It is almost surreal for me to see a Bollywood star being revered like God by the western world. But that exactly happened at the Berlinale festival where Shahrukh Khan, the king of Bollywood, was thrown a red-carpet welcome, which he would not have expected or got even in his home country.
SRK, as his famous appellation goes, has been famous from the stretches of desert in Saudi Arabia to the populous world as far as Philippines. But his mania in the Americas, Africa, Australia, and especially Europe has really grown as never before. It is still not of that proportion as that of some of the Hollywood stars. But gauge it considering the fact that he belongs to a region which doesn't speak the same language as theirs ; his culture is far different to theirs in almost every conceivable aspect; and far more than that, he is a brown man, long being held in low light by if not all, then undeniably by some myopic Westerners.
Have a look at the following craze generated upon his arrival at the festival:-
SRK at Berlinale
As per the report, the crowd was half Asian and half non-Asian. His growth of stardom in Germany has a small story behind it. It all started with the screening of his movie 'Kabhie Khushi Kabhie Gham' on a prime television channel there back in 2005. The Germans had never seen or experienced such emotions erupting out of every possible relation, be it father-son, husband-wife or brotherly. They were instantly moved, despite the fact that they watched it with English subtitles or dubbed in German. Since then his popularity has grown very much, almost to the extent that he is more German than Indian for them.
In return, SRK is also very much appreciative of the fans. His felicity with the words is very well-known, but he was at his suave best at the interview done to promote his film 'OSO' at the Berlinale.
All credit to Shahrukh for making the world his own, but it should also open the eyes of the persons related to Indian movies towards the uncapped Western world market. What we have provided them is a trifling of what we can. There is a plethora of untasted things ready to be lapped up by them. Only if we leave our inferiority-complex and low-attitude about our movies, and promote them there as well as we do in India. Above all, it won't harm much in promoting India as well, will it?
SRK, as his famous appellation goes, has been famous from the stretches of desert in Saudi Arabia to the populous world as far as Philippines. But his mania in the Americas, Africa, Australia, and especially Europe has really grown as never before. It is still not of that proportion as that of some of the Hollywood stars. But gauge it considering the fact that he belongs to a region which doesn't speak the same language as theirs ; his culture is far different to theirs in almost every conceivable aspect; and far more than that, he is a brown man, long being held in low light by if not all, then undeniably by some myopic Westerners.
Have a look at the following craze generated upon his arrival at the festival:-
SRK at Berlinale
As per the report, the crowd was half Asian and half non-Asian. His growth of stardom in Germany has a small story behind it. It all started with the screening of his movie 'Kabhie Khushi Kabhie Gham' on a prime television channel there back in 2005. The Germans had never seen or experienced such emotions erupting out of every possible relation, be it father-son, husband-wife or brotherly. They were instantly moved, despite the fact that they watched it with English subtitles or dubbed in German. Since then his popularity has grown very much, almost to the extent that he is more German than Indian for them.
In return, SRK is also very much appreciative of the fans. His felicity with the words is very well-known, but he was at his suave best at the interview done to promote his film 'OSO' at the Berlinale.
All credit to Shahrukh for making the world his own, but it should also open the eyes of the persons related to Indian movies towards the uncapped Western world market. What we have provided them is a trifling of what we can. There is a plethora of untasted things ready to be lapped up by them. Only if we leave our inferiority-complex and low-attitude about our movies, and promote them there as well as we do in India. Above all, it won't harm much in promoting India as well, will it?
1 comment:
Just saw your site! I look forward to catching up with. And thank you for your link to Beth Loves Bollywood!
(My apologies if this comment got left twice. Technical difficulties!)
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