Actress claims she has a lot of respect for Shah Rukh Khan and the MNIK controversy is unfortunate

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Extending support to Shah Rukh Khan, actor and IPL team Rajasthan Royals' co-owner Shilpa Shetty said it was unfortunate that the actor was being targeted for expressing his opinion. Shiv Sena has threatened to stall the release of Khan's upcoming film 'My Name Is Khan' after he refused to apologise for his remarks favouring the inclusion of Pakistani players in IPL. "It is everybody's right to express his opinion. It is a fundamental right. When a film gets affected, the entire industry gets affected. I stand by him as a human being," Shetty said.

The actress, who is currently in Ahmedabad to launch a music video of Rajasthan Royals added, "My relationship with Shah Rukh goes beyond films. I have a lot of respect for him. I was introduced in films with him. It is really unfortunate that he has to face brunt of all this. This issue has been already politicised a lot, I do not want add more fuel to the controversy," she added. However, she clarified that she was not defending Shah Rukh's statement and the decision to select Pakistan players or not was never based on their nationality.