Shah Rukh brings ’sunshine’ and Bollywood dreams to Rotterdam

Rotterdam, June 22 (IANS) Screaming fans from across Europe showered flowers, notes and trinkets as Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan performed at Ahoy, Rotterdam’s large cultural and sports complex, to launch the world premiere of Temptations Reloaded, a live song and dance show that saw a number of Indian stars descend on the city Saturday night. Shah Rukh performed on stage with Bollywood favourites like Arjun Rampal, Katrina Kaif and Kareena Kapoor in an auditorium with a capacity of 25,000 before a mixed audience of Asians and Europeans.

In between the two-and-half-hour long show, Shah Rukh and Arjun Rampal drove through the aisles of the auditorium in light vehicles and the venue echoed with the adoring screams of fans, some of whom showered them with trinkets, flowers and notes.

Some European fans were dressed in Indian clothes and referred to the Bollywood superstar as the ‘Saudagar of Sunshine’. And Dutch fans preferred to watch Shah Rukh instead of the Euro 2008 football champion semi-finals between Holland and Russia played around the same time.

In a continent starved of warmth for most parts of the year, King Khan is called ’sunshine’ by his fans here.

Ignoring weather forecasts that had predicted clouds and rainfall, fans travelled from all over Europe to witness the live performance.

With stars in their eyes, cine buffs arrived here under clear blue skies to watch the midsummer night performance and to sigh that the mere presence of Shah Rukh Khan makes clouds part.

“Shah Rukh Khan is our sunshine! When he is close to us, the worst day becomes bright. He fills my life with light and warmth,” an Indian female fan said rubbishing weather forecasts.

“Bollywood makes you happy” is the slogan for marketing popular Indian cinema in Europe, suggestive of the fact that Hindi movies create a state of emotional well-being that goes far beyond mere entertainment.

This is the reason for a dramatic increase in Bollywood fan communities on this continent whose activities revolve mostly around Shah Rukh Khan and his work.

“Bollywood makes European audiences happy because the films are like life seen in dreams,” Ségoléne Roudot, a French fan who is researching fans of Indian cinema in France, told IANS.

Colours, costumes, music, dance and Shah Rukh’s charismatic screen presence have brought much joy into many lives here.

An online Swiss fan forum has a special web page filled with thank you notes to Shah Rukh for coming to Europe. The notes thank the superstar for the colour that he brings into lives and for being the light for fans in the dark.

“Such feelings become stronger at the possibility of a meeting with Shah Rukh Khan. The desire is to touch him in an attempt to experience some more of the joy and happiness that he radiates,” Elke Mader, a professor of Vienna University who monitors the behaviour of non-South Asian fans of Shah Rukh Khan for Bollyglobal, a research project, told IANS.

Mader gives the example of Christina Zück, a Berlin-based artist who has publicly confessed that her life was magically transformed after she touched Shah Rukh at the Berlin Film Fesival of “Om Shanti Om” earlier this year.

“The experience of fans like Christina goes beyond admiring Shah Rukh Khan as a movie star. Shah Rukh is seen much more than just an entertainer here. He is happiness and love personified. Fans want to touch him and to talk to him because he is able to transfer a lot of joy to those who are lucky enough to cross his path,” Mader said

Hosted by Netherland’s Sekier Entertainment Service, the next European stop of Temptations Reloaded, a sequel to the ‘Temptations’ tour Shah Rukh started in 2004, is Berlin.

Founded in 1999 by Ishaq Sekier, a Dutchman originally from an Indian family from Surinam, with an evening of songs by Manna Dey, the entertainment service has since sponsored Sonu Nigam, Udit Narayan, Alka Yagnik, Sunidhi Chauhan, Shaan, Shreya Ghosal, Kavita Krishnamurti, KK and Jagjit Singh here.

“We would like to see Bollywood activities increase around continental Europe,” Monique Dabloe, a Sekier staff member, told IANS.

SRK cuts short his family holiday

Shah Rukh Khan visits London very frequentlyand usually for 40 days with his family, but had to squeeze his summer break down to just a week in London this year. He loves London and once he has been quoted as saying: I love London as I feel at home there. People say English people are very cold and not friendly but I find them amazingly warm.

But Khan like always is making sure it’s only about friends and family this year too. Catching up for dinners and spending the day with kids is what’s keeping Bollywood’s busiest actor occupied at the moment.

“Gauri and the kids had left for London before SRK joined them. The first two days went for some business he had pending. A couple of business meetings but now its all about Aryan and Suhana… SRK has been taking them around London and places close by.”

“Aryan is very fond of sports and so they have been tuning into the Euro Championship. In fact they might head for the finals in Vienna if possible. He has also been meeting up with some of his close friends who live in and around London,” says a source close to the actress, “But more than seeing the city its more of an opportunity for Khan to spend uninterrupted quality time with the family which is very difficult for him to do when in Mumbai.”

While it is impossible for SRK to step out in broad daylight in the UK thanks to his popularity but he still takes the children around to sight see. “For security reasons it needs to be done very discreetly. He has taken them shopping for some gadgets that Aryan wanted. Suhana has been shopping for clothes with Gauri,” says a source.

Last year Khan spent a month in London where he took his kids to see his wax statue at Madame Tussauds. “The two kids were so proud to see their daddy there. And Khan’s life lies in Aryan and Suhana… in fact I think he actually enjoyed his statue once he saw that look in their eyes,” says a friend who accompanied them last year.

When Khan was invited to Warwick Castle to open its latest attraction he took his family along. So from landing on the castle grounds in a helicopter to a sword slashing red carpet ribbon cutting ceremony, flanked by fully armoured medieval bodyguard the kids were in for a real treat. But that was just the start of the fun for SRK. After the inauguration Khan went for a private visit of the Castle with his family.

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