Shah Rukh Khan found himself in the midst of one of history’s most horrifying tragedies—the 9/11 attacks—while he was in the United States with his wife Gauri Khan, son Aryan Khan, and Karan Johar’s mother, Hiroo Johar. The Bollywood superstar, in an old interview, recalled how he was stuck in America and needed special permission to leave the country during the crisis.
Reflecting on his time in New York, Shah Rukh recounted, “My director’s mother (Hiroo Johar), my wife (Gauri), and my little son (Aryan) and we were to do an interview for the launch of a film called Asoka. And the rest of the crew was supposed to fly off to Toronto four hours before us.”
In a shocking turn of events, Hiroo Johar woke Shah Rukh in a state of panic, making him momentarily believe that the plane carrying their film crew had crashed. “I was woken up… Karan’s mother, Mrs. Hiroo, she showed me the television, and I thought it’s the plane that our crew is taking, that’s why she is showing that there has been an accident. There was press on the floor below my room, waiting to do the interviews, and I was like, ‘What has happened?’”
Stranded for several days as flights were grounded, Shah Rukh Khan and his family faced uncertainty before finally finding a way out. “I was stuck there for 3-4 days with my family. Then, we kind of made our way out, went to Toronto and flew back because all the flights and everything was cancelled. So we asked for special permission and requested some people, and they kind of understood. Very kindly, they let the family go because the kids and mothers and everyone… so we got out of it. I think I was deeply affected by it, like everyone else was.”
Shah Rukh has also spoken about his repeated experiences with American airport security checks. Reflecting on how he was frequently stopped, he once quipped during an address at Yale, “Whenever I start feeling too arrogant about myself, I always take a trip to America. The immigration guys kicked the star out of stardom.”
His account of the 9/11 tragedy serves as a chilling reminder of the chaos and fear that gripped the world on that fateful day, and how even global superstars weren’t immune to its impact.
