Happy Birthday SRK — A Birthday Boy India is Proud Of
It is almost two years Aryan Khan was hogging headlines for all the wrong reasons.
He was being hounded as the spoilt brat son of the Bollywood Badshah.
Well, Bollywood is an easy target of the right-wing these days — it stands for all that they stand against. Emancipated women, increasing role of talent than bloodline to make it big, validation by the market, and themes which are integrating.
And of course the Khans. And Shah Rukh Khan is the king among them, the Badshah.
Fast forward to today. Aryan Khan, who lost almost a month of his life in custody has been completely exonerated. The hero of the right-wing, who trended #isupportsameerwankhede, is now a much disgraced IRS officer, and I am sure his downhill is yet to pick steam.
The entire operation, the witch hunt, and the shady witnesses with the shady officer who had an unhealthy appetite to trap celebrities (and whose own life is murky with questionable caste benefits, and drug accusations against his sister), are now in the gutter.
And Shah Rukh is back, with two back-to-back INR 1,000 crore plus blockbusters. And in this entire ordeal, he followed the law and kept quiet. With only his work and dignity to speak for himself.
And this again shows, for all the hate that was dished out to SRK, he had much much more love. From common Indians, who have no agenda, but just the country and its people.
From people who matter. People saw his dignity, his poise, and his love for his country.
When his son was harassed by the authorities to send a message, he maintained silence — which is maintained even today. It is difficult, especially when the world wants to know your view.
Many like me would have left the country with a fraction of the pain and with non-existent love beyond our small circle. Millions would have lapped up SRK and his family if he ever decided to move on. We also learned about his family — how his grandfather fought for independence, or how his family decided to choose India over Pakistan.
We went through his old interviews, his quips — and realized again how he can dish out profound insights in a very playful way. All this while we also saw the so-called nationalists from Hollywood — the Ranaut, the Agnihotri, the Kher, the Chouhan, the Rawal; and the class of SRK was ever more visible vis a vis the crass.
We as a country are lucky that it is the Janmabhumi and Karmabhumi of Shah Rukh Khan. We should cherish and celebrate it.
And pray that the best is yet to come.
Happy birthday Badshah.
