"Shah Rukh Khan's datukship is for promoting Malacca in movie"

Leading Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan was conferred a datukship because he has helped promote Malacca as a tourist destination through one of his movies, Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam said today.
He said the actor had shot scenes of the “One Two Ka Four” Hindi movie at the A Famosa Resort in Alor Gajah several years ago.

“One of the songs in the movie was filmed at the A Famosa Resort. Millions of people who had watched it came to know about Malacca,” he told reporters after the investiture ceremony in conjunction with the 70th birthday of Melaka Yang Dipertua Negeri Tun Mohd Khalil Yaakob at Ayer Keroh here.

Shah Rukh Khan is among the 77 people conferred the Darjah Mulia Seri Melaka (DMSM) award which carries the title “Datuk”. The date he is to receive the award has yet to be decided.

Mohd Ali described the conferment of the award on Shah Rukh Khan as an investment without cost which would eventually reap a huge return on investment.
“If we were to produce a film on Malacca to be shown to millions of people throughout the world, it would have cost us millions of ringgit," he said, adding that the conferment of the award on Shah Rukh Khan was the idea of former finance minister Tun Daim Zainuddin.

Mohd Ali said Daim had proposed the idea to Mohd Khalil so that the actor could help further promote Melaka through his films now that the city was recognised as a heritage site by Unesco.

“Daim will make arrangements to fly Shah Rukh Khan to Malacca to receive his award, maybe in a month’s time,” he added.

In his speech earlier, Mohd Ali laid out a 10-point agenda for Melaka to stimulate the economy and improve the well-being of the people.

The agenda included wooing investments, strengthening domestic demand, getting bigger federal allocations, and enhancing biotechnology, information and communication technology, selected industries and agro-based industry.