objecting to what they see as assaults on traditional culture, have in the past attacked shops selling gifts for Valentnie's Day. Twelve years ago they attacked cinemas showing a film with a lesbian theme, and yesterday they threatened to repeat that action. ·
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JUST TO CLARIFY: This article is talking about the Hindu extremist organisation Shiv Sena. This article is about Hindu violence and intolerance towards muslims and anything western. Hence it beggars belief that babyboomer63's comment ignores all the main gist of this article, i.e. Hindu violence & bigotry and instead hysterically attacks muslims, who are in this context are the victims. How ridiculous!!
Babyboomer63 , why dont you comment on dangers that Hindu extremism is posing on Indian democracy? Why do you not uphold Sharukh Khan (a muslim), as a shining example of Indian secularism as this article correctly points out. Why do you not condemn the thuggish track record and threats of Shiv Sena and other Hindu groups against Khan and others. No, instead you blindly attack muslims.
In many instances Muslims are not the cause of violence, they are reacting to the venomous hate unfairly directed at them - hatred similar to what you have just espoused in your comment.
That's all well and fine, except he's not talking about radical Muslims. He's talking about a conservative Hindu organization. So seriously, stop spreading hate and actually read the article.
It seems to me in the radical Muslim's (RM's) mind, "tradition" (No matter how STUPID) trumps "common sense". They (RM's) find reason to kill people for almost any, half baked, RIDICULOUS, two centuries OLD law, or tradition, AND they have no clue whether the tradition or law has any FACTs supporting it. Such as, "Draw a character of Mohammad, and we have supposed, "men of God" called Clerics, calling for the death of the artist. AND they give testimony that "they're God, is a God of peace, and love?" And here's another good example. One human gives his opinion, and NO matter how "RIGHT" he is, the Muslim's want to crucify him, and anyone who'd be SMART enough to agree with him. Lets look at this from this perspective.. You say you worship a "peace loving God, but you don't practice his teachings. I mean the teachings that, are NOT twisted by the twisted minds.