Brand SRK!

I was watching SRK’s interview on IBN last night and the gorgeous host started the show asking him- “ So Shahrukh how are your preparations going on with only 4 days left to the grand start of IPL season -2? To this his reply was- “ Well they are going on pretty well, today the guys were involved in the fielding drills under Andrew and Peter, unfortunately Riddhiman Saha has hurt himself and will be out of action for the initial stages but we are expecting him to join in from errrrr..... 4^th game. Also Gayle and Mc Cullum will be joining the squad today at around 2.30 am, so we are excited this time around, as we will be playing a full strength team for most part of the tournament unlike last time.” Watching this I was mighty impressed and rather surprised to see the level of involvement the guy has, being a part of every nitty-gritty in spite of the fact that he doesn’t belong to the cricketing world, this speaks of the level of energy and commitment he has as a human being in whatever he does in life. All this might seem to be an exaggeration or rather the feelings of an avid SRK fan, which I am right from my early days and rather his staunch critics might also say that anybody would have done this with so much moolah at stake, but I don’t think that the likes of Vijay Mallaya, Priety Zinta and Shilpa Shetty are a part of their teams or their involvement level is so huge other than those odd screams and signs of jubiliation which they exhibit when a batsman from their team hits a maximum or a bowler gets a wicket. But that’s not all, though SRK’s TEAM ended up in the bottom half of the tables in the last season, his was the enterprise which made the maximum profits, where almost all the teams ended up making losses, this was all undoubtedly thanks to the superb marketing strategy adopted by SRK, right from his promotional song ‘Jeetbo Jeetbo…’ to his presence in every match cheering his team ebulliently like a kid, or from roping in all his star team mates in the brands which he endorses, like bringing in Ishant Sharma, Ricky Ponting, Dada, Mc Cullum in Nokia and Airtel’s ads or for that matter bringing in all his fellow actor friends to cheer his team for every match, thereby increasing the glamour quotient and hence the viewership for every match. So eventually what happened last season was, people not only watched Kolkata’s matches for cricketing reasons but more so for the masala and hoopla associated with every match being created by SRK,the man himself. He almost did everything to sell his product, and outthinked all his contemporaries. Even the leading advertising wizards and marketing gurus hailed SRK for his shrewd marketing tactics. Even this time around he has launched a reality show 'Knights and Angles' to select the cheerleaders for his team, though the show is one of the most boring and non sensical shows ever being aired on television but then he has kept his team in the news much before the commencement of the game 1 and he has promised his fans much more if not from the cricketing front,atleast from his front to keep his fans entertained. IPL is not the only arena where SRK has shown his exemplary marketing or selling skills, he does this with every things he is associated with, be it any of his new movies, be it any of his television shows or be it any of the brands which he endorses, he makes it a point to cross sell each of the entities in his portfolio in whatever platform he gets. It can be promoting Airtel in KBC’s ‘Phone a Friend’, asking the contestants to hum the Airtel’s tune, it can be driving a ‘Santro Car’ in Rab ne bana di jodi or it can be gifting ‘Tag Heur’ watches to the contestants in KBC, he is undoubtedly a master marketer. The man has all the prestigious awards in his kitty, he has the biggest hits of Indian film history against his name, he has worked and still working with all the notable names and technicians of the country, he has the probably the biggest fan following and he also makes it a point to remind the media that he is the best, he is the king and he is the No. 1, much to the irking of his fellow actors J. But whatever you may call it be it a great sense of humor, over confidence, arrogance or under estimating his colleagues, making a constant dig at them, the man has an excellent sense of timing and he knows how to make the most of any opportunity. He has always been a man with very limited resources at his disposal, be it his very ordinary looks, be it his stammering accent, be it his just above average dancing and action skills or be it his not so great acting credentials, which I also admit, though I am one of his great admirers, that he overacts in almost 90% of his ventures and so one really wonders what is that which has made him come such a long way and become a phenomena for close to 2 decades now. What is that which keeps him at par or may be ahead at times of some really talented thespians like Amitabh Bachhan, Aamir Khan or Hrithik Roshan. I think that he is a complete package, he knows to entertain people by making fun of himself more often than not, he knows the art of public speaking, he makes you listen to him even if you aren’t his admirer, he has an exceptional sense of humor,he has built up his empire brick by brick, all on his own without any godfather and he very well knows the value of what all he has achieved in life and makes sure not to hurt anyone on course to his journey upwards. People may say that he is irritating, he is not worth a penny, he overacts, he is arrogant and he has achieved all this by virtue of destiny but then even fortune favors the brave and you need to have that mettle in you to sustain your destiny for such a long period of time, with such a spell bounding aura and charisma which binds one and all. You can love him you can hate him but you just can’t ignore the man.HAIL SRK!

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