Bollywood could provide another avenue to entertain the masses

Cinema has long provided the glamour quotient to Indian politics; what politicians could bring to the silver screen remains moot. It is hoped that the star turn by former external affairs minister Salman Khurshid in the German ambassador’s home production — a remake of a song sequence from Kal Ho Na Ho — does not have any hidden political double entendre. After all, even though the dire performance of the Congress in last year’s general elections may have evoked the title’s implicit fatalism in some diehard fans (of the party, not the film), an alternate career in a Bollywood melodrama is not the usual recourse for unexpectedly underemployed senior Indian politicians. Indeed, the move is usually from films to politics, and not the other way round.

Though netas have been known to succumb to the odd cameo appearance when they have spare time, Mr Khurshid has already made a successful re-entry into the legal arena. So, his newfound penchant for romancing ‘heroines’ — in this case, the Hindi-film-buff wife of the German ambassador — in a music video is all the more curious, though his talents as athespian are well known. Of course, it could just be the envoy’s trial balloon for a possible post-retirement option, with Indian films becoming quite popular in Germany, rather than the imminent debut of a ‘new’ Salman in Bollywood.