Institute For The Future

Bollywood, Shahrukh Khan, Twitter and the art of persuasion

If you are a Bollywood fan then you have probably heard of Shahrukh Khan. If you don’t then check out the Wikipedia entry on him. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shahrukh_Khan Khan is the biggest Bollywood movie star. He has starred in several successful movies in the last 15 years, and is a heartthrob of millions. To put it in Hollywood terms, he has more celebrity than George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon combined on the Indian subcontinent. Shahrukh became the latest Bollywood star to adopt Twitter (his handle is iamsrk).

 

Khan also owns a cricket team (Kolkata Knight Riders) in the Indian Premium League (IPL). He drew the wrath of right-wing Hindu Shiv Sena party when he said that players from Pakistan should have been selected for playing in IPL. The Shiva Sena was quick to denounce Shahrukh as unpatriotic, and since Khan is a Muslim he became Shiva Sena's newest whipping boy. Shiv sainiks (workers) under the prodding of their leaders threatened to disrupt screening of Khan’s new movie My Name is Khan. They burned the posters of the movie to showcase their anger with Khan. Shiv Sena leaders issued diktats to cinema owners across India not to screen the movie.

 

Unlike other politicians and movie stars who have caved under pressure from right-wing, Khan stood his ground and made twitter his mouthpiece and the tool of persuasion urging his fans to watch his movie My Name is Khan, pushing back at Shiv Sena for questioning his patriotism and urging Indian media to not to over blow the issue.

 

He used twitter to clarify his position, clear out any misunderstanding and stress that the bigger message of his movie was peace. "I don't want mayhem, anger and violence because of our beautiful film...Which talks about repairing a bruised & divided world. I am writing not to justify but to spell out clearly who I am & my beliefs. Seems otherwise I am misunderstood. Should I write in block letters?” he wrote. “I have the courage of conviction by my side. I explain because better to do that than create aggression & division in my country.”

 

Khan who has also been singled out by the Shiv Sena for not being a Mumbaikar since he grew up in New Delhi clarified on twitter that he loves the city of Mumbai and owes his success to the city. “Nationality: Indian. Born in: Delhi. Owe everything to: Mumbai. Love: My country India, my family & freedom. Desire: Entertain all...Ironic & sad. A film made for world peace has led to so much angst in my own house. My city. My country. Let not anyone be hurt is all I pray," said Khan.

 

In the end, tweeting helped Khan get his message across to his fans: he is a patriotic Indian, and his patriotism should not be questioned because of his religious background. He was able to clearly state his position on the issues, dissipate any kind of negative publicity arising from the issue, and move the conversation and actions in a positive direction. And most importantly push back on Shiv Sena and persuaded his fans to watch his movie and not be scared by the threats from the Shiv Sena. My Name is Khan opened to packed audiences and has been a box-office success.