A two-tier chocolate truffle cake had love of SRK as the prime ingredient. Next came the Dunki posters on photo paper which surrounded the surface. On top were affixed popcorns, almost as ritualistic offerings to the figure of Shah Rukh Khan standing on the caketop with arms spread in his signature style.

Members of The Kings Club, one of the oldest fan clubs of King Khan, launched in 1995, were trooping in to watch his new release, Dunki, at Inox Metro on Thursday evening and were marking the occasion by cutting the cake.

“After the magnum success of Pathaan and Jawan, we want to make it three out of three for SRK this year. No releases have been announced for 2024 so we thought of making the most of this occasion and ordered a special cake,” said Arnab Roy, secretary of the club, which had organised a Durga puja for Shah Rukh’s IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders in 2010, with the goddess draped in the team colours, and partly sponsored an expedition to Mt Sandakphu in 2013 to mark the team’s title defence.

“Being an SRK fan made this order a special one for me,” grinned the baker Srijita Thakur of Keyafe, who had come along to watch the show too.
Manashi Mitra had watched the day’s first show at 7.30am at Inox South City. “I could not sleep last night, I was so excited. There was no way I was ready to wait till the evening show. So I went along with my office group. This is with our club members,” she said.

Rima Das, who runs a salon in Howrah, was offering a Dunki discount for the day. “On SRK’s 58th birthday (on November 2), I had offered 58 per cent discount,” she smiled.

The gang trooped in with slogans of “Jab tak hai jaan, Shah Rukh Khan”, which was repeated when the film started.

Though there were not many ceetee-inducing moments except when a twist in the plot was revealed to show how SRK had it all planned to get them what they wanted — a trip back to India for all four — the 35-plus gang was happy with the film. “This is a glimpse of the SRK of the 1990s and 2000s which was missing in his recent releases,” Manashi said.

Arnab agreed. “SRK has two kinds of fans now —older ones like us who have grown up admiring him since Circus and Fauji (TV shows), through Kal Ho Naa Ho, Mohabbatein and Swades. The other group comprises the younger lot who want to see him as a larger-than-life figure, doing action. He is now catering to both types of fans. This film is content and acting-based, so more suited to our liking,” he summed up.

(L-R) The 'Dunki' cake being cut by The Kings Club members; The 'Dunki' cake