Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan isn’t as outspoken as he used to be, but in an interview with Rajdeep Sardesai, the actor spoke about ‘growing intolerance’ in the country.
“With great power comes great vulnerabilities. If I take a stand on an X thing or a Y thing, people will come out and throw stones at my house but if I do take a stand, I’ll stand by it. I feel sad, it’s unfortunate and extremely pathetic but its better to keep quiet and do your job” Khan said, a day before his birthday.
The actor added that there is a little more leeway for actors to express themselves in America, as compared to India.
“How many times should I react? America with all its issues and non-issues has slightly more leeway” he said.
When asked about the ‘growing intolerance’ in the country, which has ‘forced’ the so-called ‘intelligentsia’ in the country to give back their awards, Khan said “Yes there is intolerance, there is growing intolerance. People put words in the air even before thinking. We keep talking about the new India, but if this country is not secular, happy in its approach and allowing people to be… the youngsters are not going to stand for it. It’s stupid to be intolerant. And this is my biggest issue. Not being secular in this country is the worst kind of crime you can do as a patriot”
In a rare attempt at giving his political take, Shah Rukh said there shouldn’t be ‘vote banks’ in the country.
“I am saying this as a citizen of this nation, we will never be a power if you don’t believe that all religions are equal. You often hear about vote banks, there should not be vote bank politics, it’s nonsense” Khan said.
The biggest statement, however, came when he was asked if he would give up his Padma Shri award. To which Khan said “I mean just for a symbolic gesture yes, if I have to.”
The actor, who married a hindu girl, also said inter-religious marriages should be perfectly normal.
“But that should not be an example. This should be the perfectly normal thing to do. Hindus living in perfect harmony with Muslims”
Other key points from SRK’s interview
- We have made a huge thing about our meat-eating habits. How can the food habits of people be an issue?
- In my house, everyone is free to follow their religion. My kids were confused about whether they were Muslim or Hindu, I said ‘why not Christian?’
- If you are a patriot, you must love your country as a whole, not parts of it as religions and regions
- Anupam Kher should be able to give his opinion about another director and be able to have a discussion about it. That’s tolerance
- I think it’s very brave of those returning their awards. I am on their side. If they tell me to join them on a march or a press conference, I would
- Personally, it’s too much of symbolism to return my awards. Just returning something, I am not a believer in that
- I have a weapon on my side. I think I am extremely loved by people. If someone takes a stand against me, I have enough people to love me back. I am not scared, just selfish sometimes. I don’t want a nuisance, I am scared of a nuisance. I work 18 hours a day and I need to be left alone to do my job
- It is very degrading and humiliating to have to prove my patriotism. I am an Indian-born movie star. I am an Indian-born Indian. I am Indian – how does that get questioned? Nobody has more right to live in this country than me, and I am not going to leave. So shut up
The response to SRK’s ‘growing intolerance’ statement has received its fair share of support and criticism.
The biggest support to his statement, quite unexpectedly, came from BJP leader Arun Jaitley, who said “If someone says ‘there shouldn’t be intolerance in the country” what is wrong in that? The nation has never been intolerant and debates won’t spoil the atmosphere”
However, the actor has been heavily criticised on social media websites like Twitter and Facebook for his statement. A lot of people have spoken about his ‘tolerance’ level at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai and also about the fact that he was detained and questioned at the US airport back in 2010. Others have said that the superstar is adding fuel to the media and Congress created debate, more so because of his closeness to the Gandhi family.
SRK.. return all the awards which u hv got, which of course u never deserved…
@Indicine.. I understand u hv many Pakistani readers.. better u avoid publicizing political news.. can’t stand porkies disliking those comments which is made in nation’s interest by any Indian. They also make anti national comments.
Porkies.. better u guys stay away from national issues.. we know how do u treat minorities, baloochis, Shias, Ahmadiyas etc…
SRK making a decision to give back his awards is no big thing. He bought them anyway no big deal.
