My story of seeing King Khan at Indian Film Festival (IFF)

9 August 2019, Melbourne

‘Did I actually see him in person?’ ‘Or was I dreaming?’ ‘Really?’ I have all these questions today as I recollect last night’s event. It all seems so unreal and dreamy.

Context

Okay, let me give you a context. Last night was the film awards night at Palais Theatre in St Kilda, Melbourne. This awards night was hosted by Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM) and the chief guest was none other than the King Khan of Bollywood, Shah Rukh Khan.

Founded in the year 2002, the IFFM is a state government of Victoria funded annual festival celebrating Indian cinema and talents.

If you do not know Shah Rukh Khan, then you do not know anything about Bollywood. He is the biggest star in India and has more followers than Tom Cruise.

Shah Rukh Khan

I am a die-hard fan of Shah Rukh and I love him for his personality and the way he is. I find him super cool and his sense of humour is something to literally die for. He is philanthropist and he is a doctor (not the medical practitioner). A person who has land on the Moon. He is the one who made every teenager and Indian believe in love stories. And who can forget the charming Raj from the movie Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge? In a nutshell, he is just too awesome.

My trip to Melbourne

So, when I realised, Shah Rukh was coming to host IIFM in 2019, I had to be there to see him and tick off my top bucket list item of seeing him in person. I had missed going to his events twice in the past as I was traveling when he was in Sydney. First time I was at Coffs Harbour and second time at Gold Coast. I wouldn’t have missed it this time, as I had to follow one of his famous dialogues, Kya pata kal ho na ho! (You never know if there is tomorrow or not!). I booked my tickets to Melbourne and I booked the tickets to the event.

Jetstar is the budgeted airline to travel between the cities in Australia. And for other things to do in Melbourne, refer my Travels in Melbourne section.

On the day

The way Shah Rukh walked on the red carpet last night was just so enigmatic. He walked in style and the first thing he did was to turn around and look at every corner of the entrance, so to wave at his fans (not something any celebrity did last night). And on his entry, people went crazy and there were chants all around ‘Shah Rukh.. Shah Rukh.. Shah Rukh..’ Simply overwhelming!

Best moment

The best moment for me, during the event, was when he told the story of his movie Guddu. He said that was the bizzare movie he has ever acted in and it was hilarious. While he was narrating the story of Guddu, one of the girls from the crowd shouted that she had seen Guddu 5 times, to which he was genuinely surprised and made a comment that that was true love and he could not imagine anyone watching Guddu 5 times. That is the witty sense of humour I am talking about!

Closing notes

Oh my God! I can go on and on about this event, I still have the butterflies in my heart and stomach. It surely was a night to remember!

P.S. There were other celebs like Tabu, Malaika Arora and Arjun Kapoor as well.

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What is Indian Film Festival of Melbourne?

Every year, Victorian government funds an annual festival for Indian cinema. It was founded in the year 2012 and it was to strengthen the ties between Victoria and Indian film industries.

How do you book?

• Website: http://www.iffm.com.au/
• All events are posted there, and this is the website to book the tickets. The cost varies depending on where you would like to be seated. I had selected the tickets costing AUD 80 (approx.).

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