Shah Rukh Khan: King of vulgarity

That's what a Bangladeshi newspaper has called Shah Rukh Kha

Shah Rukh Khan performed to a 30000-strong crowd at Dhaka's Army Stadium on December 10.

The tickets sold out within minutes. However, a leading local newspaper, Weekly Blitz panned the show, which also featured Arjun Rampal, Rani Mukerji, Eesha Koppikhar and Dia Mirza along with SRK.

Calling him 'the king of vulgarity', the article goes on to point out the various problems with the concert.

The piece points out the various flaws in the concert that supposedly hurt the sentiments of the Bangladeshi people.

Fans of Shah Rukh were outraged on reading the article online (read here: http://goo.gl/lE7qn) and reacted to it.

The Grouses

He smoked: "Shah Rukh Khan violated Bangladeshi law by smoking in public in the presence of TV cameras. Shahrukh Khan did this, rather intentionally to show to Bangladeshi authorities that he gives a damn to them (sic)."

Is He A VVIP?: "Khan was allowed to use the VVIP terminal at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka. After checking facts, it is proved that, he does not enjoy any such privilege in any of the countries in the world, including his own country - India. Why did the Bangladeshi government allow him to use the VVIP terminal, when there were a number of VIP terminals at the airport?"

Bangla Slang Shot: "Shah Rukh Khan has shown his highest audacity (sic) to Bangladesh by uttering Bangla slang repeatedly while on the dais, which very clearly showed that this man has not respect for the host country, which brought him with huge amount of money. During the month of liberation, Shahrukh Khan was trying to impose Hindi or English language on proud Bangladeshis."

Indecent Teammates: "Indecent things reportedly happened at Dhaka's hotels, where the team members of Shah Rukh Khan (Russian dancers were members of his troupe) were housed [those females, especially Russian], who were reportedly engaged in illicit activities with the locals."

Public Reactions

The Weekly Blitz article got diverse reactions on its website from the Bangladeshi public and fans of the actor. Here are excerpts...

Megha from India

"25000 of your people were falling over each other to get a glimpse of Shah Rukh Khan. He didn't pay you guys to watch him. You are the ones who paid him to come to your country and perform. He didn't ask you to watch him on TV. You were the ones watching him. If your dignity gets hurt by such small things, I think you don't have any dignity."

Tanvir Hossain from USA

"...we start licking fit on seeing any foreigner. I am not happy about this either but the fault is not Shah Rukh Khan's. The fault is the Bangladesh government's and ours for being such tailwagging dogs."

Shuchi from Bangladesh The Bangladeshis are very shameless because they tried to speak Hindi and tried to dance for entertainment. The habits of the people of our country always encourage such people to insult our country."

Bangladeshi Media Reactions

>> The highest circulated Bangladeshi English language newspaper The Daily Star (http://goo.gl/S3FCF) noted "Audiences were chanting 'Shahrukh', 'Shahrukh' as he disappeared from stage, leaving them craving for more of the star."

>> The Financial Express (http://goo.gl/C1mkK) reports of an investigation by the National Board of Revenue (NBR)whose officials said Antar Showbiz, organiser of the concert, has showed Tk 5.0 million as honorarium of the Bollywood superstar which seems abnormally low to the taxmen.

They said other law enforcing agencies also launched the investigation simultaneously to assess actual expenditure in the concert.

>> AmaderAdda.com reported that the organisers "did not take any permission from the Foreign Exchange Control Department of Bangladesh Bank for remittance of such huge amount of foreign currency, nor was there any permission sought by the organisers from the Income Tax as well as VAT departments of Bangladesh government." (For more, read here: http://goo.gl/XyjKK)

>> BDNews24.com reported "Fans of 'King Khan' queued for hours on end at the stadium gates as organiser, Antor Showbiz, was too slow to let them in. Seating arrangements were simply in disarray.

Spectators with the priciest tickets had no chairs and had to sit on the ground. Many scrambled for a seat. The galleries were packed beyond capacity. Surprisingly, nearly 25, 000 enthusiasts were presented with a five hour long concert that began at 6:20 pm, a good hour and a half behind schedule." (Read more: http://goo.gl/H6NF6)

The Other Side

Karim Morani says, "We directed and scripted the show. We did not organise it. And no we are not aware of any negative reports. I have heard the response was phenomenal."