The Marathi version of Shah Rukh Khan's biography will be released on Saturday

From dancing around the trees with the prettiest of Bollywood belles to teaching the art of wielding the hockey stick to a bunch of enthusiasts , Shahrukh Khan has for years captured the imagination of a nation.

Litle wonder than that there has no been a dearth of books and biographies on King Khan-the latest to hit the market being Anupama Chopra’s King of Bollywood: Shahrukh Khan and the seductive world of cinema. This book, that was released in New York on August 9, has now been translated in Hindi, German and also Marathi, with the Marathi version all set for release in Pune on September 1 at the S N Joshi auditorium. “I am a die hard fan of Shahrukh Khan so the idea of publishing his biography thrilled me,” says Ulhas Latkar, the owner of Ameya Prakashan publishing house that is bringing out the marathi version.

Almost 14 years old, the publishing house has carved its niche in the genre of biographies with names like Lata Mangeshkar, Amitabh Bachchan, Madhubala, Aditya Birla immortalised by it in the pages of books dedicated to them. “It has been a conscious decision to publish biographies because they are inspiring and make a difference,” says Latkar. So when he learnt about Chopra’s book, he immediately approached her with the idea to release the book for the marathi readers. “I read the book at least four times before making this decision,” he adds. And then came the trickiest part of zeroing in on a suitable writer to do the work. Since Latekar had read Mumbai based freelance film journalist, Aruna Antarkar’s work he contacted her for the job. Working against time Antarkar translated the book in a span of one month without taking any other assignments. But she seems to have done the job more for personal than professional reasons. “Not many people know this but 12 years back Shahrukh saved my life. During the shooting of one of his films I unknowingly stood in front of a moving crane and he pulled me on time just before the machine could hit me. I guess it is about time I expressed my gratitude to him,” she says.

The autobiography is divided in three sections- one part talks about the actor, the other about Bollywood and the third about the changing phases of cinema in the country. Also Antarkar feels that the book has an unbiased approach and cuts through the fluff. “Even where it talks about Shahrukh’s competition with Hrithik Roshan, it emerges that Hrithik, despite being the younger on, comes across as more mature and wise,” she says. Also Antarkar on her part has tried to mould the book according to the taste of the marathi readers without tampering with facts. And, she adds, despite being a collection of memoirs of the actor’s life, it does not compromise on the element of entertainment.

ShvetaVashistGaur, ExpressIndia