Posts Tagged ‘Shahrukh Khan’

h1

The Worlds Favorite Khan, Pathan

February 10, 2023

I don’t watch a lot of Shahrukh Khan movies but when I do, I post about it.

Shahrukh Khan is a polarizing figure, (funny to say that since he’s one of the most famous movie stars in the world) but amongst those I know, people either love, or completely dislike his acting style and movies.

I fall in neither camp, I enjoy a good Hindi movie and he’s been the star of a couple I feel alright about and some that I could never finish, but he hasn’t starred in any of my favorites (in case you’re wondering, my favorites are Dil Dhadakne Do & Kapoor & Sons – both on Netflix)

Shahrukh Khan 2023

And something I’ve thought a lot about over the years is the age-old dilemma: should you separate art from the artist? It’s a question we ask ourselves when a famous person whose work we may have liked, is problematic, like Kanye West, or Pablo Picasso. But what about the reverse – when the artist, in this case Shahrukh Khan, seems to be an all-around upstanding person and his art is something you feel tepid about at best?

Weeping Woman 1937.
My favorite Picasso painting. This is Dora Maar, a successful artist in her own right, also one of his many muses. Safe to say, she struggled in separating the art from the artist.

Well, I decided this past weekend that SRK has been a near flawless ambassador of Hindi cinema for decades, arguably the most famous man in India today, and still, his son was unjustly thrown in jail in a heinous show of unwarranted collective punishment after SRK voiced concern for growing intolerance in the context of religiosity in his country. So, I did not separate art from the artist and decided to support this mans comeback movie, Pathan.

I strolled into the theater last weekend with this intent and low expectations, although a friend’s review did spur my curiosity. I dislike action movies in general (only two exceptions Tom Cruise’s first Mission Impossible and Harrison Fords the Fugitive) mostly because I flinch and cringe at most “action” scenes but let me just say, despite flinching through very disturbing action sequences in Pathan, I found myself otherwise smiling and walked out of the theater a newly minted Shahrukh Khan fan.

Why? Because this is the first time SRK looked like he, pardon the slang, DGAF. It’s the first time I’ve seen him outside of a romantic lead role; he’s a spy master. He’s a full tilt action hero with Iron Man-esque jet packs, Jason Bourne fight moves every 15 minutes and consuming low-fat Yogurt while casually strategizing world class heists a la Brad Pitt in Oceans 11.

He is incredible as Pathan and I don’t say this because of his flowy hair and 8 pack abs, but because it’s the first time we see him not eager to please. He’s not here desperate to please a woman’s unyielding family, he’s not here solely to please his dogmatic parents, he’s not even pleasing his handlers as a spy. He’s his own man, on a mission to do right by everyone for the sheer sake of upholding justice. Everyone else be damned, this SRK came to play.

The story is over the top, the CGI’s are weak, the gratuitous violence is extremely difficult to watch, but the screenplay and direction are great and the cast is incredible (John Abraham, Dimple Kapadia and Deepika are fantastic). SRK carries the movie with a mesmerizing nonchalance as Pathan and does such a phenomenal job as a spy master and it makes for a rollicking watch.

Plus, in the context of this being his big comeback movie, I’m here for it being splashy and over the top. It’s meta – it’s a guy who was swiftly torn down by conservatives for supporting secularism, went on hiatus, and comes back with a roar to say you can’t stop me and I’m going to break box office records in Hindi cinema on a movie where I double down on those very progressive values you tore me down for.

So here’s to Bollywood; Aditya Chopra, Yash Raj Films, Siddharth Aanand, Sridhar Raghavan and Abbas Tyrewala. You brought out the best in Shahrukh Khan after his 3 decades in acting, and brought millions of moviegoers sheer joy in a smorgasbord of a film. If ever a country did soft power right, it’s India through Bollywood. Because when Bollywood gets it right, it’s really something special and we’re lucky India shares her artistry with the whole world.

Posted in Culture, South Asia, Totally Random | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

h1

Unfair & Unlovely

May 28, 2010

OMG Shahrukh Khan "Fair & Handsome" - Seriously?

OMG Shahrukh Khan "Fair & Handsome" - Seriously?!

I’ve very intentionally avoided this subject despite its relevancy to South Asia, but it’s close to summertime and now that Shah Rukh Khan is involved it’s borderline political, so it’s within my jurisdiction.

“Fair and Lovely” face cream is so pervasive in “desi” culture that it’s a household name amongst both Resident and non Resident Pakistani’s. International diplomats, the United Nations, countless non profits have all failed to get India and Pakistan to agree on nukes, trade, cricket, religion (the list goes on) but when it comes to the primal issues of attraction, both have consistently been on the same page. Visit the Fair and Lovely website and you’re confronted with images of a woman’s face growing progressively lighter and the slogan: “Gorepan se kahin ziyada SAAF GORAPAN”  Translation: “Even more Whiteness than Whiteness”. I kid you not, that is an accurate translation literally and contextually speaking, and yes despite this, we are still in the 21’st Century.

So this week Shahrukh Khan’s face is seen promoting the creams male counterpart, “Fair and Handsome”. The Telegraph reports “despite doubts of the effectiveness, the sight of Khan’s chiseled features endorsing the cream has angered campaigners, who say it’s “racist” to promote lighter skin as superior”

Shahid Afridi's Pretty Chiseled

Shahid Afridi's Pretty Chiseled

Alright, first off Shah Rukh Khan doesn’t from any angle I can see have “chiseled” features. Shahid Afridi is more chiseled than him. But, that’s besides the point and doesn’t invalidate the fact that billions of men and women around the world idolize Khan and find him very attractive, hence the lakhs of rupees I’m sure he’s receiving for this endorsement. But with such immense fame, comes responsibility and his endorsement of Fair & Handsome cream is justifiably being labeled “racist” by angry campaigners.

