Bollywood shows solidarity for My Name is Khan

'We are ashamed Shah Rukh Khan was born in India'

In a display of solidarity among film fraternity, Bollywood actors thronged theatres in Mumbai to watch Shah Rukh Khan starrer 'My Name is Khan', despite threats from the Shiv Sena.

Agitated over Shah Rukh Khan's remarks that he would wish to see Pakistani players participate in the IPL season 3, Shiv Sena activists had torn down film's posters and vandalized theatres in the run-up to the film's release.

Sena leadership has opposed Pakistani players participation owing to anger over the November 2008 terror attacks, suspected to have been carried out by ten Pakistani gunmen.

Fox Star Studios has bought the distribution rights for My Name Is Khan, in what is said to be the biggest distribution deal in Bollywood.

Trade analysts say there are at least 1.2 billion rupees riding on the film and if the western Mumbai-Maharashtra circuit is affected, it would affect almost 25 percent of the film's cinema revenues.

Fox Star Studios is content with its distribution deal for filmmaker Karan Johar’s new release. Its plans of releasing as many as 500 prints of the film in more than 65 countries worldwide are unprecedented for a Bollywood project. In the US and Canada it opens in 121 theatres on Friday which is on the lavish end of what Bollywood films open on.

With Shah Rukh Khan refusing to apologise for criticising the exclusion of Pakistani players from IPL, Shiv Sena has dared him to come back to Mumbai and make a similar statement.

Party spokesperson and editor of Sena mouthpiece Saamna, Sanjay Raut, said: “Shah Rukh Khan has said he will not apologise, but he has said that in the US. Let him come and say this in Mumbai,” an Indian television channel reported.

“We are ashamed that Shah Rukh was born in India,” Raut added.

The Khan-Kajol film is likely to draw South Asians into theatres in droves over the Valentine’s Day long weekend from 13-15 February. Monday is a President’s Day holiday in the US so MNIK is likely to earn strong box-office receipts.