Shahrukh
Khan has decided to pull out of SRKworld.com, the
complete entertainment portal that he launched with
much fanfare less than a year ago.
The ”badshah” of Hindi cinema has decided to
sell his stake to B4U, the other co-promoter of the
venture. The company that owns and operates the
portal is Aryan Informatics which is named after
Shahrukh's son. It was in November 2000 that
SRKworld was launched under the Aryan banner.
Sources said that Shahrukh and B4U are nearing
towards closing the deal in which B4U will buy out
the star's complete stake in Aryan Informatics. The
other important partner in this company, Aryan Info,
is star actress Juhi Chawla. It is not yet known
whether Juhi along with her industrial husband is
also wanting to sell her stake in the company. It
may be pointed out that Shahrukh and Juhi are close
friends and partners in another production company
Dreamz Unlimited which is doing very well and has
mega plans in the industry.
Industry
sources attribute this deal largely to the bursting
of the dotcom bubble in recent months which has
taken its toll on all the little fishes in the
internet world. The other reason for why the stars
may be wishing to dissociate with SRKworld is
because of its association since inception with the
controversial cine personality Bharat Shah.
Nobody in Aryan or B4U was ready to state the
exact nature of association which the portal has
with Bharat Shah. However, they concede that Khan
and Bharat Shah are close associates and ”were
associated in each and every project”. However, in
a recent widely-publicised interview, Bharat Shah's
son Rashesh Shah has said that during these times of
crisis when his father was being interrogated by the
CBI on various allegations relating to his nexus
with the underworld, their so-called closest friends
had deserted them. When asked specifically whether
after the controversy had erupted, Shahrukh Khan had
ever visited Bharat Shah or his son for expressing
his concern, Rashesh is understood to have stated
that Shahrukh was among those who had used his
father to reach the top position, 
but
was now” ungrateful.” It is well known that the
first best films that catapulted Shahrukh Khan to
the number one position in Bollywood were financed
by Bharat Shah. If the hypothesis that Khan wants to
dissociate with Bharat Shah is correct, then the he
may have nothing to do with the portal in the future
which makes the future of the portal rather
uncertain.
Although there is no confirmation available from
anyone on this, Shahrukh is understood to have told
his friends privately that he does not want to go
ahead with any of the projects that are being
financed by Bharat Shah, openly or covertly.
