[Assam] [assam] Fans Denounce King Khan After A Public Brawl

[bhuban.baruah]

New York Times (May 18, 2012)

Fans Denouce King Khan After A Public Brawl
By SRUTHI GOTTIPATI

Indranil Mukherjee/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Bollywood actor and Indian Premier League franchise Kolkata Knight 
Riders co-owner Shah Rukh Khan, in a black shirt, gestures towards a 
security guard after the Indian Premier League Twenty20 cricket match 
between Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders at the Wankhede 
Stadium, Mumbai, May 17, 2012.

Indians love Bollywood, the term used for the Hindi film industry. And 
Indians love cricket.

But when the two clash, you have a sequence right out of a Bollywood 
potboiler.

Shah Rukh Khan, one of Bollywood’s leading men and owner of a cricket 
team, the Kolkata Knight Riders, is accused of abusing and assaulting 
security guards after his team won a game against the Mumbai Indians 
team, in an Indian Premier League cricket match on Wednesday night.

Mr. Khan denied assaulting the security guards and said they had pushed 
around his children at the stadium. Cricket officials, however, have 
filed a complaint to the police against him and have sought to ban him 
from the stadium.

India Ink hit the streets of Mumbai to find out what people in the 
city, home to Bollywood, and host to Wednesday’s game in which the home 
team lost, made of the “scuffle.”

“It must be a stunt,” said Udit Mohite, an 18-year-old playing cricket 
with other teenagers at Oval Maidan on Thursday afternoon. As he took 
his turn to bat, he said he supports cricket officials in the tussle.

His views were shared by Riddish Bhatkal, who was fielding in the same 
game.

“As owner of the Kolkata Knight Riders, he has some responsibilities,” 
said Mr. Bhatkal, 18, a college student, noting that Mr. Khan wasn’t 
demonstrating the propriety expected of a cricket team owner. A fan of 
the rival Mumbai Indians cricket team, Mr. Bhatkal, sporting checked 
cutoffs, said Mr. Khan isn’t his favorite actor, either. He prefers 
Aamir Khan, another Bollywood star unrelated to Mr. Khan.

At the Regal movie theatre at Colaba, a couple of Bollywood fans popped 
out after watching the latest offering (which didn’t star Mr. Khan). 
But Mr. Khan, often considered the king of Bollywood, didn’t appear to 
find much support here either.

Mr. Khan’s behavior “is totally bad for cricket,” said Pradeep Shimpi, 
23, who supports the Mumbai Indians team, saying he’s not surprised the 
star got into a brawl. “It’s expected from him.”

His colleague, Nikhila Kasle, 25, standing outside the movie theater, 
poked him playfully. “You can’t blame him for that,” she said. 
“Somebody must have done something to provoke him.”

Confessing that she’s a loyal fan of Mr. Khan, Ms. Kasle said he might 
have an “attitude” but quickly adds that it’s a personality trait that 
comes with stardom.

Outside the Wankhede Stadium, where the cricket match was held on 
Wednesday evening, a Mumbai Cricket Association official was far more 
brusque about the actor’s behavior.

“We don’t want such people on the cricket ground,” said Ravi Savant.