Feels He Was Singled Out For His Surname Chidanand Rajghatta & Bharati Dubey | TNN (THE TIMES OF INDIA; August 16, 2009)

Washington/Mumbai: “My name is Khan.’’ “Oh it is, is it? Step aside please.’’

The way it was related, that might well have been the opening exchange between Shah Rukh Khan and an unnamed, uniformed, superempowered US immigration official who had no idea (and didn’t care) that the man in front of him was the star of a film by the same name (My Name Is Khan), much less that he was a universal Bollywood icon.

SRK was asked to step aside for a ‘secondary inspection’ at Newark airport near New York in the early hours of Saturday (India time)—en route to an event to celebrate India’s Independence Day in Chicago—after his name “flashed on the computer screen”.

“I told them I was a movie star who had recently visited the US to shoot my film, and that I was here to attend an event,’’ Khan told TOI. “But nothing seemed to convince the immigration officer. Other officers and the Jet Airways staff vouched for me but this particular officer did not listen to anyone.’’ Evidently, even the fans seeking Khan’s autograph made no impression on the officer.

His hand baggage was inspected and he was taken to a room “with about 20 people” where he was questioned for almost two hours—about the purpose of his visit, the names and phone numbers of the event organisers, why he was carrying “so much cash” ($1500), which films he had acted in, why his checked-in baggage More >