You have now shown your skill at business management — in creating a buzz through your Red Chillies production house and now in cricket. Much more than the matches in Amethi, it is the IPL that is attracting interest, it is the IPL that is going to fund training grounds for new kids on the block, and the IPL that is going to create new entertainment modules for TV audiences. It is going prepare us for the Commonwealth Games, hopefully, with the country finally recognising that Indian pride can be evoked the world over through sports. I saw excerpts of your Kolkata Knightriders video in London on the BBC news, as bemused British sports announcers couldn’t quite figure out what to say about this screen icon who is both ‘hot’ and ‘cool’ while he dances, singing about cricket. Dancing? Singing? I say, old boy, this isn’t quite cricket is it? It was another glorious moment.

All of this, Shah Rukh has been done outside the establishment. You know, as well as the rest of the world, that India’s growth story has been fuelled not by the government and the mantris but by entrepreneurs like you who have struggled and fought the good fight on your own. Why would you want to be co-opted into the very system that will do everything to use you, and then corrupt you?

I know you dislike comparisons with the Big B, but remember how much he suffered and continues to suffer. All of that, they say, dates back to his one big mistake: to fight an election in Allahabad. It almost destroyed him and his reputation. It left him bankrupt, and friendless. He has taken years to recover. But those were his best years.

... contd.