Where: Taj Land's End, Mumbai

When: August 20th 2007

OM BOOKS INTERNATIONAL in association with Radio Mirchi yesterday celebrated the success of national award winning author Anupama Chopra's book 'King of Bollywood: Shah Rukh Khan and the seductive world of Indian Cinema' amidst people from the entertainment world. The book has sold over 10,000 copies in a span of two weeks. The celebration had a reading session in which Karan Johar and Rajkumar Hirani read some interesting excerpts from the book, in an ambience reminiscent of a library, with Radio Mirchi India's hottest radio station for company. King of Bollywood, published by Warner Books, has received rave reviews from across the globe.

Karan Johar, Dia Mirza, John Abraham, Jackie Shroff, Ria Sen, Mira Nair, Forroque Abdullah, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Juhi Chawla and many more were present at this grand launch.

King of Bollywood is a sweeping portrait of a man who is worshipped as a modern-day God, a country finding its identity and a movie industry that helped to change the face of India. The book reveals how Shah Rukh Khan, a middle-class Muslim boy from Delhi, broke into the insular, nepotistic world of Bombay show business and emerged as a superstar. His larger-than-life tale takes us through the colourful and idiosyncratic Bollywood movie industry, where fantastic dreams and outrageous obsessions share the spotlight with extortion, murder, and corruption. The book is priced at Rs.395.

Anupama Chopra's ode to Shah Rukh's spellbinding stardom is far more intimate and compact, crisp and to the point, punctuated by bouts of humour occasionally directed at the star. Her aim is to give us an insight into the running of that great big dream factory known as Bollywood while providing glimpses into the very private life of one of Asia's biggest entertainers. There's a dichotomy about being Shah Rukh. Though the star is exceptionally exuberant, extroverted and fan-friendly, he remains at heart a very private person. Chopra takes us to Shah Rukh's roots. Vignettes into the star's family life in Delhi, his parents and his sister, give to the account a kind of fascinating frisson found to be absent in most biographic accounts on celebrities.

The author has studied and comprehended the Shah Rukh phenomenon from very close quarters. Admirably, she steers clear of turning her account into a dry academic discussion on Shah Rukh's art and craft.

"The idea for the book was always to create a portrait of a superstar, a film industry, and a country. It was always going to be a journey into India and into popular Hindi cinema through the work and life of Shah Rukh Khan," said author Anupama Chopra. And the King of Bollywood certainly didn't lack star support at the party to celebrate the success of the book, with many of them even offering to read chapters of the book. "With the globalisation of our industry, Shah Rukh has become the face. When you talk about our industry, you have to talk about Shah Rukh Khan - brand Shah Rukh Khan," said Karan Johar, director. "I'll tell you what I think of SRK as a person. He's genuine, wonderful, and he's very supportive," said John Abraham, actor. SRK said he has read Jackie Chan and Charlie Cahaplin's biography till date and loves them.