Measuring love

Karan Johar sheds light on the SRK’s mushy new promotional campaign for ‘My Name is Khan’ and also talks about his decision to move to a different genre of films.

How far would you go for love? If you haven’t given it a thought so far then have your answer ready because Shah Rukh Khan would soon be asking this question across the country. The superstar’s love query to Indians is part of a special promotional campaign for ‘My Name Is Khan’, says filmmaker Karan Johar.

“Yes, there is this huge campaign that has been designed around the strong essence of love that ‘My Name Is Khan’ carries. As a part of this, Shah Rukh would be travelling across the country and pop this question to the ‘aam janta’. This is his way of connecting with people who are waiting to catch him in ‘My Name Is Khan’,” said Karan, who has produced and directed it.

Establishing a connection with the people is fast turning out to be a trend amongst the Bollywood biggies. Way back in 2006, Shah Rukh himself did so to promote ‘Don - The Chase Begins Again’. In recent times, while Aamir Khan has pulled out all stops to mingle with people across the country for his ‘Ghajini’ and ‘3 Idiots’, even a normally reluctant Salman Khan was seen stepping out for ‘Veer’.

Abhishek Bachchan too went out for multiple city tours when it came to promoting ‘Delhi 6’.

As the much-hyped ‘My Name Is Khan’, brings Shah Rukh and Kajol together on screen after eight long years, one can expect some fireworks during its promotions as well.

“This is going to be a pan-India initiative and won’t be restricted to metros or cosmopolitan cities. In addition, there would be a lot of other things happening to facilitate the film’s promotion,” Karan said.

“The idea of asking people ‘How far would you go for love?’ should be quite enticing for many out there. It should be a good participative exercise,” the filmmaker added.

‘My Name Is Khan’, which is being marketed and distributed by Fox Searchlight Pictures, is about Rizwan Khan (Shah Rukh), an autist, who is mistaken for a terrorist while travelling in the US. Karan, Shah Rukh and Kajol have teamed up so far for candy-floss movies...so how come they decided to opt for different kind of cinema?

“I just felt that cinema is maturing with every passing year and I should move on with the times as well,” Karan said with a smile.

“If I am constantly going to try and woo the audience with a certain kind of cinema without doing something that is entirely different, what’s the point in sitting pretty in the position where I currently am? Why not use it for my own advantage and make something really fresh...I truly believe that if you are motivated just for the sake of it, you would get caught eventually. You can succeed only if you have a very strong conviction backing up your thought.”

Source: IANS