Sunday, May 30, 2010
Gulf News
Playful swagger, hip thrusts and generic clothes summed up Bollywood ?heartthrob Salman Khan’s charity fashion show in Dubai this weekend
There are some Bollywood stars who could possibly get away with murder and Salman Khan proved this Friday he’s one of them.
How else do you explain the confidence with which he led an amateurish fashion show from start to finish? Ill-prepared but high-spirited celebrities from India and Pakistan, sporting Being Human [Salman Khan’s charity initiative] T-shirts and bandanas, strutted down the catwalk.
The problem? Most seemed to be under the impression that combining a few vulgar hip thrusts along with a playful swagger would make up for the strictly generic clothes and their questionable carriage.
Now, all this could have been palatable if the fashion show rounded off the gala evening with a charity auction of Being Human merchandise, as promised in the invite. But guests, many of whom coughed up as much as Dh1,000 per ticket, felt shortchanged when they realised that there was not going to be any such event. Organisers neither bothered to announce this nor explained the reasons for the sudden change in plans.
three hours late
But if the past is any indication, this should come as no surprise as the stars, including Salman Khan, Sohail Khan and Shoaib Akhtar, had waltzed in three hours late at a press conference on Thursday.
Back to clothes: Salman Khan in an earlier interview with tabloid! in October had lashed out at the blight of fashion piracy invading his life. “The moment I appear in public with my Being Human T-shirts, somebody takes a pic and before you know it guys are doing knock-offs and selling it in the market. They don’t get the fact that I am trying to raise money with those T-shirts. You should put these guys in jail,” said a visibly traumatised Khan.
We empathised with him then. But his clothes displayed on the ramp — dominated by crisp cotton shirts, casual T-shirts with a smattering of bling and jeans — made us wonder about his harsh verdict. Apart from Being Human emblazoned on them, you could easily mistake his “creations” for something you’d pluck off from the racks of a Gap or a Giordano store.
In all fairness though, this creative glitch was quickly forgotten when Khan and his entourage stepped on to the stage to treat the guests to some more hip thrusts, gyrating to his latest hit number Love Me, Love Me, Love Me from Wanted — his parting shot. Star power in action.
Turn to page 19 for more ?pictures
Khan along with 11 other Bollywood stars played against their counterparts from Pakistan at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Thursday.
Aashish Chaudhary, Ritesh Deshmukh and Arbaaz Khan walked the runway to show their support.
Go online
Check out more pictures of the cricket match at gulfnews.com/tabloid
By Manjusha Radhakrishnan Staff Reporter
Gulf News 2010. All rights reserved.
