Thread by @myselfadi

A marketplace in the city of Peshawar in modern day Pakistan was vital to both Indian Freedom Struggle and Indian Cinema particularly Hindi Cinema. The Bazaar and its link to the #Badshah of Bollywood #ShahRukhKhan𓀠
A Thread 🧵

For centuries, Peshawar has been perched at a historical, and geographical crossroads. The city stands near the eastern end of Khyber Pass, and has long been a natural stop for travelers en route to the subcontinent. Kings, invaders, and traders have all passed through Peshawar
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In the mid-19th century, Sir Edward Herbert, the British commissioner in Peshawar, described the Qissa Khawani Bazaar as the “Piccadilly of Central Asia.” Travelers paused in the market to drink the local green tea called kehwa and exchange kissas, or stories.
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The name Qissa Khawani Bazaar means “the street of the storytellers.” It is fitting that some of Indian cinema’s biggest names, whose stories have seduced generations, trace their roots to this space.
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In a mohalla called Dahkki Nal Bandi stands the house
where Prithviraj Kapoor once lived. Prithviraj, a statuesquely handsome man, left Peshawar when he was only twenty-two, traveled two to Mumbai, and became a leading man in the 1930s and 1940s. He spawned a dynasty of actors.
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Less than five minutes away, in Dooma Gulli, is the house where Dilip Kumar was born. His father, a fruit merchant,shifted to Mumbai in the early 1930s, but every two or three years the children traveled back for holidays.
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Within walking distance of both these homes, at the end of a narrow lane in the mohalla Shahwali Qatal, is house number 1147, Meer Taj Mohammad was born in 1928.
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Meer was the youngest of six children. He had four brothers and one sister. The family was into bamboo trade but business often took a backseat. Like thousands of ordinary Indians, they were caught up in a more epic struggle: the fight for Indian independence.
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Meer and his brothers were followers of Khan Abdul
Ghaffar Khan, also called Badshah Khan. Badshah Khan was a political ally of Gandhi. Traditionally, Pathan culture glorifies martial prowess but Khan inspired an non-violent movement, earning the title of "Frontier Gandhi"

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Khan’s Khudai Khidmatgars (Servants of God), or Red Shirts,as the British called them, supported the Indian National Congress. The British troops tried to provoke the Pathans into violence—they were jailed and tortured—but Badshah Khan’s non-violent soldiers stood firm
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Meer’s elder brother Gamma was a respected political
leader. He was a tireless worker organizing anti-British protests and rallies. Meer himself was an in-demand orator—his fiery speeches in Urdu attracted as much attention as his dashing movie star looks.
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In August 1942, the Congress Party launched
the Quit India movement. When many prominent leaders including Gandhi and Nehru were arrested, the movement turned aggressive. Many were killed
and arrested. Among the detained were Meer and Gamma

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Meer was in and out of jail for the next two years. Though none of the other siblings had even finished high school, they encouraged Meer to study.
Concerned that the political and social unrest would adversely affect Meer’s education, his brothers sent him to Delhi.
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In 1946, Meer enrolled as a law student at Delhi University. A year later, on August 15, 1947, India became an independent nation. But the euphoria of freedom was stained by the bloodshed of Partition.
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In the months before and after Independence, an estimated 11 million people crossed the borders in both directions: Hindus and Sikhs fled to India from Pakistan while Muslims abandoned their ancestral
lands to find a new home. Overnight, Meer became a man without a country.
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When Lord Mountbatten had announced
Partition, Badshah Khan was among the few leaders
who had supported Gandhi’s objections to the Two-Nation Theory. Both men had assessed correctly that cleaving the country on the basis of religion would only intensify communal violence.
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The Pathans, though Muslim, wanted to remain
part of India, but the landlocked province was handed by the British to Pakistan. Shortly after independence, Badshah Khan was charged with being pro-Hindu and imprisoned by the Islamic government in
Pakistan.
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His followers, including Meer’s family, were forcibly
scattered through the country. Gamma would spend the next seven years in prison. Meer’s name was also on the blacklist of Red Shirt freedom fighters and he was barred from entering Pakistan. He could never go home again.
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In 1949, Meer graduated from the university with a second division. Meer then opted not to practice law, but instead he went from Delhi to Mumbai to become an actor.
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His son #ShahRukhKhan𓀠 embarked on the same journey his dad Meer Taj Mohammed make forty years ago and went on to became the #badshahofbollywood

Happy Birthday #KingKhan