Shah Rukh Khan plays guest editor of Mid Day on birthday eve

Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan yesterday celebrated his 42nd birthday by taking over as guest editor of Mid-Day, a popular tabloid published from Mumbai. Last year, on January 28, he played the 'guest editor' of the Times of India.

The actor, whose latest film Om Shanti Om will see its world premiere in London next Thursday, played the role of a 'guest editor' to perfection.

“The Mid-Day that you are reading today, I must confess, may not entirely be an SRK collection of stories. I have realised, it is a mammoth task to bring out a daily newspaper. But this special issue has a spread of my choice of stories," he wrote in his signed editorial. According to Khan, his children Aryan and Suhana don't read newspapers. "But I do. Every morning, I read eight newspapers in all.

I read them carefully, thoroughly, often wondering why journalists give more importance to one story, less to another," he continued.

"Why do they display one story more prominently while on the same page, reduce the size and structure of the other. What is the thought behind the choice? Who could be the people making this decision? What do they look like, how do they behave?

"Walking into the MiD-Day office has been one such eye-opener. Initially, I felt apprehensive, sitting through the editorial meeting. But contrary to my belief, I found journalists actually discussing the merits of every story."

The Times group – which includes the Times of India and the Economic Times among others – pioneered the concept of 'guest editors' in
India. The powerful media empire invites prominent celebrities to 'edit' one of their titles for a day. The edition then carries exhaustive interviews with the celebrity and his/her views on the paper and the stories selected for the day.

Celebrities who have 'guest edited' the Times and the Economic Times include former President APJ Abdul Kalam – when he was the country's President – Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Shahrukh Khan, Abhishek Bachchan, Infosys chief mentor N R Narayana Murthy, Sania Mirza,writer Vikram Seth and Deepak Chopra.

Khaleej Times Online