Mumbai, August 15
Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan said he felt angry and humiliated after he was detained and questioned at a US airport sparking an uproar in India among his fans. Khan, 43, one of India’s best-known actors, was en route to Chicago for a parade to mark the Indian Independence Day on Saturday when he was pulled aside at Newark airport on Friday, he said.

“I was really hassled perhaps because of my name being Khan. These guys just wouldn’t let me through,” he said in a text message to mediapersons in India. After a couple of hours’ interrogation, he was allowed to make a call, he said, and he got in touch with the Indian consulate, who vouched for him and secured his release.

“I felt angry and humiliated,” said Khan, who had just finished a month-long shoot in the United States for his upcoming film ‘My Name is Khan’, which is about a Muslim man’s experience with racial profiling.

A US consul official in India told a television channel they were inquiring into the matter.

Last month, US-based carrier Continental Airlines apologised to former Indian President APJ Abdul Kalam for frisking him at New Delhi airport. In a same incident, George Fernandes, who was the then Defence Minister, was forced by US security officials to remove his shirt and shoes and made to undergo check at an airport in Washington when he was there on an official visit a few years ago. This had led to a furore in India. — Agencies

New Delhi, August 15
India has taken up with the US Embassy here the issue of Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan being detained and questioned at Newark airport. “The matter was taken up with the US Embassy,” an External Affairs Ministry spokesman said soon after the reports about detention of the actor reached here. He said the American mission was ascertaining full facts about the incident.

US Ambassador to India Timothy J Roemer, meanwhile, said, in a statement, “We are trying to ascertain the facts of the case - to understand what took place.” Describing Shah Rukh Khan as a “global icon”, Roemer said, adding that, “He is a very welcome guest in the US. Many Americans love his films.”