Testing star power

You would have thought that the promoters of personal care products company Emami and the West Bengal government have little in common. Especially after Messrs Agarwal and Goenka were arrested on Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s orders as key shareholders of the Advance Medicare and Research Institute (AMRI) hospital where a fire claimed 90 lives. But as of last week, they actually do share a bond in brand ambassador Shah Rukh Khan. The actor has long been the face of Emami brands like Navratna Cool Talc, Fair and Handsome and Sona Chandi Chyawanprash. Last week, the state government announced that he had agreed to be brand ambassador for West Bengal on an honorary basis. So the question everyone’s asking now is whether Khan can bridge the gap between the company and the state he is promoting. Or will he have to say alvida to one of them