Shah Rukh Khan dazzles Eden Gardens with kisses, dance

Shah Rukh Khan and Trevor Bayliss

Kolkata, June 3 (IANS) Amid a shower of pink confetti and deafening roar, superstar Shah Rukh Khan on Tuesday lauded the tremendous love and support of the city's fans for the Kolkata Knight Riders as he partied and threw kisses during a grand felicitation ceremony at the Eden Gardens here.

The home team, flanked by team owners Shah Rukh and Juhi Chawla, paraded the golden Indian Premier League (IPL) trophy for the over 50,000 sports buffs in the historic arena, while around 1.5 lakh people stood outside, unable to make it to the stadium.

The crowd went wild as King Khan, donning a hat, blew kisses, waved and did a few steps of his popular song "Lungi Dance" atop an elevated podium.

An exuberant Juhi walked with the players as KKR's anthem "Korbo Lorbo Jeetbo" was sung in the background by singer Usha Uthup.

"I don't think any other state or any other country in the world has this kind of support or love for sporting heroes. So thank you Kolkata for supporting us through thick and thin.

"I thank you on behalf of the team. We will keep up the hard work. We enjoy your claps as well as your admonitions," said the Bollywood Baadshah, who reached the venue nearly three hours late due to a technical snag in his flight yet drew tremendous applause from the adoring crowd on his arrival.

Parodying his famous dialogue from the film "Don", the superstar said in his inimitable style: "Don ko agar koi pakad sakte hain toh woh KKR supporters hain (Only KKR's supporters can catch the elusive Don)."

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who virtually conducted the show, hugged and congratulated SRK for the team's stellar performance. "Thank you for the marvellous win," she said.

"We thank Mamata-di for being kind to us always. You make it feel as if it is our own house," SRK said as he touched Banerjee's feet and later planted a kiss on her hand.

Dressed smartly in a white KKR jersey, a ponytailed SRK cut a giant cake - modelled on the Eden Gardens - accompanied by Chawla, KKR skipper Gautam Gambhir and Banerjee.

Stars from the Bengali film industry, including actors Prosenjit, Soham and actresses Srabonti and June Maliah, upped the glamour quotient even as Shah Rukh took centrestage.

Singers Uthup and Anik Dhar belted out a steady stream of chart toppers. The crowd joined in and matched steps. A troupe of dhaakis (drummers) and tribal dancers added to the frenzied atmosphere.

The Baadshah shook hands with the folk artistes and took bows. Chart toppers from his films like "Don 2" and "Chennai Express" kept up the tempo.

SRK shook a leg to the hit "One Two Three Four" from "Chennai Express" as the damsels of the Bengali film industry including June Maliah joined the impromptu performance.