How far can one go for the love of a star? He can request for a picture with the star. He can adorn his bedroom walls or the insides of his wardrobe with photographs of the one he adores. Right? Wrong!
Remember Mughal emperor Shahjahan? He built the Taj Mahal for wife Mumtaz. Well, there’s a businessman at Padrauna (in district Kushinagar in Uttar Pradesh), who has built an entire business complex and a multiplex for his love for Salman Khan! Perhaps, even Salman may not be aware of how Vikram Agrawal came to become the owner of a 4-screen multiplex at Padrauna where, till three years ago, he was engaged in various businesses like motor car dealership, motorcycle dealership, running a petrol pump, etc.
It was 2015. Kabir Khan’s Bajrangi Bhaijaan had opened to bumper houses in the whole of India, including Sahu cinema of Padrauna. The rich and locally famous Vikram Agrawal wanted to watch the film with his family and friends on the first day in the evening show. However, he did not get 45 tickets for the film for himself and his family and friends at Sahu cinema as all the seats were booked. Vikram drew a blank again the following day as it was the same story on the second day too — the evening show was packed to capacity. A quick phone call by Agrawal to the cinema manager did not yield any fruits as the manager pleaded inability to help because the evening shows of the blockbuster film on Sunday and Monday were also housefull! The earliest Vikram Agrawal and his family could catch the film on the big screen was on Tuesday.
Anyway, Agrawal booked his tickets for Tuesday, embarrassed that in spite of his name, fame and money, he couldn’t arrange for 45 tickets for a film he and his group were so keen to watch, for four days!! He saw the film and loved it, like the rest of the world. But unlike the rest of the world, Agrawal’s business mind started to tick. If people had to wait for several days to get tickets for a film, there was a business opportunity in cinema exhibition, he thought to himself. And the next thing he was doing was planning to build a business complex and a four-screen multiplex in it, at Padrauna. It took him six years to build the multiplex.
And that’s how a 4-screen multiplex came to be at Padrauna! Vikram Agrawal then went on to tie up with U.P. exhibitor Ashutosh Agarwal of Star World Cinemas. The state-of-the-art multiplex of Padrauna, which opened in November 2021, is called Quality Star World Cinemas.
While the multiplex is doing well, Agrawal is now waiting with bated breath for Salman Khan’s next, Sikandar. Not just to watch the film on the first day with family and friends but to also hear the cash registers ring loudly when the mass machine called Salman Khan comes alive yet again on the big screen.
P.S.: The icing on the cake would be when Salman Khan inaugurates the first day, first show of Sikandar at Quality Star World Cinemas, Padrauna. He owes that much to the man who built a four-screen multiplex just because he had to wait for four days to watch a film starring him!