Shah Rukh, Kajol and Aamir: Crowd-pullers

New Delhi, Dec. 12: Superstar Shah Rukh Khan could soon welcome you at Taj Mahal if the Archaeological Survey of India has its way.

The ASI plans to make filmstars brand ambassadors of select monuments it is in charge of. Apart from Shah Rukh, the line-up includes Aamir Khan, Kajol, Salman Khan, Deepika Padukone, Madhuri Dixit, Hema Malini and Shatrughan Sinha.

“We have short-listed a few monuments and a few celebrities,” an ASI official said, adding Shah Rukh’s romantic appeal was best suited for promotion of the Taj.

ASI sources said they had hit upon the idea of star brand ambassadors after the success of Fanaa. In the film, Aamir plays a Delhi tour guide who romances Kajol at the Lodhi Gardens and the Qutb Minar, which are both under the ASI.

“All ASI monuments featured in the film became huge hits. Many tourists, especially youngsters, visited them just to check out where the movie was shot. Then we realised that having stars to endorse the monuments was an amazing idea,” the official said.

The ASI, which was earlier hesitant to allow film shoots at monuments, has become open to the idea, post Fanaa. “We realised it would give us free publicity,” the official said.

He claimed most stars the ASI had approached had shown interest in the plan.

In the first phase, only monuments in the ASI’s Delhi circle will have the star presence. “It would become a nationwide campaign later.”

The stars will be requested to do more than just show up at campaigns. “We are planning to get the stars to promote the monuments through their work,” the official said.

The actors will also be asked to be part of awareness programmes held at ASI sites and interact with tourists once in a while. They will be requested to participate in school campaigns and celebrity marathons intended to create awareness about heritage.

“We can’t expect the stars to be present frequently. But the fact that a tourist might get a chance to meet them some day adds to the value of the monument,” the official said.

The move to bring in stars marks a shift in the strategy of the ASI, which has so far focused on preserving and protecting monuments.

“If this proposal works out well, it will ring in a change as it will lend mass appeal to monuments,” he said.

The ASI also has plans to get cricketers like Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh and S. Sreesanth to promote heritage buildings. But this would be “in later stages”, the official said.