WHETHER SRK IS RIGHT OR NOT CAN BE DEBATED(AS IT IS)
BUT CALLING HIM –
PAK AGENT
ANTI-NATIONALIST
DESHDROHI
WHICH CAME FROM SOME LEADERS AND PEOPLE IN GENERAL IS ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF INTOLERANCE!!!!1
LOVE U SRK FOR ALWAYS!!!!!!!1
Being an Indian citizen, SRK has the full right to express what he wishes…
No matter if some guys call him supporting Gandhis because of his friendships with them, he has full right to do so like a normal Indian Citizen.
Those people who support him may think he is right and the BJP supporters may think he is wrong.
All are entitled their own opinions…. So shut up…
By the way, I am not an Indian national. But I would say after Modi govt, the relationships of India with neighboring nations and other bations have soured.
His foreign policy has failed big time and China is taking advantages of the vaccums left by Modi’s foreign policy…
its better for all these superstars including Salman, Aamir, HRo, Akki, Ajay to stay away from politics. They are just expressing their own views in a democratic country. But more often than not, they are misunderstood and a few portions of the speech get blown out of proportion creating nuisance. Not just about this statement today by srk, there will always be critics. So don’t ruin your image by talking about politics.
Srk sir telling the reality that some of the Indian people are intolerant just like shiv sena becoz he banned Pakistani actors in india … is it not intolerance ??????
I always support srk sir !!!
But I say one thing it is really better not get involved in politics or religion debate
I know he has the right to speak openly becoz his movie ( Raees ) is on the line
but better not to get into it !!!
Not happy with your statement sir. Please don’t get into the propaganda sponsored by ‘Con-gress’. Many countrymen like me are silently watcgit, how Modi and central government is being targeted for an incident, which takes place in Samajwadi party ruled U.P. and Congress ruled Karnataka. This is a pre-planned conspiracy against central government, just to hype that Modi government is useless and minorities are least safe under the regime of current government. So returning the accolades is nothing, but a fake agenda to be in news. Being your die-hard fan, I don’t want you to get into all such political issues. These political parties will use your statement for their personal benefit and ultimately it’s you, who will face criticism.
Well said SRK…u hv every right to speak ur heart out
SRK is a national asset. He is brave and dares to take risks. I admire him.
Indicine Khans are no human beings, Stop moderating anyone who goes against them.
Thank god Iam an akshay fan idon’t care if he makes flop films, but deep down iknow iam a fan of someone who doesn’t make stupid coments or mixes religions in order to promote his films or embarass his country by making contraversiol comments.Thumb me down all you want but The 3khans are selfish people who only care about their popularity and stardom.
this is the reason why I hate him. hypocrisy at best. when aamir made just his opinion on AIB roast, srk’s jobless dumbas fans made mountain out of mall. and now his hypocrite fans like @Javed, @phenol are blindly supporting him? disgusting.
@Javed, you illiterate duffer, first decide your own identity except barking rubbish 24 hours you hypocrite satan worshipper.
i saw the interview….
all he said is presented in sm wrng manner…
plus wat he said is fully 100 percent correct…
modi bhakts in this country r gone to level of retard.
#Support srk
#from bhai fan
Akshay Kumar : With my hand on my heart, I believe 100% that we are not only in safe hands, but being led by a man (Modi) with a conscience as well as a necessary fighting spirit,”
Shahrukh Khan is this was the only thing you had to say about this country on your birthday.No matter what the reporter asked and what you feel but is it important to talk about this on your birthday. Its not first to.e you said something like that, detained in US airport,Feeling insecure in India and Now this. What kind of picture you want to create among your Fans about India who lives out of India. You fans claims that no one knows India outside it’s only you who provide recognition to India on global plateform. Bechare videshi fans kya sochenge is desh k bare me.I am not against freedom of speech and your views but This was not expecting from your side. When whole India last year was a part of Swacha Bharat Abhiyaan I didn’t came to know your views or your effort about that but now India is becoming Intolerant. Whenever in this country something happening for majority or talking for majority it becoming anti secularism.
could you please explain me what is in tolerating in India in present situation.
other than Shiv sena stand towards Pakistani’s artist.
