It's Shah Rukh all the way at Poland's Bollywood fest

By Surender Bhutani

Warsaw, March 30 (IANS) Shah Rukh Khan once again stole the hearts of the Polish fans with his performance in "Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi" at the Second Bollywood Film Festival in Poland where Aamir Khan's "Taare Zameen Par" and Deepa Mehta's "Water" were also screened.

Shah Rukh, who is almost a household name in Poland, didn't leave much scope for others to replace him in the hearts of his fans at the weeklong festival entitled 'Experience the Taste of India' that concluded Sunday.

"Shah Rukh is well-established in our psyche and we feel close to him with his performances. For us, it doesn't matter who are the other great stars in India these days - whether it is Amitabh (Bachchan) or his son Abhishek, Aamir Khan or Hrithik Roshan," said Anusia Sancewicz, a well-known media personality.

"Shah Rukh is really superb in most of his movies that have been shown in Poland in the past four years starting from 'Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham' which took Poland by surprise. In a sense, this film opened the floodgates for Bollywood films," added Anusia.

All the tickets of "Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi" were sold much in advance though the film was screened on the last day. In Warsaw, two multiplexes screened the film to meet the heavy rush - despite that many had to face disappointment as they couldn't get a seat in any of the two halls.

"Aamir Khan's 'Taare Zameen Par' is an excellent movie and it has been appreciated by educated people, but the craze for Shah Rukh remains unabated," observed Riki Rana, a successful businessman and son-in-law of legendary Bollwyood singer Talat Mahmood.

"The role of a commoner portrayed by Shah Rukh in 'Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi' created more ripples in the minds of the Polish audience as Raj Kapoor had done with his roles in 'Aawara' and 'Shri 420' in 1950s and 1960s in the erstwhile Soviet Union," added Riki Rana.

J.J. Singh, president of the Polish Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that to promote Aamir a separate festival of his films needs to be organised.

"To promote Aamir Khan we should organise an exclusive festival of his big films such as 'Ghajini', 'Rang De Basanti' and 'Fanaa'. The climax of 'Fanaa' was filmed on the Tatra mountains of Poland, yet the film has not generated much curiosity in this country, which is surprising," said Singh who was also the main patron of the festival along with the Epelpol Entertainment.

Deepa Mehta's "Water", Abhishek Bachchan and John Abraham starrer "Dostana" and Yash Raj Films' "Tashan" were also screened along with "Outsourced" and "Hello".

"Since Poland produces very artistic movies with great directors like Andrzej Wajda, Krzysztof Zanussi and Roman Polanski, that is why Mehta's 'Water' was highly appreciated by the artistic Polish fans," said Gabellia Krzyzowska, an eminent Indophile.

"There is scope for films of Shabana Azmi, Nasiruddin Shah and Om Puri," she added.

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