Shahrukh speaks about his spat with Farah!

Here it is - a candid interview with CineBlitz!

The Men who fascinate Lata Mangeshkar!

Lata Mangeshkar tracks celluloid heroes and tells Subhash K Jha what she loves about them...

Amitabh Bachchan
I don’t know where to start when it comes to Bachchan saab. Jiss qadar woh zor se wapas aaye ... amazing! (I marvel at the way he bounced back after severe setbacks.) When it comes to perfection as an artiste, he’s 110 per cent perfect. Give him any role, and he slips into it effortlessly. I’ve never seen him repeat himself. He made me cry in Baghban. I recently saw Black and can’t get over his performance. Kamaal ke actor hain ... (He’s a fabulous actor). And he sings well too! I’ve listened carefully to Holi khele and Tu kahan main yahan in Baghban. They are in sur. Singing in sur is far more important than maintaining taal. His voice is God’s gift to him. His performances are impeccable.

On a social level, we meet once in a while. He’s charming and always talks with restraint. His pedigree is unquestionable. When I started singing in 1947, I began reading up on Hindi litterateurs including Premchand, Mahadevi Varma, Jaishankar Prasad and, of course, Harivansh Rai Bachchan. I’ve read Madhushala several times over; also his bulky autobiography which is a unique work of self-revelation. I don’t know whether Bachchan saab knows this, but I truly respect him and Jayaji. Mere dil mein unke liye khaas jagah hai. (They hold a special place in my heart.)”

Hrithik Roshan
“Hrithik has the fluidity and rhythm to move effortlessly through songs. I think he got this sense of rhythm from his grandparents. His grandfather was a great composer and his grandmother a very good singer. His uncle Rajesh Roshan is a well-known composer and even Hrithik’s father Rakesh has a very good music sense. His musical heritage comes alive in his dance moves. Hrithik’s a brilliant actor too. Woh itna sundar acting karta hai ki main hairaan ho jaati hoon. (I am stunned by his acting.) I think his greatest gift from God is that he looks very innocent. His eyes are so deep and transparent ... ”

Rishi Kapoor
“Everyone in Raj Kapoor’s family has a sense of music and rhythm. Rishi Kapoor carried the tradition of the dancing hero to a new height. He brought in a new style. He’s one of my all-time favourite heroes. Even today he looks so handsome. Is he my favourite Kapoor? Haan kahungi, kyun nahin? (I’d say yes, why not?) Now there’s Rishi’s son Ranbir Kapoor. I believe he’s wonderful. But I haven’t seen much of his work.”

Shah Rukh Khan
“I first saw Shah Rukh in a serial called Fauji. There was something special about him. Then I saw his film Chamatkar and later Deewana and Baazigar, in which he played a negative character. It was quite evident that Shah Rukh could play any kind of role. I remember him saying somewhere that he had no sense of rhythm and dance. But I saw him in Ruk ja o dil deewane in Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge and Chaiyyan chaiyyan in Dil Se. Ussmein itna sahi dance kiya tha unhone. (He danced so well in these songs.)”

More at LINK

My Name is Khan- International Reviews from Second Phase Release

Bollywood Does America
My Name is Khan ... and I am Not a Terrorist!
By CHARLES R. LARSON

I missed this important Bollywood movie when it was released commercially in the United States in a PG-13 version in February. Unfortunately, it didn’t stay around long enough for many people to see it. Fox Searchlight, the American distributor, must have believed they had another Slumdog Millionaire, but the movie failed with American viewers no doubt because of its depiction of racism in the United States in the aftermath of 9/11—especially, the violent acts against Muslims or perceived Muslims by mainstream Americans. Too bad, because My Name Is Khan is every bit as uplifting as Slumdog, but Americans have never been good at trying to understand their racism.

The film is flawed, yes, because it attempts to do too much, but its strengths far outweigh its weaknesses—notably its unflinching look at America through non-Western eyes and the quite dazzling acting by Shah Rukh Khan, a huge Bollywood attraction, who many people have thought is not much of an actor. In My Name Is Khan, he plays a man with Aspergers Syndrome, and the result is more than convincing, major acting by any standards. If this were an American film, he’d be up for an Academy Award next year, but that’s not likely to happen because, well, again our ethnocentrism.

