Veteran actor Satish Shah recalled a recent unsavoury incident at London’s Heathrow Airport after he overheard a demeaning and racist comment from the staff. His response to the comments, now viral after the popular film and TV actor tweeted about it, has won the internet.
It all started after staff at Heathrow Airport spoke among themselves and wondered how “they” (Shah) can afford a first class plane ticket. The actor, who heard the derogatory comment, responded with a “proud smile”: “Because we are Indians”.
“I replied with a proud smile “because we are Indians” after I overheard the Heathrow staff wonderingly asking his mate “how can they afford 1st class?” Shah tweeted that has already received almost 11,000 likes and around 9 lakh views.
Heathrow Airport has also responded to the tweet apologizing about the encounter.
“Good morning, we're sorry to hear about this encounter. May you DM us?” the airport tweeted in the comments.
Users applauded Shah for standing up the racist comments and even pitched in with other things he may have added during the encounter.
“Good one Sir!! They got that Heathrow from the 40+ Trillion dollars worth of looted wealth from India!” one user commented.
“You could have also told them, come and see our Delhi and Hyderabad airports and decide where Heathrow stands. I recently transited via Heathrow. It is like our old Mumbai airport,” another user wrote.
Another user also recalled a similar incident he faced back in 2006.
“In 2006, only 28 at then, I was on BA clubclass in 2006 courtesy my client. The BA staffer (a middle aged white) looked at me at check in patronisingly and said - this is for Clubclass only. I handed over my ticket casually and waited for his face to turn a shade of ruby red,” the user recalled.
“Next time please add one more line that whatever they are affording today is also because of Indian money, their ancestors looted,” another user advised Shah to say next time he faces such an encounter.
“Irony, isn't it. The looters ask original rich people how they afford richness,” another comment read.
Satish Shah, 71, a critically acclaimed actor has appeared in several movies and TV shows and played iconic characters like Indravadhan Sarabhai in the hit comedy “Sarabhai vs Sarabhai”, Municipal Commissioner D’Mello in “Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro”, and as a spitting Physics teacher in “Main Hoon Na” among many others.
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