Bhubaneswar, Aug. 5: “Don’t underestimate the power of the common man…”

Twenty-year-old Vaibhav Dahima of Sundergarh district is practically living this dialogue that runs throughout the Shah Rukh Khan starrer — Chennai Express.

For, he is among 68 chosen Twitter users to have received a “follow-back” from the Bollywood icon, who is trailed by over 4.5 million people on the micro-blogging forum.

“I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the email notification last week, because Shah Rukh Khan follows mostly celebrities. But when I logged on to Twitter, I was thrilled to see my name on the top of his list. Many people have been asking me how I made it happen but I guess he knows who his true admirers are,” gushed the die-hard SRK fan.

Some of the celebs who figure on Shah Rukh’s “following” list include actors Amitabh Bachchan, Dilip Kumar, Hrithik Roshan, Deepika Padukone, Priyanka Chopra, director Karan Johar, cricketers Sourav Ganguly, Shane Warne, Brett Lee and some top-notch journalists. Vaibhav is one of the three persons who don’t match the profile of the majority of those Shah Rukh follows.

The commerce student of Dalmia College, Rajgangpur, who loves to play the guitar and watch movies, said he started following King Khan last August and got his first reply within three weeks.

Four months before Jab Tak Hai Jaan released, Vaibhav tweeted: “I wish I had a time machine so that I would let you know that your film has grossed Rs 200 crore in just a week.” Shah Rukh replied: “If you get a time machine, please let me know that it crossed your heart and not how many rupees — for that we have distributors.”

Since that day, Vaibhav has been tweeting him every day and has, so far, has managed to elicit four more replies from SRK. “Once I wrote that my girl wants me to love her as much as SRK loves himself but even after trying a lot I couldn’t love her that much. He immediately replied, ‘Try again…or get a girlfriend that looks like me…eeessshhh’. A few days ago, he also re-tweeted a Hindi poem that I had posted,” said Vaibhav, who always makes it a point to watch the first day, first show of every SRK movie, his all-time favourites being Kal Ho Na Ho and Chak De! India.

“I am eagerly waiting for Chennai Express to release. I can completely relate to Shah Rukh’s dialogue: Mere life mein bhi ek twist aaya. My next ambition is to meet him. Patience will make things happen,” Vaibhav signed off.