My knowledge of Aspergers Syndrome is too limited to know if all of Khan’s mannerisms (never looking anyone in the face, difficulty controlling his extremities, repeating phrases ad nauseum, avoiding physical contact with others) are authentic, but Khan, the actor, is so convincing that my wife assumed that the film was not fiction but the documentary account of a real person suffering from Aspergers’. Shah Rukh Khan has two or three incredible scenes in the film when you’ll find it difficult not to be all choked up. And the rest of the time he is so believable that he clearly steals the entire movie, becoming in the process a soul brother of Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump (there are other similarities between the movies also—especially their scope.)

Putting events in chronological order, there’s a scene when Rizvan Khan (six or seven years old), his mother, and his older brother witness an attack on Muslims, in a retaliation riot by Hindus. Rizvan’s mother tells him that there are only two kinds of people in the world—not Hindus and Muslims—but good and bad. Some years later, the young boy’s older brother leaves for America, and after the passage of additional years when Rizvan is an adult, he too goes to the United States because his mother has died. Rizvan begins selling beauty products for his brother, who has become a successful entrepreneur.

One day, Rizvan meets a young Indian woman, a Hindu named Mandira, who is divorced and has an eight-year-old son named Sam. Their courtship is complicated but eventually they marry (to the consternation of Rizvan’s older brother who henceforth has nothing to do with him because he’s married a Hindu). Eventually, Rizvan closely bonds to Mandira’s son. Then 9/11. In the ugly aftermath, Sam is killed by young schoolboys because of his last name: Khan. The marriage abruptly ends because of the boy’s death, but Rizvan leaves on a quest because in her anger Mandira screams at him to tell the President of the United States that just because someone has the name Khan, that person is not a terrorist.

Thus begins Khan’s quest to meet with President Bush, a search somewhat like Forrest Gump’s trek across the United States. Khan knows that he can’t simply show up at the White House and expect to be admitted for a meeting with George Bush so, instead, he tracks the President’s speaking engagements throughout the country and prays that he’ll gain admission to one of them and deliver the message—not only that he himself is not a terrorist but that his son was murdered because of the name “Khan.” There are a number of ugly incidents that follow because of the search but, also, a final love affair with America.

What is so memorable about My Name Is Khan is not simply director Karan Johar and his co-author Shibani Bathija’s decision to make a Bollywood movie set mostly in the United States but the choices of the settings. There’s a tense scene after Khan first arrives in the United States, in San Francisco, when he’s paralyzed by an approaching trolley because the grids on the pedestrian crossing are painted with yellow stripes and the trolley is also yellow, a color we have learned earlier that terrifies Khan. There he is trapped between yellow stripes as the trolley heads directly towards him. The scene is one of many tense, but humorous scenes in a movie that veers seamlessly back and forth from the tragic to the comic.

Another powerful incident comes at the end of Khan’s bonding with another boy, after Sam’s death. He carries a black boy home to his family after the child is injured and subsequently stays with the family in Georgia for some time as a sense of mutual respect develops between the two. At the end of this interlude, Khan stands up in the boy’s church and narrates the story of his life, including the loss of Sam and his wife, Mandira. It is one of several powerful moments when Khan—often inarticulate—discovers his voice.

How can you see My Name Is Khan? A week ago, the film was re-released in New York City in an unrated version called “The International Director’s Cut.” You might also go to an Indian grocery store and purchase or rent the film. The only trouble with the imported DVD is that not all of the dialogue has been translated into subtitles. Or you can wait a little longer until the American DVD is released, presumably with all the spoken lines in the subtitles. But don’t miss this Bollywood take on America—with a fabulous soundtrack--or you’ll miss one of the great roles of recent cinema: Shah Rukh Khan as Rizvan Khan.

My Name Is Khan
Fox Searchlight: Directed by Karan Johar
With Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol Devgan

Charles R. Larson is Professor of Literature at American University, in Washington, D.C.

LINK

My Name is Khan too, say Syrians
By Sami Moubayed

My Name is Khan too, say Syrians
By Sami Moubayed

DAMASCUS - In a bygone era, cinema-going in Syria was a popular event, shared by young and old. Men would dress in full attire, women in evening gowns, and children with bow ties, to attend blockbuster films in Damascus.

That came to an abrupt end in the 1960s when the importation of foreign films fell under the strict monopoly of the government, which then practiced a radical brand of socialism. All films from the United States were banned and replaced with those cranked out by the Soviet Union.

The only American films in the country were those smuggled in on VCRs. By the 1990s, satellite television had arrived, then came today's plush cinema complexes with state-of-the-art technology. These made use of a law passed by President Bashar al-Assad that broke the state's monopoly over the importation of foreign films and Damascus now boils with international blockbusters.

