Discovery-ing SRK

For die-hard fans of Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan, a.k.a. SRK, this could be the ultimate—a peep into the private life of their hero. Discovery Travel & Living has framed Khan—the master entertainer, a successful entrepreneur, a caring father and a loving husband—in all his avatars. In the process, fans get to see what they could have only dreamed of—the uncut version of Khan.

Living with a Superstar is a 10-episode series of celebrity voyeurism. The round-the-clock access given to a team to follow Khan across the globe yielded the highest vierwership ratings among all English entertainment and news channels at prime time on budget day—February 26—as per data compiled by audience measurement agency TAM Media Research.

Says Discovery Networks India senior vice-president and general manager Rahul Johri, explaining why they chose Khan among all celebrities, “Shah Rukh Khan is one of the biggest entertainers of the Indian film industry with growing popularity in the international markets. He was the unanimous choice.”

If Khan was the unanimous choice for the channel to broaden its viewership base, the Bollywood star also had no qualms being part of the programme. After all, it would give him the much-needed marketing platform to reach out to those who till now had kept away. The crafty strategist that Khan is, he manages to keep the structure of a reality show minus the crudeness of the format, which we encounter in many shows. The first episode takes us on a vacation to London with Khan and his family. Amidst the fun and games with his two children, Khan delivers the first of his homilies: One must not cheat to win. The show has several such scenes where the audience gets a glimpse of the man behind the superstar, away from the arclights.

In the second episode, we get a sneak peek into Khan’s make-up van. Though he takes pride in his van, he remembers to remind the audience: It’s not the van that makes the man. It’s the man who makes the van. By now, such one-liners from Khan have achieved the tag of ‘Shahrukhism’. The third episode ‘Hit Wicket’ at times sounds like an ad for Kolkata Knight Riders, the Indian Premier League team Khan owns.

“Our intention was to build a fresh property for Discovery. The network till now hadn’t explored Bollywood, so we felt it’s our responsibility to do something on that line to.

increase the viewership. What could be more entertaining than exploring an entertainer,” says Raja K Gopalakrishnan, CEO and producer of Blue Mango Films, the co-producer of the show. The other producer is Red Chillies Idiot Box.

“We jointly commissioned Red Chillies because of their close access to SRK. The fact that Samar Khan, head of Red Chillies Idiot Box, is a friend of Shah Rukh simplified our challenges of keeping up with Shah Rukh’s frenetic pace and lifestyle,” says Johri.

So everything in and around the show just falls in place: Khan gets what he wants, the viewers see what they want to see and the channel achieves its goal, too. However, LWAS has its funny moments too—be it the London phone booth charging Khan though he is unable to make a call, or the King Khan threatening to don the Deccan Chargers cap if his players fail to win again!

If you need more of Khan, Friday 9 pm is the time for you. Discovery Travel & Living will continue to travel and live with Khan for some more time.

P.S.: You will get to see what the makers want you to see, otherwise one year of a larger than life personality cannot be contained in a 10-episode series....