Have we all played into the hands of a master-publicist? 6 months ago, there was a perfectly executed publicity stunt to promote a film. There was enough written about that little incident. I, too, got conned into writing about it, though there were some people even then who suspected that this was nothing but a means of promoting the film. Now, on a much grander scale, we see the master-puppeteer at work again. It is my opinion that he has timed this controversy brilliantly, and we – the citizens, the state, the media – all have trampled over ourselves to ensure unprecedented publicity for the film.
Hats off to the man. Not only has he come out of this smelling good, he’ll also end up with some additional millions of our money. Money that we’ll spend watching a film where the lead character seems to have been written keeping our patriotic friend’s histrionic style and abilities in mind.
It’s another matter entirely that his role in the film has been dwarfed by two Oscar-worthy performances in real life.
*
Having said that, I must admit that this whole tamasha over the last few days has been paisa-vasool, and the film will find it difficult to match the entertainment quotient that this spectacle provided.
The Quirky Indian 
February 8, 2010 at 3:45 pm
ROFL! Brilliant! I did too! Man this guy is awesome!
February 8, 2010 at 4:40 pm
QI,
Did you see this pattern in how the whole thing panned out? Immediately after his controversial statements, there was hardly any media support for SRK, probably due to media perceiving that whatever SRK said was considered wrong by vast majority of people, partly because of the fact that he did not hire any Pakistani player himself.
Then, Shiv Sena did a strategically stupid thing, which will not help them politically, considering no major elections are ahead. But their move made SRK seem like a victim, whereas the fact is everyone knows, he faces no personal security risk. Even SS’ influence is largely confined to Mumbai, and few cities. And even in Mumbai, their ability to physically harm may have weakened, am not sure.
And then RG came along (again media had a huge role in making his trip look like a success; for instance, very few people paused to think why did HE, of all people, require to go to an ATM?). It was so very apparent that he had bought out every possible news channel, and not to forget kind of security, which common man can never dream of. Had the state government used these measures, would MNS have been ever able to beat up north Indians?
So now, people became sure that SS has become toothless (whether perception is accurate or not, only time will tell). And all news channels, in particular NDTV, got into promoting SRK and his movie. He had an interview with Pranoy Roy, which looked sooo dramatized. Then, an interview with Charkha (nomenclature courtesy you 😉 ), where she did not ask him a single hard question. And all along, even in their main news, it was SRK all over. Imagine, their headlines was – “SRK’s daughter asks – ‘will we have to leave India?'” WTF!! SRK, just like insurance companies, has started using his kids for marketing! I am not so much worried if this is paid news or not. What worries is, will the vast majority of Indians be able to see through all this concerted propaganda? If not then, I am disgusted to think this is the kind of news reporting, based on which we form our opinions.
As to the movie, it was totally nauseating to hear the same old words – ‘pyaar’, ‘dil’, ‘dard’. I was anyway not going to watch the movie, but was giving second thoughts considering there was a medical condition in the backdrop. But when I realized from one of the dialogues that even the diagnostic criteria of Asperger’s have been raped in name of creative liberty, I changed my mind, again.
February 23, 2010 at 11:10 pm
Ketan, I am no fan of Rahul Gandhi but I find your reasoning here perplexing,
“It was so very apparent that he had bought out every possible news channel, and not to forget kind of security, which common man can never dream of. Had the state government used these measures, would MNS have been ever able to beat up north Indians?”
Every possible news channel ? I dont think there was any coverage on Sun TV or Star Ananda or ETV i.e. any of the channels people who actually vote in India watch. The MNS should definitely be allowed to beat anyone, but saying that every target of the MNS should be given the same security as a rather prominent (earned I agree by birth rather than achievement) politician is a bit absurd to say the least. I think its time middle class Indians come out of their little bubbles and stop extrapolating based on their rather limited world view.
February 23, 2010 at 11:16 pm
Okay, the last line wasnt justified. Please ignore it.
January 9, 2011 at 11:57 pm
Yes, the crux is “What worries is, will the vast majority of Indians be able to see through all this concerted propaganda? If not then, I am disgusted to think this is the kind of news reporting, based on which we form our opinions.”
February 8, 2010 at 5:24 pm
I couldnt agree more… SRK is a smart cookie.. he knows what to do and when… I wouldnt be one bit surprised if he throws a party to Bala Saheb in private.. !
February 13, 2010 at 11:15 am
wait a lil Dhiren. Pics of SRK at Bal T’s private bash to be splashed over dailies soon.
Headline:-”How they made up”
”Koi gila shikwa nahin hai”
February 8, 2010 at 9:27 pm
I am just happy that no matter who benefited, it did make the SS look bad. And now we know Indians still prefer democratic values. So totally paisa wasool.
