I will speak at the right platform, not as part of a news agenda: SRK on Meryl Streep debate

Actor Shah Rukh Khan, who's film "Raees" released on Thursday, has said that he is aware that his voice matters and so he would like to use it "at the right platform" and that he doesn’t want to be "part of this hashtag trend".

In an excerpt from an interview Khan gave to Alaka Sahani of The Indian Express, the actor gives his views on the discussion around how Bollywood actors didn't take a stand, following the widely hailed Meryl Streep Golden Globe Award speech. 

Khan says that Streep, an "actor who is gifted by God in acting", spoke on an issue currently taking place in the United States, an issue she believes in. 

"Why would you say that I wish Indian actors spoke like this? Can I say I wish Indian journalists presented me like that too? Is that fair? Give me a platform where you present my point of view, not as part of the agenda you have in your storyline. I would speak — I always did, I always will," he writes. 

Turning to the media, Khan asks "Why don’t journalists here behave the way their counterparts do in the West?"

"Can I listen to those two people you are asking questions to? Now, there are two journalists on the TV screen and both are talking over each other and the panelists, sitting there, are not talking. It is a strange space…"

The "Chak De! India" actor then goes on to say "Don’t create a point of view".

"You may write a piece from the point of view that I am doing three back-to-back Muslim characters. With due respect to my professionalism as an actor, I did not even know what my name was in Karan Johar’s Ae Dil Hai Mushkil. I just went for two hours, did some shots and had fun with my friends, Karan, Ranbir (Kapoor) and Aishwarya (Rai Bachchan). I wrapped up around 2 am and partied till 6 am before flying back to Lisbon."

Stating that he is "waiting for media persons to get over their wonderful, newly-gained stardom", Khan writes "Why do you want to join the bandwagon of faceless people on social media who just want to say a thing and become famous? You don’t need to do that. You are someone who used to present the point of view of people, so that I can take your opinion, other people’s opinion, and decide what’s happening around the world. You are the first source of knowledge about what’s happening…"

Khan was recently in the news after one person died of cardiac arrest on Monday when he went to catch a glimpse of the Bollywood superstar at the Vadodara railway station during the promotion of "Raees".