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Even as Shah Rukh Khan’s promotional ads for an Indian streaming giant found their way on Twitter on Thursday, so did a call for boycotting the Bollywood star.
As #BoycottShahRukhKhan gathered steam in its second day, it appears some mischief makers on social media have unearthed some older images and interviews of the actor and snowballed it into outrage for his comments on the growing intolerance in India, along with his support for an anti-Hindu movement.
Khan, who is anticipating the release of his upcoming action thriller ‘Pathan’, also found the title of his film drawing criticism with some deeming it as fuelling growing intolerance in India.
Tweets such as the one by user Shyam Vir Singer summed up the sentiment of outrage: “Every time Bollywood make movie against our Indian culture and insult Indian culture? All these should be boycotted. #BoycottShahRukhKhan”
“Shahrukh Khan has to be boycotted. Shahrukh Khan wants to erase Sanskrit of India. #BoycottShahrukhKhan,” posted Twitter user Kaushal Meena.
Twitter user Axay Kumar’s tweet added to the confusion as he posted: “SRK show our Hindu king ashoka in bad light... Where Ajay devgn and Akshay Kumar making movies on Tanhaji and Prithviraj Chauhan he is making movie on Pathan...I mean its spy action movie so why dont they give him hindu name, Why praising pathan in india.”
Right. Meanwhile, Khan has stayed mum on the subject, choosing his time on social media to promote his new ad campaign for an Indian streaming platform, which has also seen Salman Khan, Ranveer Singh and Karan Johar participate.
Khan, who last starred in ‘Zero’ in 2018 will be seen next with Deepika Padukone in the upcoming film ‘Pathan’, which is being directed by Siddharth Anand. The actor is also slated to star in Atlee’s next film, which has commenced shooting in Pune.
While Khan has produced web shows in the past, including ‘Bard of Blood’, he has yet to star in a show on a streaming platform, not counting his appearance as a guest of the David Letterman special on Netflix. The actor incidentally started his career on television with shows such as ‘Fauji’ and ‘Circus’.
The ad campaign has hinted a collaboration that will feature Khan in some capacity on the web platform. It remains to be seen how this will play out or whether ‘Pathan’ itself could be digital release instead of a cinematic one.
