Director Mani Ratnam - Mani Matters CNN IBN Interview

Amitabh Bachchan to host KBC 4 on Sony

Amitabh Bachchan is back. He is signed to play the host of the most popular quiz show, ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’ season 4. Earlier aired by Siddharth Basu’s Synergy on Star Plus will now be aired by Sony entertainment channel.
According to the show’s actual quizmaster, Siddharth Basu: “Star relinquished the KBC license some time back. And yes, the show is with Sony now. All the questions regarding the show and the host will have to be addressed to them since they are the broadcasters now. Of course, my company, Big Synergy, looks forward to producing it for them.”
Shahrukh Khan was also on the card but finally the decision went in favor of Amitabh. KBC was Big B’s first appearance on Indian television. It was one of the most popular show on Indian television but went off air due to some unknown reasons. Now that it is back again, TV-goers will be entertained as well as informative.
Sony is yet to make the official announcement. Hopefully, the show will go on air by the end of this year.

LINK

SRK to star in Anurag Basu's next?

Anurag Basu’s Kites, starring Hrithik Roshan may have bombed at the box office, but he sure hasn’t given up and is already working on his next film Silence with Ranbir Kapoor. What’s more! If sources are to be believed the director may next be working with King Khan.
According to a source, the two share common interests and have discussed cinema at length. SRK is believed to have liked Basu’s work and his different takes on cinema and is even open to experimenting.
“Both have shown keen interest in working together. Finally, a proper meeting was arranged between the two and they have finalised a script,” revealed the source to Mumbai Mirror.
Although Khan is currently busy with his film Ra.One and Basu with Silence, the two are said to be working on their next venture’s script already. Ra.One is a special effects film, unlike SRK’s usual genre and Basu is still looking for a replacement for the role Katrina Kaif opted out of.
After he is done with Silence and Shah Rukh finishes Ra.One, they will get going with their project,” adds the source. It is believed that SRK’s company Red Chillies Entertainment will be producing the film.

LINK

Happy Birthday Mani Sir

On the occasion of the birthday of one of our finest directors in Indian Cinema, I am posting some of the brilliant scenes, songs and trailers from different movies directed by him.

First few are from my favorite movie directed by him - Kannathil Muthamittal







GURU - A film that promised a lot, but sadly turned out to be a revised version of Ratnam's earlier work, Nayagan with a different setting.







NAYAGAN - A film based on a true story of a Bombay based Don, Varadarajan Mudaliar. Though based on a true story, it has many similarities to Coppola's The Godfather Trilogy.



DIL SE - One of the best films in Indian Cinema. Terrific performances by the lead actors. SRK, Manisha Koirala, Santosh Sivan, Mani Ratnam, AR Rahman, Gulzar were in TOP FORM in this film. A film that gets better with every viewing. Soem of my favorite scenes from the film -














ROJA



BOMBAY/BUMBAI







BOW to the LEGEND.

I don't make films with a calculator. - Yash Chopra

American version of My Name Is Khan to be shorter by 35 minutes

If the name Alan Edward Bell doesn't ring a 'bell' in your mind, then, let us tell you that, he is the same man who is responsible for the crisp editing of 500 Days Of Summer. And it is going to be this man who will very soon be the talk of the nation (or is that 'globe'?), as he is the man responsible for 'taming the hurricane'. For the uninitiated, we are talking about the climax of Karan Johar's My Name Is Khan wherein the characters get stranded due to a hurricane. Post the release of the film in India; while the story and screenplay were appreciated to the hilt, this was one particular scene that was panned by critics alike. But, for its US release, KJo has let Bell's hands to do the talking (read 'snipping').

Karan Johan candidly admits that he was expecting this scene not to work in the same wavelength as the film's story. He also added that, it was for this reason, that he let Bell to do his job (without any interference from him) since he wanted an outsider's perspective to the story. This has now resulted in the chopping of the hurricane scene in the US version of My Name Is Khan. Bell's work will be visible in the film, which releases on May 7th in the US, and will have its subtitles and voiceovers in English for the audiences there.

LINK

SRK and KJo to host first ever IPL Awards

Best buddies Shah Rukh Khan and Karan Johar have co-hosted many Bollywood award functions in the past and now for the first time ever the duo will be seen hosting the grand IPL Awards scheduled to take place on April 23rd in Mumbai this year. The announcement was made by IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi at a function in Mumbai yesterday.

With the whole nation being gripped by the IPL frenzy, the organizers have decided to come up with the first ever IPL Awards which will recognize the best performances and honour the best players of the IPL. Some of the categories are Best Batsman, Best Bowler, Best Fielder, Best IPL Debutante, Most Consistent Performer, Most Dramatic Performance and Breakthrough Performance. The winners in these categories will be selected by an esteemed jury comprising of Lalit Modi, Sunil Gavaskar, Brian Lara, Harsha Bhogle, Javagal Srinath and umpire Simon Taufel. Apart from the jury awards there is also a separate section for the Viewers' Choice Awards where cricket fans will get to vote for their favorite performers from the IPL.

In true IPL style, the evening will be a fusion of cricketing and entertainment excellence, with some of India's biggest names, including AR Rahman, Shilpa Shetty, Katrina Kaif, Priyanka Chopra and Hrithik Roshan, set to deliver their trademark energy and style. Besides, the event will also feature performances by some leading cricketers, who will show they are equally talented off the field too.

With the who's who of the cricketing and entertainment world in attendance, this high profile event surely seems like the perfect finish to what has been a fantastic 45 days of non-stop entertainment.

LINK

News of the day! Prateik, Asha, SRK, Big B

Prateik gets rave reviews for Dhobi Ghat

And the boy seems to have shed his scruffy JTYJN image and looks GOOD!



SRK sets up webcam to talk to his kids

Always the family man!







Big B at Marathi Literary Awards in Pune

Gallery of pictures at link!



