Actor Shah Rukh Khan, who has been keeping a low profile for months, thanked an Egyptian travel agent for helping an Indian professor and sent him two autographed photos--one for him and the other for his daughter.
The travel agent, a fan of Khan, had made an exception for an Indian professor for non-payment because she was from "Shah Rukh Khan’s country". The story, shared by Indian professor Ashwini Deshpande, had was viral around the New Year.
The tweet won a lot of hearts with the internet noting Bollywood's soft power.
Needed to transfer money to a travel agent in Egypt. Was having problems with the transfer. He said: you are from the country of @iamsrk. I trust you. I will make the booking, you pay me later. For anywhere else, I wouldn't do this. But anything for @iamsrk. & he did!#SRK is— Ashwini_Deshpande (@AshwDeshpande) December 31, 2021
Wow. That is d soft power of bollywood!— Vijjirosa (@Vijjirosagmail1) December 31, 2021
That's so nice & soft power works wonders.— Krishna Ravi Srinivas PhD (@KRavisrinivas) December 31, 2021
On January 10, the professor of Economics at Ashoka University near Delhi, shared an update that she and her husband met the travel agent in Egypt. Tweeting photos with the travel agent, Deshpande then requested Shah Rukh’s production house Red Chillies Entertainment for a signed picture of the star.
My husband & I finally met the man in this story today! I told him about the tsunami of good cheer his story generated. @RedChilliesEnt: he would be delighted with a photo of @iamsrk, autographed in his daughter’s name if possible. Please DM me if this can be arranged, thanks! https://t.co/Ea9nckNqFm pic.twitter.com/q44KeOVTw7— Ashwini_Deshpande (@AshwDeshpande) January 10, 2022
On Saturday, Shah Rukh Khan obliged and his team sent three autographed photos-- one each for the travel agent, his daughter and Deshpande's daughter--and a handwritten note for the travel agent.
A very happy ending to this story. 3 photos signed by SRK arrived today, one with the nicest message for the Egyptian travel agent, one for his daughter & one for mine @Ketaki_Varma Thanks @pooja_dadlani for getting in touch & of course to @iamsrk for the gracious gesture https://t.co/lYd431dBUq pic.twitter.com/Rhn1ocQlbo— Ashwini_Deshpande (@AshwDeshpande) January 22, 2022
In the note addressed to the Egyptian travel agent, Khan wrote, “Thank you for being kind to my fellow Indian. Very gracious and generous of you. May your kind of good souls multiply.”
The Bollywood superstar has been keeping away from the public eye ever since his son Aryan Khan was arrested in a drugs case in Mumbai, and released on bail.
