….And so it begins…the ‘Nth’ time. Bloggers and journalists who have no talent and constantly rely on the reflective glory have tried to sensationalize a non-story and have made Mr Shah Rukh Khan the easy target.
As the Chief Digital Strategist of Mr Shah Rukh Khan let me press upon 3 key points.
1. In the beginning of the speech SRK starts with “Let me forewarn you, this is a recycled speech. Whenever I am called to give speeches at ypo or some such big organisation…I use this speech. Its generic…simple…and makes me give no commitment in our first meeting. Somewhat like the corporate world itself.” and goes on to give an inspiring speech to a standing ovation which very conveniently people who are writing about SRK not giving credit have forgotten to mention.
2. Famous quotes especially if they are recycled from earler speeches are sometimes not quoted. The recycled speech that SRK mentions includes a speech he gave at the YPO where he clearly gives credit to JK Rowling. CLICK HERE FOR THE YPO SPEECH  (A stand up comedian blogger discovered  this speech via a fan who was present at the YPO and decided to write his own take on the issue) 
3. I reached out to the  fan who was present at the YPO and she cited an anecdote, “Mr Khan had made a joke about the word ‘vicissitudes’…and said jokingly “It’s J K Rowling, I have problems saying such big words….but did it to impress the smart ones gathered there” Which clearly states that there was never any intention to hide a world-famous line from a bunch of smart aware management students to begin with.
In addition to the above, as an active independent voice, I am putting forth my personal point of view hoping netizens all around the world won’t act like a herd, spam the social media and give undue importance to the few morons looking for their 15 minutes of fame.
For those who are still confused, after SRK’s AIMA speech a 24 year old blogger (not sure why she thinks announcing her age is so important) decided to dissect his speech by taking snapshots of J K Rowling’s speech and SRK’s accusing him of not giving credit to JK Rowling. To this a Hindustan Times journalist (can we have another title for people like this who love writing in esteemed publications only to sensationalize without content or research) decided to write a column without even having bothered to get hold of any of the speeches.
My humble message to the dear 24 year old blogger friend :
FOR GOODNESS SAKE, IT IS A HARVARD SPEECH BY JK ROWLING, THE EDUCATED PRETTY MUCH EVERYWHERE ALREADY KNOW OF IT!  
…AND THE SAME EDUCATED PEOPLE ALSO KNOW THAT JK ROWLING ALSO USED THOSE FAMOUS LINES FROM A MANAGEMENT BOOK BY JAMES GALBRAITH.
Isn’t it fair to say many a times during a speech to keep the flow going people don’t quote very famous words? But clearly being sensible is not something that we are dealing with here…are we?
And how many times do people all across the world, including world leaders have quoted famous lines as part of their speeches without giving out their names to keep the flow intact? How about the HT journalist and the blogger get together and do some research on that and post an informed article?
As very eloquently someone commented the following towards the 24 year old’s blog “I don’t think he got a standing ovation just for these few lines. How many times in our common use of language do we credit the person ( or people) when we quote some of their more famous quotes. I am not supporting what he did but time and again as people of India, we take more pride in downsizing people rather than applauding their success story. Time we grew up and stop our minds from discussing people. Before you accuse me of stealing, I want to end this with a quote by Eleanor Roosevelt – “Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.” “
And so… maybe its time we all strive to work towards discussing ideas…!



About & AIMA speech NON ISSUE As his Chief Digitial Strategist here's a note including my independent voice.