When King Khan celebrated the release of Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara on July 15 with close friends from Bollywood, little did he think that he would be accused of being insensitive towards the Mumbai bomb blast victims.
The Shiv Sena mouthpiece Samna referred to him as a 'villain' saying, "Even a popular star like Aishwarya Rai Bachchan declined to receive an honour bestowed upon her by the French government.
But Shah Rukh Khan did not have the heart to cancel the party." However, for people from the within industry, it is a baseless accusation against the star.
Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt says, "I can understand the outrage if Shah Rukh indulged in a celebration on the very day of the blasts.
But when the entire city moved on the very next day, why would you expect people from the film industry to put their lives on pause?
Political parties only need a reason to use tragedies for publicity, and that is exactly what the Shiv Sena is doing."
Adds Farhan Akhtar, who was present at the party, "It is very unfortunate to single him out and target him for wanting to watch the film with us.
It was a simple party with 20-25 of us and that's about it. The timing was unfortunate, but all we wanted to do is celebrate my sister's film with friends and family."
The actor has been on the Shiv Sena's blacklist ever since he advocated the inclusion of Pakistani cricketers in the IPL last year.
Those protests spilled over to his film My Name Is Khan, where thousands of Sena workers burnt film posters and even threatened the janta against watching the film.
Adds Bhatt, "It is very evident that this is a continuation of their past animosity against him."
Twitteratti
@Breaking views4u: Can't blv
@iamsrk partying harder days after horrible #mumbaiblasts, don't they value peoples' lives? I am with Shiv Sena this time
@divyatweets: Poor Shiv Sena. Getting attention only through SRK. They know SRK is the only way to get attention from everyone. It's call the Don Power.
@shereegg: SRK's party was in bad taste, but what gives the Shiv Sena the right to attack him? Do something more productive people!
....And Shiv Sena loves to love Aamir
So if Shah Rukh sincerely wishes to stay out of trouble with the Shiv Sena, he could perhaps take some tips from Aamir Khan.
The latter's equation with the so-called crusaders of the Marathi manoos couldn't be more politically correct. It is well known that everytime Mr Perfectionist has an upcoming release, a special screening for both Raj and Uddhav Thackeray is always organised.
The Thackeray family was also spotted at Aamir's nephew Imran Khan's wedding reception last year. And apparently, the actor is also helping Smita Thackeray with her film based on the Babri Masjid demolition.