IVF expert who helped Shah Rukh Khan-Gauri Khan conceive says it led to a boom in surrogacy: ‘You made AbRam'
Shah claimed the birth of AbRam brought a lot of awareness about the process of surrogacy among people. 'For me, all patients are the same. There's nothing different or special there. Whatever we do for all patients, we do for them also,' said Shah, adding that Shah Rukh going through the IVF process brought about a wide debate on surrogacy in society.
'That way, it was good because it brought a lot of awareness about the procedure. There was a big boom in surrogacy after that,' Shah said on the podcast Aleena Dissects. 'Till today, people walk into my clinic only because of that. People from the Middle East, Africa, the US, the UK, name the country. They say we found you because you made AbRam. That's something which will last forever so it's one of my best memories,' he added.
He claimed more people from Bollywood began visiting him for surrogacy procedures, thanks to word of mouth. 'My whole practice is based on that. Somebody got pregnant and told someone else. And women love to talk,' reasoned Shah. He claimed there's no issue as such in Mumbai of consulting a male gynaecologist like him.
In 2017, Gauri and Shah Rukh's good friend and filmmaker Karan Johar also announced the birth of his kids via surrogacy. He consulted Shah as well, who claimed that while Johar becoming his client didn't change his career as such, but it brought about a lot of discussion around single fatherhood.
'It was a big social shift because single father was a very new concept in India. It's very popular in the West. We were flooded with enquiries by potential single fathers about surrogacy. It's a very debatable idea. There are always pros and cons. What if it's a female child? What if it's a male child? There was a lot of debate going around that. Before we could really get around it, the law came that it's now prohibited. Now, we can't do surrogacy around single fathers,' revealed Shah.
Also Read: Gauri Khan rents Rs 1.35 lakh per month flat for Mannat staff, 100 metres away from family's new Pali Hill home
Last year, in an interview with Faye D'Souza, Johar admitted that his kids have started asking him questions about the identity of their mother. 'It is a modern family. It is an unusual circumstance, so now I am also dealing with the questions about 'whose stomach was I born in? But mumma is not mumma really, she is my grandmother (Karan's mother Hiroo Johar)'. I am going to school, to the counsellor, to ask how do we navigate the situation? And it is not easy, being a parent is never easy,' said Johar.
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From the India Today archives (1988)
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Next month, Rajinikanth's first English movie, Bloodstone, in which he plays a taxi-driver, will hit the screen in 1,500 theatres all over the US. Shot mainly in Bangalore, the action packed entertainer has been co-produced by Amritraj Productions and the NRI Metro Film Corporation, owned by Dr Murali Manohar, a film film is about an American couple on a visit to India who get involved with a gang of smugglers. Rajinikanth, a local taxi-driver, comes to their aid. Made at a cost of one million dollars (Rs 1.30 crore) the film will be distributed worldwide by Columbia film fits in perfectly with the superstar's designs for the future. "I have reached a dead-end as far as Tamil films are concerned. Through Hindi movies, I have got a national image. What I want today is worldwide recognition," says Rajinikanth. In any event, by 1990, he plans to take a break from Tamil films and start directing his own even his most ardent fans believe that Rajinikanth's real talent lies in Tamil films which have made him what he is today. He is the only Tamil hero whose films are sold even before shooting starts. He is reported to get Rs 25 lakh per film, the highest paid to any hero in the Manithan (human being) released last Diwali is a box-office success, while his latest Guru Shishiya (master-pupil) is drawing packed houses. Says G. Venkateswarao, producer, distributor and president of the South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce: "He is a goldmine for producers and distributors."No wonder producers form an endless queue outside his door. The average cost of making a Rajinikanth film in Tamil is around Rs 70 lakh. But the film is sold by the producer to the distributor for over Rs 1 crore. A super-successful Rajinikanth film can do business for over Rs 2 crore. Some producers are even buying and dubbing some of his earlier, run-of-the-mill Hindi films into Tamil. Last week, yet another Hindi film of his, Asli Naqli, was dubbed into Tamil as Njane Valabhan. What then is the secret of the success of a man who rose from an ordinary bus conductor to be a megastar? In one word, charisma, Rajinikanth has a screen presence which is awe inspiring. In the Tamil context, his exaggerated swagger and his trademark gimmicks like tossing a cigarette in the air and catching it in his lips have made him a household Mani, an auto-driver who has seen Guru Shishya four times: "Rajani saar is my hero. All his films may look alike but his style is terrific." In Tamil Nadu, millions of children not only imitate the 'Rajani style' but also make him out to be a superman. Says AVM's Saravanan, the biggest producer in the South: "There is no need of a story in his films. There should be a chance for him to do comedy, drama and action. 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an hour ago
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