The Hindu Business Line : Pak still under Bollywood spell

And hence you have a Karachi-based tycoon fixated on the idea of Shah Rukh inaugurating his latest designer brand apparel showroom in the city. "He has spent nearly Rs 5 crore on this store, and it is ready for opening. But though Shah Rukh has agreed to come, he says his shooting schedule doesn't permit him to take time off at least for the next eight to nine months. He says once he comes to Karachi, he'd like to spend at least a week here, and just now he can't do that. So this man is prepared to wait," says Mohammed Durbar, a Karachi businessman, about his friend.

Durbar often comes to India accompanying Pakistani businessmen and industrialists who have business ties with India. "Last month, I was in India with an industrialist who wanted to place orders for 100 parboiled rice plants from India. He had finalised the deal for 100 plants, but all of a sudden he told his Indian business partner that if you organise a meeting with Aishwarya Rai, I'll increase the number to 102 plants. That man tried frantically in both Mumbai and Delhi, but unfortunately, she was away in Europe and the meeting could not be organised."

He recalls another Lahore-based business tycoon who had an all-day meeting with Alfa Laval India top executives, but who suddenly said: "Cancel all my meetings. I want to go to a Bollywood studio and watch the shooting of a movie. I had to use all my contacts to take him to a shooting. ... I forget the name of the movie, but it starred Aamir Khan and Preity Zinta, and our friend was thrilled to watch them. He stayed there well past midnight, and I was forced to sacrifice a night's sleep to satisfy his craze for Indian film stars."

Urmila Matondkar was recently in Lahore for a shoot, and there was so much interest in her visit that she could not move out of her hotel without the cameras following her till it was time for her to retire for the day.

Whether it's an upmarket locality in Karachi or a corner of Multan, Hindi movie VCDs and DVDs are doing brisk business.

Karachi-based textile industrialist Majyd Aziz has been a passionate votary of improving business and cultural ties with India. "When I would say this four years ago ki India ke sath dosti karo, tau I was criticised in Friday sermons. Now those same people are saying it's high time we solved the Indo-Pak imbroglio and moved forward."

On moving Indo-Pak trade and business links forward, he says, "Anyway, thousands of Pakistanis do Rs 20-Rs 25 business with India every day when they bring an Indian movie VCD or DVD to watch in the evenings. As soon as your films get released in India, sometimes even earlier, we see them here. In our cars you'll find Indian music, be it the latest hits from Shah Rukh's or Aishwarya's films or evergreen hits of the 60s or 70s."

Though Shah Rukh has been the favourite here for a few years, Big B has his own brand of followers. "He seems to be getting better and better with each passing year, and Pakistanis loved him in Baghban... he was superb," gushed a Karachi housewife. One just had to mention that one happened to be carrying the latest issue of India Today featuring Amitabh Bachchan on the cover and there was such demand for it, that one wished one had more copies to distribute!

But these days, a new Bollywood star has arrived on the scene. Surprisingly enough, Pakistanis who always compare the sweetness of the Urdu language with Mumbai's special brand of aata hei-jaata hei-bolta hei Hindi, have lapped up the latest Bollywood hit Munnabhai MBBS, starring Sanjay Dutt.

"In schools and colleges and even in offices, youngsters are addressing each other as `Mamu' as the characters keep doing in the film. Let us see how long this craze lasts," says a Karachi professional.

His colleague tries to get into the discussion, talking about Dilip Kumar's dialogue delivery and how well he speaks Urdu even today. But he meets with blank stares that seem to say: We have enough of good Urdu here, give us Bollywood brand of entertainment, overflowing with Mamu, aata-jata-bolta, and, of course, aati kya Khandala...

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