Bollywood rallies for Shah Rukh Khan’s son, Aryan Khan, and calls his bail denial a travesty

Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan’s bail application was denied by a special Mumbai court on Wednesday. Arbaaz Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha’s bail applications were also denied. Twelve other people arrested in connection with the cruise ship investigation have also applied for bail. The NCB has filed its responses, and Special Judge VV Patil will start hearing the other accused’s arguments tomorrow. Aryan, 23, is being held at Mumbai’s Arthur Road prison after being apprehended by the NCB on October 2 following an alleged cocaine bust from a cruise ship off the Mumbai coast. Aryan’s lawyer said that though the detailed order of Special Judge VV Patil is awaited, they plan to “appeal to the Bombay High Court today or tomorrow seeking bail”.

In earlier developments, Khan has been moved to a common jail cell after his COVID-19 results came back negative, reported Indian news agency ANI on October 14. Nitin Waychal, the superintendent of Arthur Road Jail told ANI, “Aryan Khan and five others shifted to the common cell from quarantine barrack in the jail after their COVID report came negative.”

Reacting to the earlier bail reservation, Mrs Funnybones, Twinkle Khanna commented on Aryan Khan’s arrest by writing that it reminded her of an episode of ‘Squid Game’. ‘I need some heavy-duty psychotropic substances to make sense of this development,’ she wrote. In an Instagram post, Khanna shared a portion of her blog post titled, ‘Let the desi Squid Games begin’. Citing the example from one of the episodes of the popular South Korean drama, she wrote, “Each player is given ten marbles and must get their opponent’s marbles by competing in any game of their choosing. In this episode, one of the strongest candidates is badgered and ultimately bamboozled into losing his marbles. I seem to have misplaced mine as well when I read the news about Shah Rukh Khan’s son’s arrest.” Twinkle Khanna found it unfair that Aryan has been in jail for two weeks without any evidence against him, “While his friend was apparently carrying 6 gm of charas, there is reportedly no evidence of possession by Aryan Khan. Yet, the young boy has been languishing in Arthur Road jail for almost two weeks now.”

Sanjay Gupta posted in response to a Hindustan Times message posted on twitter: “Suspicious arrest, no drugs found on him, no traces in his blood and yet he spends 18 days in jail. Don’t people responsible for this have kids of their own? How do you do this to someone else’s child?”

Movie critic Kamaal R Khan has had a harsh reaction to the rejection of Aryan’s bail plea. In a tweet, the filmmaker brought up the drug case of comedian Bharti Singh, who got bail. “Aryan khan’s bail rejected and it is clear harassment. How can a person remain in jail for more than 20 days, who was not in possession of drugs neither consumed. While Bharti Singh was given bail on the same day, who was having 86 gm drugs. Means 2 laws for 2 different people,” KRK wrote.

Shah Rukh Khan's 'Raees' director Rahul Dholakia tweeted: ‘Outrageous !!! You are saying there is a “possible” connection to his “international” racket based on “WhatsApp” chat recovered from his phone, that you confiscated on a “bust” where he “had nothing” ?And you have been fishing for days and yet not found anything? #FreeAryanKhan’

The 'Veere Di Wedding' actress Swara Bhasker called it 'pure harassment'. She tweeted, ''#AryanKhan #AryanKhanBail Pure harassment!''

‘Omerta’ director Hansal Mehta wrote, ''Marijuana/cannabis consumption is legal in many countries. It has been decriminalised in many. In our country its consumption is used more for harassment than for narcotics control. A movement like the one to abolish sec 377 is necessary to end this continuing travesty.''

Aryan was arrested on October 3 in an alleged drugs case by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), and has been in judicial custody since then. Bollywood is divided over these developments. Here’s a look at what they are saying.

Actress Tanishaa Mukerji slammed the behaviour of officials, calling it harassment. She told ‘Bombay Times’, “I definitely think that in Aryan’s case, this is harassment. More so by putting the child on a media trial! This is not real journalism, just sensationalism or Bollywood bashing as you would say. Unfortunately, people have become callous towards our stars saying things like, that these are the pros and cons to being a star kid! Really? Obviously they don’t have any compassion. This country is for all of us and people should be more discerning when looking at the evidence and think what if this was happening to my child? What would I do? Is this justice?”.

Director Prahlad Kakkar claims the reason for the hoopla is because Aryan is a star child. He pointed out that Aryan wasn’t found to be carrying any narcotics and so wondered why he had been kept in remand. “He is being targeted because he is Shah Rukh Khan’s son, why else? There is no proof that he was carrying anything with him. They are looking at his phone, at one-year-old old messages, when he was in England and trying to tell people that he is involved in an international drug cartel. What rubbish!” Kakkar told The Times of India. He also questioned the media’s interest in Shah Rukh instead of his son. “Aryan is a 23-year-old adult. He’s not some underage boy. If you have a problem with Aryan then you have a problem with him. If you have a problem with his father, then you should have a problem with everybody’s father. Why are people only talking about Aryan’s father? There have been dozens of arrests in the case, but why is only Aryan’s father in the news?”

Rhea Chakraborty, the ex-girlfriend of the late actor Sushant Singh Rajput, who was embroiled in her own drugs-related case just last year, wrote a cryptic post that seemed to be in support of Aryan. “Grow through what you go through,” she wrote.

Raveena Tandon defended Aryan Khan and tweeted: “Shameful politics being played out.. it’s a young mans life and future they toying with … heartbreaking.” Raveena and Shah Rukh have appeared in several films together.

Earlier Hrithik Roshan wrote a note of support for Aryan Khan on Instagram. He wrote, “My dear Aryan, Life is a strange ride. It’s great because it’s uncertain. It’s great cause it throws you curveballs, but God is kind. He gives only the toughest ones the toughest balls to play. You know you are chosen when amidst the chaos you can feel the pressure to hold your own. And I know you must feel it now. The anger, the confusion, the helplessness. Aaah, the very ingredients that are needed to burn the hero out from inside you. But be wary, those same ingredients could burn away the good stuff… the kindness, the compassion, the love.”

Soon after, Kangana Ranaut reacted to the news on social media and wrote: "Now all Mafia Pappu coming to Aaryan Khan's defence... We make mistakes but we mustn't glorify them... I trust this will give him perspective and also make him realise the consequences of his actions... Hopefully, it can evolve him and make him better and bigger. It's good not to gossip about someone when they are vulnerable but it's criminal to make them feel that they did no wrong."

Suniel Shetty requested people to let Aryan Khan breathe and not jump to any conclusions. Suniel Shetty told ANI, “The fact is, whenever there’s a raid, many people are taken. We assume that this child has consumed something, or this child has done that. The investigation is underway. Let’s give that child a breather. Whenever something like this from our industry happens, the media cracks down on it and we make assumptions, give the child an opportunity, let the real reports come out, till then, he’s a child, taking care of him is our responsibility.”

While Salman and Shah Rukh Khan’s rivalry is legendary, the hatchet is well and truly buried amid the controversy. When Salman heard of Aryan’s arrest, he wasted no time in heading over with lawyer name and number in tow.

Shah Rukh Khan and Gauri Khan are a Bollywood power couple, but they’ve been left anxious and on edge as the case unfurls. Both parents have not been allowed to visit their son. Sources say the harried parents are spending sleepless nights and nail-biting moments considering their next steps.