I grew up in California where girls lay out in the sunshine all summer to quite frankly, try and get skin like mine. When sunshine isn’t an option, they confine themselves into what are nothing shortof human frying pans, lids closed in tanning beds as they do their best to maintain my shade of golden brown all year long. So it’s no surprise that I love my mocha skin. Always have. I wouldn’t change it for anything. Tan skin is part and parcel of being a Californian. Just listen to Katy Perry or the Beach Boys. In this part of the world, tan has always been undeniably sexy.

Maria & Zainab - Perfect Beach tans ;)

Zainab & Maria - Perfect Beach tans

Which is why the angered campaigners in India are correct in denouncing the Shah Rukh Khan endorsement; it perpetuates an unhealthy, yes racist fascination with fair skin. The reason it’s racist while the the girls in California wallowing in tanning beds isn’t is because “Fair & Lovely” occurs in a post-colonial context. You’d think that as oppressed subjects having suffered and struggled to fight of massive injustices of colonialism until Partition wherein India severed itself into two as a result (the birth of Pakistan) looking like the oppressor would be unpopular. But instead fair skin is the ultimate desire in desi land, and it’s mind boggling because European skin tones are not naturally attainable in South Asia.

Sure evolutionary biology will tell you that humans are innately attracted to beautiful people. According to biologists, we’re attracted to relatively youthful characteristics because they’re indicative of heightened fertility (i.e. lustrous hair, hourglass figures, large eyes and clear skin) but a preference for skin color really is only skin deep. South Asians naturally have darker skin and there’s no reason it should be touted as inferior.

Out of chance I happened to have grown up in a particular part of the West that values darker skin, but had I lived in Pakistan I might not have been so lucky. It’s a sad realization, because skin color is not in our control, which is why it’s problematic when corporations like Fair and Lovely seize control in attempt to create preferences where none should exist. They’re preying on insecurities to peddle their products which is done by all advertisers, but this one goes too far because it’s racist.

Shame on Shah Rukh Khan for endorsing Fair & Handsome cream; it’s not a “fair” or “handsome” move on his part.  It’s Unfair and Ugly.

Posted in India Pakistan, Pakistan, Totally Random | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments »

h1

“Routine” Detention of King Khan

August 24, 2009

Shahrukh Khan, one of the most famous men in the world was detained in New Jersey last week and thinks it was because of his Muslim surname. I don’t condone unreasonably preferential treatment for megastars, but something is amiss when terms like “Islamaphobia” and “Racial Profiling” are internationally understood within an American context.

Until this story, I only knew friends travelling to and from countries officially designated as “Islamic” like, Pakistan, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates who sometimes felt they’re racially profiled at airports. But this story reveals a string of “Indian officials and celebrities have been treated poorly by American immigration officials. Continental Airlines staff at Delhi frisked Former Indian President, APJ Abdul Kalam; then-sitting Indian Defense Minister George Fernandes was “strip-searched” at Dulles Airport in 2003; and Bollywood stars Irfan Khan, Aamir Khan, Salman Khan, John Abraham, and Neil Nitin Mukesh have all been detained by Homeland Security”.   It’s quite a list actually. You hitch together Islamophobia apparently “Run Amok“, the staggering number of news stories on “Us airports racial profiling”  since 2001 with this string of prominent cases (thus not counting everyday citizens) from the second most populated country in the planet, and I think we might have a problem.

Travelling from Vegas last year, as I handed my pass to board a flight back to DC I was stopped and asked to wait aside for reasons not disclosed. Four French nationals were told the same. As all the other passengers boarded, we waited for at least 15 minutes and were given no explanation for being pulled aside. Eventually a burly looking woman and imperturbable looking man in black security garb arrived and said we were to be frisked. One of the French nationals and I asked why this was necessary after having already cleared regular security to which they responded,  it’s just “routine”. The response  doesn’t qualify as a logical answer to the question, but neither guard seemed interested in engaging in sound argumentation: futility kept me from trying to get an accurate response. The burly one frisked me and a French female who had a duffle bag much larger and fuller than my over the shoulder  bag. She didn’t search the French female’s duffle, but mine was searched at length despite having been through X-ray and manual security beforehand. I watched her tinker with my book, pens, makeup pouch, stuffed toy, and laptop and mentioned to her: “You forgot to check the other girl’s bag”. She said “what?” I repeated my comment as she re-fastened my bag and handed it back to me. I walked away as she started to answer figuring a response was likely to include the word “routine” and leave any reasonable person dissatisfied.

Homeland Securities explanation to Shahrukh Khan was identical: his treatment was “routine”. But Khan said he felt “humiliated” and in saying “we should not be treated on the basis of our color or nationality” made clear that he felt racially profiled. In my experience, I didn’t feel humiliated although I was dissatisfied, because as an American national, the only variable for which I received a more in depth check than the French female, was aapparently my race. It was discriminatory, and it didn’t feel nice.

I’m not vouching for less security necessarily, but it’s time a solution is explored if these “routine” searches/detentions are increasingly discriminatory extending to variables such as race, religious affiliation and nationality. We live in too rapidly a globalizing world for the United States to come across as unwelcoming.

Posted in Current Affairs, International Affairs, Religion & Society, South Asia | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »