SRK Detained and Humiliated at Newark Airport

[coffee_rules]

it isnt about delay.but he was detained.he wasn't even allowed to make a phone call.do u realise how hurting is that? nowhere has he said its happening coz of his surname,he said that the officer said that he was stopped because of his surname.it was the officer who said this to SRK. wats wrong with pakistanis vouching for him?he is popular there as well. he said that the procedure should be better,thats just an opinion n he is free to have opinions lol he has no family n frenz in US,so he goes there for work ,which involves his fans,wats wrong again

It was not a solitary detainment. All abnormal cases, will be put in a court like room and processed in first-in-first-out basis. So, there were people ahead of him in the room hearing their cases. So, the delay. Now, why was he consider abnormal, do you want them give a reason. They will pull 1000s of such people based on some hunch. It is profiling or not, just because he is SRK, why should there be any leniancy? He is felling bad because he was treated like anordinary person. Oh, how dare they!

[triam]

people like Emran Hashmi and SRK....using their minority flag anytime a problem pops up.............use the victim card.... which might give them a free pass in India under Sonia "italian" Gandhi's govt but NOT in US

Dude minority card is played all the time in the US too, sometimes right and sometimes wrong, same is the case here, not everybody who complains they are discriminated are playing the minority card, and not everyone who plays the minority card is discriminated. the Shah rukh case belongs to the latter category here.

[King Tendulkar]

Difficult to play minority card in USA as they don't give a monkeys:haha: In UK the " Its all happening to me cos I am a muslim" card is being played all the time, sadly with a lot of sucess. India and UK remind me a lot in their desperation to appease minorities, although obviously India is a lot worse in this respect. I mean for gods sake a muslim in India can have more then one wife under seprate rules for them. I mean WTF:blink:

[coffee_rules]

The Bollywood Show money is illgotten and was scrutinized. That explains the detention. Saale ko Gitmo mein bandh karna tha. He wouldn't have done another show anywhere in the world. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Heat on SRK was because of scanner on Bollywood shows Chidanand Rajghatta, TNN 21 August 2009, 12:24am IST Print Email Discuss Bookmark/Share Save Comment Text Size: | WASHINGTON: The US Customs and Border Protection's extra scrutiny of megastar Shah Rukh Khan was triggered by Bollywood's showbiz having come under the scanner of law enforcement authorities and intelligence agencies for dodgy financial transactions and alleged underworld links. Khan was questioned closely by CBP agents on his arrival at Newark's Liberty International Airport last week with emphasis on ascertaining his local US contacts and engagements, an episode that caused an uproar in India, mainly in elite circles. It transpires that Khan was visiting the US primarily for Bollywood shows in Chicago and Houston promoted by brothers Farhath Hussain and Altaf Hussain, with few other local promoters, some of whom are on the radar of authorities in UK, US and India. Although there was no red flag against Shah Rukh Khan's name itself, it was his local contacts which triggered off the alert, accorded to sources who asked not to be identified. The situation was compounded by the non-arrival of his baggage from London, a particularly sensitive station in American eyes. US intelligence agencies have long been leery of a possible terrorist attack by Islamist extremists from a city dubbed Londonistan, particularly since British passport holders do not need a visa to enter the United States. Farhath Hussain is a London-based businessman who modestly describes himself as the "world's Number One promoter of Bollywood shows, a showbiz impresario extraordinaire." His brother Altaf Hussain is a Chicago-based businessman in the gas station industry who founded the Lake County South Asian Entertainment Inc. to tap into the Bollywood showbiz market in US after the eclipse of Vijay Taneja, a former Indian partner whose founded a company called Elite Entertainment. According to an industry insider, Farhath Hussain and Vijay Taneja had divvied up Bollywood shows in Europe and the US between then for many years. Both had promoted shows featuring Shah Rukh Khan and a number of other Bollywood stars. But Taneja was convicted in a massive mortgage fraud in the Washington DC area last year and sentence to seven years in the clink, allowing brothers Hussain to capture US territory. Incidentally, the Chicago-based Altaf Hussain bears the same name as the London-based leader of Pakistan's Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) party, another possible trigger for the CBP red flag. That Altaf Hussain, a key player in Pakistani politics who is frequently accused of sectarian violence (most notably by Imran Khan) was a cab-driver in Chicago before he eventually returned to Pakistan to found MQM to represent Mohajir interests. Taneja invested some of his ill-gotten wealth in Bollywood extravaganzas, including producing a movie starring Himmesh Reshammiya titled "Aap ka Suroor." He was $ 77 million in debt when he declared bankruptcy, a step which led to an investigation into his financial shenanigans which destroyed the lives of many home-owners in suburban Washington. Taneja is currently in prison outside Philadelphia, serving out his sentence even as the Hussain brothers are taking over Bollywood tours in US. Farhath Hussain was till recently managed Shilpa Shetty's engagements in UK but they are now said to have fallen out, but showbiz insiders credit him with widespread connections in the industry, including with many financiers, which enable him to attract top stars for his US road shows. They said Shah Rukh Khan himself was above board, being a mere pawn in the game, even though he was an acknowledged top draw commanding high fees. US officials declined to go into the specifics of the Shah Rukh Khan episode citing law enforcement sensitivities. "A lot of stuff we discuss with passenger we can't reveal because of privacy rules," CBP spokesman Elmer Camacho told ToI, while maintaining that the actor was treated with due professional courtesy and the process had not taken two hours as claimed. Comacho also pointed out the actor himself had reeled back from some of the initial comments and acknowledged that the CBP was following a laid-down procedure. Phone numbers listed for brothers Hussain and other promoters of the "South Asia Carnival" went to mailboxes which were full. Messages left to their associate Monty Syed were not returned. Meanwhile, sources who spoke to ToI described a complex web of financial transactions around Bollywood shows in the west, involving layers of players. At the top of the rung are promoters in Mumbai, who sold shows to overseas players such as Farhath Hussain and Vijay Taneja. These guys in turn sold the shows to local promoters in European and US cities, who banked on ticket sales and retail advertisers to recoup the money they spent to bid for the shows. Bollywood-starved NRIs pony up anywhere from $ 25 to $ 500 (for the priciest tickets) to see their favorite stars. Top stars, especially a crowd puller like SRK, could command as much as $ 50,000 per show. One source spoke of an actor who was paid $ 900,000 for an 18-city tour that went from Fort Lauderdale in Florida to Los Angeles, California couple of years back. "Many of these transactions are unreported...you can understand why the business is on the scanner of authorities especially because of the shadow of the underworld on the Bollywood showbiz," he said

[gs]

If this news proves to be true, rest assured, SRK will get the publicity that he is seeking so badly :cantstop:

[coffee_rules]

ANother view, SRK got into trouble for identifying himself with Pakistan along with India (South Asian). He wouldn't have been in trouble if he was Indian. Fictional, but very funny. ---------------------------------------------------- South Asian or Indian: Was larger identity at root of Shahrukh's flap? Chidanand Rajghatta, TNN 18 August 2009, 05:44am IST Print Email Discuss Bookmark/Share Save Comment Text Size: | WASHINGTON: Did Shahrukh Khan’s troubles with US customs and border personnel begin because he embraced a larger ''South Asian'' persona while forsaking his Indian identity? Well, that’s what some ardent Indian nationalists would have you believe, even as it transpires that the Bollywood star’s engagements in Chicago and Houston were at a ''South Asian Carnival'' co-hosted by Indian and Pakistani promoters. The ''carnival'' was a ticketed event ($ 25) that featured several other Bollywood stars, and included, besides the usual song and dance routines, a fashion parade and a wedding expo. In other words, not the typical Independence Day parade. In promos of the event posted online featuring Shahrukh Khan and other stars (Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Dia Mirza, Bipasha Basu) there is make no mention of celebrating India’s (or Pakistan’s) Independence Day. The event was sponsored by Indian and Pakistani companies, including Air India and Sahara One from the Indian side. In imaginative accounts of the encounter between SRK and the US customs and border personnel widely distributed online, desi nationalists, who have long rankled at the ''South Asian'' appellation (which they believe is at the cost of a distinct Indian identity) surmised the following exchange, with the suggestion that the association with Pakistan is what got Khan into trouble with American authorities: BCP: "So, Mr. Khan, what brings your here?" SRK: "Well, I have been invited to deliver a speech at the South Asia Carnival." BCP: "And what is that?" SRK" "People of South Asia come together in peace and harmony to celebrate independence day." BCP: "Ummm...South Asia. Is that a country?" SRK: "Oh! no, no! South Asia, people of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan....(BCP cuts him off!) BCP: "Pakistan, Afghanistan....Oh! Oh! Wait a minute here, dude! (turns around, whispers to the other BCP guy, "Man, this guy is ranting Pakistan, Afghanistan and something about being invited to deliver a speech, er... sermon..I dunno, but sure sounds creepy! No way, I am gonna get him in." (turns around) BCP: "Sir, I will have to ask you to step aside. Please follow the red arrows on the floor to the door. Next!" The author of this fictional exchange then goes on to ask, ''When did India's Independence Day celebrations take on a South Asian Carnival rubric? See, how easy it is for an Indian to lose his own identity and let others define it for him.'' He then goes on to present another fictional exchange that would have spared SRK the trouble. BCP: "So, Mr. Khan, what brings you here?" SRK: "I have been invited to deliver a speech at the India Independence Day celebration." BCP: "India's Independence Day?" SRK: "Yes, it is India's 63rd year of gaining Independence..." BCP: "Yes, Gandhi...democracy. Great! Welcome to America. Have a nice day." The imagined conversation revives the long simmering debate over the term ''South Asian,'' which some Indian hard-line nationalists believe is an entity devised by the west to dilute the Indian primacy. The term is common in the US, where it is adopted by many organizations founded and run by US-born Indians, such as the South Asian Bar Association (SABA), South Asian Journalists Association (SAJA) and South Asian Lesbian and Gay Association (SALGA). The nationalist expat constituency has long resented this broader rubric for the sub-continent and complained that it results in Indians needlessly having to shoulder the burden of Pakistan’s poor reputation. Similarly, some Indians in the UK rankle at the term ''Brit-Asian'' used to describe all people from the sub-continent. They believe it unfairly clubs people from India with Pakistanis. The largely unspoken view is that they would prefer to maintain their distinct identity and a distance from the Pakistanis because of the terrorism-related troubles linked to them. But Bollywood stars typically appear embrace the “South Asian” identity, partly for commercial reasons involving a large market in the region, including in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. Bollywood movies and live shows in US and Canada attract fans from all these countries. However, the unknown author of the campaign against the term South Asia signs of with the following advice for Shahrukh Khan: ''Skip the South Asia epithet...Stick to identifying yourself (proudly) as an Indian citizen only...And America would have welcomed you with open arms.''

[King Tendulkar]

This is true. Even VIPs can be criminals:--D I mean the great Khan may not be a terrorist and the authorities will know 100% this. But could have had drugs on him, a gun or any manner of things. Just cos your a celeb does not mean you can't be up to dodgy things.

Looks like I was right:--D

[Lord]

It was not a solitary detainment. All abnormal cases, will be put in a court like room and processed in first-in-first-out basis. So, there were people ahead of him in the room hearing their cases. So, the delay. Now, why was he consider abnormal, do you want them give a reason. They will pull 1000s of such people based on some hunch. It is profiling or not, just because he is SRK, why should there be any leniancy? He is felling bad because he was treated like anordinary person. Oh, how dare they!

SRK is not feeling bad coz he is treated like ordinary person.he feels bad because in his view ordinary people r not treated well n he is in a position to raise his voice.others r not,that doesnt mean US system iis right or wrong.it is his opinion only

[Lord]

BCP: "So, Mr. Khan, what brings your here?" SRK: "Well, I have been invited to deliver a speech at the South Asia Carnival." BCP: "And what is that?" SRK" "People of South Asia come together in peace and harmony to celebrate independence day." BCP: "Ummm...South Asia. Is that a country?" SRK: "Oh! no, no! South Asia, people of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan....(BCP cuts him off!)

that is absurd there is no US offficials wont know whether South Asia is a country or not

[Lord]

The Bollywood Show money is illgotten and was scrutinized. That explains the detention. Saale ko Gitmo mein bandh karna tha. He wouldn't have done another show anywhere in the world. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Heat on SRK was because of scanner on Bollywood shows Chidanand Rajghatta, TNN 21 August 2009, 12:24am IST Print Email Discuss Bookmark/Share Save Comment Text Size: | WASHINGTON: The US Customs and Border Protection's extra scrutiny of megastar Shah Rukh Khan was triggered by Bollywood's showbiz having come under the scanner of law enforcement authorities and intelligence agencies for dodgy financial transactions and alleged underworld links. Khan was questioned closely by CBP agents on his arrival at Newark's Liberty International Airport last week with emphasis on ascertaining his local US contacts and engagements, an episode that caused an uproar in India, mainly in elite circles. It transpires that Khan was visiting the US primarily for Bollywood shows in Chicago and Houston promoted by brothers Farhath Hussain and Altaf Hussain, with few other local promoters, some of whom are on the radar of authorities in UK, US and India. Although there was no red flag against Shah Rukh Khan's name itself, it was his local contacts which triggered off the alert, accorded to sources who asked not to be identified. The situation was compounded by the non-arrival of his baggage from London, a particularly sensitive station in American eyes. US intelligence agencies have long been leery of a possible terrorist attack by Islamist extremists from a city dubbed Londonistan, particularly since British passport holders do not need a visa to enter the United States. Farhath Hussain is a London-based businessman who modestly describes himself as the "world's Number One promoter of Bollywood shows, a showbiz impresario extraordinaire." His brother Altaf Hussain is a Chicago-based businessman in the gas station industry who founded the Lake County South Asian Entertainment Inc. to tap into the Bollywood showbiz market in US after the eclipse of Vijay Taneja, a former Indian partner whose founded a company called Elite Entertainment. According to an industry insider, Farhath Hussain and Vijay Taneja had divvied up Bollywood shows in Europe and the US between then for many years. Both had promoted shows featuring Shah Rukh Khan and a number of other Bollywood stars. But Taneja was convicted in a massive mortgage fraud in the Washington DC area last year and sentence to seven years in the clink, allowing brothers Hussain to capture US territory. Incidentally, the Chicago-based Altaf Hussain bears the same name as the London-based leader of Pakistan's Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) party, another possible trigger for the CBP red flag. That Altaf Hussain, a key player in Pakistani politics who is frequently accused of sectarian violence (most notably by Imran Khan) was a cab-driver in Chicago before he eventually returned to Pakistan to found MQM to represent Mohajir interests. Taneja invested some of his ill-gotten wealth in Bollywood extravaganzas, including producing a movie starring Himmesh Reshammiya titled "Aap ka Suroor." He was $ 77 million in debt when he declared bankruptcy, a step which led to an investigation into his financial shenanigans which destroyed the lives of many home-owners in suburban Washington. Taneja is currently in prison outside Philadelphia, serving out his sentence even as the Hussain brothers are taking over Bollywood tours in US. Farhath Hussain was till recently managed Shilpa Shetty's engagements in UK but they are now said to have fallen out, but showbiz insiders credit him with widespread connections in the industry, including with many financiers, which enable him to attract top stars for his US road shows. They said Shah Rukh Khan himself was above board, being a mere pawn in the game, even though he was an acknowledged top draw commanding high fees. US officials declined to go into the specifics of the Shah Rukh Khan episode citing law enforcement sensitivities. "A lot of stuff we discuss with passenger we can't reveal because of privacy rules," CBP spokesman Elmer Camacho told ToI, while maintaining that the actor was treated with due professional courtesy and the process had not taken two hours as claimed. Comacho also pointed out the actor himself had reeled back from some of the initial comments and acknowledged that the CBP was following a laid-down procedure. Phone numbers listed for brothers Hussain and other promoters of the "South Asia Carnival" went to mailboxes which were full. Messages left to their associate Monty Syed were not returned. Meanwhile, sources who spoke to ToI described a complex web of financial transactions around Bollywood shows in the west, involving layers of players. At the top of the rung are promoters in Mumbai, who sold shows to overseas players such as Farhath Hussain and Vijay Taneja. These guys in turn sold the shows to local promoters in European and US cities, who banked on ticket sales and retail advertisers to recoup the money they spent to bid for the shows. Bollywood-starved NRIs pony up anywhere from $ 25 to $ 500 (for the priciest tickets) to see their favorite stars. Top stars, especially a crowd puller like SRK, could command as much as $ 50,000 per show. One source spoke of an actor who was paid $ 900,000 for an 18-city tour that went from Fort Lauderdale in Florida to Los Angeles, California couple of years back. "Many of these transactions are unreported...you can understand why the business is on the scanner of authorities especially because of the shadow of the underworld on the Bollywood showbiz," he said

