SRK says he's hurt, not cribbing for publicity

Mumbai: Actor Shah Rukh Khan on Tuesday said his experience at the Newark airport's immigration counter in the US was "embarrassing" and he was not complaining to gain publicity.

"I am scared of the authorities and rules, so I try to follow the rules of the country I travel to. Whenever I am in America, I have to report at least two hours in advance while travelling within the country for security reasons -- they ask me to take off my clothes and shoes, and I do that. But I never experienced this kind of treatment," Khan told reporters in Mumbai on his arrival here four days after he was detained for two hours at the Newark airport.

"There are some routine security measures--they check your finger prints and scan your retina. But the routine security process was not followed. Instead, the authorities asked me bizzare and irrelevant questions. I am not trying to make a point here, but why were security measures not followed?" he asked.

"The security of any country is important but caste, religion or race shouldn't come in the way of security measures. You may call me a mega star, a celebrity, but basically I'm just a normal guy. But I'm lucky that I have access to friends in the (Indian) consulate whom I could call up. But there are hundreds of others who don't have this facility."

Khan denied that the detention drama was a publicity stunt for his forthcoming movie My Name Is Khan. "I don't think that I need publicity," he said.