India has asked the US to explain why a leading film star was detained for two hours at Newark airport, which serves New York.
Indian Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan said he felt angry and humiliated after he was detained and questioned at the US airport, sparking an uproar in India among his fans.
Mr Khan, 43, one of India's best known actors, was enroute to Chicago for a parade to mark the Indian independece day yesterday when he was pulled aside at Newark airport on Friday, he said.
"I was really hassled perhaps because of my name being Khan. These guys just wouldn't let me through," he said in a text message to reporters in India.
After a couple of hours' interrogation, he was allowed to make a call, he said, and he got in touch with the Indian consulate who vouched for him and secured his release.
"Absolutely uncalled for, I think. I felt angry and humiliated," said Khan, who had just finished a month-long shoot in the United States for his upcoming film My Name is Khan, which is about a Muslim man's experience with racial profiling.
The US ambassador to India, Timothy Roehmer, said the embassy was investigating Mr Khan's case.
As news of Khan's detention broke on Indian television channels, which have played up attacks in Australia on Indian students, fans and actors began posting angry comments on the Internet.
"Shocking, disturbing n downright disgraceful. It's such behaviour that fuels hatred and racism. SRK's a world figure for God's sake. Get real!!", tweeted actor Priyanka Chopra.
Indian Information Minister Ambika Soni told a television station that while she could not say if Khan had been detained "on religious grounds, there have been too many instances like these in the US concerning Indians".
Last month US-based carrier Continental Airlines apologised to former Indian president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam for frisking him at New Delhi airport.
Reuters