Satish Shah faces racism in London: Priyanka Chopra, Sonam Kapoor and Shilpa Shetty have also faced xenophobia

Veteran actor Satish Shah of Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai fame was recently at the receiving end of a racist comment. While at London’s Heathrow Airport, he overheard airport staff discussing how the actor and his family could afford first-class tickets. A calm Shah responded with a smile and told the staff members in question, “because we are Indians”. 

The veteran actor tweeted about this encounter on January 2. Unfortunately, he’s not the first actor to face racism. Following is a list of other actors who have faced xenophobia:

Priyanka Chopra Jonas
Priyanka has often spoken about how she faced racism during her school days in the US, which got so bad that it made her return to India. PeeCee revealed that she was called 'Brownie' by a bully in school. Not just that, she was also called 'Kali' by her relatives as ‘a joke’.

Sonam Kapoor Ahuja
Sonam, who has travelled abroad extensively, revealed that she has faced racism several times. Speaking about her experiences, she said in one interview, “They see brown skin and they judge you already. When I go abroad, people already have their perception, like we are always in a parda or that our parents are very conservative.”

Shilpa Shetty Kundra
Shilpa was attacked with racist slurs from her Celebrity Big Brother housemate Jade Goody in 2007. Jade made fun of Shilpa’s Indian accent, and even called the actress a ‘dog’. Things got so bad that Shilpa cried while being in the Big Brother house and the whole incident became a huge controversy.

Richa Chadha
Back in 2018, Richa faced racism while ending her trip in Georgia. Posting about the incident, Richa said, “Met a racist AF officer at the passport control while exiting Georgia. Slammed my passport on the desk, twice... muttered under her breath in Georgian... yelled and asked me to hurry. Sad that people like her are the last ones we perhaps see on exiting the country.”

Jameela Jamil
Jameela, a Pakistani-British actor, said that she was “bullied very badly” all through her school years because of her race. She said in one interview that she was “physically and verbally abused” at school, and that she was “beaten senseless by kids for being from a Pakistani family and for being poor”.

Ananya Birla
Singer, songwriter and entrepreneur Ananya Birla slammed an American restaurant for being racist. She tweeted that she and her family were made to wait for three hours to get into a restaurant in Los Angeles, and that a waiter was “extremely rude to my mother, bordering racist”.