Aisi deewaangee aaj kal kaha kisi ke liye

Ali Peter John

       I have been a witness to the fans of Dilip Kumar   who treated him like God on earth. I have seen the fans of  Dev Anand who couldn't believe that he was human but some rare creation of the "Dev" above. I have seen the fans of Rajesh Khanna going literally mad about him and women kissing his car and writing love letters to him in their own blood and even getting married to his photographs. I have seen Amitabh Bachchan when there was not a soul outside his house and I have also seen the whole world standing outside Prateeksha and then at Jalsa. But, I have not seen the kind of frenzy that the fans of Shah Rukh Khan go into not only outside "Mannat" but wherever he is and wherever he travels to. I wonder if any other star of the past, the present, in India or anywhere the world can garner this kind of what I can only call super madness from human beings and for another human being ......

  And if one wants to believe what this super madness is all about, one has to only recollect scenes from his 55th birthday which he celebrated with his family  in Dubai and with the whole wide world where he is perhaps the only Indian star to have crores of fans cutting across all barriers and borders of any kind ......

  It was a delightful sight to see the famous Burj Khalifa, the biggest and tallest screen in the world which is in Dubai Illuminated for "Shah Rukhs"  birthday and Shah Rukh who has seen an experience all the excitement the world can offer him being excited like a little boy on seeing the Burjh Khalifa being decked up all for him. It was a gesture of love shown by his close friend in Dubai.

     There was a virtual flood of wishes from all his fans from America to Chennai and from the Maldives to Malegaon and from Peru to Pune and Panchgani, in short the whole world.  Girls  and boys made special videos to show Shah Rukh how much they knew about his films and his performances specially as Raj, the eternal lover. Prayers were offered for him even though places of worship were not open due to the pandemic.

    There were exciting but controlled scene of unlimited joy outside his homes in Alibaug, in Dubai and in London. Every fan of the king had apparentlly forgotten the darkness spread by the fear of the pandamic and was only interested in celebrating the king's birthday in his or her own way.

  That S R K was loved as the great lover was proved again when teachers, engineers, scientists and even spiritual leaders made all attempts  to send thier  best wishes prayers and blessings for the king.

    S R K is perhaps the only star to be loved by his seniors, his contemporaries and the new generation of stars and filmmakers. His one time costar and partner Juhi Chawla planted five hundred and fifty five saplings to mark his birthday. Aamir Khan and Salman Khan sent him personal greetings and his friend Karan Johar flew down to Dubai to be with S R K and his family in this very special occasion.

  S R K took time off to thank all his fans and had a few meaningful words of thanks and gratitude for all those fans who spread love by distributing PPE kits, meals and conducting blood donation camps and being of help to all those who needed help in any way.

   At any other time the fans would have tried their best to be there at Mannat to cheer their Raj, the man who breathes and lives love, but the circumstances created by Corona have denied him this  pleasure which they wait for as if their lives depended on this day.

   This birthday of their King has come and gone, but his fans like him are very optimistic and like their king, they also believe that" 56 is better than 55" and hope to have a better and much more exciting birthday for  their ultimate hero next year.

   And there is good news for the king's  fans. King Khan who had not signed any film for the last three years,  will be bouncing back to work in the next few weeks when he will start shooting for Y R F 's Pathaan in which he teams up with his Om Shanti Om and Chennai Express heroine Deepika Padukone and John Abraham.

     And when I see all this adulation and adoration of the King, I wonder what his wife Gauri and kids, Suhana , Aryan and AbRam must be thinking about the head of their family who is known as the Badshah and "the eternal lover boy and the emperor of romance....