A headline like “With 3 Muslim characters, Shah Rukh Khan’s big brave message“, Rana Ayyub’s article on NDTV, got my attention immediately. As a modern, thinking Indian, born into the Muslim faith, I felt the need to add to it—under the country’s current vilifying atmosphere, sane voices rarely get heard.

SRK has never bowed to the violent nationalist, nor to the religious fringe. He has shown equal disdain for both. And while more power to SRK for never shying away from his religious and national identity, this time I feel the credit needs to be given to the writers and the directors of the films Ayyub mentions for writing characters who break away from the Muslim stereotype, and not just the actor.

Let me begin by addressing the basic premise of Ayyub’s article, which is that SRK ‘chose’ to play Muslim characters in his last three films – his cameo in Ae Dil Hain Mushkil, as Jehangir Khan in Dear Zindagi, and the eponymous character in the forthcoming Raees. But what about the writers and directors who created those characters? The real question is, did SRK choose these roles because they were “Muslim” characters or because they were good roles? My vote would go to the latter. The only film where being a Muslim is central to the character’s identity is Dear Zindagi. In Karan Johar’s film, SRK plays the husband to Aishwarya Rai plays a successful Muslim poet, and in Raees, supposedly based on the life of Don Abdul Latif, there was no choice. Kudos to SRK for having chosen to play Jahangir Khan, but much more credit is due to Johar and Gauri Shinde writing an important character as Muslim. And in Ae Dil Hain Mushkil, it’s not SRK as much as Saba (played by Aishwarya Rai), a modern Muslim woman unafraid to express her sexuality, who is interesting. Another interesting character Alizeh Khan (Anushka Sharma), a young modern girl whose religious identity is presented matter-of-factly. And kudos to Indian audiences who embraced these films and paid no heed to the fringe, reinforcing my belief that the social fabric of the country is safe.

Ayyub makes another point – “Shah Rukh Khan, the quintessential Bollywood romantic hero, has in the last few months tried to state that it is as cool to be Tahir as it is to be a Rahul or Raj and Muslim characters don’t have to be accessorized with skull caps.” I agree that Bollywood always shies away from showing the modern, secular Muslim. But there are exceptions — Ali in Dhoom (2004), Farhan Qureshi in 3 idiots (2009), Aslam Khan in Rang de Basanti (2006)  Iqbal in the film of the same name (2005), Bilqees “Bobby” Ahmed in Bobby Jasoos (2014), Farhan Akhtar’s Imraan Qureshi in Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011) and SRK’s own performances as a Muslim have created new visuals. In Chak De! India (2007), he redeems himself as a hockey coach after being accused of deliberately losing a hockey match against Pakistan. In My Name Is Khan (2010), he marries a Hindu (inter-communal marriages in films are usually portrayed as between Hindu men and Muslim women).

But the preponderance of the stereotypical Muslim in Bollywood is as much the industry’s fault as it is the faith’s. Where is the modern secular Muslim and why doesn’t he have a voice? I remember when I wanted to show a Muslim woman smoke a cigarette in my debut film Kuch Meetha Ho Jaye, the censor board asked me to cut that scene. I argued with them that as Muslim filmmaker, I knew women like that. They pointed out the risk of  fringe Muslim groups taking offence to it being shown on screen and I had to remove it. Having grown up within the faith, I know that being “modern” is not easy and often considered unIslamic. That is the larger problem and why we have films often resorting to stereotypes and the reluctance of filmmakers to show modern Muslim characters. The responsibility to break stereotype lies very much at the doorstep of the Muslim community as it lies with Bollywood.

The world over, Islam is fighting a losing battle against the hardliners and wherever there is a hint of modernity, the hardliners are quick to crush it. Whether in Turkey, or in India, moderate Muslim voices need a face and need to be heard. We need to stand up and fight the hardliners within, else the image of the skullcap will always be the image of Islam.

I like it when Muslim characters appear casually onscreen without a religious or oppressed minority angle. We have to stop behaving and believing that we are victims and raise our voice against those asking for special privileges in the name of religion. We have to become the new face of Islam and find a voice. Until we do, the cool, suave Muslim will remain an exception on the screen.

The author can be contacted on Twitter @samarmumbaikhan