A Shah Rukh Khan fan reveals the inner details of the SRK Fandom awards

The SRK Fandom Awards 2016 is here. It’s an award function meant to be a celebration of Shah Rukh Khan fans from all over the world. A one-of-its-kind event, SRK fans choose their favourite fans — first for the nominations, then for the award. This is the fourth edition of the awards, and this time, it is bigger than ever with its venue shifting from Twitter to Mumbai, slated to be held on 31 October. [caption id=“attachment_3026572” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Shah Rukh Khan. Image courtesy: Twitter[/caption] For those who don’t know me, which will be most of you, well, I am a Shah Rukh Khan fan. A huge one at that. I started off my journey with him 21 years ago. Like many others, I have a personal record of watching his films first day, first show since the last 13 years. Like many others, I memorize his dialogues, watch all his films, read all his interviews and follow him on Twitter. But unlike many others, I have been associated with these awards from the very beginning; from its very first edition in 2013. With the nominations now being declared open, I couldn’t help but take a trip down the memory lane to one of the happiest events on social media. February 2013 I had been a fan of Shah Rukh Khan all my life, much before I even understood the meaning of a fan. I remember being ridiculed by my friends and family over my undying love for a man I never saw in person. However, that never really deterred my spirit. This was the man that introduced me to movies, which were now an integral part of my life. This was the man who was my first imaginary friend, who was not “real”, but still there for me at all times. It was that feeling that made me become active on Twitter. A platform Shah Rukh had recently joined back then. Twitter, back then, was a source of voicing opinions, and for celebrities a platform to connect with fans. While today it’s all about fan-club wars and competition, back then, it was all about sharing a common interest. I used to tweet my heart out. Twitter got the best out of an introvert like me. Every single day. I wrote to and about Shah Rukh, on his habits, on his films, on quick trivias, or simple thank you tweets to him for being there. [caption id=“attachment_3026722” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  SRK Universe on Twitter handles the SRK Fandom Awards.[/caption] One day, SRKUniverse, the biggest fan-club of Shah Rukh Khan fans, announced an award function – The SRK Fandom Awards; for the fans, by the fans and from the fans. The thought of it excited me. An award function for the ordinary – or as SRK said, for the extraordinary within the ordinary. The awards celebrated the spirit of being a fan. What thrilled me even more was when the nominations were announced. I was nominated not once, but thrice – as the Best Writer SRK fan, as the Friendliest SRK fan (female) and as the Best SRK fan. A spreadsheet was out and all of us were asked to vote for our favourites. The one who would get the maximum votes would win. September 2016 “Aaj…” as the SRK dialogue from Kal Ho Naa Ho buzzed on my mind. Think of The SRK Fandom awards as a National Award meant for SRK fans. We were the celebrities of the day. As time went by, #SRKFandomAwards started to trend and I won two out of the three awards that I had been nominated for that night – Best Writer SRKian and the Friendliest SRK fan. It felt incredible! It gave me an experience of a different kind, one that would always make me smile when I look back at my journey as a SRK fan. The writer works with ESPN