Bade Bade Sheron Me Aisi Choti Choti Baatein Hote Rehti Hain Senorita!

It has irked me a journalist time and again to see the kind of reporting that is done out there, my genre concerning the entertainment beat. Every small thing, as irrelevant as it may be needs to be pompously highlighted here. Today what has stung me is the way this entire Raees film promotion been carried out. To just begin my rant….

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Being a Shah Rukh Khan starrer itself is a big responsibility for the movie. King Khan, they say, who eventually resorted to a tactic like a beggar. He went station to station with a loudspeaker, announcing to people to come and watch his film. Raees, created the buzz that it had to, right from the shoots, the songs (not to miss the necessary remake of Laila O’ Laila), the intensity, his looks and all of that. That wasn’t enough- there was this big projected clash between another film, Rakesh Roshan’s Kaabil. Each of the teams expressed their hurt, displeasure and anger which got reported as and when being said. Who got the upper hand here, to each fanatic his own!

Began the ordeal of promotions, wherein nowadays you literally need to shove the movie into people’s faces to make them see it. I have written before how over-the-top promotions did little to get the box-office numbers. Shah Rukh Khan always has some master stroke plan to market his product, here his film of course. While appearing in TV shows wasn’t enough, he or rather his team thought it would be unique to make him travel from Mumbai to Delhi in a train. Oh wow! Team Tamasha did it, let’s do it again. But oh wait, it ended up being no less than a Tamasha in itself.

He is one of the biggest superstars in the country, a country that has idolised film stars beyond the quintessential Maa. What could possibly not go wrong here? Well, it did. Some one lost his life, several other were left injured. The policemen are left injured who had the responsibility to ensure everyone’s safety. It was a near stampede situation, leaving those who had come to take a glimpse of the star, finding their own gasps. Several wounded, but how many?

Well, here’s the kind of reporting that was on going from the time he had embarked:

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These are just few, every other entertainment website churned out stories out of every statement that Shah Rukh said. Well, of course there were journalists travelling with him as well. Some managed to get pictures of him, some with him. All of them so proudly posted it on their timelines, wishing him luck and what not. I have a question to them, why did not you as a journalist yourself, give a first-hand report of what happened on your timelines? Was putting up Shah Rukh’s picture up there more important that also highlighting what frenzy it caused? Or was that expected?

Well, Kudos to you Khan. Today, the journalists who till yesterday revered your strategy are easily playing the blame game. Being diplomatic in reportage, though late. The sugar coated- oh so sweet memories of Shah Rukh’s train travels by now had diverted their route for reporting one death, several wounded, police carry lathi charge, fans go crazy reportage. Now the headlines have the one dead detail added up. Where is the PR damage control now?

I wonder if all this hullabaloo will actually transfer into the box-office collections. If fans can go to such an extent to gather in hoards to just get a glimpse of the actor standing at the railway door, wouldn’t they mind spending some amount and catch the movie in theatres anyway? Will his speaking on a loudspeaker urge them to definitely watch the film? Or was Shah Rukh and his team giving away free tickets on their way? Or were you too insecure of the film working or not. 

I have just so many questions to ask.

How could the Railway Ministry afford to give permission for a private entertaining event at the cost holding so many other lives?

While the superstar got his security in check, what about the thousand others who hoarded at every station?

Did those who manage to swarm in have the platform tickets? (Did anyone even think of taking tickets here)

Why is just Shah Rukh to be blamed, for his stardom or his lack of collective foresight?

Now that things have gone wrong, who is to be actually blamed? What is the ministry’s probe going to highlight- their own mistakes?

Shah Rukh Khan is now deeply hurt and saddened to know Farheed Khan Pathan has lost his life. But what else can he say? It was quiet unfortunate that the deceased was related to one of their team members. Mind you, when I am writing all of this I am not against the film or him, but how this entire strategy was a disaster, more so the way things get reported nowadays. 

Also I haven’t heard anyone talking about the injured policemen here.

My rant doesn’t end here. Yesterday Central Railways had another mishap when a major fire broke out in one of the godowns near Masjid station. Several train services were suspended, and the fire took about 3 hours to be controlled. But I did not see major coverage of that happening. Other than a small section in today’s newspapers and regularly complaining commuters. In this about 6 children suffered burns, 20 shanties were gutted down. Why? Why wasn’t this reported as much? While some made stories based on Shah Rukh updating his tweets, why was this major inconvenience not covered? While you made stories about SRK travelling in train proudly, why did you keep your complains about your regular travel to yourself?

In another thought, could the Raees team have afforded to have Shah Rukh travel in the suburban train services? Would they even try to accommodate the superstar aboard a local train at even say the non-peak hours in a bid to promote his film? No. I wish they would even try and have faced the crowds, the real office goers who are dead tired, fuming, awaiting the train to just reach home and choose to unwind by catching up a movie over the weekend. Can you imagine the kind of frenzy that would cause? Shah Rukh come or not, the Central Railways were in a dire mess yesterday but then who even knew? You know Shah Rukh reached in Delhi safely. How are those children doing today? Don’t know because Bade Bade Shehron Me Aise Choti Choti Baatein Hote Rehti Hain.

PS: This is my personal view on the whole matter, do not take it to your personal opinion on the same. Only I am not Senorita!