I happened to be at a friend's place where they had the TV on with the live Shahrukh Khan show that night. Otherwise I would have missed it altogether.
I agree that it was a mess even as a typical 'low taste' Bollywoodipana. Yes, people paid good money to be at the show, and THAT, of all things, made me sense that to the neighboring countries Bangladesh is no longer a country of poor starving peasants. People in the audience were mostly everyday Dhaka middleclass, with the conspicuous absence of Gulshan-Banani upper crust types.
BNP-wallahs and others made remarks about it not having anything to do with Bangla culture. I should proudly remind them that Bangla culture does not and should not need any association with such block-buster commercial ventures. On the other hand, the sign of a strong culture, as any cultural anthropologist worth his salt will tell you, is how well it withstands a little bit of vulgarity whether locally bred or imported.
Shahrukh Khan made a good speech about Sonar Bangla. And that is symptomatic of an overall tendency of Bengali gaining some importance in the razzle-dazzle world of India's Star TV and Bollywood. It suffers a huge neglect at the moment.
To: alochona@yahoogroups.com
From: qrahman@netscape.net
Date: Mon, 20 Dec 2010 06:38:54 -0500
Subject: Re: [ALOCHONA] Shahrukh Khan's vulgar show in Bangladesh
Shahrukh did not pretend to do an art show. It was clear to all of us what this show was all about and my people paid big money for it. Some bona fide idiots were given "opportunities" to act like idiots in front of millions of people.
It was a mess. It did not add anything to "brand" Bangladesh. It was not even a good show. We have many talented artists in west bengal and Bangladesh. These people are capable to delight their bangla speaking audience.
Delhi's Shahkurh turned out to be a "Delhi ka laddu" for my people. :-D
From: Isha Khan <bdmailer@gmail.com>
Sent: Sat, Dec 18, 2010 12:00 pm
Subject: [ALOCHONA] Shahrukh Khan's vulgar show in Bangladesh
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