I m absoultly with srk statement abt intolerance ,& Freedom of speech as we r in a democratic country ..every1 should express there feelings …i dont think there is any hidden agenda of cong in d statement its complectly srk’s own statement as a human & a true indian…communilism & Intolerance both r very much sensitive issue & Politically its much more hyped bcoz political leaders …
although i m nt agree with d award return issue bcoz its complectly downgrading d value & respect of that award may b also to the country & millions of d fans….
If India was intolerance mode how one entertainer gain such huge love and respect and love
Once srk has this then he betrayal us
Really feel bad srk really for u r thoughts abt India jis mitti me paida hue usi mitti ko gandi galiyon de rahe ho yaar allah maaf nai karega tujhe ajse aur allah jab deta chappar fad ke aur jab rutha to leta bhi asman fad ke
N for the first time I see an srk article being disliked more than liked!! .. accept it or not, bjp atleast has succeeded in poisoning quite a few minds.. it seems now my country is divided between two ideologies.. one who blindly support modi n other who dont!! That is ok if its jus tat, but problem is if u r not a modi bhakt, ur assumed to be a congressi or an anti national or a pakistani or a pseudo secular or simply a muslim who agained is assumed to be what not by the same people! Now thats where intolerance shows itself! Srk may be right or wrong about 1 and everything but he has every right to speak his mind, even if its against modi govt. . And yes he has every right to bash people who tell him to go to some other country!! Hus moral n democratic national right!
Most of the Bhai fans (like hrithik, Anand, ultron, me etc) are supporting srk. But most of his so called die hard fans (xzone, mohit etc) are bashing him badly… Classless morons you can’t be anyone’s fans.
It takes a lot of guts to be a Sharukh Khan in today’s India and still tell the truth. Thank you !
Swades, Chak De! India, Dil Se, Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani, Hey Ram, Army, Main Hoon Naa, etc.
Only Actor of his generation to have done so many films based on Patriotism or films having a Patriotic touch and still some A’Holes are stating that he is an Anti-Nationalist. SO AM I!
I am an Indian and I don’t feel any shame in saying that our country is filled with bunch of idiots who don’t have guts to do something for our country but they are always ready to bark against people people who are making India proud . Currently one controversy is going on about srk remark on rising intolerance in India and some political leaders started pointing question on srk patriotism first of all those fucking uneducated people don’t know what exactly the interview was and what was srk point of view so I request all srk fans to rise their voice against such stupid people and make them realize that srk is truly Indian and he don’t need to prove his love for India every time . https://www.facebook.com/IHateSalmanKhannn/videos/590429404441778/
@Indicine : post this too.
Shah Rukh Khan, Kamal Haasan, Vidya Balan won’t return their awards : http://iexp.in/cRx202815
An actor who made pride to Indian cinema
An actor who made proud to Indian cinema in overseas.
An actor who has been awarded as highest civilian award.
An actor who says… I love my country more ..
An actor who had adopted a village
An actor who got UNESCO award for charity in India…
Only one.
. SHAHRUKH KHAN ..
and called as pakistani agent by stupid sadhvi
AND kamal hassan –
did his first ad for pothys in life and donated d whole money to aids patients..
tells his fan to follow dreams
A true GENTLEMAN and humanity person in real. and criticised more
to be a true gentlemen and follow humanity has become a curse :|
Shah Rukh Khan :
1.Only Indian to have a Statue in Grevin Museum, after Gandhiji
2.Only Indian to win UNESCO award for charity/Social work
3.Only Indian Actor to be among 100 most influential Muslims in the world.
4.Only Indian to be at no.1 at Top Ten Greatest Actors Worldwide.
5.Only Indian to be the 2nd Richest Actor in the world, more richer then Hollywood giants like johnny depp, Tom Cruise (aafter doing all his Charity)
6.Only Indian to have a residential palace in Palm Jumeira Alongside Bill Clinton.
7.Only Indian to have a name on a Moon crator.
8.Only Indian whose name has been given to a special flower in Singapore.
09.Only Indian who is honoured with the prestigious Brand Laureate Legendary Award for his
unmatched contribution to the world cinema Cinema by Malaysian government
10.Only Indian after amitabh to be crowned by Moroccan king.