February 8, 2010 at 11:12 pm
Aww..the poor guy.
My name is Solilo and I am not a fangirl.
😆
February 9, 2010 at 2:24 am
Didn’t few of us said so… And I at least still stand by the same though my brother thinks otherwise now. He like many is all praises for Mr. SRK.
February 9, 2010 at 2:26 am
Brilliant, Quirky. Trust you to ‘uncover the real story’. I was surprised to know that SRK’s dad was a freedom fighter? Or did I hear something wrong? Dunno. Plus, I think Sena was partly right, just that, they have bullied enough over silly things earlier, and its a case of ‘HORNS EFFECT’. Now, everything Sena says’/does is wrong. SRK, hats off, man 🙂 I still love him though 😉
February 9, 2010 at 6:51 am
You are right…That guy is a smart businessman, but then there’s nothing wrong with that…What is wrong is us idiots who fell into his carefully laid trap…
February 9, 2010 at 8:06 am
Nice post. For a successful film you need a bit of free controversy in the mix.
February 9, 2010 at 11:10 am
Great post ! And finally a few people seeing through his antics.
How I hate this sorry excuse for an actor. His success hasn’t been so much his acting but his playing the media, giving “exclusive interviews” to channels ready to bend over backwards and his “friends” all over the industry (Karan Joker and co) and elsewhere.
But I hate SS in equal measure.
So, I would feel aweful whichever way it plays out. So, I have stopped following that stupid controversy.
February 9, 2010 at 12:24 pm
Well, I for one, am glad to see Indian people stepping up to the plate at least in mass manipulation and PR skills.
I am no fan of Shahrukh Khan or films in general (and I didn’t watch that film), but it’s good to see some effective business savviness from our countrypeople. I can only hope we have equally shrewd people in other industries. At least Indian films sell a bit outside of India. Can’t say that about many Indian products.
February 9, 2010 at 4:03 pm
Bang on u are!
These idiots know that we Indians are emotional fools & we are waiting for non-issues to spring up so that we can react to them & cover our gulit for working on things on which we shud be really working on!
The best contribution we can make in this issue – we shouldn’t watch the movie! Period!
February 13, 2010 at 11:11 am
I am not watching the movie. Better things to spend my money on than on someone who apparently suffers from verbal diarrhea.
January 9, 2011 at 11:55 pm
I second Indyeah.
February 9, 2010 at 4:11 pm
Hey someone asked him and he answered. Why crucify SRK? Why didn’t they ask the others…and if they did, why didn’t they publicise what they said? Or didn’t the others say anything?
http://thatscricket.oneindia.in/news/2010/01/25/shahrukh-bats-for-pakistani-players-in-ipl.html
Not Shahrukh’s fault if nobody cares what Shilpa Shetty said!
February 9, 2010 at 4:53 pm
Hmmm….
I wonder that why did he even comment on the issue when his own team doesn’t have a place? Why was he commenting on what other teams should do?
February 11, 2010 at 5:54 am
He was ASKED a question. He answered. When has ‘doing something about it’ been a pre-requisite to commenting? :))
February 11, 2010 at 11:26 am
Not really but when you are making such a strong statement you should think twice before saying anything! And my point is when you yourself can not practice what you preach why preach at all?
February 11, 2010 at 6:56 pm
What strong statement? That he’d have liked the Pakistanis to play but was too scared [for their safety…and that of his money and the matches] to include them because of ‘some’ groups? Now he’s proved right by those very people who’re tearing down posters, etc?
February 9, 2010 at 11:06 pm
SRK should never open his mouth. He shouldn’t go in a world cup final, talk about his own detention, about Pakistan, IPL, why he has to open his mouth at all. Even if his movie is releasing after an year still, he shouldn’t open his mouth. Behave decently you publicity hungry, wedding dancer; our country doesn’t appreciate that you have a thought process in place
Fantastic indeed !!!
February 10, 2010 at 12:09 am
Bang on! He certainly knows how to go about it!
But I do think that the Sena’s bullying tactics helped make this a HUGE issue too. Had it not been for them whatever SRK said might not have reached these proportions – I am not for a minute justifying what he said about the Pak players though.
February 10, 2010 at 5:16 pm
hahaha…good guess there. Am not surprised though. SRK wins 😉
But cant believe that the Scum Sena’s leader fell for this trick. Or is it that its an orchestrated with his complicity too?
If so, SRK still wins cos the Bombay police will pack a few scums of Scum sena and whack the shit out of them. In the end, the poor morons supporting the paper tiger get the worst end of the stick.
Much fun.
