Scandals in India loom over SRK's concert in Sydney: Report

Shahrukh Khan is one of the biggest stars in Bollywood, but scandals in India loom over his forthcoming Sydney concert, backed by state money.

NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell announced his government had signed Khan for annual Indian cultural festival 'Parramasala' in October.

At a media event in July, O'Farrell said Khan, who will perform at Allphones Arena as part of a Bollywood spectacular, Temptation Reloaded, 'will attract enormous interest across this country and within this region'.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, while news of Khan's arrival has delighted many, some within the Indian-Australian community are alarmed over the show's links with India's largest corruption scandal and a rap star whose lyrics have come under scrutiny following a notorious gang rape.

There are also suggestions the NSW government is spending between 500,000 dollars and 1 million dollars to sign Khan for the event.

Central to the concerns are the event's production company, Cineyug, whose founder Karim Morani, is facing criminal charges over a scandal involving allocation of valuable second generation telecommunications spectrum said to have cost the Indian government nearly 43 billion dollars, the report said.

According to the report, as part of the so-called '2G scam' Morani, is alleged to have conspired to funnel 40 million dollars bribe, via Cineyug, to a television company owned by the family of an Indian politician.

Vice-president of the Council of Indian Australians, Praful Desai, said the link to Cineyug and Morani was ''definitely a concern,' the report added.