"Internationally, if you have a Muslim surname you might be considered a terrorist." - SRK

Top Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan says his Muslim surname gets him put through extra security checks outside India, particularly at London's Heathrow airport, a newspaper reported Wednesday.

Khan said in the Mumbai-based DNA newspaper that in the past his name was recognized overseas, and he easily cleared his own and his movie crew's baggage.

However, due to tighter security his Hindu assistant is now able to clear his bags faster the Khan could, the newspaper said.

"These days I am the one who is stopped so ... he carries my bags," the actor was quoted as saying. "Internationally, if you have a Muslim surname you might be considered a terrorist."

Khan will soon be acting in well-known Indian filmmaker Karan Johar's film, "My name is Khan" — about how people with Muslim names are viewed with suspicion internationally after the terror attacks in the United States on Sept. 11, 2001.

Khan has acted in more than 50 movies. He played the coach of an Indian women's hockey team in his recent blockbuster "Chak De!India" or "Go for it,India."

International Herald Tribune