"No Matter What the World Does, You and I And All Positive People Are – Alive!"

Below are excerpts from actor Shahrukh Khan's short speech at the Kolkata International Film Festival in the presence of the Governor, Chief Minister and other luminaries. The video embedded below has since gone viral:

"Cinema is perhaps the most important medium of modern times. From inception humanity has built its civilisation on the expression and sharing of its journey like cave paintings left behind for us to marvel at thousands of years later, the enduring printed word, or the different forms of traditional theatre that prevailed for centuries across the world.

Cinema and in fact the advent of articulation through social media platforms have now become the foremost expression of human experience and emotion. The collective narrative of our times is shaped by social media. And contrary to the belief that the spread of social media will affect cinema negatively i believe that cinema has an important role to play now.

Social media is often driven by a certain narrowness of view that limits human nature to its baser self.and its somewhere that negativity increases social media consumption and thereby increases its commercial value as well. Such pursuits enclose the collective narrative making it divisive and disruptive. Cinema exposes the vulnerability of human nature by telling stories in their simplest form as they are left, it allows us to know each other better. In a way it is best placed to sustain a collective counter narrative that speaks to the larger nature of humankind, A narrative that brings to the fore humanity's immense capacity for compassion, unity and brotherhood.

Meeting the world at the world of cinema is the call of the day, not just meeting but also using the power of cinema as a vehicle for people of different cultures, cultures, caste and religion to better understand each other through efforts like KIFF, the endeavours to build a new platform of understanding and break existing prejudices.

Let's come together and build a better world for all the future generations through the medium of cinema and let KIFF and Kolkata be the place to start the journey for a new and more inclusive world."

(And then in Hindi, translated here below):

"We have not been able to come here for a long time, we have not been able to meet you, be with you but now the world has become normal, we are all happy, I am the happiest of all, and i have no hesitation in saying that no matter what the world does, I and you and all the positive people, all of them, are —Alive!"