The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge should be receiving the warmest welcome to India possible because of the kindness shown to Indian immigrants in the UK, Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan has said.
The actor, who is known as “King Khan” to his legions of loyal fans, met the royal couple on Sunday at an evening celebrating India’s film industry during their stop in Mumbai on their royal tour.
After meeting his newly re-dressed waxwork at London’s Madame Tussauds, he said: “You can’t deny the relationship that Great Britain and India share and more so now, with the number of people from the sub-continent here. It’s important for us to know people from here and royalty from here and to know them in such a casual and nice manner.
“You think of everyone from the outside as different so it’s very right. England has been so welcoming to everyone from India so it is only fair we should be even nicer and warmer.”
The couple chatted about their children, food and Bollywood films during the charity gala in the industry’s historic home city, hosted at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel where some of the bloody 2008 Mumbai attacks took place.
The hotel is now a symbol of defiance against the terrorists who killed 31 guests and staff.
Khan, 50, was presented to the Duke and Duchess at the dinner and said they were very relaxed, adding: “I have met royalty around the world and yes, I had the protocol, but it was very casual because they are like that.
“I think they are very full of poise and grace, very gracious. They were easy to just talk with.
“You build up certain scenarios in your head, like ‘royalty is there so you have to be proper’ but no, in 30 seconds when they shook hands with us they made us feel like they were extremely normal.
“They know they are but we were expecting them to be different so it was fantastic to spend time with them. I spent a couple of hours with them, we had dinner and chatted.
“We talked about our kids and the food they were eating. They had dishes from all over the world and I was the worst person because I know very little about food.”
Khan, who is in London promoting his new film Fan, said he dismissed a suggestion from a member of his team that he should try to record a Dubsmash video with the pair, in which they would lip-sync to a well-known song.
He revealed: “I don’t know how to do a Dubsmash so I would have been the most awkward. When you meet them they were casual enough to chat with them and do anything, but a Dubsmash is pushing it.”
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