Asha Bhosle sings for Raavan

Now that is news to gladden a fan's heart! We will be waiting for the Raavan music.

Who is SRK taking tips from for his next Ra One

SRK is taking tips for Ra One from Kamal Haasan, who was even spotted at the Akon bash held at Mannat

Last week, South superstar Kamal Haasan's presence at B-Town Badshah Shah Rukh Khan's Akon party at Mannat raised many eyebrows. Apparently, KH has been bonding with SRK and has been giving the latter valuable tips on the making of Ra One.

Says a source, "Shah Rukh has huge plans for Ra One and has been meeting Kamal Haasan regularly to bounce off ideas for his pet project. Shah Rukh and Kamal know each other since their Hey Ram days. The two have kept in touch. King Khan respects Kamal as an actor and loves his style of filmmaking. The two superstars are quite fond of each other."

Adds the source, "While Shah Rukh plays a super hero in Ra One, he's amazed by the hard work, meticulous planning, astonishing cinematography and breathtaking graphics that Kamal brought to Dasavaratham. He has been asking the veteran actor about how to make a stunning film with great special effects. That's the reason why Kamal was spotted at Shah Rukh's party last week."

Mushtaq Shiekh, co-screenwriter for Ra One, says, "I don't know if Kamalsaab is helping Shah Rukh with the film but I am not surprised to see him in Mannat because Shah Rukh has been maintaining a consistent connection with him."

Shah Rukh Khan was unavailable for comment.

LINK

Shah Rukh Khan urges Bollywood to take three key learnings from Hollywood

MUMBAI: At the inaugural session of FICCI –FRAMES, which kicked off in Mumbai today, actor - producer and IPL team owner Shah Rukh Khan highlighted some key issues plaguing the Indian film industry. Khan particularly urged the film fraternity to adapt some important learnings from Hollywood.

Khan said, "The three basic needs of every Indian - roti, kapda aur makaan - seem to have been fulfilled for most. There is now a fourth desire and that is entertainment and movies are a popular source of this fourth requirement. Another concept popularly emerging and posing to have a great future is sport entertainment. We are at the threshold of a huge burst on the entertainment arena in India and entertainment is the packaging of a growing economy."

Throwing light on the three key areas where Indian cinema needs to learn from Hollywood, Khan said, "The first is screenplay writing. It is not an art but a science. We need to find expertise in screenplay writing in order to globalize Indian cinema. The second is technology. I remember when I met Will Smith, an actor who does just two films a year and I asked him how he picks his films. He said, 'On the basis of creative satisfaction and a great superstar for a co-star.' When I asked him how did he judge if his co-star was a super-star, he said his superstar was 'VFX and technology.'"

Read more from HERE

Listen to SRK's romantic hits

SRK and Saif return as hosts of the Filmfare awards

Shah Rukh Khan and Saif Ali Khan return as hosts of the Filmfare awards that are being held this week at the Yash Raj Studios, Andheri. Last year, Ranbir Kapoor and Imran Khan had hosted the gala after several folks thought that King Khan and the Chote Nawab had gone overboard with their Na-Real awards in 2008.

The duo had upset some sections of the film fraternity fuming with their mean, mean digs. This time, we wonder who will be the bakra of their jibes. Last heard, SRK was busy getting his script ready.

LINK

I take advice from SRK: Farhan

That's because he switches off his phone at night. 36-year-old Farhan Akhtar also admits to being unsociable when working and not liking romantic films unless they come laced with drama. All this and more about the man who redefines cool 
 

LINK

There are all these rumours linking you to your Karthik calling Karthik co-star Deepika Padukone which the two of you protest at every opportunity. Are you not overdoing it? 
Honestly speaking, I can only speak for myself. Initially I didn’t protest, I thought it would blow over naturally. But then it began to get awkward and in very bad taste and that is when I started protesting. Then one thing led to another and now again I am tired of protesting. I also feel that now that we are pretty much coming to the end of the promotion of Karthik Calling Karthik and you will see us spending a lot of time with other people as opposed to each other, it will blow over.


Do such rumours affect you a lot? 
It’s important for me because it affects my family. It’s weird for me to answer to my nine-year-old daughter who sees something on TV or reads a headline in a newspaper. Children tend to stress about these things a lot more than we understand. When I wasn’t addressing the issue she couldn’t understand why I was denying something to her but not telling the rest of the world. So to me it was important to come out and talk about it.

My daughter couldn’t understand why I was denying something to her but not telling the rest of the world


What’s with this schizophrenic behaviour you display? You are usually a party boy but when you work, either when acting or directing, you become all reclusive and incommunicado? 
The thing is, and most of the people I know also say this, I am an extremist. When I am working I don’t want to know about anything else. When I want to party, I don’t want to work. So when I go on a holiday, more often than not, I won’t answer my phone. I really have to be pushed to deal with work when I am on a holiday. Similarly when I am working on the script of a film, I really don’t want to go out, I don’t want to do things which are going to takeaway my energy from what I really should be focusing on.

What influences you and your work? 
Having kids has made me more aware of life beyond myself. I am aware that my choices will affect them even when I am not around. That also affects my work because my sensibilities and aesthetics have changed. I have grown up with women predominantly and that has led to me having a very healthy respect for them in terms of the treatment of them. I have an allergy to women being shown in a crude light, to be shown in almost a sexist way. I have had these allergies in any case; it has got a little more underlined now with kids. When they see my films, I don’t want them to think that dad is doing anything cheap.

Do you think your dad’s (Javed Akhtar with Salim Khan) films reflected the same concern? 
Salim uncle and my father had a healthy respect for women. But because while they were writing, there was a lot more formula cinema, it was a requirement of the story that they had to write in a vamp, which you don’t necessarily need to do anymore. If there was a villain, he had to have a vamp. Similarly when I write Don, I go back to that kind of writing, Don had Isha in his life. How we treat the character can be different from how molls and vamps were treated at that time. But when you go back to that kind of writing, it’s a different world and it’s a different sensibility of filmmaking but within that you still want to treat them with a certain dignity. You can’t caricature them and make them one dimensional.

