Bollywood and Shah Rukh Khan are becoming very popular in Germany. Movies are shown on TV, there are German websites dedicated to Bollywood and of course one for SRK. So when Om Shanti Om made its German premiere at the Berlinale, The Berlin Film Festival the tickets to the event sold out in just seven minutes. One story said, “Film experts and the entire German media – from the sensational Boulevard tabloid Bild to the conservative broadsheet Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung – described it as unprecedented that tickets for OSO were sold out in less than seven minutes.”
SRK is such a big star in Germany that at the premiere a crowd of over 500 screamed, “Shah Rukh” and gave him a standing ovation when he came on stage.
Ramesh Sinha, an Indian businessman said, “Shah Rukh Khan is rated as the biggest Bollywood film star in Germany, even surpassing the Big B (Amitabh Bachhan).”
Adding, “Shah Rukh’s two superhits Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge and Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham were well received in Germany, with fans thronging to video shops to lay their hands on audio and video cassettes and DVDs of Shah Rukh’s films.”
SRK was very moved by the reception he received and said, “It is very humbling and it is so sweet that there are so many people here in Germany. To be really honest, I have never done anything that is so special. It makes me feel very special and much loved. It seems like a blessing from Allah.”
“By featuring Om Shanti Om as well as earlier Hindi productions like Don, Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham and Main Hai Hoon Na in the past years, the Berlin Film Festival helped the mainstream Indian cinema to achieve a major breakthrough in Europe,” Khan added.
