April 4, 2009 3:17:16 PM IST Joginder Tuteja, Bollywood Trade News Network

Anil Kapoor was recently in Dubai to attend the Cartier International Dubai Polo Challenge 2009. Even though there were other prominent names like Monica Bellucci and Karishma Kapoor at the event, it was Anil Kapoor who ended up being the center of attraction, courtesy the global recognition that has come his way post the Oscar winning success of SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE.

Informs Chunky Pandey who was also a guest at the event, ''In India, Anil Kapoor is a popular name who is one amongst us for last three decades. He has never had any airs around him and has been his humble self over the years. But look at countries outside India and you would realize how big a celebrity he has become post SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE.''

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As per sources, fans went crazy after him in Dubai, especially when Anil Kapoor, Chunkey Pandey and others were seated ay an English pub.

''I could have understood if Indians would have gathered around him but it was crazy to see so many foreigners literally pouncing on him. And I am not talking about some tourist types there; I am talking about real gentry' crowd. When they were asking him for autographs and photographs, I was pleasantly shocked. The kind of adulation that he was getting from them was out of the world'', says Chunky.