Mumbai: Maharashtra Minister for Minority Welfare and senior NCP leader Nawab Malik, claims that although he has been vocal about the drugs-on-cruise case and has defended Aryan Khan, he has never met or spoken to his father, Shah Rukh Khan.
Speaking at a press conference organised by the Pune Union of Working Journalists, Malik said, “I have not met him (Shah Rukh Khan), nor have I ever spoken to him over phone. Three years ago, I had seen him at an Iftaar function organised by Congress leader Baba Siddique. Even on that occasion, there were four tables between us. We may have seen each other from a distance. That’s all the contact I have had with Shah Rukh.”
On the silence of Bollywood stars, including SRK, on the drugs bust controversy, Malik said Bollywood stars are soft targets and that if they fight back, the filmmakers worry that they would be trapped in false cases. “In that case, they lose advertising contracts, movies and brand value. This is the reason they don’t speak out.”
He said Bollywood was being targeted and maligned by central agencies because “a plan has been hatched to shift the film industry to Uttar Pradesh.”
“Starting from Dadasaheb Phalke’s pioneering work, Maharashtra has hosted the film industry. People from Allahabad to Indore to South India have come to Mumbai and made a career in films. It has given India an identity. We won’t allow their plan to shift the industry to Noida — a plan hatched by Yogi baba,” said Malik.
