Prominent Bollywood actors Abhishek Bachchan, Salman Khan, Kajol and Bipasha Basu came out openly in support of Shah Rukh Khan, who has come under attack by Indian right-wing party Shiv Sena for backing the inclusion of Pakistani cricketers in the upcoming Indian Premier League.

Abhishek, the first from the Bachchan family to have broken the silence over the issue, wrote on Twitter, “All that has been happening over the past few days is very unfortunate and sad! I believe that sports, arts and culture should be above politics.”

“My family and I have faced many such incidents in the past. And all I wish for is peace and harmony to prevail over all citizens,” he added.

Salman Khan, who is said to be not on cordial terms with SRK, too defended him, saying he has not said anything which is wrong.

“What should he apologize for? ‘My Name is Khan’ should be released for sure. It has to. As an industry we pay huge entertainment tax to the government and we entertain the people also. We don’t think like politicians. I anyway don’t understand this whole thing of taking a morcha and going to somebody’s house,” he said.

Kajol, who was travelling London and the U.S. now with SRK for the promotion of their new film, assured her fans that the film will be released as scheduled on February 12, notwithstanding the threat from the Sena which has warned cinema owners against its screening.

“Mumbaikers, don’t worry people, even Chengez Khan can’t stop MNIK release, relax and let all your positive energy flow here,” she wrote on Twitter.

“Because of some dirty politics, India is trailing behind the world, let us be together and show them the power of democracy,” she added.

Describing SRK as an iconic figure, Bipasha Basu said, “If you ask me as an individual there is nothing wrong that he has done. We are all there and Khan has the love and support of zillions of people. I am sure these tough times will pass.”

Asserting that nobody has the right to block the film’s release, Farhan Akhtar said, “There is no need for anyone to be afraid in the face of this sort of hooliganism!  There are laws and we have faith in them protecting us.”

In a stinging attack on political parties, Shabana Azmi said they were only concerned about their interests.

“I don’t think anything is said that genuinely offends the political parties. They are concerned about their sagging political career, so this becomes a very easy peg to hang their sagging career, because they get into the news,” Azmi told a national television channel.

“Shah Rukh is the most secular and the most fair guy I know! Its unfair to judge his movie based on his opinions! I do love Karan Johar and Shah Rukh! Both are very dear to me and I will defend them if someone writes nonsense about them,” Preity Zinta tweeted.

“Mr P Chidambaram was displeased too for not including Pak players in IPL. No outcry about it. May b he is D Home Minister. U need guts to go 4him (sic),” Anupam Kher wrote on his twitter page.

“My name is KHER.My name is KHAN.My name is SINGH.My name is D’SOUZA.WOW:).My name is INDIAN. (sic),” Kher’s second tweet said.

Music composer Vishal Dadlani of the Vishal & Shekhar duo has lauded the actor’s uncompromising stance and has tweeted on his page, “I’m so proud just to be part of the same industry as you.”

Mahesh Bhatt, who has frequently tweeted about the whole controversy said, “Insiders say Fox is standing firmly behind SRK. They r asking him not to prostrate before the Sena & beg for forgiveness.”

Filmmaker Anubhav Sinha has also written on Twitter asking Bollywood to break its silence on the issue.

Actors Ranvir Shorey and Konkona Sensharma have joined a group named ‘My Name Is Mumbai’ on Twitter.

“I am an Indian residing in Mumbai. My name is Ranvir,” wrote Shorey. Konkona wrote a similar “I am an Indian residing in Mumbai. My name is Konkona.” “My name is Kellie. I am Australian. I treasure my human right to express my opinion, and support @iamsrk’s right to the same,” wrote one follower of the group.

‘Dostana’ director Tarun Mansukhani asked the industry to stand together on the issue.

