And now, Shah Rukh Khan is a jinx!

The cancel culture is quickly converting into a theatre of the absurd. Yesterday’s superstar is today’s gaddar (traitor). And last week’s chunauti (challenge) is this week’s panauti (jinx).

Even by current standards of endemic malice, Shah Rukh Khan being trolled as a jinx took me by surprise. What next? Take back Bismillah Khan’s Bharat Ratna because he played the Shehnai outside weddings? Or punish Mother Teresa’s trust for not supporting the LGBT community? Or Maybe take back all of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s awards for Devdas for showing Devdas as an alcoholic?

The mind boggles at the possibilities. Not very active on social media, I came to know that it’s Salman Khan’s fans who think Shah Rukh is a panauti after Laal Singh Chaddha flopped. Shah Rukh has an enormously endearing cameo as a young Shah Rukh Khan who learns his famous hands-stretched signature pose from little Laal Singh.

Cute. Very charming. According to Salmaniacs Shah Rukh in a special appearance is the reason why Laal Singh Chaddha flopped.

At last, that mystery has been resolved. And here we were, the foolish supporters of Laal Singh’s arcadian innocence, thinking that the main reason it didn’t do well is because the young couldn't connect with it. Some even though the film didn't do well as Richa Chadha's fans thought Laal Singh was related to her and wanted her in the film.

The Salmaniacs want Shah Rukh’s cameo removed from their beloved Khan (Salman, not poor Shah Rukh)’s underproduction film Tiger, the Yash Raj franchise’s third segment which has Salman in the lead. His fans think every time SRK makes a fleeting appearance in a Salman starrer, it flops.

Helpfully the Salmaniacs have also suggested a replacement for SRK: Hrithik Roshan. Why Roshan? Why not Tiger Shroff? Or Dhanush?

Errrr…one small detail: there was no Shah Rukh in Salman’s last three starrers Dabangg 3 , Radhe or Antim…..they were not liked much by the audience. On the other hand, Shah Rukh’s Zero did have a cameo by Salman and it is the biggest flop of SRK’s career. Just saying.

The reach and clout of India’s hate culture seems to be spreading its tentacles further and further. Today it is Aamir and Shah Rukh. Tomorrow it may be Hrithik and Salman.And the day after it may be someone else. There is no end to this vicious cycle of hatred.

As far as the culture of panauti (jinx) is concerned I thought we had crossed that primitive zone long ago. Daughters-in-law who produced female children, daughters who remained unmarried after 20-21, grandmothers who refused to die after 80….they were all called panautis. But a male superstar who has given us Indians decades of joy on screen, is now a jinx? Get out of here!

This is a Naya Bharat, indeed.

Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based film critic who has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. He tweets at @SubhashK_Jha.

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