The Indian Express : Jan 27, 2020, 04:32 PM
Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan recently descended on the set of Remo D’Souza’s dance reality show Dance Plus 5. And more than his starry presence, it was SRK’s take on religion that left contestants, judges and studio audience impressed.SRK became a part of Dance Plus 5’s Republic Day episode that celebrated ‘Incredible India’. On Saturday’s episode, Shah Rukh, while speaking on national integration, also shared how his children don’t follow any particular religion, despite his wife Gauri being a Hindu and him being a Muslim.
“In our country, we speak of Hindu, Muslim, Sikhs and Christians. But the best part is our young generation not just speaks of it, but also believes in the fact that nothing can take away this harmony from us, till the time we have people like all of you, and myself, as I consider myself also young (laughs). All of us, including me and Remo (D’Souza), have a personal inclination, where we never spoke of being a Hindu or a Muslim. My wife (Gauri) is a Hindu, and I am a Muslim. And my kids are ‘Hindustan’ (India). It’s a genuine fact. Once, when my daughter (Suhana) was small, she had to fill the religion column in a form. She came to me and asked which religion we belong to, and I told her we are Indian. There’s no one religion, and there shouldn’t be,” SRK said.
The moment came after contestant Bhim Bahadur’s act that highlighted religious unity. Shah Rukh added, “Now that Punit (Pathak) and Bhim have brought this up through the dance, I would like to share another personal thing. We see in our newspapers that India’s three biggest superstars are ‘Khans’. I believe even that difference shouldn’t be there. We are all Indians, be it Khans or Kumars or Kapoors. We shouldn’t feel even that.”
“In our country, we speak of Hindu, Muslim, Sikhs and Christians. But the best part is our young generation not just speaks of it, but also believes in the fact that nothing can take away this harmony from us, till the time we have people like all of you, and myself, as I consider myself also young (laughs). All of us, including me and Remo (D’Souza), have a personal inclination, where we never spoke of being a Hindu or a Muslim. My wife (Gauri) is a Hindu, and I am a Muslim. And my kids are ‘Hindustan’ (India). It’s a genuine fact. Once, when my daughter (Suhana) was small, she had to fill the religion column in a form. She came to me and asked which religion we belong to, and I told her we are Indian. There’s no one religion, and there shouldn’t be,” SRK said.
The moment came after contestant Bhim Bahadur’s act that highlighted religious unity. Shah Rukh added, “Now that Punit (Pathak) and Bhim have brought this up through the dance, I would like to share another personal thing. We see in our newspapers that India’s three biggest superstars are ‘Khans’. I believe even that difference shouldn’t be there. We are all Indians, be it Khans or Kumars or Kapoors. We shouldn’t feel even that.”
SRK’s remark was met with loud applause from everyone present on the set of the dance reality show. A clip of his remark has since gone viral on social media.Dance Plus 5 is hosted by Raghav Juyal. While Remo D’Souza is the super judge, the four captains are Punit J Pathak, Dharmesh Yelande, Suresh Mukund and Karishma Chavan.Dance Plus airs on Star Plus every Saturday and Sunday at 8 pm.My wife is Hindu, I am a Muslim and my kids are Hindustan. My daughter was asked the religion in school form, I told her we are Indians 🇮🇳 ❤️ - The pride of India Shah Rukh Khan. #RepublicDayIndia #RepublicDay2020 pic.twitter.com/Qk95xxLT3j
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