For Don you had a blueprint of sorts to follow. How does Don 2 take the character forward? 
For me, Don’s character hinges on his cunning and smartness and the fact that he is playing all the characters in the film and at the same time, he also plays the audience. So, to me, the challenge is to do that again. Of course, you can do great action sequences, you can have great songs, a wonderful looking and talented cast who everybody wants to watch. But this time round, there is now no format to follow. To me that was exciting and what I am focusing again on is how to take Don to almost level two. This film is more of a caper to me than an emotional journey.

And how many ‘mulk ki police’ will be looking for him in Don 2? 
Now I think it’s the whole world. Only Antarctica aur Arctic ki police uske peeche nahi padi hai.(laughs)

Could you ever do a mush film? A romcom? 
Very honestly I must say that the romcom is one of my least favourite genres, even to watch. There are some of course, which I do thoroughly enjoy but they are very few and far between. Personally, I prefer drama, action and thrillers. If it’s a romance I would much prefer a classic romance like a Romeo and Juliet which has drama in it.

You work with actors as a director and compete with them as an actor. How do you differentiate between the two? 
The people that I have worked with are the ones that I am good friends with and I do spend a lot of time with. One is obviously Hrithik and the other is Shah Rukh. Hrithik and I have known each other for really really long. We have been friends from way before I decided I wanted to be in films (he kind of always knew he wanted to be in films). So my friendship with him is beyond actor-director, whatever.

With Shah Rukh, I really started hanging out with him post Dil Chahta Hai. I feel a certain kinship with him. We have similar joys in terms of technology, we jam on many things. And many a times he has been someone I have turned to for advice. He is someone I have almost started feeling over time, again without sounding cheesy, like an elder brother. I know for a fact, not that he has told me so, that he is someone I can really count on, if the need arises. Even if we choose in the future to not work together, we will still hang out, we will still be friends.

For me, Don’s character hinges on his cunning and smartness and the fact that he is playing all the characters in the film and at the same time, he also plays the audience

Today’s actors pay a lot of attention to body and hair, the externals basically. Yesteryear actors looked almost the same in every film but it didn’t affect the strength of their performance. Comment. 
I completely agree and I think it should go back to being how it was. Because I think, we are slowly but surely working towards this perfect world that everybody should exist in, which is not true. If there is someone on screen who is even relatively chubbier, immediately reviewers say he needs to lose a couple of pounds. Why? Doesn’t someone who is chubbier have a right to fall in love with someone? I find it disturbing that we are trying to make a Utopian world where great looking people and great bodies fall in love and nobody else has a right to.

Anyone who is skinny or bald or has a stammer or is fat is relegated to being a comedian, a character who needs help. I find this really disturbing. Did anyone stop to question why people fell in love with Sanjeev Kumar? It’s a dangerous obsession because it’s going to start limiting talent that’s coming in.

OFF THE CUFF 

Rate Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Hrithik Roshan and yourself on a scale of one to ten on the following parameters

Communication skills 
SRK - 15
Aamir - 10
Hrithik - 8 or 9
Myself - 5

Life of a party 
It is difficult to rate this in numbers. SRK and Hrithik are very funny. Both of them love dancing so once the party kicks off, they are always dancing. Aamir is a lot more reserved. In all honesty, I haven’t partied with Aamir since Dil Chahta Hai
SRK - 10
Aamir - 5
Hrithik - 10
Myself - 8 or 9

Easy to direct 
Honestly, they were all very easy to direct.
ALL - 10

Willing to admit to mistakes 
Again, I think, I would give all of them 10 and that’s what makes them good at what they do. I know for a fact that I can be stubborn about certain things.

Emotionally giving 
I spend a lot more time with Hrithik and Shah Rukh than I do with Aamir. So it will be really difficult for me to say anything about Aamir on this front.

Extempore speakers 
SRK- 10
Aamir - 5
Hrithik - 8
Myself - 5

Aware of the world 
All of us are pretty aware of what’s happening in the world around us, so I would probably rate them just up there. Even if we want to detach ourselves from what’s happening around us you media people don’t let it happen. There is no escape. So 10 on 10 for everyone

Be a 3am friend 
My friendship is more with Hrithik and Shah Rukh than it is with Aamir. My relationship with Aamir is a lot more professional than personal so to put him into this equation feels very weird as it’s unfair to him.

SRK-10
Hrithik-10
Myself - 0
I switch off my phone when I sleep, I love my sleep. I think I don’t qualify for this.

Politically correct 
SRK-3 or 4, mostly he says what he feels
Hrithik- 10
Myself- 7 or 8, I have the knack of saying wrong things as well

Spontaneous 
SRK- 10
Hrithik- 8, He has changed a lot from what he was to what he is now

Animal Charm 
SRK-10
Hrithik -10
Both of them are very attractive people.
Myself - I don’t know about myself (laughs) how do I rate myself on animal charm? 

'My Name is Khan' makes Bollywood history

World's first ever Bollywood film to be released in cinemas with audio description (AD)

February 23, 2010 /India PRwire/ -- 'My Name is Khan' has made cinema history by becoming the first ever Bollywood film to be released in cinemas with audio description (AD). Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) worked with 20th Century Fox to achieve this milestone after its research among blind or partially sighted people of Asian origin found that over 55 per cent of respondents were more likely to watch Bollywood films if AD was provided.

AD is as important to blind and partially sighted people as subtitles are to those with hearing problems. It is an additional narration that fits between passages of dialogue to describe action sequences, body language, costume and scenery, allowing the viewer to understand exactly what is happening on screen. 'My Name is Khan' is also the first film to feature AD in Hindi, the language of the film.