Shah Rukh Khan stars in the Fox Searchlight pic,

Fox Star Studios, a joint venture between 20th Century Fox and Asian media powerhouse Star (also owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp), reportedly signed the biggest global rights deal in Indian cinema, looking to ride on "Slumdog's" mass appeal, with a worldwide rollout on Feb. 12. Pic is being released in the States through Fox Searchlight on 103 screens, presumably hoping to build an expanding fan base beyond the usual Indian diaspora. Whether they can overcome resistance to over-the-top Bollywood conventions -- "Khan" has no production numbers but boasts as many plot twists as a 12-chapter serial -- remains to be seen.

At home, the pic has become a source of Hindu-Muslim tension ever since Khan lamented the lack of Pakistani cricketers in the Indian Premiere League. Riots have broken out in areas with a strong Hindu nationalist presence, and some cinema owners fear releasing the film at all. Multiplexes in Mumbai and Maharashtra are tentatively trying a limited rollout, but single-screen theaters are holding off for fear of attacks.

There's more than a touch of irony here, since "Khan" is all about tolerance, repeatedly driving home its message that there are only two kinds of people: good and bad. Adding further extratextual background, in August, Shah Rukh Khan himself fell victim to overzealous security agents at Newark Airport, where he was detained and questioned for an hour.

When his mother (Zarina Wahab) dies in India, Rizvan Khan (Shah Rukh Khan) joins his brother Zakir (Jimmy Shergill) in San Francisco, where Zakir's psychologist wife Hasina (Sonya Jehan) diagnoses him with Asperger's. While this element could easily have become mawkish, Khan's perf and Shibani Bathija's restrained script sketch an exceptionally respectful portrait of a functional man with autism.

While working for his brother, he meets and woos sympathetic hairdresser Mandira (Kajol), a divorced Hindu with a 6-year-old son named Sameer (Yuvaan Makar). She agrees to marry him despite Zakir's opposition to their inter-religious union -- it speaks to Khan's unquantifiable charms, and Kajol's radiant goodness, that auds believe in the couple. They move to the suburbs and are fully integrated in their multiethnic community.

Then comes 9/11. Across the U.S., Muslims are demonized and attacked. Their journalist neighbor (Dominic Renda) is killed in Afghanistan and his son Reese (Kenton Duty) turns against Sameer. Tragedy strikes when Sameer is beaten to death by racist school bullies, and in her grief, Mandira blames Rizvan for making her son a target by giving him a Muslim name. She kicks him out, telling her literalist husband not to come back until he's told the president he's not a terrorist.

In the first half, helmer Johar shuttles between Rizvan's quest to meet the president and earlier scenes that beautifully establish the lovingly supportive nature of Mandira and Rizvan's relationship. Then he keeps the plot barreling along as Rizvan encounters the bad and the good, weaving a patchwork quilt of America while positioning the nation as a land where hope and dreams are possible.

One of the big setpieces is a fairy tale imagining of a dirt-poor town in Georgia called Wilhelmina, where Rizvan meets Mamma Jenny (Jennifer Echols) and her son "Funny Hair Joel" (Adrian Kali Turner), two characters straight out of "Song of the South." Stateside auds will initially cringe at this very retro envisioning of good-hearted black folk in their sharecropper cabins (built on a set in Mumbai), but it's of a piece with the film, whose vision of respect and honesty, complete with Hindi and English renditions of "We Shall Overcome," are filtered through stereotyped Bollywood glasses.

"Khan" reunites superstars Khan and Kajol, whose pairings, including Johar's "Kabhi khushi kabhie gham … ," resulted in some of India's biggest blockbusters. They're a delight together and her natural warmth makes the relationship even more believable.

Khan uses the mannerisms associated with Asperger's -- averted eyes, springy steps, stuttered repetitions of memorized texts -- yet captures the personality beneath the condition in a standout performance sure to receive the Autism Society's gold seal of approval.

Ravi K. Chandran's sumptuous lensing offers sweep and intimacy, from gorgeous San Francisco location work to stunning closeups. The confident camerawork is matched by exceptional production design, including the aftermath of a hurricane in Wilhelmina that leads to one of many lump-in-the-throat moments far too strong to lose out against cynical brains intellectualizing just how ridiculous it may all be.

Tuneful songs on the soundtrack help make the running time sprint along.