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Rediff.com  » Movies » Why Shah Rukh Khan rules!

Why Shah Rukh Khan rules!

By Amit Sahai
February 19, 2004 06:08 IST
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Scene 1

Shah Rukh KhanVenue: A multimedia training school for students.

Event: Launch of a new software for animation.

Dozens of youngsters are having a good time. Most of the boys are wearing black outfits and gold chains. Their hair is held neatly in place with oodles of hair gel. The girls are also in black.

They take to the dance floor, as the latest chartbusters blast from the speakers. It takes a remixed version of Tujhe dekha from Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge for the girls to scream 'SHAH RUKH!'

Songs from Badshah Khan's films tumble out and the crowd simply cannot get enough.

Scene 2

Venue: A night club.

Event: A Saturday night out.

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The air is drenched with smoke and noise. The deejay churns out the latest rave music. Suddenly, he stops and changes the CD. It is Shah Rukh Khan once again.

The reaction is the same: girls start screaming his name and the dance floor soon gets crowded with youngsters jostling for space.

This could be any part of India. But it isn't.

I witnessed the first such incident in Colombo, Sri Lanka. And the second in Yangon, Myanmar.

You will find similar scenes in most South Asian countries like Bangladesh, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Posters, audio cassettes and pirated DVDs say the same story: Shah Rukh Khan rules!

In Yangon, a driver once told me how Asoka was a big hit in the city. In a country where Indian films are screened along with the local one at cinema halls, the posters of Yaadein, Talaash and Mujhse Dosti Karoge seem familiar. People had queued up for hours to buy tickets for Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, another superhit.

The driver added that one in about three people had memorised the lyrics of KKHH, without understanding them.

Shah Rukh KhanThere are quite a few stories afloat about King Khan. One was how Khan stayed in a mosque for over a month to keep a mannat. Did anyone actually see him? Well, someone's brother's friend's distant cousin had got a look and SRK had even waved back. Yeah, sure!

Bangladeshis claim Shah Rukh is one of their own. A DVD store owner in Dhaka had once told me SRK was actually born in Dhaka.

Thai girls are also fascinated with the superstar. I know a dozen Indians who were wooed by Thai girls singing SRK numbers!

Does this make Shah Rukh Khan India's favourite export? I would have preferred to say that Amitabh Bachchan is still the biggest. But no, it is Shah Rukh Khan who is probably more famous than cricket player Sachin Tendulkar, actress Aishwarya Rai and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

What is interesting is that it is not just London, Los Angeles, Dubai or Johannesburg that are crazy about the star. Countries we may have never thought of have fan clubs dedicated to him!

It feels nice to be recognised as an Indian in international shores, sometimes because you are from the land of Shah Rukh Khan!

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Amit Sahai