Martin Bromfield, Executive Director at Twentieth Century Fox says: "20th Century Fox is proud to offer, for the first time ever, a Hindi AD track on 'My Name is Khan'. English speaking AD has been available on all our films for some time now, so we felt it was natural to progress and offer Hindi AD on our first collaboration with Bollywood. With help from RNIB and Deluxe Digital Studios we worked hard to create an English audio descriptive track which was then translated before being recorded by a Hindi speaking audio describer, in time for the second week of release."

Fazilet Hadi, Director Inclusive Society, RNIB says: "Around 700 films are produced by Bollywood every year, and our research tells us that blind and partially sighted fans want AD on these films. So we're delighted that Fox have worked with us to allow blind and partially sighted people to enjoy this much-anticipated release along with their sighted family and friends. We hope other studios will follow Fox's lead making 'My Name is Khan' the first of many audio described Bollywood films."

Read more from HERE

Art under fire

The MNIK brouhaha seems to have died down. But will this be the last we hear of assault on artistic expression? Where, then, is pluralism in our democracy and the constitutional guarantee to freedom of speech?

There was a time when the term slash and burn brought to mind a form of shifting cultivation practised from ancient times. In the past two decades, with the ascendance of majoritarian politics in India, the term has exemplified a trajectory of political opportunism characterised by a virulent aesthetic of violence in public space — especially in the cultural terrain.

Most recently we saw Shiv Sainiks foam at the mouth in an attempt to stop the release of Shah Rukh Khan's film “My name is Khan” for his ‘anti-national' statement ruing the omission of Pak cricketers for the current IPL season (and blast the effrontery of the punchline, ‘My name is Khan and I am not a terrorist). Some months ago, the MNS successfully extracted an apology from film producer Karan Johar for the ‘insult' caused to Marathi manoos pride in the film “Wake Up Sid” by the mere mention of Mumbai as Bombay.

Charring canvases, vandalising artistic spaces and institutions of excellence, disrupting film and theatre performances or targeting individual artistes is part of the energetic occupational description. And just as an artist, filmmaker or writer can get inspiration from any source, these practitioners have the felicity of claiming any artistic act as being injurious enough to a particular identity, ‘tradition', gaurav (pride) or asmita to warrant mob action in its demand for apologies, amendments to the creative work or straight bans.

Since the idea of civilisational grace as having a thin skin, hardened attitude and aggrieved heart on the sleeve has often gone uncontested at the level of governance or political engagement, the calendar of art attacks has increasingly got crowded and diversified.

In 2005, the screening of “Parzania”, set against the backdrop of the 2002 Gujarat violence, was forestalled across the state, tom-tommed as an attack on Gujarati pride. A common wavelength connected the majority community, Parivar activists and government. The act of suppressing the film reiterated the connection between Gujarati pride and the dehumanising brutality suffered by the minority community. Again it was in Gujarat in 2006 that “Fanaa's” release was obstructed to avenge the ‘harm caused to Gujarat's interest by lead actor Aamir Khan's statement supporting the Narmada Bachao Andolan.

The way these practitioners see it: politics is a way of life and culture is a way of politics. The idea of according art its own domain seems an act of utter weakness when ‘creative' tasks of a higher magnitude demand urgent attention.

Of the various facets of democracy, one of the easiest ways to joust for a larger slice of the political pie is by espousing forms of majoritarianism with variants of communalism, regionalism, parochialism or nativism. The formula is quite straightforward: fashion a weapon of chauvinistic identity by parasiting on the turbulent societal anxieties simmering just below the surface in an increasingly complex world. Once that is accomplished it's time to deploy this weapon on the streets in the name of ‘the people'.

Grim example

For 15 years the Hindutva campaign to isolate, target and brand the iconic artist M.F. Husain as a deviant, connecting his ‘crimes' with his community's ‘disloyalty' has been a grim example of this form of political mobilisation. There was a time in the mid-1990s when even L.K. Advani turned art critic briefly by attempting to give a communal overtone to artist Satish Gujral's comments against Husain; comments that Gujral sensibly withdrew.

However, the hundreds of cases instituted against Husain across India for executing a ‘nude' drawing of Saraswati and later a painting of Bharat Mata, the title bestowed by a third party, have kept the nonagenarian artist in exile, uprooted from his home and the cultural environment that has nourished his impulses.

The slew of Hindutva campaigns unleashed in public space set the stage for many more contestations subordinating the artistic domain to the cause of social and political engineering.

Today, in an age of snowballing identity politics of various hues — as an avenue of vertical mobility or lateral regrouping to retain power — the attempt to control images of the constructed self-identity assume importance in a world governed largely by perception. This attempt surfaces in a variety of ways. Implicit in this endeavour is an awareness of the amplificatory potential of this mobilisation through the 24X7 mass media. Filmmaker Ashutosh Gowariker's “Jodhaa Akbar” had its share of hiccups when an outfit called the Rajput Karni Sena captured media attention by demanding an apology from the director for his ‘ historically inaccurate' portrayal of Jodha.

No apology was given; several theatres refrained from screening the film in Rajasthan. Protests spanned several places in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

No doubt spurred by such uplifting activities, a couple of weeks ago the Sena trained its sights on the Salman Khan starrer “Veer”, dubbing it an attempt to malign the image of “our brave community”. Thereupon the Sena wrote a new chapter in bravery by indulging in acts of vandalism in theatres screening the movie. Clearly, the ‘art' lies in feeling aggrieved all the time.

Similarly, in Punjab too the Sikh clergy's disapproval of ‘inaccurate' portrayal of characters as per Sikh tenets (“Jo Bole So Nihal” and “Singh is King”), told their story of a directed, puritanical gaze aimed at keeping their influence over their flock intact. At a deeper level such interventions through the mass medium of popular cinema add to an ongoing process of fixing of identities along religious lines in the state.

