The ‘Unsaif’ Padma Shri

Actor Saif Ali Khan would have never thought that a brawl with a commoner at a posh restaurant in Delhi might cost him the coveted civic honour he was facilitated a few years back.

If reports are to be believed, the Union Home Ministry has asked the Mumbai Police to fasten up the process of sending a report on the alleged brawl involving the actor and a South African businessman Iqbal Sharma.

An RTI activist, Subhash Agrawal, had demanded that Khan be stripped off the honour since he has been framed of serious charges in the case.

"As regard to Saif Ali Khan, no response to this Ministry's letter No 1/3112014-Public dated August 20, 2014 has been received from Mumbai Police. Mumbai Police has been reminded to expedite the matter...," the Ministry said in the RTI response.

Agrawal has demanded that such civic honours should be taken back from everyone who is facing controversial charges.

There have been controversies about the award ever since the actor was honoured in 2010. The reasons range from his contribution to the cinema to the pending court cases against him for killing two black bucks. While the actor had first said that he felt undeserving on being awarded the honour, he later said that a look at the past couple of winners tells that you don’t need to have invented a nuclear bomb to get the award.

Whatever his reaction to the award was, the fact that he got into a brawl with a businessman barely two years after the honour did not go too well with some people. Moreover, people also said he received the honour because his mother and former actress Sharmila Tagore was serving as the chairperson of the Central Board of Film Certification when he was awarded the honour.

Image courtesy Indiatimes