| | |
on Shah Rukh Khan's unbelievable fan-following abroad
Nandita Puri
nanditapuri@gmail.com
Everyone knows how popular Shah Rukh Khan is with Indians and Bollywood buffs abroad. But one has to see it to believe it to be true. SRK is not just popular. That would be an understatement. SRK rocks. I found out for myself recently during the filming of Don in Malaysia.
The whole of Malaysia. especially Kuala Lampur was buzzing with "Shah Rukh Khan's film Don". Kareena Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra, Arjun Rampal and the rest could have just about been there. People just notice SRK. Like many moons ago when Indians visited Russia (USSR then) and were asked where they came from, nearly every Russian would exclaim… "So you come from the land of Raj Kapoor!"
Likewise today in Malaysia. Its not, 'Oh you come from Bombay'…'dirty', 'crowded', 'rain city' or even 'Bollywood city'….no 'Salman Khan', no 'Abhishek Bachchan' or even 'Aishwarya Rai'. It is a straight… "Oh, so you come from Sahah Rukh's country". One Fijian lady at a local salon waived my hair drying charges on that score. There was a framed photo of her with SRK in the parlour. Since KL is essentially a city of malls (most of the crew of Don can vouchsafe for this as all they remember of KL is malls, malls and more malls), I bumped into Kareena one day browsing the shops at the prestigious KLCC Mall at the Petronas Twin Towers. Nobody bothered her. Shah Rukh would never be able to do that. From the Prime Minister to the common person, everyone loves SRK. Here's an instance of his diehard fan following. A group of 30-odd Turkish tourists (mainly women) discovered that SRK was shooting in Langkawi in March. After taking several photographs with him, the troupe followed him to KL. While SRK stayed at the Crowne Plaza hotel, the Turks parked themselves in the same hotel, booking 20-odd rooms, till the end of May (till Khan finished his schedule). Every day from breakfast time onwards, these young Turkish girls would wait by the lift to say hello to SRK, all dressed up and they did this unfailingly for three whole months!
Powerful logic
Coming from a power-deprived country, I was quite impressed when I saw the lights illuminating the majestic Petronas Twin Towers would be switched off promptly at midnight. Till then hundreds of watts of electricity would light up the world's tallest buildings like diamonds in the sky. However at 12 am, only a tenth of the lights would remain. This was more for the airplanes. It goes to show that even if the the country could afford it, Malaysia does not believe in unnecessary wastage. While in Vancouver, like in most western countries, every shop, every office remains lit up through the night. Most of them never turn the heating off, even during weekends. I was generally complaining about the colossal waste of electricity to one of the city counsellors. His reply was somewhat of an eye opener. It is wiser to have the lights and heating on than turning them off during weekends. Because by Monday the place would get so cold that it would require double power to heat it and get people to work. Strange are the ways of logic…but sometimes wasting is cheaper than saving.
Save those trees
Returning to the city after a month's sojourn, I could barely recognise the roads back home. If the roads had been broadened, then it was miniscule.
Hardly noticeable. Maybe a foot or two at the most. But at what cost! The roads were looked barren, bereft of trees. A concrete jungle. Literally. It was like losing a friend one had known all these years. And not just one friend, but so many of them together. There were not enough tears to shed.
Just bottled up anger and abuses for the people responsible. It takes 50 years and more for a tree to grow fully, and it takes just a few hours and a couple of axes to fell them down. Why could they have not been replanted as they do in other countries?
In India the tendency of the authorities is to come up with cosmetic solutions to problems instead of going into the root of the problem. But worse still is the double standards followed by the authorities in the name of solution. Films and television channels have been told not to show actors smoking (and even consuming alcohol).
And actors and other celebs alike have been told not to endorse aerated drinks. If the government is so concerned, why not ban the manufacture of cigarettes instead? Or better still, begin by banning smoking in public places.
I was in Glasgow when the smoking ban came into effect and in spite of a few stray voices protesting, the authorities were tough on offenders. And very soon there will be less offenders.
Anupamaa
Naagin 7
6