Schwarzenegger invites Shah Rukh Khan to dinner

The actor turned politician has offered to meet Shah Rukh Khan on September 20 in Washington in a bid to diffuse what has become a slight diplomatic row.

Khan, 43, who is considered to be one of the icons of Indian cinema, was held up for almost two hours after falling foul of US border officials in a New York airport at the weekend.

Officials from the US Embassy in Delhi were asked by the Indian government to explain why the film-star was held for so long.

The actor, who has featured on Time Magazine’s ‘50 Most Influential People’ list, was said to have found his experience at Newark Airport ‘embarrassing’.

However, it is not clear whether the actor will accept the invitation.

Shah Rukh Khan has recently signed a £125 million deal with Fox-Searchlight in the US to distribute his latest movie.

Ironically named ‘My Name is Khan’, the film charts racial tensions in the US following the 9/11 terror attacks.

Arriving back home to his Mumbai home, the star explained how the experience four days earlier had affected him.

“I am scared of authorities and rules, so I try to follow the rules of the country I travel to,” he said.

“Whenever I am in America, I have to report at least two hours in advance while travelling within the country for security reasons – they ask me to take off my clothes and shoes, and I do that. “But I never experienced this kind of treatment.”

Shah Rukh Khan denied that the detention drama was a publicity stunt for his forthcoming movie: “I don’t think that I need publicity.”

“If you want to give a tit-for-tat policy to American actors, then call me to frisk Angelina Jolie and Megan Fox whenever they are visiting India,” he added.

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