Power of a Common Man: Connecting with Customers the SRK Way

A far-ranging view of marketing success, consumer behavior and star power in India: that sums up Koral Dasgupta's Power of a Common Man: Connecting with Consumers the SRK Way, whose title evokes the tag-line of Shah Rukh Khan's 2013 Red Chillies production Chennai Express.

Dasgupta expounds on something Khan denies — that he is an astute businessman — while seeming to prove Khan's quote to India-West that it is the Indian star system that has saved the Indian film industry from being conquered by Hollywood.

To call this work "quirky" would be giving in to clichés. In fact, it is a riveting look at a star's success through his films, his business strategies and non-film achievements (in ads, in his cricket team and so on), tying the phenomenon to the larger issue of the common man's power in marketing and the consumer arena. Dasgupta even analyzes each of Khan's films through that lens.

Dasgupta is a writer, academic and management consultant who has taught marketing at Mumbai's Mithibai College. She is also a freelance painter and the wife of bestselling author Tuhin A. Sinha. Published by Westland in May 2014, this is a must-read for anyone interested in brands and Bollywood.

Original story: India-West. The links to the original reporting no longer resolve, so the source attribution above is preserved without a live link.