if thats the case then they should have also detained Katrina Kaif who was travelling with SRK,why only him

[King Tendulkar]

if thats the case then they should have also detained Katrina Kaif who was travelling with SRK' date='why only him[/quote'] One minute they get criticiised for questioning indian bollywood stars, now they get critiicised for not questioning more of them:hysterical: The US officials are in a no win situation here. Why not leave them alone and let them get on with protecting American citizens!

[Lord]

One minute they get criticiised for questioning indian bollywood stars, now they get critiicised for not questioning more of them:hysterical: The US officials are in a no win situation here. Why not leave them alone and let them get on with protecting American citizens!

wat i meant is IF they have reason to question one star why not question all?why the selectiveness?

[nikred]

wat i meant is IF they have reason to question one star why not question all?why the selectiveness?

There have not been many female terrorists. :dontknow:

[Lord]

There have not been many female terrorists. :dontknow:

u mean SRK was seen as a potential terrorist?:haha: read postt# 251.it a different matter

[seedhi]

wat i meant is IF they have reason to question one star why not question all?why the selectiveness?

Probably because Katrina Kaif has not been to the US as many times as SRK has come to Bollywood functions and he would know the organizers better. SRK is also a businessman, not just an entertainer.

[nikred]

u mean SRK was seen as a potential terrorist?:haha: read postt# 251.it a different matter

wow.....I surely am lagging behind. :P

[Lord]

Probably because Katrina Kaif has not been to the US as many times as SRK has come to Bollywood functions and he would know the organizers better. SRK is also a businessman' date=' not just an entertainer.[/quote'] might be,but Saif Ali Khan,Kareena,Bipasha also went there n had no problems,they must have known the organisers too

[King Tendulkar]

might be' date='but Saif Ali Khan,Kareena,Bipasha also went there n had no problems,they must have known the organisers too[/quote'] Maybe SRK is up to dodgy stuff and they are not. You are not privy to USA information and what they have on MR KHAN:--D

[Macj]

SRK is a tool, they did interrogate him but because of his nefarious underworld connection and activities, they also asked him about funding sources for his Bollywood movies. Coming to think of it, I want to know how much of Indian money ends up in Paki hands (Dawood). Basically he was asked questions our dickface sleuths couldnt or wouldnt.

[gs]

SRK is a tool, they did interrogate him but because of his nefarious underworld connection and activities, they also asked him about funding sources for his Bollywood movies. Coming to think of it, I want to know how much of Indian money ends up in Paki hands (Dawood). Basically he was asked questions our dickface sleuths couldnt or wouldnt.

Absolutely!!