JOIN USI don't look like a terrorist: Khan
Even after he identified himself as an actor who had shot several movies in the US and requested the officials to allow him to speak to his contacts there, Shar Rukh Khan said he was not allowed to make calls initially.
“They said calls are not allowed. But, later they said I can make one. Then I sent messages to my secretary, my home and (Congress MP Rajiv) Shukla,” he said.
Shukla informed the Indian Embassy in Washington, which immediately contacted the authorities and secured his release.
King Khan said there were some immigration officials who knew him and vouched for him but declined to entertain his plea, saying they had to follow rules.
“I have always been worried about travelling to America. I shy away from all this. I do not look like a terrorist. I did feel bad. I felt angry. I am glad my family was not there. God knows what they would have done to them,”he said.
It was not the first time such an incident had happened to him.
In April, former president A P J Abdul Kalam was frisked by officials of the American carrier Continental Airlines in New Delhi, leading to a huge uproar in Parliament.
Khan referred to the incident, and said: “I have extra security because of my name. I can handle this, but when you have someone as respectable as an ex-president getting frisked, I am nobody.”
Actor Irrfan Khan also faced a similar problem last year in US despite his global fame following the success of ‘Slumdog Millionaire’.
