Bollywood Celebs Who Bore The Brunt Of Racism

Actor-entrepreneur Shilpa Shetty recently called out an airline staff for alleged racist behaviour. On Sunday, she experienced unpleasant awkwardness for being “brown” at the Sydney airport. She shared the incident on Instagram saying that the treatment to a customer of colour is different and hence needs to be called out.

She wrote, “... At the check-in counter met a grumpy #Mel (that's her name) who decided it was ‘OK’ to speak curtly to 'US' (brown people!) travelling together, I was flying business and had two bags and she insisted and decided my half empty Duffel bag was oversized (to check in!).”

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Subject: #Qantas airways @qantas This should get your attention! Travelling from Sydney to Melbourne and at the check in counter met a grumpy #Mel ( that’s her name)who decided it was “OK” to speak curtly to “US” ( Brown people!!) travelling together ,I was flying business and had 2 bags (my allowance)and she insisted and decided my half empty Duffel bag was oversized( to check in!!) So she sent us to check it in at the other counter dealing with “Oversized luggage” ..there a Polite lady(yes this one was) said ..”this ISN’T an oversized bag, pls check this in manually if u can at another counter” ( all this happening while the counter is going to shut in 5 mins) As the manual check in wasn’t going thru for 5 mins( we tried) I went upto #Mel and requested her to put the bag thru as her colleague said it wasn’t an oversized bag.. She refused again.. Just being adamant especially when I told her this is causing a lot of inconvenience .. We had no time to waste so we ran to the oversized baggage counter and requested her to put the bag through which she did after I told her that #Rude #Mel had issues !!!.... to which another colleague joined in an reiterated my duffle wasn’t oversized and could’ve easily been checked in. The point is .. This piece is only for #qantas airlines to know and take cognisance .. that their staff must be taught to be helpful and TONE can’t change with preference to #COLOUR .”WE” are NOT #pushovers and they MUST know that being #callous and #Rude will NOT BE TOLERATED ?✋??. Ps: Please tell me if that bag in the picture is oversized??!! @australia @visitmelbourne @travel #truthmustbetold #bemused #uncalledfor #standup #equality #whatswrongisnotright #instapic #travelwoes #shocking #nightmare #notcool

A post shared by Shilpa Shetty Kundra (@theshilpashetty) on Sep 22, 2018 at 6:37pm PDT

Shilpa posted asking her followers “whether it is oversized or not”.

Earlier this week, actress Richa Chadha also took to Twitter to share her experience of meeting a "racist officer" at passport control while exiting Georgia.

"Met a racist AF officer at the passport control, while exiting Georgia. Slammed my passport on the desk, twice... muttered under her breath in Georgian, yelled and asked me to hurry. Sad that people like her are the last ones we perhaps see on exiting the country," Richa wrote.

and now... met a racist AF officer at the passport control,while exiting Georgia. Slammed my passport on the desk,twice... muttered under her breath in Georgian,yelled and asked me to hurry.Sad that people like her are the last ones we perhaps see on exiting the country...

— TheRichaChadha (@RichaChadha) September 20, 2018

Here is a list of some other popular Bollywood faces who dealt with racism during immigration procedures while travelling abroad.

Shah Rukh Khan

The King, Khan got into trouble at airport security too. Hard to believe it but the big star back at home was actually detained at an International airport, because of – wait for it -- his surname. Shah Rukh was into Newark Liberty International Airport, when was detained by authorities, who pulled him aside for further questioning in 2012. After that he dealt with airport delays at least thrice now. He was again stopped during the year 2016 at Los Angeles airport owing to his surname. After the incident when he was detained at an airport in the US he tweeted saying, "Whenever I start feeling too arrogant about myself, I always take a trip to America. The immigration guys kick the star out of stardom."

I fully understand & respect security with the way the world is, but to be detained at US immigration every damn time really really sucks.

— Shah Rukh Khan (@iamsrk) August 12, 2016

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Irrfan Khan

The power-packed actor, who is also maintaining a full-time Hollywood career, was detained twice at the US airports. Once at Los Angeles airport in 2008 and at New York airport in 2009.

“It’s humiliating. They don’t even disclose the reason. Actually, I don’t use my surname Khan in films, but in passports, surname and religion are required. I was stopped not once, but several times at airports in the US,” Irrfan had revealed to a television channel in 2013.

Minissha Lamba

An Incensed officer at the Dubai International Airport confiscated her passport and threatened to deport her back in 2011. When Lamba arrived at the airport, an official rudely asked her to "shut up and sit (down)”.

"Since I didn't remember my hotel-booking reference details, I asked an individual waiting for me outside the airport for the details. When I tried showing the details on my phone, the officer blew his top off and started to yell,” she confessed.

Aamir Khan

In 2002, Aamir Khan was asked to stop at Chicago airport for interrogation. Things went really serious when he was not only detained but also strip searched.

Feature Image Credit: Chitramala.com

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