Shahid Kapoor has become the latest Indian celebrity to get a taste of the racial profiling prevalent at US airports. The Bollywood actor had to wait for one and a half hour at the New York airport while his Man Friday, Mohammad Manjoor Allam (Mamu), was detained by the authorities for having a ‘common name’.
Mamu, who’s been with Shahid ever since the latter was a child, was not comfortable answering the questions in English and Shahid sat with him through the ordeal. His manager Rajnigandha Shekhawat confirmed the incident and said, “Shahid is shooting in US and does not want to talk about it. Mamu was grilled for a long time by the authorities.”
HT City spoke to people for reactions. Singer Shibani Kashyap said, “Even I was harassed at NY airport. The US authorities are paranoid.” Writer Alka Lal said, “One shouldn’t mind getting checked. They are doing it for security. Even David Beckham was recently detained at an airport.”