Much ado about nothing

Shahrukh Khan arrested and detained  for suspicious behaviour. If you assumed that I’m talking about the recent ‘detainment’ of SRK at Newark International Airport, you are wrong. The arrest I’m talking about is in fact a part of the story of an upcoming Bollywood film.  And guess what, it stars none other but the mighty Shahrukh Khan himself. A mere coincidence? You decide.

Of course, I would be exaggerating if I say the Baadshah of Bollywood planned the ‘detainment’ in advance as a publicity stunt for ‘My Name is Khan‘, his next movie which follows a Muslim’s tribulations in post 9/11 America. You don’t have to pass through the immigration checks at Newark or travel to the USA to realize the ‘torture’ faced by the actor is something every Asian, Muslims in particular have long  faced. But to make such hue and cry about it was absolute shame. Whether you like it or not, these checks have prevented possible security violations.

Shahrukh couldn’t have asked for a better promotion for the film. He was simply in the right place in the right time. He is possibly the best person to know how to handle the media in the right way to hios own advantages. Now all he has to do is to wait for the media to highlight the similarity of the film to this real-life event faced bu the star of the film himself.  He may have shed crocodile tears and threatened ‘never to set foot in the US again’. But at the end of the day he is Bollywood’s biggest star and a big percentage of his moolah comes from overseas, in particular North America. Not just that, the whole incident also would also increase awareness about him among the Americans, probably even land him a future Hollywood role.

Shahrukh should learn a lesson or two from former President APJ Abdul Kalam. He kept his mouth shut and did not want up to stir a controversy after the ‘mistreatment’ meted out to him by an American airline. Be it SRK or Kalam, they are no different from the common man. They may have done great deeds but that doesn’t mean they get special treatment wherever they go. Very few Indians are aware of the fact that even former American Vice President Al Gore was checked after he inadvertently bypassed security. Unlike SRK, he made no fuss about it and politely went through the check.

In BJP’s Karnataka, ‘Obscenity’, not beating up of women, a crime

 Seriously, how many times do we have to go through this? The Bangalore police arrested a 100 odd gang of late night party revellers. They were booked for violating excise laws by selling liquor. Fair enough. But why the hell were they booked for ‘Public obscenity’. I mean, was it not a private party? The young men and women were not dancing in the middle of Brigade road, were they? They were just chilling out having fun at a private party organised at a private farmhouse by private people. How then does the word ‘public’ creep into all this? Is dancing in a disco an obscenity as well?

If you remember it seemed like a lifetime before for our own  ’Mr. Culture’, Pramod Muthalik was arrested, this despite pictures of his group beating up innocent girls  at a pub being splashed all over national television. The irony was Muthalik was not arrested for the pub attacks, but for some inflammatory speech he made sometime back. The attack happened in broad daylight and still the police couldn’t ‘positively’ identify the attackers. However the Karnataka police were quick to arrest the revellers even as early as 4am in the morning for partying.

MJ’s Islam switch just a publicity stunt

Disgraced pop-icon Michael Jackson has converted to Islam, and has changed his name to Mikael. How many times have we seen spoilt celebrities do this sort of cheap publicity? Islam is a great religion and I have a great deal of respect for it as well as numerous other people who have converted to the religion. But the truth is many of these celebrities are embracing the religion without actually knowing or realising the values and responsibilities that come along with it. Jackson may well have been acquitted from charges of child abuses, but the society at large has still not forgiven him. He is only trying to divert attention and even possibly garner some leniency from his fans and other people by doing this.