Waiting for Shah Rukh Khan…

How does a 50-year-old woman who bought a VIP ticket to be “someone special” for one night deal with it when her favourite star Shah Rukh Khan’s concert is abruptly called off, less than four days before it was to be held?

Fans see no boundaries, it seems, when it comes to Bollywood and, in this case, King Khan. When word spread that his three-city Temptations tour of Germany had been called off, his fans in Germany and beyond mourned.

The feelings ranged from shock to anger and concern. “I thought Shah Rukh is ill, because he works too much,” says Anja, 37, from Dortmund, Germany who spent nearly 260 Euros on the ticket, train and hotel booking for the show (some fans over 600 Euros).

Says another fan, who had been looked forward to the concert since May, “I lost a lot of money, but it was the emotional aspect that had me crying. I had been counting the days and nights for the last five months. I imagined how incredible the concert would be, how happy I would be when I saw SRK and the dress I would wear. But nothing happened… We were left without any shows and without SRK. These last five months were for nothing and that’s the terrible part.”

She adds, “To be honest, at first, I was really angry with SRK and thought he was responsible for the mess. But a few day later, I realised I had been angry only because I was so disappointed. Sure, I love him as much as before, but I’m really, really, disappointed.”

The star’s fans feel they’re now a fan base without support. German Bollywood blogger Barbara Skoda writes, “…The German market seemed to look like fat firang tourists in Chor Bazar to the filmi industry-walas that could easily be skinned for money. To steal a line from K3G, Tum sirf entertainer ho, parameshwar nahin.” From the DVD market, where C-grade movies are sold using SRK on the cover, and instead of the real thing, customers get “shiny moments of Indian movie history like Hottestm@ail.com or Husn Bewafa.”

The Shah Rukh visit during the Om Shanti Om premiere at the Berlinale earlier this year led fans to believe the slump was over, “especially since some of the multiplex chains started to screen current films” and both the Bachchan’s Unforgettable and the Temptation tours announced shows.

Skoda adds, “And now we have the latest of their disasters and this time it’s not simply Shilpa Shetty’s Miss Bollywood or the Bachchans (which both probably got canceled due to bad pre-sales). This time it really hits hard. This time it’s SRK. I know of more than a few cases of fans who literally had to scrimp and save to be able to afford a once-in-a-lifetime journey to one of the concerts.”

However, the refrain across is that the fans will definitely shell out money for a ticket for a SRK show again, but not in advance! “Nothing will put me off from Shah Rukh or Bollywood,” asserts Sonja Hellenthal.

As for the star’s appeal, Ramona Magnus describes it as “What makes me such a fan of SRK? I ask myself that very often. Strangely, he feels a little like family. He has a special, very warm charisma and a very strong aura. I like his sense of humor.”

The star’s appeal spreads beyond Germany and Austria or Switzerland, from where fans were headed to catch the Berlin show. A thriving online and offline fan club works across the globe and is connected by… guess what? Mini Khan, a miniature Shah Rukh miniature, the size of a Barbie doll, couriered from member to member.

Says Beth Watkins, from Illinois, US, who bought the doll off ebay, “There are also Kajol, Hrithik, and Priyanka Chopra dolls but, quite frankly, we didn’t think any of those sounded nearly as fun. Mini Khan has been on the road for about a year now. He has visited several locations in the US and Europe so far, with plans to go to Nigeria, India, Japan, Korea, and Canada. Currently, he is in London. He was also with us in Munich during the European Bollywood fan and blogger meetup last March, and now it’s hard to imagine a gathering without him.” There’s even a blog which has a world map with a tracker pointing out Mini’s Khan past, current and future destinations!

The doll came in white and black t-shirt, denim jacket, orange cargo pants, similar to what he wore in Kal Ho Na Ho’s “Pretty Woman” number, but he’s been gifted more clothes since — a fan, a professional tailor, has made him a handmade black leather jacket like the one he wears in Don.

The fans, it seems, will bounce back from the shock of a cancelled tour, though they’re bristling at being taken for granted. However, have these concerts become more about ticket sales and less about reaching out to fans? Says actor Chunky Pandey, who enjoys a huge fan following in Bangladesh, “As for Shah Rukh, I’ve toured with him too and he puts in a lot of money back into his shows. And, generally speaking, when films didn’t pay as well as today, concerts were also about money. But, today, with stars doing brand endorsements too, concerts are more about connecting with fans.” It’s all about nurturing the fan base, he adds. We hope Bollywood is listening!