February 11, 2010 at 10:17 am
🙂 Nice take! Even if the whole thing was all about the publicity i really don’t care… Coz its making the shiv sena look really bad. The way i see it anything that makes the goonda from Bandra East look bad has a thumbs up from me. And lets give it to the guy- he’s put in the money.. he’s making sure the returns are high( here its dependent on him. The IPL he can’t do anything about except for the marketing and ad revenues)
February 11, 2010 at 4:31 pm
Film ppl always try to please everybody and are hesitant to voice their opinions fearing attack on their films SRK took a great risk by voicing his opinion and sticking to his stand despite Sena’s threat. It brings great joy and happiness to see a celebrity showing guts in fighting these divisive forces . It is also ironic to see trivialising of the actor’s efforts by ‘liberals’ .No wonder shiv sena is such big force in Mumbai.
February 11, 2010 at 6:57 pm
Agreed..and rah rah!
:))
February 12, 2010 at 1:28 am
Well you see, SRK has managed to bring the whole country behind him. Isn’t that a Himalayan achievement?
It seems as if Shiv Sena and their baboon leaders are going to get their second 11KV jhatka in a single week. First Rahul Gandhi pissed on them and strolled away, and now they’re all set to be manhandled by the adrenalin-pumped youth who’ll come in masses to watch MNIK, if the former attempts any sort of misadventure. Period!
SS and the senile leader may soon be the laughing stock of the nation in a weeks time. Fingers crossed. 😛
February 12, 2010 at 7:30 pm
Scorpiogenius, I think it is revulsion to SS and not love for SRK which is behind the support of large part of country for the film. Do not write off hate politics yet. The brothers of SS across the border will ensure the popularity of hate politics by their words and deeds
February 13, 2010 at 10:37 am
Quirky,
Do I see a bit of a conspiracy theorist here?
🙂
aman
February 13, 2010 at 11:08 am
Dont plan to watch the movie…better things to do than watch the drama queen at work.
as for the rest would echo Ketan’s views
Then, an interview with Charkha (nomenclature courtesy you 😉 ), where she did not ask him a single hard question. And all along, even in their main news, it was SRK all over. Imagine, their headlines was – “SRK’s daughter asks – ‘will we have to leave India?’” WTF!! SRK, just like insurance companies, has started using his kids for marketing! I am not so much worried if this is paid news or not. What worries is, will the vast majority of Indians be able to see through all this concerted propaganda? If not then, I am disgusted to think this is the kind of news reporting, based on which we form our opinions.
What strikes me as supremely hilarious is the SRK fan brigade waving tickets with glee and going off to watch the movie to and I quote ‘save democracy’
*sigh* Now if only they would vote with as much enthusiasm democracy would really be saved!
Honest! 🙄
February 15, 2010 at 8:36 am
Saw MNIK. Not bad but will recommend to skip last 30 mts of the film. Saw the film as a token attempt to save the freedom of expression in our country so that India will not become a Pakistan or Saudi Arabia
February 15, 2010 at 12:55 pm
@Ritu: He is brilliant! 🙂
@Ketan: Absolutely. And, coincidentally, look how it has all panned out. The movie is a hit, the news channels have an issue, the SS cadres are energised and made to feel relevant, the government looks tough and businesslike and the twitterati are happy that they have saved democracy. Complete win-win for all.
@Dhiren: He’s a very smart man. 🙂
@IHM: The principle of “my enemy’s enemy must be my friend” is a practical one. But it doesn’t mean that my enemy’s enemy is always right. I believe SRK had every right to express his views. But I also feel that his motives were neither unselfish nor neighbourly, but purely commercial. Nothing wrong with that, but we should be aware of the many ways we can be used – by politicians and actors.
@Solilo: Ha ha 🙂
@Vee: SRK deserves praise – for being a very smart businessman.
@Pal: SRK was justified in expressing his opinion. He had a right to do so. It just seemed a little hollow to me, and cynic that I am, all that happened just seemed too convenient. But let’s celebrate the saving of our democracy. 😉
@Bones: Exactly.
@Anirban: Oh, absolutely.
@Vaibhav: That’s the dilemma that most of us face. We dislike the SS as well. So just because somebody opposes the SS, does that automatically make what he does “right”? Apparently, many people think so.
@Vegetable: I agree – SRK is a genius!
February 15, 2010 at 1:39 pm
@Smita: My respect for him as a businessman has gone up tremendously. The movie should be called My Name is Con!