During the early years of cinema in Syria movies were still silent, much to the pleasure of ordinary people who spoke only Ottoman Turkish and understood neither English nor French. That, along with cheaper rents for American films, explains why Syrians went for American movies containing plenty of action and little talk.

Westerns and the slapstick comedy of Charlie Chaplin were particularly favored. The Little Tramp was so popular in Damascene society that in 1929 Chaplin made a publicity stop in Syria before heading to Egypt. This was right after Chaplin's classic The Circus had topped box-office sales throughout the country, drowning all French productions. Ticket prices in Syria were not cheap, however, costing 10 US cents - a day's wages - towards the 1940s, meaning that only a certain class could go to the cinemas, while most ordinary Syrians relied for entertainment on the majestic voice of Egyptian diva Um Kalthoum, who could be heard on the radio every Thursday.

By the early 1940s, most major newspapers had a cinema column and there were 40 cinemas in Syria and Lebanon, holding approximately 22,000 seats and selling 2.3 million tickets a year. Topping the charts was the remarkable novelty - motion picture cartoons, which first came to Syria via Walt Disney's 1928 black-and-white, Steamboat Willie. Charlie Chaplin, Mickey Mouse and Tarzan did more for bilateral relations between Washington and Damascus in the 1920s and 1930s than US presidents Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover combined.

Now, films like 2012, which walk that extra mile to promote the US, depicting a heroic African-American president who wishes to die with his people on the streets of Washington, are being freely shown in Damascus. The fact that ticket prices are at an affordable US$6.5 should help US films drum up pro-American sentiment in the Arab world, as was the case in the 1950s and 1960s during the Cold War.

Unexpectedly, the blockbuster hit this year is a Bollywood film, My Name is Khan, starring seasoned Indian actor Shahrukh Khan and the immensely capable and beautiful actress Kajol Devgan, two of the top figures in the Indian motion picture industry.

At first glance this may seem strange - an Indian film doing well in Syria and the Arab world - but a closer look reveals that one of the most successful films of all time in Syria was 1961's Jungleestaring Shammi Kappour with the hit song Suku, Suku.

Khan's film, however, is different from what most Arab audiences have experienced; it does justice to Islam and with award-winning Indian music it portrays events that are still strong in the memory, especially the younger generation. It talks about September 11, 2001, America and the aftershocks of the terrorist attacks on the Muslim community at large, both within the US and abroad.

The film starts in India where Rizwan Khan, a Muslim, lives with his mother and brother in Mumbai during Hindu-Muslim riots in the early 1980s. He suffers from Asperger's syndrome, a form of high-functioning autism, and is gifted with the ability to repair anything that is broken. The elder brother heads off to the US and then takes Rizwan there after their mother dies.

The young man works for his already established brother at a cosmetics company, peddling products while continuing to suffer from particular disorders, due to his autism, like breaking into a fit of nerves when he hears a loud noise, or sees the color yellow. He takes everything that is said to him at face value, and does not know how to tell a lie.

During his work he meets Mandira, a beautiful Hindu Indian hairdresser who lives with her son Samer, who is from a previous marriage. Rizwan falls in love with her and tries to impress her by cranking out the entire history of San Francisco - somewhat imitating Dustin Hoffman in 1988's classic film, Rain Man. They fall in love and because he is so good to Samer, Mandira gives her son her new husband's family name - he becomes Samer Khan.

Their fairytale life comes to an abrupt end when planes crash into the World Trade Center on 9/11. Suddenly, America - the land of opportunity for Khan and so many Muslims - is not so safe for Muslims, or those married to Muslims.

The family neighbor, Mark, a TV producer, travels to cover the war in Afghanistan and is killed during his work, explaining why his son, Samer Khan's best friend, suddenly stops talking to him, blaming Islam for the death of his father.

Samer is harassed day and night by friends at school, due to his color and name, and at one point finds his locker stuffed with Osama bin Laden photos. The young boy is killed in a prejudice-driven racial attack on the school football field - beaten until curtain fall by older boys - breaking the heart of both Mandira and Rizwan, who, on hearing the news, solemnly repeat verses from the Koran, "Inn Ila Allah wa Inna Ilayhi Rajioun" (We were made by God and to him we return).

