Abbas Tyrewala became a target racial profiling at the London Airport

Abbas Tyrewala, who left for the shooting of his John Abraham starrer 1-800-Love on Sunday evening, was detained at London airport.

On reaching Heathrow Abbas, was detained for more than three hours for some gruelling grilling. He says, "I was finally given an all-clear severalu00a0 hours later. But the reason for my detention at the airport was completely absurd. I was asked why I didn't have a work permit and only a business visa when in fact, I was going to be working for almost two months in England. Can you imagine anything more absurd?"

Comparatively polite
Finally, after hours of interrogation, the matter was sorted out. So would Abbas describe the detention as racial in nature? Abbas ponders, "I'm not too sure. I've gone through blatantly racial detention at American airports a number of times. Believe me, this was much milder in comparison.
The British immigration was actually quite polite. They allowed me to be seated and kept asking me if I wanted water, etc. In the US, the detention makes you feel humiliated, and like a criminal."

Lonely detention
What worsened Abbas's plight at Heathrow on Sunday night was that he was alone. "None of the unit members travelled with me. So I had to face this detention alone. That was a little scary. Now that my visa situation has been cleared, we need to be clear about locations in London where we're shooting."
Abbas has no intentions of shooting in typical touristic spots. "We've secured all permissions. But nowadays, one never knows where trouble awaits in a foreign country. Scores of Indian film units have gone and shot in England. I was the first one to be asked why I didn't have a work permit."