British actor Orlando Bloom was in for a rough start during his visit to India on Saturday night after he was deported to the UK soon after arriving in Delhi as his e-visa had been rejected, reports suggest.
However, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj soon intervened and helped the 38-year-old actor get a visa.
The actor was invited by the Uttar Pradesh government for an event, and former Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh reportedly spoke to Swaraj after the actor was deported, to issue a 'tatkal' visa to attend the function.
The actor flew back to India on Sunday morning and even got to visit the Taj Mahal later in the day.
Amar Singh, who is hosting Bloom in India, told the Economic Times, "He had applied for an e-visa and didn't get a reply. His office thought that he would get the visa on arrival. Being a Hollywood celebrity, he has never faced such treatment in any other country. His office was never informed that the visa has been rejected for whatever technical fault and they are not used to the intricacies of the Indian system. He took a British Airways flight and they were satisfied with the e-visa and thought it will never be rejected. But the immigration staff could not understand who he was and they sent him back."
However, Vikas Swarup, spokesperson and joint secretary of the Ministry of External Affairs told the newspaper that he was not aware of the circumstances in which the actor landed, but that standard protocol would have been followed.
"This is an international practice - if you arrive in a country without a visa, you will be deported. What would happen if Shah Rukh Khan lands in the US without a visa? They would just tell him that he has violated the rules and has to go back," he told ET.