He said he would contact the superstar and try to get his permission to be the ambassador.

“I will contact him and try to get his permission to be the ambassador,” he said while winding up his speech on the royal address today at the Dewan Rakyat.

He was responding to Sim Tong Him (Independent-Kota Melaka) who had said that the appointment of Hindi movie superstar Shah Rukh Khan was not helping to boost tourism in the country.

Sim suggested that Rajnikanth be appointed as the new ambassador to attract Indian tourists to the state.

“He (Shah Rukh Khan) is not very effective. What is your opinion if we appoint Rajnikanth, who starred in Kabali (Tamil movie)?”

Rajnikanth acted in Kabali, a hit Indian movie, which had large portions of the movie shot in Malaysia. Shah Rukh Khan, a Hindi movie hero, was appointed as tourism ambassador to Malacca in 2008.