Seen thus, the notion of public sphere in India as a democratic space encouraging a diversity of views, or dissent against majoritarianism seems to be in peril. And by and large, in the event of infringements of artistic freedoms, political establishments engaged in hard-nosed realpolitik have seemed reluctant to firmly speak the language of Constitutional guarantees.

Read more HERE.

The Use of Pink – My Name is Khan Review

It is a late review of the film, so I am not writing everything about it. Most of the things have already been said about the film, so I don’t think it makes much sense to revisit them. The review might have a few spoilers as it describes a few scenes in the film.

For a change we have an Indian film where a character is suffering from a disease but we don’t have any lectures, or doctors giving lectures, on how the character would behave. SRK simply plays the role and lets the people understand on their own the behavior of the disease by seeing the mannerisms of the lead actor and hearing his voice-overs. The disease was never highlighted in the film and I really liked that fact very much.

Karan Johar tried to do something different in this film while still managing to bring in the right emotions. There is lot of emotional manipulation done in the film mostly in the second half. We can see Rizwan Khan feeling the pain of losing Sameer especially in the church scene in Georgia where he speaks about Sameer. SRK delivered a very powerful performance in the scene where he had to express sadness but could not cry because he had Asperger’s. He smiles while mentioning his son’s death and yet he manages to express his sadness. We can see tears in his eyes that were not able to come out because of his condition. In the penultimate scene where he finally meets Kajol in the hospital, a drop of tear that was waiting to come out for a long time finally drops from his eyes. So, even though the film had made some sacrifices when it came to the disease, it was very rich in emotions and worked well for me.

My Name is Khan may not be a perfect film, but it is a very brave effort by the team who almost pulled off 3/4 of the movie very well. There were some unwarranted moments like product placement of Reebok shoes in the film or the introduction of the lead characters in a suspenseful way. I don’t think that suited a serious film like MNIK at all. I don’t know what was the need for President Obama’s role in the film and if it would have mattered if SRK meets President Bush instead of President Obama. Introduction of Obama’s role unnecessarily extended the time period in the film from 2005 to 2008. Also I didn’t quite agree with the job of salesman that Rizwan Khan was asked by his brother to do. I read that autistic people don’t like meeting new people, but the job of salesman is nothing but meeting new people.



Also I don’t agree much with the screenplay of the film. I don’t think the film deserved a non-linear screenplay. It was a kind of film which should have been told in a sequential order so that the reason of the journey is clearer to the audience. It is clear to those who have seen the trailers of the film, but a few years from now, for a person who is completely unaware of the film and catches it on DVD, the non-linear timeline might not work too well.

Read more from HERE

I didn't say anything that was radical: SRK

Shah Rukh Khan said on Friday that he maintains caution following the controversy over the release of his film My Name is Khan after his IPL remark favouring Pakistani players.

"I am little worried, careful about what I say. I will always stay on the side I am sure of. I will clearly do this," Khan said, while speaking exclusively toHeadlines Today's Senior Editor Koel Purie.

"I don't think of it - MNIK row - as a victory or a battle. I have been numbed by this. We do not need this in this country. What I said was not completely wrong and it may have been misunderstood," he said after Mumbai flocked to seeMNIK, defying Shiv Sena threat.

"I did not say anything that was radical. I always stand by the side which is right," he said.

On rumours of his bowing down to Sena supremo Bal Thackeray and apologizing for his IPL remarks, he said, "I did not know what to retract and I still don't. Nobody demanded an apology and the question never arose."

"It was never asked, what I said was absolutely clear," he added.

To a question regarding his portrayal of a Muslim man in MNIK, he said, "Character is important. It is incidental that the hero is a Khan. It is about the beauty of this country that I have played different characters, coming from different religions. It is my duty to explain my religion to my fans."

While talking about the controversy, Shah Rukh said as an aftethought, "My family is embarrassed to take me out in public because of my viewpoint as I speak my mind."

When asked if he will support his fraternity in times of crisis, he said, "We do offer personal support." He thanked all those who supported him during the controversy, but said the film fraternity holds back from speaking its mind.

On being asked if the Sena-SRK spat was a publicity stunt, he said, "I have said it on my Twitter and I will say it again, shut up. I don't need these gimmicks. I'm publicity. Shah Rukh Khan needs no external publicity. I have planned for my publicity. I pay for my publicity, I work for my publicity and I market my publicity."

LINK

My Name is Khan - My Review

Hi guys, I just joined recently. Moslty hang out at the KhitPit, but Pardesi asked me to write a review for the movie, so giving it a try. Bear with me, this is my first ever review, and I''m not that great at writing.

MNIK has been my most awaited movie ever since it first came in the news. Main reason being SRK and Kajol. I have been a fan of this onscreen couple ever since Baazigar. So, to say I was excited to watch this movie would be an understatement. I also had huge expectations from the movie, with SRK playing an autistic character, and KJO claiming that the movie was different from his usuals.

So Karan Johar decided to be brave and tackled a complex story with various issues. Did he manage to make the story work? Well I feel he definitely succeeded in stepping into a completely different space with Khan. Saying that, there were a few KJo-ish flourishes at times, (case in point: hum honge kamyab) but those, rather than bothering me, were comforting. So in that way he's managed to be "different" and break out from his comfort zone (which he so desperately wanted to do), while maintaining some of the old charm. And although it was comforting to see glimpses of typical KJo spilling through various scenes, some parts just fell flat. I might be one of the very few, but I liked the Hum Honge Kamyab bit. What I didn't like were the many scenes which added absolutely nothing to the movie, and in fact, slowed the pace of Khan. Scene 1 would be the one with Vinay Pathak. That scene was not needed at all. 2nd scene would be when Rizwan gets stabbed towards the end, right when Mandira shows up. At that point, I had started feeling restless, thinking how much time was left for Rizwan to finally meet the President. Wish Karan had edited those parts out instead of taking out 10 minutes of SRK-Kajol's love story from the first half.

