Stop taking sanskari swipes at Shah Rukh Khan

I shudder to think what Shah Rukh Khan and his wife are going through right now. To have your child locked away, while you have to sit at home powerless—and let’s face it, being King Khan finally couldn’t rescue your son from his deplorable fate. I believe Shah Rukh has not eaten since his son’s detention.

And to then have the holier-than-thou Sanskari section of the social media serving him ‘serves him right’ kind of wordy whiplashes, is beyond the precincts of human decency.

I saw this awful post on social media where a picture of actor R Madhavan and his son doing puja was juxtaposed with another picture of Shah Rukh and his son. This kind of sly finger-wagging communalization of what’s clearly a universal phenomenon—we all have children who we fear may end up doing something improper—is just what we don’t need.

Shah Rukh is a good father. I’ve seen how caring he is. This was way back when Aryan was a child of 4-5. Shah Rukh had brought Aryan to the sets at Mehboob Studios. As we drove to his home, a hop away from the studio, Shah Rukh lovingly put on his son’s sneakers.

Which is what any parent would do. And that’s precisely what I am saying. At the end of the day as he sits in that mansion Mannat, missing his son’s presence, he is just another helpless grieving father. Not all the wealth, power and “pull” could get Aryan home .

Set aside your disdain for the superstar, and kindly show some empathy for the father. Shah Rukh Khan has given so much to us as an entertainer. The least he deserves is some decency in his hour of crisis. This kind of gloating that his predicament is being subjected to is barbaric on so many levels. For one, you are belittling a father’s grief. For another, it is his adult son who is in this horrendous situation. Why blame the father? Why accuse him of being an irresponsible dad? It could happen to any of us. We labour all our lives to be the best parents possible. But parenting comes with no guarantee cards. We may be the best parent possible, and yet find our child on the wrong side of the law.

Why dig up some old jokey clip from a 15-year old talk show to prove that Shah Rukh approves of kids experimenting with drugs? He doesn’t. Shah Rukh and I once spoke on the drug menace and he said, “As a collective society, we need to ensure that our kids grow up healthy and clean.”

No parent on earth encourages his child to take the wrong road in life. It just happens. No need to feel morally superior because it’s not your child. Be thankful if your son or daughter stays clean. That’s what Shah Rukh wished for.

And yes, one more thing: drugs are not a way of life in Bollywood. Yes,there is a certain amount of consumption, as in every field. You think a teacher or an engineer’s son doesn’t experiment with drugs? Crises are not something that happens only to others. And raves are not just what you shower on good films.