SRK the Golgappa Champion!

Shah Rukh Khan is sitting on top of the world with a rainbow draped across his shoulders.

The reason? His belief in simplicity, his faith in the common man’s love story being no lesser than Romeo and Juliet, or that of Raj and Simran in DDLJ, has come a winner at the box office with Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi! He doesn’t need to laugh all the way to the bank anymore, nor does Aditya Chopra of Yash Raj Films actually, but SRK is smiling certainly. “The film is a love triangle between two people,” he said explaining its success to BT when box office tills didn’t stop ringing even after the film collected Rs 60 crore in its first three days... YRF’s biggest opening ever.

“I like this small-town attitude, the simplicity of the common man, this thing of saying ‘Sorry’ on a chit of paper that is such a turn on, the fact that an entire song could be pulled off out of a tiffin-box, and that the main issue of a song could also be a man moving onto buying a car from a scooter, or his eating extra golgappas out of love... no filmmaker has done this ever before in a romantic comedy,” the actor said. And, according to SRK, it could only be done because the characters were simple people.

“The world of Om Shanti Om, for instance, was different and these kind of scenes would not have worked in that film. Rab Ne... is a film from the inside... we’re showing the interior of people, they are small people, this is a small city we chose in Amritsar, there’s nothing hi-tech about the film, even the dance scenes are like ‘5, 6, 7, 8 ...’ in a small studio, there is none of the glitz, glamour and slickness of, say, the dance scenes in Dil To Pagal Hai... but that’s what simplicity is all about, that’s what old world charm is,” said the Surinder Sahni of Rab Ne...

It is true, and it is the simplicity of the common man that has worked for YRF at a time like this. Yes, the common man’s wounds of 26/11 are still raw, but he is aching for change, for a smile to be brought to his face without him feeling guilty about this lightness of heart... and that has come through Rab Ne... The fact that the film is doing well across India, around the world, shows that the trade and audiences have liked it.

Trade analyst Komal Nahta said, “The intrinsic Indian values in the film are being lapped up big time by audiences worldwide. I’m getting amazing feedback from Dubai, across the UK and US, from everywhere.” Even a common man like Girish Wankhede, deputy general manager of Cinemax, has reason to rejoice in the film.“It’s a big deal that people are back to theatres thanks to Shah Rukh Khan,” he said with heartfelt gratitude. Brijesh Tandon, an exhibitor from Delhi, agreed, “Multiplexes are full, people who stopped coming to theatres after 26/11, are back with new enthusiasm.” Mumbai collegian Indrani Sengupta added, “The film is entertaining, warm and beautiful. The song Haule Haule has become like a national anthem for youth in love.”

But Shah Rukh Khan would also like audiences to go home with the message that their love story is not ordinary. “Anybody’s love story is great by virtue of it being a love story,” he said. “And you don’t have to sail the seven seas to prove your love for a girl... just eating her biryani after stuffing yourself silly with golgappas is just the same.” If you don’t know what he means, go figure... the film tells the story.