Shah Rukh Khan has been around for a long time. But his thoughts on freedom of speech, patriotism and anti-nationals sound relevant even two decades later.
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00:00Ahsaraam belongs to the country's politics. So what would you like to say about today's political affairs?
00:11Yes, my family, especially my father, we all were very closely connected to politics and the political atmosphere that was in the country at that time.
00:21Because my father himself was the youngest freedom fighter of this country and related to people like General Shahnawaz who have fought for the freedom of this country.
00:30And he always used to say to me, Shahrukh, you are such a scoundrel, the people of Peshawar are such scoundrels.
00:37Hey scoundrel, come here. Hey, buddy, come here. Hey, scoundrel, you keep roaming around like a hero.
00:42We have given you this freedom. And always keep it.
00:47At that point of time, I really used to think that freedom he meant, you know, from foreign rule or something.
00:53But now I understand after having grown up that what he used to talk about freedom, he used to talk about freedom.
00:58That freedom in terms of freedom from poverty maybe, freedom from misery.
01:03And, you know, like our headlines come in the newspaper that this is right, this is wrong.
01:08And we don't even know, as an armed citizen, I don't know how much truth is in it.
01:14I have the same knowledge that I read in the newspaper.
01:17So, freedom from this speculation that is this right, is this wrong, having freedom of press, having freedom of speech.
01:23These are all things and like people in our country, I remember when we were kids, we had to write an essay that my country India.
01:31I think that should be changed. It has to be that the country is India and we are the citizens of this country.
01:37We don't own it. Ownership does not mean that it is our India.
01:40It is that what we have to do for the country.
01:42And in that regard, I think the people, we call them anti-nationals or you call them anti-socials, whatever you call them.
01:51But at the end of it all, these are people who do not think that they are part of India.
01:56And I feel very sad because, even more so, because my family has fought for this country.
02:02So, for me, it is even sadder that these people are somehow destroying it.
02:06So, I get, I get, though I am not directly affiliated to politics or to any kind of party or to any, I mean I am not actively involved in anything like this.
02:15But whenever I read, it does bring this little sadness that it takes away from what my father told me, that keep this country free the way I gave it to you.