When Shah Rukh Khan spoke about giving his kids pan-religious names: ‘You are an Indian first, your religion is humanity’

“I gave my son and daughter names that could pass for generic (pan-Indian and pan-religious) ones: Aryan and Suhana. The Khan has been bequeathed by me so they can’t really escape it. I pronounce it from my epiglottis when asked by Muslims and throw the Aryan as evidence of their race when non-Muslims enquire.”

Shah Rukh said by naming his children Aryan and Suhana he can prevent them from “receiving unwarranted eviction orders and random fatwas in the future.”

The actor added, “It will also keep my two children completely confused. Sometimes, they ask me what religion they belong to and, like a good Hindi movie hero, I roll my eyes up to the sky and declare philosophically, “You are an Indian first and your religion is humanity”, or sing them an old Hindi film ditty, “Tu Hindu banega na Musalmaan banega – insaan ki aulaad hai insaan banega” set to Gangnam Style.”

A few days ago a video of SRK talking about his children had also gone viral on social media. In it, the actor had expressed his wish for his children to live out of his shadow. He had said, “My name could spoil their lives and I don’t want that to happen.”