Shah Rukh Khan, the Bollywood actor who was detained for questioning
at a US airport, has been invited for dinner by Californian Governor
Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The actor turned politician has offered to meet Shah Rukh Khan on
September 20 in Washington in a bid to diffuse what has become a slight
diplomatic row.
 Khan, 43, who is considered to be one of the icons of Indian cinema,
was held up for almost two hours after falling foul of US border
officials in a New York airport at the weekend. Officials from the US
Embassy in Delhi were asked by the Indian government to explain why the
film-star was held for so long.
The actor, who has featured on Time Magazine's '50 Most Influential
People' list, was said to have found his experience at Newark Airport
'embarrassing'. However, it is not clear whether the actor will accept
the invitation. Khan has recently signed a £125 million deal with
Fox-Searchlight in the US to distribute his latest movie. Ironically
named 'My Name is Khan', the film charts racial tensions in the US
following the 9/11 terror attacks.
Arriving back home to his Mumbai home, the star explained how the
experience four days earlier had affected him. "I am scared of
authorities and rules, so I try to follow the rules of the country I
travel to," he said.
"Whenever I am in America, I have to report at least two hours in
advance while travelling within the country for security reasons - they
ask me to take off my clothes and shoes, and I do that. "But I never
experienced this kind of treatment."
Khan denied that the detention drama was a publicity stunt for his
forthcoming movie: "I don't think that I need publicity." "If you want
to give a tit-for-tat policy to American actors, then call me to frisk
Angelina Jolie and Megan Fox whenever they are visiting India," he
added.
- telegraph.co.uk
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