In a hysteric fit, Mandira tells Rizwan to get out of her life, claiming that because of their marriage - because he is a Muslim - her son died. Innocently and due to his autism, Rizwan nods accordingly, but before leaving asks her, "When should I return Mandira?" She frantically replies, "When you tell every person in this country that you are not a terrorist. Go up to the president of the United States and tell him, 'Mr president, my name is Khan, and I am not a terrorist!'"

Taking her words at face value, the heartbroken Rizwan sets off to meet George W Bush to tell him just that, and en route gets picked up by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for his funny looks, accent and for blurting the words "not a terrorist" at one presidential event attended by Bush.

Like many Arabs and Muslims who were put in similar situations, Khan is interrogated and tortured by the FBI. He is eventually released, reunited with Mandira and granted an audience with "the savior of Muslims in America", Barack Hussein Obama. Fortunes are reversed and Khan is approached by a security officer who says, "Mr Khan, the president wants to meet you!"

At every screening in Damascus, the full-house audience walks out of the Cham Cinema City complex in tears. Many weep for the lead actresses' loss of her son in the film, but at a deeper level the film touches on something inside every Arab and Muslim: a raw nerve of how unjust the world was to them after 9/11.

My Name is Khan has created a certain pride in being a devoted Muslim, as the lead character is shown in the film. He prays five times a day, as most Syrians do, uses phrases from the Koran in his daily conversation and believes that justice will prevail both in this world and the afterlife for those who uphold the Prophet Mohammad and Islam.

Many Syrians and Arabs see a mirror reflection of themselves on the screen through the life of Rizwan Khan, a simple man who leads a simple life, is devoted to his family and religion and who yet is accused of being a terrorist by the US. The fact that Rizwan Khan was actually Indian and not Arab did not really matter to Syrian viewers.

Khan literarily looked like thousands of Arabs and Muslims who were forced to dress in a funny way, speak with a different accent, change their names or take off their headscarves because of the difficult political conditions enforced upon them after 9/11. This is why My Name is Khan - rather than Louis Leterrier's epic action adventure Clash of the Titans or Martin Campbell's crime thriller Edge of Darkness- is taking over cinemas in the Arab and Muslim world.

Since the film opened worldwide this April it has grossed over US$36 million - with $300,000 in the Middle East on day one alone. By the end of the first week, the film had earned an impressive $1.75 million.

Sami Moubayed is editor-in-chief of Forward Magazine in Syria.

LINK


Riveting tale of a simple man in a complex world

2010/05/08

by Johan Jaaffar

LIFE imitates fiction. In the movie My Name Is Khan, Rizwan Khan, who suffers from Asperger's Syndrome, is pulled aside by United States Immigration officers upon arrival in San Francisco. Shah Rukh Khan, the actor who plays Khan, was subjected to an equally humiliating security check when he arrived at Newark Airport in New Jersey to promote the movie.

Shah Rukh was luckier, the global icon got away with just a bruised ego. Later, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger invited him for dinner "in a bid to defuse what has become a slight diplomatic row".

I salute the filmmakers for addressing the prejudices post-9/11 head on. It has no patriotic strings attached, no jingoism to appease anyone. It is about the lives of people devastated by what happened to the New York Twin Towers.

True, the victims portrayed were mostly Muslims, but the lives of others were also very much affected. American paranoia has reached an absurd level. Suspicion is the rule of the day. America and the world will never be the same again since that fateful day on Sept 11, 2001.

Shah Rukh is one of the greatest actors India has ever produced. He has acted in simply too many movies -- 73 in all. Many are fondly remembered, others are box- office hits. He is the most bankable in the constellation of stars today. Some say he is a one-man film industry. If at all the Hindi film industry revolves around one man, then he is the one. Shah Rukh made his name playing heroes, saviours and villains, and has sung and danced with the prettiest, the best and the most famous actresses of the Hindi film industry.

He never seems to age. He has played heartthrobs more times than Errol Flynn, James Dean, Robert Redford, Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio combined. He has tried every character there is -- even a flawed lover in Devdas. He has played "special people" before in Koyla. He has thrilled millions with Dil To Pagal Hai, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Mohabattein and Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. He experimented with characters from the seedier side in Karan Arjun and Don. He made audacious moves working in controversial movies like Hey! Ram and Dil Se. He played a comic in Badshah and a mythological figure in Asoka.

But the character Khan is different. It takes someone as confident as Shah Rukh to pull it off. It was a big gamble, too, for the director, Karan Johar, better known as the one who "redesigned" Hindi films with his flamboyant, technicoloured and fashionable Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, the opulent Mohabattein and the luxuriously textured Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. While the other three films harped on incredibly well-choreographed song and dance sequences, there is none in My Name Is Khan.

