"I'm Gauri Khan here. Please leave my husband alone."

No, he doesn't look like him, or even sound like him. Heck, he doesn’t even share the same birthday. Yet Siddartha Banthia was mistaken for Shah Rukh Khan last Thursday and what followed was a near nightmarish experience for the 26 year old.

It all started when a certain section of the press apparently gave out a number to the public claiming it was Shah Rukh Khan's personal mobile number. In actual fact it was Banthia's number.

"I started getting phone calls on Thursday evening from unknown people wanting to talk to Shah Rukh Khan. At first, I thought somebody was playing a prank on me but as the calls just wouldn't stop pouring in, I got a bit suspicious," recounts Banthia.

On asking the callers as to how they obtained his number, Banthia was startled to learn that the mobile number was being flashed at that very moment by a news channel.

"I was on the highway on my way to Pune at that time, so I couldn't check the TV. But I immediately called up home and asked my family members to switch on the channel. They confirmed what the callers had told me. I just couldn't believe it."

Banthia quickly called up the channel, that promptly stopped flashing the number after he pointed out the confusion. But the damage had been done by then as millions of fans of the screen heart-throb started to bombard Banthia with calls and SMSes.

"People from not just India, but even from places like Dubai, Singapore, Malaysia started to call – my phone was just ringing incessantly" says Banthia, a corporator and general secretary of Maharashtra State Youth Congress, who could not even switch off his mobile as he was involved in the ongoing gram panchayat elections and needed to be on call for his party members. “First I tried to explain, then exasperated I told them that yes, I was SRK and finally I asked my friends to answer my calls,'' says the hapless man.

And though it's now been more than five days since the incident, the calls, says Banthia have still not stopped.

Are the misled fans listening?

If so, time to take your hands off that handset and give the guy a break.

Siddharth Banthia's comeback :
* "Yes, I'm Shah Rukh Khan speaking."
* "I'm his personal assistant. SRK is busy shooting."
* (Getting a lady to say)"I'm Gauri Khan here. Please leave my husband alone."

Preeti Devnani, ExpressIndia.com