11. Only Indian to be invited at Yale University, USA.
12. In 2010 he was invited to ring the opening bell of NASDAQ stock exchange, USA (world’s biggest stock exchange) in New York
13. Only Indian actor to have name in Guineess book of world records as a highest earning superstar of India.
14. Only Actor alongwith Dilip Kumar to win most no of Filmfare Awards
15. He is only actor to register his name as a brand having value of 1000 crores rupees.
16. James Cameron: I only want to come to Mumbai for an autograph of SRK.
17. He is the most popular superstar in those places where Indian movies don’t even release.
18. He has the most expensive house…….sorry…..Palace in Bollywood, coming from a middle class family with no parents to support him.
19. He currently holds record of Longest running movie of Indian Cinema I.e, DDLJ
20. He Donated 2.5 million Indian ruppees to PM, Manmohan Singh for Tsunami Relief camp.,
In NDTV’s Greenathon event of 2009, he adopted 5 villages and Adopted further 12 villages in
2012 event.
21. Government of France awarded him both the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and the Légion d’honneur. The greatest honour of France like Bharat Ratna in India.
22. he was honoured with UNESCO’s Pyramide con Marni award in 2011 for his support of children’s education.
23. He was honoured with Rajiv Gandhi Award for “Excellence in the Field of Entertainment” in 2002.
24.He was conferred the honorific Datuk title by the head of state of Malacca in Malaysia in 2007.
25.He was also honoured with an honorary doctorate in arts and culture from Britain’s University of Bedfordshire in 2009.
26. in 2008, SRK named by Newsweek as one of the 50 most powerful people in the world.
27. In 2015 He became 2nd Indian who got awarded with an honorary doctorate by the University of Edinburgh after DR. APJ ABDUL KALAM
28.In 2013 SRK Appointed as goodwill ambassadorby the government of South Korea
29.IN 2014 He was Honoured with Global Diversity Award at the State Room of Britain’s House of Commons. Britain’s Parliament honoured the king khan
30. He was awarded Best Indian Citizen Award in 1997 by the government of India
31. And also the Padma Shri, India’s fourth highest civilian award from the Government of India in 2005
32 in 2007 – His lifelike wax statue was installed in London’s Madame Tussauds wax museum. Due to high demand Additional versions were installed at Madame Tussauds museums in Los Angeles, Hong Kong, and New York in 2010.
33.in 2009 He was given a Black Belt Honorary in taekwondo by the South Korean government.
34. Also in same year 2009 He was awarded with an honorary doctorate in arts and culture by the University of Bedfordshire
35. In 2010 He became the first Indian actor to be given the rare honour of signing the guest book at Berlin’s Town Hall.
36.in 2011 He became the first Bollywood actor to be featured on the cover page of Los Angeles Times he has also been featured on time Magazine’s cover page twice
37.He was also invited to Harvard University for giving a lecture to its students. He is also world’s “first” actor to be invited at Google and Twitter headquarters.
38. He donated all the prize money kkr won in 2014, 15 cr rupees to the childrens hospital in Kolkata nd Mumbai.
Shah Rukh Khan never beat the drums of his charity work cause he believes in ‘if you do charity for a reason, it’s not a charity’
I could have added more but I think it’s enough, nobody can achieve what he has achieved in the last 20 years in recent time people are defaming SRK for no reason He started at zero and reached at top, instead of trying to pull him down, try to learn something from him.
He is common man came from poor background with no parents nd one mentally unstable Sister to take care of, he saw his father dieing in front of him couse he had no money, his father died couse of cancer. So now He runs a free cancer ward in lilawati hospital Mumbai nd very few people know about this.
he has achieved all through is hard work. His father was freedom fighter for India he is true Indian and Pride of India , he is none other than KING KHAN SHAHRUKH KHAN
Dear Haters , Please be Silent during his success if you were absent during his Struggle.
This is the real actor, we have some responsibility to unite our nation as a civilian.
Very late to arrive on this article.
Well,I do agree with some of the points he said and don’t agree with some of his statements.