@Anita: I think he had every right to express his opinion. It seemed a little strange, though, that he did not practice what he preached. Was he arm-twisted in any way? Is the SS so powerful that they could arm-twist all team-owners to not bid for Pak players? Unlikely. Did they not bid for Pak players because of security considerations? Possible. But why didn’t he say so? Because that would have embarrassed his friends in the government. Instead, he made a very wishy-washy kind of statement that really reeks of hypocrisy. If he had said that security and business considerations prompted him (and other teams) to take that “unfortunate” decision, everyone would have agreed. I believe his statement was carefully calibrated to literally set the cat among the pigeons, without embarrassing his friends, but also to keep the fires from getting too hot. Very very clever indeed. My admiration for this man has gone up immensely. Not only is one not sure if the film actually suffered any losses in Mumbai and Mah, the stupendous business everywhere else more than made up for any alleged loss here. 🙂
@Rathesh: Chill dude. The whole point of this post is to appreciate the fact that SRK has “a thought process in place”. 🙂
@Smitha: Both parties benefited. And I believe he had every right to express his views. Also, many people have let their dislike for the SS cloud the issue.
@Liju: SRK wins! Who knows whether the SS was complicit in this? The fact is, they have also benefited from this fiasco.
@Gypsy Girl: The man is a genius. And yes, many have let their dislike for the SS take precedence. But the SS has benefited as well. And please remember, apart from some overlap, SRK and the SS have almost mutually exclusive audiences. Think about it.
@Charakan: I don’t think anyone can trivialise what SRK has done. What brilliance! What an absolutely first-rate marketing brain! Let’s not belittle his achievements: he is probably one of the few people in the world who have made money on the back of the social networking phenomenon. No trivialising here – I bow to him in reverence. He is my guru.
@Scorpiogenius: Laughing stock of the nation? True. Made relevant to his constituency after being a has-been? Also true. I agree with the Himalayan achievement bit. Pure genius. 🙂
@Amaan: Shit. What gave me away? 🙂
@Indyeah: *sigh* Now if only they would vote with as much enthusiasm democracy would really be saved! Brilliant point. But voting is never as exciting or fulfilling as watching a film like My Name is Con! 😉
February 15, 2010 at 3:52 pm
LOL@ “My name is con”. Ironically, there is a song that openly declares this fact:
arrey deewanon, mujhe pehachano; kahaan se aaya, main hoon con! 😉
February 24, 2010 at 3:20 pm
Vikram,
You are right, my world view is limited. Though, you had asked me to ignore the last sentence, it is something significant that I want to address.
Also, I plead guilty of exaggerating for the effect by saying “every possible news channel”. I had no idea Rahul Gandhi’s Mumbai visit was not covered in the same manner by South Indian/regional news channels (the ones you enlisted, I suppose?) as the ones I had watched and developed my world view based on. However, I’m also not sure that no one forms their opinion watching:
1. Aaj tak
2. Zee news
3. NDTV 24×7
4. India TV
5. Times Now
6. News X
7. CNN-IBN
8. Headlines Today
9. Star news
10. EL TV Gujarati
11. NDTV India
The point about Rahul Gandhi being provided security was in one simple context, and you yourself have provided it yoursel, i.e., unless and until every single person gets his kind of security (which even SRK enjoys, of course not 23000 men, but basically, adequate), democratic rights like freedom of speech will never be secured for common people, something which Rahul’s visit the mass media (I was subjected to) was purporting as doing.
Moreover, it seems Maharashtra state government was indeed in a position to provide security better than it did against MNS attacks. This is illustrated by very trivial amount of violence that ensued because of protection extended to ‘common man’ by guarding many, many, many cinema halls and even the roads leading to them for screening MNIK.
Fundamentally, I do not disagree with what you are suggesting about governments’ inability to provide protection to all citizens, but this suggestion has implication on issues far removed from the ones discussed here, viz., Godhra train-burning, the Gujarat riots that ensued, and even anti-Sikh riots of 1984. What degree of culpability do we assign to the respective governments for what happened? To what degree can we separate the governments from the political parties that constitute them?
And very honestly, when I talked of our forming of opinions, politics was not the only thing I was talking of. I am much more worried of the manner in which the Bt-brinjal issue has been handled by the media, for instance….
February 24, 2010 at 3:23 pm
…Let’s say the maxim – “every single vote counts” indeed is true, then why should even the minority of voters who watch the channels I named above base their decisions on distorted impressions? BTW, I don’t believe in the concept of every vote counts! 😉 But honestly, I would also not like to feel cheated by the media. And hence I abhor whatever manipulations media indulges in, irrespective of whether a sizeable influential majority gets influenced by them, or a fringe minority.
Lastly, if you suggest that I should try to widen my world view by watching more number of news channels or reading from wider variety of sources so as to gain a more balanced perspective, then I welcome the suggestion, and will try. Though, I am already trying to do so. But if you suggest that I suspend all my opinion-forming and decision making till I am convinced that the width of my world view is stretched to its limit and further widening would no longer be possible, then I must confess such time as I feel “I know it all” will never come, and I cannot desist from forming opinions and taking consequent decisions.
Thanks for your corrections!