You won't find total strangers dancing with perfect unison at the slightest provocation. What you hear is the Sufi-like rendering of music by the maestro, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy.

Reality as we know it, in most Hindi fare, leaves much to be desired. It is always the make-believe world Bollywood-style. The Hindi dream factory seldom reinvents itself.

Most of the time it churns out the tired old formula. Since Raja Harischandra, said to be the first, produced in 1913, some 19,000 Hindi movies have been made. Bollywood produces at least 900 movies a year, watched by an average 11 million people a day in India alone. It is the biggest film industry in the world. A staggering 3.6 billion tickets are sold worldwide compared with 2.6 billion tickets a year for Hollywood.

My Name Is Khan is not the first "realistic" offering from Bollywood. But it takes Karan and Shah Rukh to make it big and impactful.

Not that My Name Is Khan detached itself entirely from the Bollywood formula, but its attempt to take the route of artistic believability as is required by most standard movies is commendable. This was a difficult movie to make and even tougher one to sell.

Not even the pairing of the most ideal couple in Hindi cinema could guarantee success.

The last time Shah Rukh and the evergreen Kajol were together was Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham nine years ago. Not surprisingly, My Name Is Khan did remarkably well in India and in most countries it was shown. In fact, it is becoming one of the most successful Hindi films on record.

The character Khan, a Muslim child, is brought up by his mother with the belief that there are only good people and bad people, and they are not defined by race or religion. When his mother dies, he goes to America to live with his brother Zakir (Jimmy Shergill) and his wife Haseena (Sonya Jehan). Khan meets Mandira, a widowed Hindu woman who lives with her son Sameer (Yuvaan Makaar). They get married.

Then 9/11 comes and their lives take a different turn. When Sameer dies in an attack, Mandira blames Khan for it: had Sameer's name not been Khan, he would not have been killed.

It is a journey unlike any other for Khan traverses the US in search of the president of the United States, to tell him that "I am Khan and I am not a terrorist". It is a riveting tale of a simple man trying to change the complex and jaundiced world. It is heart-wrenching to watch an autistic trying to make sense of what happens to him against the backdrop of a world that has gone berserk with prejudice.

His journey takes him to Wilhemia, Georgia, where he befriends Mama Jenny and her son Joel. Black America has something in common with the Muslims. Khan finds peace as the people of Wilhemia accept him as one of their own. Khan repays their kindness when his obsession to help them during a hurricane melts the hearts of millions.

We can find fault with My Name Is Khan. After all, it is still Bollywood looking at the world through its lens. I agree it is not about terrorism redefined; it is about the heart of darkness in humans. Even the US president in the movie acknowledges that in the post-9/11 world, it takes someone like Khan to make a difference and bring us back to sanity.

That is the message of the best Hollywood movie I have seen in years.

LINK


COLUMN - My name is not Khan and I'm not your audience

By Anuvab Pal

Recently in New York city, I sat behind a motley group of New Yorkers as they settled in to watch Karan Johar's "My Name is Khan", an epic film that's been declared a global hit with a message of peace that as some press nugget said "has spread across the world".

Maybe they were confusing it with volcanic ash, as this message clearly got lost in travelling from Washington D.C., where the film's lead (Mr. Khan, played by, yes, in a clever twist of words, Shah Rukh Khan, who, that's correct, is also named Khan), shakes hands with President Barack Obama (the actor playing him looked like Anupam Kher) to New York's Times Square where ten days ago, a young Pakistani man tried to blow up an SUV. His name was Shahzad and he was a terrorist.

In this geopolitical mess, a film that supposedly deals with it head on, opened in the U.S. across many art house theatres now, some months after the money machine that it became in India (revealing clearly that at the core of it a lightly handicapped megastar walking across Colorado and Alabama to get to DC is what Indian audiences identify with).

It has arrived here, shorter by 45 minutes, edited by the team that did the romantic comedy "500 Days Of Summer" (no, they didn't change the title to "132 Minutes of Khan"). One Chicago newspaper described it as '"Monsoon Wedding" meets "Hurt Locker'".

The day I saw it, the motley crowd in front of me had a professorial looking Jewish man, with the unkempt look that only the extremely wealthy business owner can afford, one African-American corporate sort (blackberry being the clue) and his African-American actress girlfriend (the iPhone and red shoes being the clue) and a frail Japanese lady who brought some sort of milk drink and that deceptive shyness hiding perhaps a world famous fashion designer or cellist, or both.

