Warsaw excitedly awaits ‘My Name Is Khan’ world premiere
By Surender Bhutani, IANSSaturday, January 30, 2010
WARSAW - Shah Rukh Khan posters are up and advance booking for tickets has begun. This Polish capital, home to a large number of ‘King Khan’ fans, is all set for the world premiere of “My Name is Khan” Feb 12.
To cash in on Shah Rukh’s immense popularity in Poland, the distributors 20th Century Fox has selected Warsaw for the world premiere of his latest film, which sees him paired opposite Kajol after eight long years.
Directed by Karan Johar, the film is about Rizwan Khan (Shah Rukh), an autist, who is mistaken for a terrorist while travelling in the US.
The Indian community and Polish Bollywood buffs are thrilled as this will be the first time a Hindi movie will be shown in Poland along with other western capitals and important cities around the globe simultaneously.
“We cannot believe it but still it is going to be a historic day when we can see Shah Rukh’s movie on the very first day of its release. Till this day we normally get (to see) Bollywood films which are normally a year old or so with Polish subtitles,” said J.J. Singh, president of the Indo-Polish Chamber of Industry and Commerce.
Big posters have been pasted at important corners of the city and a brisk advance booking of the forthcoming film has already started.
“Finally Poland is on the radar for Bollywood movies and luckily both the producer and distributor understand the value of the Polish market. In five years time, when ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham’ took Poland by surprise in December 2004, we have covered much ground to be acknowledged as serious lovers of Bollywood movies,” said Janusz Krzyzowski, president of the India-Poland Cultural Committee.
“This is great news for us Indians. Let us hope many more Bollywood producers will take a cue from Karan Johar’s initiative to release their latest film in Poland. The profile of India has changed dramatically since 2004 and now sky is the limit for cooperation between India and Poland,” Rajesh Vaishnaw, Indian charge d’affaires, told IANS.
It was the release of “Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham” with Polish sub-titles that made Shah Rukh a household name in Poland. Later, with films like “Main Hoon Na”, “Kal Ho Na Ho” and “Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna” among others he almost became synonymous with Bollywood in Poland.
The songs of his movies became instant hits and young girls and boys started pasting his posters in their rooms. Last year a biography of Shah Rukh penned by Anupama Chopra was translated into Polish.
