MUMBAI: Shah Rukh Khan has now finally moved on from My Name Is Khan (MNIK). Though the film has created history in Korea by becoming a rage across the country, plans to further tap the virgin-fresh market in East Asia have been thwarted by SRK’s single-minded devotion to his Rs 110-crore home-production Ra.One.
MNIK has become a phenomenal rage in Korea. Apparently Karan Johar and co-producers Fox Star Studios India are keen to take SRK to Korea to tap the market and sustain what has suddenly become a potentially-lucrative market for Indian cinema, all thanks to MNIK.
Fox Star Studios India CEO Vijay Singh tells Businessofcinema.com, "When we released MNIK in Seoul with 20 prints, we never expected it to make such an impact. Within a few weeks the film has gone from 20 prints in Seoul to 220 prints all across Korea. The film’s popularity in the region is beyond anything we had imagined. First MNIK cracked Germany where Shah Rukh already had a following, and now Korea where it’s the second Indian film to be released after Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Black. MNIK has already earned a whopping $2.7 million at the Korean boxoffice.”
This, as the say, is where the plot gets hot. A more opportune moment for Shah Rukh Khan to broaden his fan base would be hard to find. There is a clamour to get Shah Rukh to visit Korea. Bollywood experts feel the move would not only benefit MNIK but also make a huge impact on the future of Indian cinema in the South-East Asian market. And yet, the actor has apparently made it clear that he would be unable to give time to exploring the Korean market. Not after having taken over the entire post-production work of Ra.One.
Singh jumps to the superstar’s defence. “Karan is very much with us on this journey that My Name Is Khan has embarked upon. As for Shah Rukh, he’s extremely busy with his current project. We genuinely believed this film could crack the Korean market. We pumped in an unprecedented amount of money to promote the film in Korea.”
Interestingly the version of MNIK being screened across Korea is only 2 hours 10 minutes long. The 20-minute hurricane sequence, which was considered the weakest link in the narrative has been reduced to a three-minute series of montages.
