King Khan', after you sold out to hate and fear in a deplorable deal with Thackeray's MNS, what do we call you?
Dear Shah Rukh,
I hope you do not mind me calling you Shah Rukh. Like most Indians I feel I know you. But then again, perhaps I don't. First it was Karan Joharprostrating himself before the self-appointed extra constitutional arbiters of Indian patriotism, the MNS- an edifice of fanaticism and hate. I never thought you, the King, could succumb to such illegal and unseemly conduct of any goons, let alone the right wing religious fanatic variety. I had once defended in writing your freedom to speak when you had thought out loud about an increasing sense of insecurity being felt by many people in India. Until yesterday you were King Khan, the king of most Indian hearts. Now, one is left to wonder what you really are.
I don't know Mahira Khan. I am told she has an impressive screen presence. And you chose her to be your leading lady. You must have seen something in her to ask her to venture across the barb-wired border and appear in Raees despite the thorny Indo-Pak relations.
You know that the word "raees" means "chief", with a significant whiff of strength and power emanating from it. You were the King and had power that held sway over countless Indian hearts. Raj Thackeray and his hate spewing followers had no legal power to enforce their diktats. That is why they threatened to disrupt the peace and prevent "Raees" from being shown in the theatres unless you paid obeisance to Thackeray and agreed to not have Mahira attend the release of "Raees".
It must have been in a moment of fear or cowardice- you may call it desire to save your Raees from ruin and I would reluctantly understand- you decided to transform from the King in you into a beggar, clutching the beggar's bowl in your frightfully folded hands and walk over to seek MNS' mercy. In that moment you, just as Karan Johar had done before you- granted them the right to be the self appointed guardians' of peace and order in Mumbai and the surrounding areas. At that moment you mortgaged forever your freedom, particularly your freedom of expression, to MNS and any other group of goons who may choose to mimic them now or later.
Health and Fitness
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