The response from the film industry came fast. Hours after news broke that Imran Khan had been ordered to leave the country, filmmaker Kiran Rao took to Instagram to point out how deep his roots in India run, and actor Saba Azad weighed in with a blunter verdict of her own.
The Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) in Mumbai has given the actor until October 28 to leave India. The notice follows his participation in a protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Imran is a US passport holder with an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card.
‘40 of those years in India’
On Thursday, Kiran responded to a post about the notice with open disbelief. “Wah, now it’s Mumbai police?” she wrote.
In a second comment, she listed what India has been to the actor through most of his life: “43 years old. 40 of those years in India. Studied here, worked here, succeeded here, failed here, loved here and fought here.”
The Laapataa Ladies director has close ties to Imran’s family. She was previously married to his uncle, Aamir Khan.
Saba Azad reacts.
Saba Azad, who is in a relationship with Hrithik Roshan, also spoke out. Her reaction was short: “What? This is bulls**t.”
Their posts add to the attention on a case that comes just as Imran is preparing for a full return to acting after more than a decade away.
A walk to find friends, not a rally
Imran Khan’s appearance at August Kranti Maidan was not a planned show of protest. It began as a search. According to an Instagram post by his partner, actor Lekha Washington, several friends had been detained during demonstrations earlier on Saturday, and a small group set out on foot at around 5 pm to find out where they were. Imran and Lekha were joined by actor Zayn Marie, Imran’s mother Nuzhat and a few others.
There was no gathering at the ground when they arrived, Lekha wrote. They found barricades all around it and a crowd of journalists, who quickly surrounded the actor.
'I am here as a citizen'
With the cameras on him, Imran was careful not to present himself as anyone’s spokesperson. “I don’t have demands. I am here as a citizen, as a person who lives in this city,” he told reporters. “I am here to see why freedom of movement is being restricted. Why are people’s voices being suppressed? That is why I am here.”
He also made clear he had no organisational ties: “I don’t have any right to demand anything from people. I am not a part of any organisation.”
According to Lekha, he was cut off soon after that. Police whistles sounded over him before he could finish, and the situation changed almost immediately.
Detained, and hours in a police van
Lekha said officers grabbed her and Zayn, leaving both of them bruised, before the group was put into a vehicle. She said they were driven around for about two hours and then not allowed to take public transport home. She added, wryly, that much of that time was spent stuck in Mumbai traffic, and said the whole evening had been recorded.
Pictures and clips of the three being taken to a police van were already circulating online that afternoon. Later that night, Lekha shared a reel to say they were safe, along with an Instagram Story showing her hugging Imran and Zayn at home.