The big event that wasn't

Article Updated 18 October, 2005 12:29:30 PM IST

The big event that wasn't

Thursday, October 13, Jackson Heights - Queens, New York, USA, The DVD release of Nasreen Munni Kabir's documentary, The Inner and Outer World of Shah Rukh Khan.

"The crowd is going wild here at the Eagle Theater! There are at least 300 people in a long line around the block," one of my correspondents told me via her cell phone. I could tell before she told me the moment when SRK arrived, as the waves of screams blocked out what she was trying to say to me. Yes, he's here! He's here! The screams got louder and we finally had to hang up. But she and her boyfriend were towards the beginning of the line and had their DVDs bought and ready for the Baadshah to sign. They had been standing there since 5 PM and couldn't wait to finally meet him.

The signing was to last until 11PM and this was just 9:30. She promised to call back when they get closer. Unfortunately, that would never happen as she called me back 30 minutes later and said, "it just started pouring rain and we haven't started going in the theater yet. The line hasn't moved." Then I heard screams and her upset voice came back on the phone to say the officials confirmed, "Shah Rukh Khan has left the building." Then, some of the fans saw him smile nervously to the crowd, throwing kisses as he got into a white SUV and was driven away." What went wrong?

Wasn't it bad enough last weeks, when the DVDs didn't arrive in time for the release/signing? The same amount of fans were there waiting and waiting and waiting. Now, it happened again and many were left shocked not being able to comprehend what went wrong, especially the young children who were in tears by this point. Why was their revered star leaving like this?

What was the scene from inside the theater? A NYPD officer and a bouncer were stationed outside of the room where the signing would take place. During the short time SRK was there, the bouncer yelled and blew his whistle in a desperate measure to control this small crowd. He finally said, "I am so disappointed in you. I have never seen people behave like this before." The answer came back swiftly, "Because Shah Rukh has never come here before."

So who's to blame, SRK, the promoters, the organizers, security, the fans? The sense was that it is a shared blame. For one, they don't feel that things are organized properly.

"I don't think they realize how many Bollywood fans there are in other countries. Look around, it's not only Indian people in line either."

"They just don't organize these events well enough."

Geena Rivera seconded the thought of it not only being Indian fans in line with her comments: "For me it was like a dream come true. I come from a Spanish family. My dad always enjoyed Indian cinema. I watched it with him all the time. Although I am not Indian, last night I felt the love people have for this man. I was very happy to be apart of it. I was not welcomed at the start of the day. But at the end of everything I felt like family. It might be silly of me, but that's how I felt. Every person on that line was there for one reason SRK. That is what we all had in common."

Another fan that had been at both supposed signings blamed the organizers and the promoters saying, "The first time they didn't even announce anywhere that the event is cancelled. We found out after standing out here waiting. Now this time he finally arrives and can't go on with the event because of poor organization. This is very bad."

"How can a handful of New York police officers and a few bouncers be expected to enforce crowd control," one older gentleman asked.

We found out the real reason for the cancellation was: The Eagle Theatre is an old, run down place and there were too many people. It was decided that it was a fire hazard. So why wasn't the place checked out first and if they had been, why wasn't this conclusion reached at that time? Why chance it that only a small amount of people would show and everything would be fine?

The people in charge need to take charge and do things right, take EVERYTHING and EVERYONE into consideration. Because if things don't change soon, people will give up standing in line for hours for events and who can blame them? Everyone will lose out then.

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