As you can see, my problem lies within the 2nd half of the movie. I loved the first half, would change nothing about it. Rizwan's childhood was nicely done, Rizwan and Mandira's love story was cute and the SRK Kajol magic was at its best. One scene that stands out is the one where Mandira proposes and Rizwan hides his face in his palms. Not only was that scene adorable, but beyond beautiful, and maybe that's my SRK Kajol love speaking. Their chemistry and scenes were terribly missed in the 2nd half.

Furthermore, I feel the Hurricane Katrina angle could've been done without. Rizwan going back to Mama Jenny, and being the only person their to help was a little too cliched to digest. A few scenes edited out, and Hurricane Katrina scenario scratched off, and Karan would have had a 10/10 in his hands. The 2nd half was a bit too long and dragging at parts.

One scene though, in the 2nd half that stands out is when Rizwan prays namaz in front of everyone. The dialogue "namaz log dekh ke nahi, niyat dekh ke padhi jaati hai" was a wonderful, powerful one!

On to performances:
Shahrukh Khan: No where in the movie did I see a fragment of this man, his persona - he shed it all and HOW! But it has to be said that it is the SRK charm that makes his awkward mannerisms into the details that you fall in love with. The way he managed to convey this character's inherent goodness and love with a blank expression, without shedding a tear, without holding his arms out perpertually for his lover to run into them... simultaneously managing to somehow portray an amazing loving hero of recent times! The script let him down in some parts, but SRK gave life to even those boring scenes. He made Rizwan so endearing and real.

Kajol: I want to start off with saying that Kajol was absolutely glowing in the movie, especially in the first half. Everytime she came on screen, she lit up the entire screen. Such a radiant beauty! Only after seeing her performance here do I fully understand what Karan has been saying all along, about why he needed Kajol to do this role and no one else. Her warmth and compassion on screen is just unmatchable, and as Karan has said, she plays a mother like no one else. Her "Time of death 8.05, time of death 8.05" was haunting. In fact that entire scene with her repeating that, and Rizwan murmuring facts on the spleen were brilliantly performed by the two.

The movie had its flaws, but the intentions were pure and noble. The message Khan tried to convey was understood and even appreciated. I was afraid Karan would turn this into a colossal mess, but he did show eons of improvement in Khan. On a whole, I give the movie 7.5/10.

An unlikely hero’s journey! My Name is Khan

When Joseph Campbell wrote his "Hero with a Thousand Faces" in 1949, it inspired many a heroic journey on celluloid, including the Star Wars trilogy and the Matrix series! Campbell's archetypal hero was based on the many mythic heroes, and their journey was divided by him into three phases - departure (or separation), initiation (or journey/adventure) and return (in triumph of course!). The hero was heroic, noble, skilled and born into the role, and his journey was usually into an alien world, involved many travails, "dragons" slayed, and when he did return triumphant, he usually had a boon that could change the world he was a part of. This hero type has been seen over and over again in Hindi cinema too.

Then of course there are unlikely heroes. They are neither to the manor born, nor equipped to be heroes. These heroes have occupied the realm of fantasy for ever. J R R Tolkein's Lord of the Rings trilogy, Stephen Donaldson's Lord Foul's Bane, and more then ever before, Donaldson's A Dark and Hungry God Arises (The Gap Trilogy), all have most unlikely heroes whose destiny never included becoming a hero but they just happened to chance on circumstances that began their separation, initiation and eventual triumphant return to a better world. In The Gap Trilogy the hero is a most villainous and brutal man who by the end of the tale has become an unlikely hero.

Strangely enough then, our myths and fantasies differ remarkably in the hero archetype. It is not surprising that Director Karan Johar and Scriptwriter Shibani Bathija use the fantasy archetype to design their unlikely hero in My Name is Khan. We have seen a similar heroic journey in the Hollywood epic Forrest Gump, that tells of the challenged man Forrest, his separation as he joins the military, his heroic journey through troubled times and his numerous, often verging on unreal, triumphs as he returns back to his dreams. Forrest's journey is not a linear one, and shows him as an unlikely hero in numerous situations. And while the journey is larger than life (including Forrest single-handedly saving an entire battalion), the return is simple in comparison, he is recognized a war hero, gets to buy his shrimp boat, and also has the love of his life come back to him (before she dies of unstated causes). KHAN follows a similar though much simpler graph. A mentally challenged (though NOT low IQ) man is the unlikely hero here. Unlike GUMP his journey is more clearly divided into separation as his carefully collected family falls apart, the initiation is a simpler one - that of a bewildered man who is mistaken for a trouble maker, and yet he comes through many a situation touching the lives of people he meets in simple and poignant ways, and eventually he is able to achieve his simple (though fantastical) goal after a triumph (while necessary in the hero's journey, yet this is stagey and not quite real), and can return to gather back the pieces of his life while having made a small difference (however transient it may be) in how people perceive the ones who are not the same as them.

This theme of the "others" or profiling was last explored in District 9, and there too it was done in a very unsubtle and in your face way in the beginning (deliberately so), and then slowly the overt differences morphed into a realization of the inherent similarities that bind all living beings. KHAN is hardly subtle at all in the telling of the tale, tells it in a flamboyant in your face manner. What is subtle is the fact that we view it through the prism of an unlikely and reluctant hero.

Rizvaan Khan (Shah Rukh Khan) is an Apserger's afflicted man who has embarked on a journey to meet the president of the USA. WHY? Towards the end we see a man watching TV in his living room, asking - why do they keep asking him why? Why not? Is it not OK for a resident of a country to try and meet the president? This explains partly the simplicity of the need to meet the president. He is the president, and one should be able to meet him if one wants. For this simple one track minded soul, his way back to his family involves meeting the president and telling him something - that his name is Khan and he is NOT a terrorist!

