SRK was conspicuous by his absence at IIFA

Dubai, June 19 (UNI) Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan is just not called 'King Khan' or 'Bollywood Badshah' for nothing as his absence was sorely felt here at the recent 7th International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) weekend.

Even though top stars like Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar, Hrithik Roshan, Abhishek Bachchan, Rani Mukherji and Preity Zinta were present for the awards presentation ceremony and performed, they could not match the SRK's histronics of entertaining the audiences and interacting with fans while anchoring the awards presentation show.

The star-studded extravaganza during the awards presentation failed to enthuse the audiences. The stars came, performed and left.

There was no variety in the performances except of Preity Zinta who danced to the tunes of superhit numbers which had influence of Arabic music, said Vivek Kotian.

Of the few stories carried by the local media about the IIFA weekend, most were critical. Last year, the Dutch press had extensive coverage of the event describing IIFA as 'Bollywood Oscars'.

SRK keeps the audiences engaged with his light, humorous talk and even invites his fans to perform with him on stage, remembers Shalini Patel, who attended the 'Temptations' performance of Shah Rukh in Dubai two years ago.

Fardeen Khan and Lara Dutta did a decent job as comperes of the show. But, they cannot match SRK's star status, she said.

Organisers did not give any reason for Shah Rukh staying away from IIFA except that he was holidaying in London with his family after completing the shooting of Farhan Akhtar's 'Don'.

The Superstar's absence from the mega-event was attributed to his alleged differences with Amitabh Bachchan, who is the brand ambassador of IIFA. Filmmaker Karan Johar, a close friend of SRK, rubbished such talks.

''Such gossip does not deserve even an explanation,'' Karan, who directed both SRK and the Big B in his soon to be released film 'Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna' (KANK), said.

Abhishek Bachchan, who worked for the first time with SRK in KANK, lamented that he had only three scenes with Shah Rukh in the film.

''He is hard working and lights up the screen with his presence,'' Abhishek said.

Last year in Amsterdam, fans thronged the hotels throughout the day and night where the stars were put up to catch a glimpse of their favourite actors which was not the case here. The frenzy was missing here as star appearances have become a routine.

''There are many shows and events happening here round the year and so the people are used to it,'' a local journalist said.

Aishwarya Rai, whose performance in Jag Mundhra's ''Provoked'' was appreciated by film critics here, was visiting Dubai after a decade. She flew in and out of the city within a few hours as she was in the midst of the shooting for Mani Ratnam's 'Guru' in Chennai.

Many Indians living here, majority of whom belong to Kerala, were the happiest to see their icons Mamooty and Mohan Lal in flesh and blood. Both the Malyalam superstars were invited on stage to give away some awards.

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