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The Shah Rukh Khan fever is getting out of hand…

While the Bollywood superstar single-handedly helped save Indian cinema in 2023, expanding his fandom with films like Jawan and Pathaan, from the looks of it, he has now become the knight in shining armour for a certain Indian politician, who believes he has a pivotal role to play in rescuing naval officers from foreign territories. A spy in real life… who would’ve thought?

But the truth is, the actor’s reel life persona is often conflated with his real life persona, and because of that, he is having to deal with speculations surrounding his purported involvement in the release of eight Indian Navy veterans from Qatar. The Dunki actor, through his manager Pooja Dadlani, vehemently denied any role in the matter, asserting that the successful resolution rests solely with the Indian government officials.

While Khan expressed his happiness at the safe return of the naval officers to India in his statement, he also underlined the importance of leaving such affairs in the capable hands of the country’s leaders: “Regarding the reports concerning Shah Rukh Khan’s purported role in the release of India’s naval officers from Qatar, the office of Mr Shah Rukh Khan says that any such assertions of his involvement are unfounded, emphasising the execution of this successful resolution solely rests with the Indian government officials and unequivocally denies Mr Khan’s participation in this matter (sic).”

The saga surrounding Khan’s involvement began when former Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy claimed that he played a role in persuading the Qatari government to release the individuals. “Modi should take cinema star Sharukh Khan to Qatar with him since after MEA and NSA had failed to persuade the Sheikhs of Qatar, Modi pleaded with Khan to intervene and thus got an expensive settlement from the Qatar Sheikhs to free our Naval officers,” he tweeted in response to a Modi tweet.

Khan’s visit to Qatar for work-related commitments further fuelled speculations. During his time in the Middle Eastern country, he had met with Qatari Prime Minister HE Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani in Doha and even attended the AFC final as a guest of honour.

The eight Indian navy veterans were imprisoned since October 2022 in Qatar and faced accusations related to alleged spying on the nation’s submarine programme, as per the Hindustan Times. Qatar’s Court of Appeal decided to commute the death penalty initially awarded to them.