This story is non-linear, jumping between times and gradually unfolds the events behind the journey. This parallels the lack of focus usually seen in Asperger's (and indeed autism spectrum) patients when it comes to normal day to day matters. But it is matched with an obsessive focus on some things to the exclusion of others. Thus Khan obsesses over details about places, things, the products his brother asks him to sell door to door at salons. But he cannot prevaricate and so always tells them the real truth about each product! This endears him to the salon owner Mandira (Kajol in a strong emotion packed performance), and they keep meeting. Eventually Mandira allows Rizwaan into her life and that of her son Sam. The happy family is torn apart after 9/11 and an upswelling of resentment against Muslims. And out of rage and hysteria in the aftermath of the breakup arises a simple fact for Rizwaan - things can get back to normal if only he can meet the President and tell him that he is NOT a terrorist!

The script goes from uplifting to a unbelievable in some parts of the film. Whether this is by design, to create a "heroic" moment and make a journey of mythic proportions, is hard to tell. Certainly it makes for some seriously funky moments in the film as a hurricane hits rural Georgia (yes hurricanes can hit Georgia, it does border the Gulf Coast!). However, this plot device, and Rizvaan's role in help being mobilized to the beleaguered town, is important for the hero's journey to conclude and for him to return with a boon. In this case the boon is the love of Mandira, and a slightly more aware world as in the public eye Rizvaan has become an unlikely hero who is not to be judged by his name alone.

Performances in the film are top notch. The crowning performance comes from Shah Rukh Khan as the Asperger's syndrome afflicted Rizvaan Khan. The performance is set up with a masterly turn by Tanay Chaddha as the young Rizvaan. His literal take on anything said to him (Jhakh maaro ja kar) presages the quest to meet the president by the adult Rizvaan. The intelligent though emotionally detached child is nurtured well by his mother (Zareena Wahab), and the two together have some fine moments on screen. The younger brother grows up to be Jimmy Sheirgill, and he gets little screen time to do much, but still is very good in the role of the resentful brother. Upon moving to the US he marries Sonia Jehan, and here we see an excellent portrayal by Sonia of the empathetic sister-in-law who understands Rizvaan's problem. As Mandira, Kajol shines in the role of mother, lover. Her magical interactions with the emotionally remote Rizwaan form the mainstay of the first half of the film. Some interactions of note are when Rizvaan finally asks her to cut his hair - it is the closest to emotionally physical interaction that he can think of, and then when she finally proposes and he hides his face and giggles, magic is made. Kajol as a mature woman, a mother who still manages to create some magic in romantic moments on screen. She is the last of our acting leading ladies, after this we have the beauty queen parade. She can be hyper and yet also immensely quiet and grave and her eyes inspired two songs in the film - and rightly so!! Is it time for her to retire? She is our Meryl Streep, so hell no! Finally some lesser roles must be mentioned. Arjun Mathur plays the catalyst - an idealistic university student who sets things in motion so that Khan's goal can be achieved and his goodness come to the fore. Parveen Dabbas as the TV anchor has a significant role and he is good in it, as is Vinay Pathak in a brief cameo as a motel owner! The foreign actors are all decent and not caricatures. Which brings me to the two African American characters in the small village in Georgia. Was that reasonable? A quick check tells me that Georgia is second from the bottom in rural poverty, so it is not unimaginable. And they are famous for their Southern hospitality, though it may not extend the length of buying our hero a man's clothing while his clothes are washed! He ends up wearing Mama's pinafore for a bit, and if you do not like that, I say I prefer that to his going around in a blanket or buck naked!

The screenplay does do some fast and loose with facts but in the end it serves the purpose of the film pretty well. There are aspects that may seem a trifle incongruous, but the work in the narrative and are not major deal breakers. Would people plot Jihad in a mosque?

Read more HERE

My Name is Khan - Review

Let's begin with the title, rumoured originally to be called 'Khan' to fit in with the previous set of Karan Johar films that all started with the letter 'K'. From Kuch Kuch Hota Hai to Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna he has maintained this for over a decade. So, when the title was announced as 'My Name is Khan', it was fair to say that something had changed. Karan was leaving superstitions behind him and focussing efforts on making something that spoke for itself.

Synopsis
Rizvan Khan (Shah Rukh Khan) is a Muslim man from India who suffers from Asperger's Syndrome, he moves to San Francisco and lives with his brother and sister-in-law. He falls in love with a Hindu girl Mandira (Kajol) and despite protests from his family marries her, starting a small business together. They are happy until the events of September 11, 2001 when attitudes towards Muslims undergo a sea-change. As unfortunate events unfold, Mandira has an outburst of guilt, sorrow & desperation where she decides to split with Rizvan. Unable to understand her reasoning, Rizvan, confused & very upset that the love of his life has left him, embarks on this inspiring journey across America to win her back. The film begins with him already on this journey, feeding us the history behind it through narration and flashback sequences, so when I say he is on a mission to regain his love, we get to learn of how this love came about, how this journey began, beginning from the beginning with his own childhood.

It is fair to say Khan is a common enough surname in the Islamic community as a Smith or Jones in the Western world. So when our protagonist sets on his mission to meet the President of the United States to pass the message "My Name is Khan, and I am not a terrorist", there's no need to spell it out, it symbolises a bold message. From the released trailers and footage it would be rather easy to draw the conclusion that it's a story of an average Joe, labeled a terrorist because of his name, out to prove his innocence, but in truth it's not. It's about an unconventional hero overcoming obstacles to regain the love of his life.

Some thoughts:
Firstly, I'd like to say my heart goes out to all the people of Mumbai who are having problems getting to see this stress-free in theatres. If I was out there I would still be going to see it bindaas. I stand by SRK, he has no reason to apologise for anything & should not be bullied this way by the 'supposed' government.

