Shah Rukh Khan is popular in UK and USA amongst non-Indians, mostly Pakistani people. And when Shah Rukh decided to feature in a sports flick like Chak De India, he should have known he would anger his many adoring fans… these Pakistani people. For the film does indeed do a little ‘Pakistani-Bashing’. And because of this very reason, the film has proved to be a disaster overseas.

It has achieved very low collections in UK, managing just over £0.1m, and entereing the charts just about… at number 10. Partner opened last month at number 5 and has so far made over $500,00. Chak De India is now expected not to even make half of that amount. The same goes in USA, where the film has opened at number 20, and again is expected to make less than half of what Partner made. Now what is the reason behind this failure… read on.

Firstly, the title itself… Chak De India. I mean do Yash Raj Films really expect non-Indian, especially Pakistani people, to go watch a movie with the word India in the title? And that over the Pakistan Independence Day season? A huge blooper from Aditya Chopra and his father for titling the film Chak De India, I would have just gone with Chak De, and left India totally out of it.

Another patriotic sports flick, Aamir Khan starrer Lagaan, picked up with good word of mouth praise after a dismal opening. But Chak De India is no Lagaan. Far from it. Lagaan was patriotism, but not just Indian patriotism, it was a fight against a mutual Pak-Indo enemy – The British. Chak De India is not…

It amazes me to think that a huge corporation like Yash Raj Films could make this blooper… do they not do market research before a multi-million dollor production? What a gaffe. The greatest gaffe by Yash Raj ever.

But… and this is a big but… There are enough Indians (non Pakistani/Bangladeshi) people overseas to come and see the film to make it a hit. We dont require Pakistani people to come and see a Shah Rukh Khan film to make it a hit… there are plenty of non-Pakistani people out there. So where were they? Why did they not come and watch Bollywood’s number one superemo? What made them stay away? After all this was a Shah Rukh Khan patriotic flick, the first he has ever done. And if people can come and watch Salman Khan and Govinda mess around in a non-serious movie, then why not come and see Shah Rukh Khan in Chak De India?

The reason for that could be that the film’s story doesn’t appeal to the overseas audience. They are much more accustomed to lovey-dovey romantics and family sagas, and the occasional comedy. And the overseas audience has an image of Shah Rukh Khan, which is one of the boy-next-door who falls in love and fights for the girl. And they do not have an image of him as a ‘world-leader’. The movie has no romance, the movie has no SRK running around trees and wooing a a girl, and the movie has no Shah Rukh Khan fighting with family etc. Shah Rukh Khan is popular overseas, but its not the actor that is popular, its the image. An actor like Shah Rukh Khan can not change his image and expect the audience to come rushing to the theatres. This image is what he has built himself, now however long he can, he has to continue making movies in this image… and not change.

At last the industry, and the world is coming to know, that Shah Rukh Khan is not as ‘popular’ and ‘great’ as many thought he was. He is not in the callibre of Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir Khan. These actors are able to perform and bring in the audience in whatever image they portray themselves… I am sad to say but King Khan is not able to do that. And Chak De India has proved that. You may challenge me in regards to this and say that Chak De India performed well in India, the rest doesn’t matter, but in India its 15th August… its Azaadi… and this kind of film just fits into that mood.

I can finally provide proof to what I have been crying out to for years… Shah Rukh Khan is no KING KHAN. He doesn’t even play in the same league as some of the other actors. Shah Rukh Khan’s magic is his image… an image that will fade away with age… My advice to this ‘golden boy’ is that he quickly finds another medium to make money in… (he has already started producing films – that might help)… I say this because the end of Shah Rukh Khan is coming… watch out for it!

Tony