I agree when he says:
“Not being secular in this country is the worst kind of crime you can do as a patriot”
“If you are a patriot, you must love your country as a whole, not parts of it as religions and regions”
“It is very degrading and humiliating to have to prove my patriotism. I am an Indian-born movie star. I am an Indian-born Indian. I am Indian – how does that get questioned? Nobody has more right to live in this country than me, and I am not going to leave. So shut up”
I don’t agree with him when he says:
There is growing intolerance in the country.
First of all,we don’t have any device to measure the levels of growing intolerance in the country.We assume that intolerance has been growing becoz we are made to see intolerance has been growing.Today,we live in a country where we have so many TV news channel,newspapers,magazines.And how many of them are really worth commendable? Hardly any.They say,Media is the the fourth pillar in Democracy but in India media is the biggest pillar of Hypocrisy.They glorify incidents like the Dadri muder case or riots taking place here and there or a provoking statement by some unknown VHP member like Sadhvi Prachi(who is’nt even a part of the central govt. by any means) and put the blame on Modi somehow?
Did they ever show the good work that RSS volunteers do for the country,they are always presented as “Muslim eating evils” in the media.
Did they ever glorify any positive news that has come out? NO
This media and specially these Aajtak,abp news kind of channels is making people believe that it is all going really vicious here.To get TRPs they have to do this.People like to follow a debate or a programme which makes them polarize.People are interested in seeing representatives fighting on the news channel panels.They don’t like to watch a nice,plain TV reporting without a hint of sensationalism for ex: How many of you really watch the news on Doordarshan?
Trust me,watch their news sometimes..India will look a much better place.
And I was really shocked when i read that srk will return his padmashree for this?
Really ridiculous to be honest.He agreed to return this prestigious award,just for the sake of some congress led movement?
Congress and its allies have no other areas to oppose the central govt.India is doing reasonably well on economic fronts.Even when economy of a country like China stumbled,India’s economy kept on doing well.So these opposition parties have no other topics to oppose the govt.SO they have shamelessly come up with this intolerance card just to polarize the people,create their vote bank which was absolutely NIL in the last Loksabha elections.Not saying that the BJP Govt. is flawless in their journey so far..There are certain issues which needs to be addressed.FTII issue being one of them.
Do read this : https://www.quora.com/Is-India-the-safest-and-best-place-for-Muslims-Can-Hindus-be-considered-as-most-tolerant-people-towards-other-religious-beliefs
look how intolerant the comments of the people here against srk saying the truth and you will realize that srk was right
schizophrenic people say srk bought awards then they say he shouldnt return them back lol
@Rajesh. The same Akki you talking about does not use dubious channels to promote his movies can do other cheap things.
Except from Ronit Roy on Akki liaising with fight director in boss to chop off Ronits fight scene sothat he gets to beat Ronit more in movie boss in an interview with anupama chopra.
“Before I use to hear Akshay was fond of influencing directors to chop off other people’s roles in his movies but I believed it when during Boss movie shooting Akshay had to meet the fight director to chop off my role in a fight scenewith him” how pathetic and arrogant of him. His other contemparies superstar of his generation hardly do that except him. And people call him action hero. Coward like him. @indicine pls publish this one then.
@Aunt : Just shut up. Don’t use this as your weapon against SRK. You moron have to cry on every SRK article, no matter what’s the subject.
GROW UP !!!!
@Sameer 07:49 pm : Do you know the meaning of ‘Right of speech’ ? As far as I know , current government has not proposed any amendment in constitution, which will snatch the ‘right of speech’ from a common man. Nor we have observed any such incident recently, where someone was stopped to express him/herself. Then what makes you to think as if there is no ‘right to speech’ in our country ?
@chuhe 07:51 pm : Don’t show your hypocrisy. It’s not like you are sympathised with SRK, but currently BJP/Modi hater in you, is speaking. Where were you when criminal fans and your very own Naveena aunt were making fun of SRK when he was detained at US airport? Then also he took his stand for millions of Muslims who face such discrimination in US/UK. Your support and hate is based on your comfort level. Isn’t it?
@Sunny chachi 08:20 pm : When he says ’18 hours of work’, he talks about some hectic scheutand not like he works complete 365 days for 18 hours. Don’t talk rubbish.