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29 March 2024

Shah Rukh takes Arnab Goswami's help to promote Happy New Year

Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan appears on a spoof "Barely Speaking with Arnub" to promote his movie 'Happy New Year'. (Screen Grab)

Published
By Correspondent

It looks like an alternate industry has come up around India's television anchor (Times Now’s Editor-in-Chief) Arnab Goswami.

People dedicate chapters of their books on the anchor, while columnists get noticed when they write about the so-called "inside details" of his news channel, and even Facebook posts court extra attention when people mention the 'boisterous' Goswami.

It's a culture surrounding the anchor that is stirring to become a cult.

Almost everyone has joined the bandwagon, but we didn't expect Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan to latch onto it as well.

SRK isn't leaving any stone unturned to promote his upcoming film 'Happy New Year'.

Few years ago, Shah Rukh Khan’s equation with the TV anchor had soured during an interview called "Frankly Speaking With Arnab". But that didn't stop the actor from tying up with The Viral Fever videos to release a spoof of him (SRK) giving an interview to a 'fake' Arnab Goswami (called Arnub). 

Given that the video has gone viral, Khan's trick seems to have achieved its target.

In "Barely Speaking with Arnub: Shah Rukh Khan (Episode 1)", SRK tries hard to appear cool and funny even though he is grilled to bits by the 'anchor'.

This ‘Arnub’ is not half as much fun as the real one. Well, whoever has watched his popular show "Newshour" (which drags to News Two Hours) knows how Arnab grills, thunders and sometimes even arm-twists his panelists.

But here 'Arnub', besides imitating few idiosyncrasies of the 'real' anchor, cannot match the pitch or the energy level of the original version. In fact, he is such a dismal failure at copying that he even allows Shah Rukh Khan to speak.

'Arnub' tries to make fun of the real anchor but besides repeated usage of the catch phrases, we did not see any humour.

While the TVF video had gone viral, it makes us wonder if Shah Rukh Khan has become too desperate to promote his film 'Happy New Year'.

In the video, Shah Rukh Khan tries to tickle the viewers' funny bones, and showcase his sense of humour (which otherwise we admit is quite good). But, in the video it’s drab.

Here the star fails not only to be himself but also to make 'snub' the real Arnab Goswami.

In this 15-minute-long spoof, SRK and 'Arnub' take potshots at each other and almost everyone else, from politician Rahul Gandhi to HNY director Farah Khan.

Shah Rukh's Wankhede cricket stadium brawl also finds mention in the video.

The actor gets into rap song mood, then sells hair oil, betel leaf, bleach - we never doubted his marketing skills.

In the end, SRK storms out of the show and throws a shoe at the host for asking him to play the role of his father.

All in all, the video is too monotonous to be funny.

The repeated reference to Shah Rukh’s ‘Happy New Year’ also makes it obvious that it is nothing but a promotional gimmick.

But is it necessary for Shah Rukh to let Arnub anchor his film's promotion?

It certainly leads us to wonder why SRK is feeling so insecure that he has embarked on this plan to 'snub' Arnab and cash-in on the renowned anchor's popularity.