As the character in the film emphasises on numerous occasions, the pronunciation of the name 'Khan' requires the use of your Epiglottis and amusingly I've heard many mispronounce it even when asking for the tickets. Living in a country dominated by westerners, we often give into compromising our identities. Whether it be the pronunciation of our names, our appearance, being open about our belief systems, etc. Where should the line be drawn? This is the question that I felt this film raises.

It suggests a very straightforward and simple solution. People should only be grouped into two types, those who do good & those who do otherwise. Should people not be perceived for their actions rather than their upbringing? I mean, sure, the events of 9/11 certainly scarred the fragile fibre of the cross-culture environment that we had formed over many decades, but I'd say it's every average Joe's responsibility to try to 'Repair Almost Anything'. It is a strong and clear message, for if we all collectively don't try, what hope do we have?

The film uses an example of Rizvan to show that even someone with a disabling condition can achieve a lot, so the average people have no excuse at all. It's an inspiring tale. Some might say it's a little late to be making such propaganda / statements, but is it ever? I think the very same applies to Mumbai this very day, just on a different background, same issue.



Review
This is the best Karan Johar film to date. He's certainly matured over the years. With the aid of Shibani Bathija's bold screenplay we have ourselves here a pretty epic film. It only helps that such a film is being backed up & distributed by 20th Century Fox. Does it live up to the expectations and hype? In a nutshell, Yea' m0stly it does. m0stly.

The only main disappointment here is that it's so close to being perfect that the parts that rough up the edges really do sting. It's difficult to spell them out without getting spoiler-ridden, so I'll avoid detail, but I definitely think it could have been shorter & some events could have been better handled, for there are parts that could have packed a better punch with lesser detail & the exact opposite problem holds of a certain pre-climax event which could have been handled more realistically & sensitively. The event was arguably unnecessary, and if considered necessary, it could have been built up to better.

Another example of handling things sensitively is SRK's appearance, he only seems to be dressed in traditional garments with his hat ad such in the scenes where it is required for some drama, he doesn't normally dress this way (even when he was in India). Having some integrity here would have enhanced the point, but they did manage to get this point across with his bhabhi (brother's wife).

Intermission I found a little oddly placed. Usually I tend to see Hindi flicks designed in 2 halves. In this instance at Interval point I was wondering why they stopped, which is rare, there's generally always a good stopping point, in fact I thought 2 scenes later would have been ideal, but okay this isn't really that large an issue.

Then there are the theatre pieces. Some scenes played out as though they were independent to the film, such as the 'Funny Hair Joel and Mama Jenny' episode. The scenes work, but it felt like it was missing some gelling to the rest of the film. Having that happen seemed 'too' co-incidental. Some little justification of how he lands up in a small place like Wilhelmina would have been tidier.

It's quite likely the things I'm mentioning here won't concern you at all, but they bothered me enough to consider mentioning. As I've said above, the film is almost perfect, so don't let these comments deter you, the positive factors are far far higher than these little nuisances.

Ooh .. one final pet peeve I've always had & I'm not even sure it's the film-makers fault is 'english subtitles', do them or leave them but don't half do them. The songs lacked subtitles, and for those who need the subs, they're losing out on a whole dimension here.

I'll mention a few of the things that were good about the film now. :)
It doesn't waste time getting it's point made. The crowd wolf-whistled in the first 5 minutes as the line was delivered.. 'My Name is Khan & I am not a terrorist'. From this point it gets straight to telling us about the character, his history and the pace moves swiftly. You get to Intermission before you even know it. In this time you have learned enough about the characters and situation for you to care how the man's journey progresses.

In the latter half when the focus shifts to the actual journey, you are moved by each hurdle he encounters. Binding your viewer this way is the magic of great writing here.

The Music is entirely situational and suited for the theme of the film, only 3 songs have been integrated into the narrative, Tere Naina and Sajda in the first half bringing our beloved pair together and getting their married life kicked off respectively. Noor-e-Khuda in the latter half progressing the road trip journey of Khan. All three integrate seamlessly. I was a little disappointed to see Rang De omitted from the film, but keeping my eyes open on the deleted scenes on the video release. It's to be noted that unlike traditional Bollywood there's no lip-sync song and dance here, it's all background music, which has worked well. Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy who have done the music also do the background score, which is equally impressive. I could not help but re-play the Khan Theme (Instrumental) when I reached my car.

Performances
The film belongs to Shah Rukh Khan, his portayal of Rizvan is nothing short of spectacular. I myself don't know much about Autism, but there's no denying that he has made a very conscious and effective effort to be different in this film. I noted that he doesn't make eye contact with anyone in the whole film. It's almost hard to digest that this 'is' the SRK that we have seen before. Known for his conventional hero roles in recent years, this couldn't have been any more different. In recent times the only comparison I can make to this sort of departure is Mr. Bachchan in Paa (who was equally impressive). I guess this won't affect those seeing him for the first time but it takes a while adjusting to SRK in this role. Though it is hands down one of his finest performances to date, it felt odd that he wasn't playing a superstar traditional hero.

Kajol is one of the few actresses that can hold her own in front of personalities like Shah Rukh who tend to command attention chewing up the screen whenever present & I imagine this is precisely why they are seen as one of the best pairs in Hindi film history. The pair work very well, but she does get pushed into the background a little in the latter half. There were times where she seemed to go overboard in the trailer, in the film I felt it was justified though. The supporting cast all-round were ace, from Jimmy Shergill to Vinak Pathak, I have to mention, it was also good to see for once that the American actors seemed to be decent. Even in Karan's last installment I felt I was seeing a bunch of extras that were clueless what was going on, we've surpassed that hurdle this time.

Overall Impressions
This is a large stride in the right direction for Indian cinema. It's not flawless but it's certainly well worth the watch. 3.75 out of 5.