The Bombay High Court granted bail to Aryan Khan in the Mumbai cruise drugs case on October 28. ‘Bollywood superstar SRK’s son Aryan Khan arrested in drugs case,’ screamed headlines on October 3, 2021, beginning a filmy saga that ultimately saw Aryan Khan cooling his heels at Mumbai’s Arthur Road Jail.

He was arrested in connection with a drugs raid conducted by the Narcotics Control Bureau. Helmed by zonal director Sameer Wankhede, the NCB’s Mumbai unit raided a cruise ship off the city coast. Aryan Khan, along with several others, was arrested and accused of consumption and ‘conspiracy’, among other charges.

Since the arrest of Aryan, the Khan family has not said anything in public. However, reactions have come from a few Bollywood stars and politicians, who are outraged over his detention.

Actor Suniel Shetty asked the media to let Aryan Khan breathe and not jump to conclusions. “It is our responsibility to take care of the child,” Shetty said. Film director Pooja Bhatt wrote on Twitter, “I stand in solidarity with you. SRK. Not that you need it. But I do. This too, shall pass.”

Actor Hrithik Roshan posted a heartfelt letter addressed to Aryan on Instagram. He wrote, “God is kind. He gives only the toughest ones the toughest balls to play.”

Others, including directors Farah Khan and Karan Johar, were seen visiting Mannat, the Khan family’s home in Mumbai’s Bandra. Actor Salman Khan visited multiple times.

Among politicians, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said he was “repelled by the ghoulish epicaricacy displayed by those witch-hunting” Shah Rukh Khan.

Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti claimed that Aryan Khan was being targeted by law enforcement agencies because of his Muslim surname.

On being asked about the case, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi said he would fight for “those who are voiceless and weak, not for those whose fathers are powerful”

Meanwhile, Maharashtra minister and Nationalist Congress Party leader Nawab Malik alleged that the NCB’s raid on the cruise was ‘fake’ and the BJP was using central agencies to “defame Maharashtra, the Maharashtra government and Bollywood.” He questioned the presence during the raid of two people who allegedly have nothing to do with the NCB. One of them, he claimed, was associated with the BJP.

Mrs Funnybones, Twinkle Khanna commented on Aryan Khan’s arrest by writing that it reminded her of an episode of ‘Squid Game’. ‘I need some heavy-duty psychotropic substances to make sense of this development,’ she wrote. In an Instagram post, Khanna shared a portion of her blog post titled, ‘Let the desi Squid Games begin’. Citing the example from one of the episodes of the popular South Korean drama, she wrote, “Each player is given ten marbles and must get their opponent’s marbles by competing in any game of their choosing. In this episode, one of the strongest candidates is badgered and ultimately bamboozled into losing his marbles. I seem to have misplaced mine as well when I read the news about Shah Rukh Khan’s son’s arrest.” Twinkle Khanna found it unfair that Aryan has been in jail for two weeks without any evidence against him, “While his friend was apparently carrying 6 gm of charas, there is reportedly no evidence of possession by Aryan Khan. Yet, the young boy has been languishing in Arthur Road jail for almost two weeks now.”

Shah Rukh Khan’s ‘Raees’ director Rahul Dholakia tweeted: ‘Outrageous !!! You are saying there is a “possible” connection to his “international” racket based on “WhatsApp” chat recovered from his phone, that you confiscated on a “bust” where he “had nothing” ?And you have been fishing for days and yet not found anything? #FreeAryanKhan’

The ‘Veere Di Wedding’ actress Swara Bhasker called it ‘pure harassment’.

‘Omerta’ director Hansal Mehta wrote, ”Marijuana/cannabis consumption is legal in many countries. It has been decriminalised in many. In our country its consumption is used more for harassment than for narcotics control. A movement like the one to abolish sec 377 is necessary to end this continuing travesty.”

Actress Tanishaa Mukerji slammed the behaviour of officials, calling it harassment. She told ‘Bombay Times’, “I definitely think that in Aryan’s case, this is harassment. More so by putting the child on a media trial! This is not real journalism, just sensationalism or Bollywood bashing as you would say. Unfortunately, people have become callous towards our stars saying things like, that these are the pros and cons to being a star kid! Really? Obviously they don’t have any compassion. This country is for all of us and people should be more discerning when looking at the evidence and think what if this was happening to my child? What would I do? Is this justice?”.

Director Prahlad Kakkar claims the reason for the hoopla is because Aryan is a star child. He pointed out that Aryan wasn’t found to be carrying any narcotics and so wondered why he had been kept in remand. “He is being targeted because he is Shah Rukh Khan’s son, why else? There is no proof that he was carrying anything with him. They are looking at his phone, at one-year-old old messages, when he was in England and trying to tell people that he is involved in an international drug cartel. What rubbish!”

Raveena Tandon defended Aryan Khan and tweeted: “Shameful politics being played out.. it’s a young mans life and future they toying with … heartbreaking.” Raveena and Shah Rukh have appeared in several films together.

Taking to Twitter, music composer Vishal Dadlani opined that Aryan’s arrest is a smokescreen to distract the public from the 3000 kg Talibani drug procurement from Adani airport. “If Composers count, I am. SRK and his family are being used as a smokescreen, a soft target to distract from the 3000kg Talibani-drug haul at the Adani port, and to distract from the murder of farmers by the son of a BJP member/MLA. Straight-up,” he wrote.

Veteran actor Shatrughan Sinha claimed that Aryan is being “targeted” because he is SRK’s son. While talking to ETimes, he said, “Shah Rukh is definitely the reason why the boy is being targeted. There are other names like Munmun Dhamecha and Arbaaz Merchant, but nobody is talking about them. The last time such a thing happened, the focus was on Deepika Padukone, although there were other names involved, and known names too, but the focus was on her only.”