No Shah Rukh, but European fans still love him

BERLIN: Over 200 fans from all over Europe assembled at the Velodrom, the German capital's indoor stadium, to say they still love Shah Rukh Khan
- though their hopes were dashed when a show featuring the Bollywood heartthrob was cancelled.

Dressed in silk saris and satin salwars, the colourful crowd of mostly women fans lit candles outside the entrance in the shape of SRK and said they were disappointed that "Temptation Reloaded", the live dance and music extravaganza starring King Khan, was cancelled Friday.

"I can't believe that I will not see Shah Rukh tonight," Pamela, 33, said. Pamela had come from Zurich with stars in her kajal-painted eyes and returned from Berlin with tears.

Angela Gotze, 26, said: "I want Shah Rukh to know that we are not angry with him. We love him and miss him and want him to come to Berlin soon."

Gotze had travelled from the ceremony at the stadium to join hundreds of other fans collected in another part of town outside Goya, the most fashionable and largest disco here and the location of "Cabaret", the Hollywood classic starring Lisa Minelli.

More than 10,000 tickets were sold for the German tour of "Temptation Reloaded". However two days before the first show in Berlin Friday, it was cancelled to the deep disappointment of Shah Rukh fans.

A 16-year-old from a small town in Germany was devastated. In a message posted at Planet Sharukh, the online forum of Shah Rukh Khan fans worldwide, she wrote, "'Temptation Reloaded' is cancelled it is all over now. What shall I do now?

"Shahrukh do you know how much I love you??? No, this is such a pity. I am so sad that I cannot find words, my most beautiful dream did not come true, just like that sorry but I have to express my grief and my anger."

A 42-year-old housewife and mother of three children told IANS that she came to Berlin from Stuttgart though her husband and her two older children mock her for loving Shah Rukh. Besides, she runs a restaurant and in her absence the business is bound to suffer.

Fans were allowed to use their tickets to attend the midnight party at the Goya where the star attraction was Kaya Yanar, the famous German stand up comedian of Turkish origin.

Yanar was scheduled to perform on stage with Shah Rukh. "I was preparing my scene for months. I am a great fan of Bollywood films. Hollywood films are about violence and winning, German films are too intellectual but Bollywood films are about emotions and love.

I love Shah Rukh. I was excited about performing with him," Yanar told IANS before he went on stage to try and make those fans happy who tried to drown their disappointment by rocking to Bollywood film music.

Yanar told the cheering crowd that Shah Rukh has promised to come to Berlin very soon. On popular demand, Yanar, 37, danced to "Shava Shava" from "Kabhie Khushi Kabhi Gham", the 2001 blockbuster directed by Karan Johar and which was the first film to be dubbed in the German language and shown on an entertainment channel here.

For many German fans, "Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham" is the start of their romance with Bollywood films. However, other fans of Indian cinema are concerned that the random cancellation of events like "Temptation Reloaded's" tour in Germany will damage Bollywood related activities and institutions in Germany.

"There is fear of a loss of image for us all and this can become a problem in the future," an official from Bollywood and Beyond, Germany's only and annual festival of Indian cinema, said in an e-mail message.

"German fans hate being ignored. The organisers and the artistes don't look good in this shady affair," said a journalist from a publication about Bollywood news in the German language.

"We have to find out more about who is responsible. Maybe I should turn this into a film script, I am thinking a Madhur Bhandarkar movie!" said the German journalist trying to smile in the midst of a blame game started by both the Indian and German organisers and promoters of "Temptation Reloaded" who seemed least concerned about the inconvenience caused to thousands of fans.