Here is what started the ‘Boycott Shah Rukh Khan’ trend on Twitter
- 17 Sep 2021
Gulf Today Report
Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan is the quintessential romantic star. He has been paired with some of the most talented and attractive heroines of the Mumbai film industry, including Madhuri Dixit, Juhi Chawla, Kajol, Rani Mukherjee and Priyanka Chopra. Love is the underlying theme of his movies. However, of late the superstar has been swamped by a tsunami of hate on social media, all because he was all praise for his latest starrer 'Pathan.'
#BoycottShahRukhKhan is trending on social media with many netizens referring to Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan's upcoming film ‘Pathan,’ questioning why King Khan is praising the movie in India.
The trend gained momentum after an old picture of the superstar with current Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan started a massive war of words among netizens.
Twitterati supporting #BoycottShahRukhKhan accused the Baadshah of Bollywood to be someone who has tread on religious sentiments over and over again.
Netizens calling for the boycott of Sharh Rukh Khan and his film ‘Pathan’ shared images or clippings where Shah Rukh is seen asking as to why Pakistani cricketers are not selected for IPL or where he is voicing concerns about intolerance in India.
Shah Rukh Khan with Imran Khan. File
It is to be noted that the picture of Shah Rukh with Imran Khan is an old one and at that time Imran Khan was not the PM of Pakistan.
However, the moment #BoycottShahRukh Khan began trending on social media his supporters also began a counter campaign, trending SRK PRIDE OF INDIA.
The trend in support of King Khan overtook the boycott SRK tweets with over 84,000 posts on the microblogging website.
One of SRK’s fans shared a picture of SRK speaking at the World Economic Forum, standing up for important issues on global platforms, representing his country and winning awards, making his fans proud.
Another SRK fan said that Shah Rukh is a self-made actor without a Bollywood family dynasty or a political background and has made India proud with international honours.
The SRK boycott camp shared some very inflammatory comments.
Axay Patel said, “SRK shows our Hindu king Ashoka in a bad light... Where Ajay Devgn and Akshay Kumar are making movies on Tanhaji and Prithviraj Chauhan… he is making movies on Pathan... I mean it's a spy action movie so why don’t they give him Hindu name, Why praise Pathan in India.”
Anirban Neogy wrote, “These Khans earn here and send the black money to Dawood in Pakistan who in turn uses that money against India and Hindus. #BoycottShahRukhKhan…”
Shyam Vir Singh said, “Every time Bollywood makes a movie against our Indian culture and insults Indian culture! All these should be boycotted. #BoycottShahRukhKhan.”
A boycott campaign user said, “It's very shameful for Indian people, why we see this type of movie and why make this type of movie in India, #BoycottShahRukhKhan.”
Fans of Shah Rukh Khan started a counter trend #WeLoveShahRukhKhan on Twitter to silence the critics.
SRK fans have shared superstar Salman Khan’s tweet to welcome Shah Rukh’s advertisement.
Salman shared the ad video and captioned it, “Hmmm Swagat nahi karoge @iamsrk ka?”
AC wrote, “Those who are trending #BoycottShahRukhKhan support Taliban, they are the ones who divide humans on the basis of religion & gender….”
An SRK fan, Nazaket Rather, wrote on Twitter, “#WeLoveShahRukhKhan #Shah_Rukh_Khan has got love from all over the world @iamsrk…”
NaeZee said, “Did you know that Shah Rukh's grandfather was part of the Azad Hind Sena and his father was the youngest freedom fighter in India? #WeLoveShahRukhKhan SRK Pride of India…”
Another one wrote, “I've reported that negative trend. Our love is showered on SRK’s position with more than 44K tweets. Keep tweeting with both the tags to show how much we love @iamsrk . Red heart #WeLoveShahRukhKhan SRK PRIDE OF INDIA…”
Aparna Agnihotri said on Twitter,
“Google CEO met SRK
Twitter CEO Met SRK
Apple CEO Met SRK
CONARES CEO Met SRK
Netflix CEO Met SRK
UBER CEO Met SRK
Founder Of Amazon & World’s Richest Person Jeff Bezos Met SRK
Our Country Is Lucky To Have SRK…  SRK PRIDE OF INDIA #WeLoveShahRukhKhan @iamsrk.”
An ardent SRK fan wrote, "Salman Khan can be brought on Twitter for SRK's campaign is the most common thing. SRK PRIDE OF INDIA #WeLoveShahRukhKhan…”
The movie “ Pathan’ is due to be released in October. Apart from SRK, Deepika Padukone, John Abraham and Ashutosh Rana play important roles.
Salman Khan will also make a cameo appearance in Pathan.
The total budget of the film is estimated to be around Rs250 crore.
Whatever may be the reason the hashtags are trending on whatsoever ground, the fact remains that people have shared inflammatory statements that smack of gross intolerance.
People must realise the fact that Shah Rukh is an artist based in India since birth, and he is very loyal to the country. Whatever character an actor portrays must not encroach on his personal life and freedom of speech.
Indian cinema should at least be spared these malicious trends.