This was not a special screening for a multicultural melting pot, this was the average audience of downtown Manhattan, a cluster of globetrotting over-achievers, with backgrounds from Manila to Memphis.

This was also, arguably, the exact demographic the new Bollywood wants to go after.

When Karan Johar went one-up on Yash Raj studios relocating our Bollywood romance from Swiss valleys to Manhattan in the mid 90s, first the immigrant cab drivers and shopkeepers were mesmerised, then together with Shah Rukh Khan, they entered the middle-class homes of professional NRIs, New Jersey doctors, London barristers, and took the second generation from being ashamed of Bollywood to making nightclubs have Bollywood nights worldwide.

The final blow for NRIs came when they saw their white friends dancing to "You are my Sonia" better than them from some lesson at a Delhi winter wedding. The conquest was complete.

So now that the global Indian is done and the Indian Indian was always in the pocket, Mr Johar and Mr Khan and all the studios began eyeing the next big market -- the non-Indian world cinema lover.

The sort that reads Suketu Mehta, shows up at the Jaipur literary festival, is comfortable in a western winter with a scarf bought in Goa and enjoys fusion Indian dinners every other week.

A perfect sample of which sat before me.

These were people fluent in their Almodovar, Woody Allen, Wong Kar Wai, Jacques Audiard and could debate the finer nuances of "Amelie" or new German cinema. So they assumed what they were about to watch was somewhere between "Bend it like Beckham" and "Persepolis".

First, they were given a trailer for "Kites", the next Bollywood offering to the world. "Who is that guy? He looks like Sinbad", asked the Jewish man of another megastar Hrithik Roshan as he bounced around deserts in New Mexico.

Once MNIK (as Bollywood loves abbreviations, this one's pronounced Manik) began, a few things happened, when Mr Khan said he would walk to tell the President that he was not a terrorist, a moment clearly intended to be poignant, the Jewish man started laughing.

At a scene where a large number of students are cheering for President Bush at a California campus, the Asian woman said, "I'm from California and no one has ever cheered for Bush".

Finally, when an African-American gospel choir started singing "We shall overcome" in homeless robes after Khan saved them from Hurricane Katrina, the African American couple walked out.

Clearly, it seems that we have a longer journey to make than Mr Khan's to get this global audience. Maybe instead of MNIK's catch phrase what they needed was someone to say 'My Name Is Story And I Will Make Sense'.

(Anuvab Pal is a playwright and screenwriter. The views and opinions expressed here are his own and not those of Reuters)

LINK

Retro From The Heart: Dil Se (PFC review)

As one awaits with anticipation the new product RAAVAN from the God of Images/Visuals, Mr. Mani Ratnam, one’s mind and heart are enveloped by nostalgia—the nostalgia of being audience the first time to another masterpiece by the same helmer: ‘Dil Se.’
1998 was the year when Mr. Varma had fantastically assaulted our senses with the crime master-piece SATYA. Just one month later, the Indian audience was to be treated to a product by another master-craftsman, Mr. Ratnam. While the topic and treatment would be variedly different from each other, the common bind that every cineaste was confident about was that he/she would be witness to a terrific blast of cinematic talent.

As a person who had been elated with Mr. Ratnam’s offering THIRUDA THIRUDA (arguably India’s first truly entertaining adventure movie in decades) — after his mega-hit ROJA— but also massively disappointed with the horrifically clichéd BOMBAY, I was looking forward eagerly to DIL SE.

I happened to catch the movie—with tickets purchased in black of course—the first Sunday of its release in Santosh theatre (one of the very few theatres in Bangalore that promised a good screen and good audio) with a friend of mine. By that time, the reviews were already out and the usual great suspect, Mr. Khalid Mohamed, had thumbed-down the film, albeit in an uncharacteristic display of low-key verbiage due to the fact that he was talking about the art of a director of Mr. Ratnam’s caliber. The reviews were almost unanimously disappointing, and so were personal accounts of friends/relatives. I could not believe it, but the statistical aspect of rejection of the movie was quite significant.

As the end credits rolled, I still remember being dumb-struck and could not budge a centimeter from my balcony seat; trying to still absorb the sum-total of images and music from the movie. When my friend and I were the only two left in the theatre, I turned around and asked my friend,’ What exactly did the reviewers/general public not like in the movie?’ We got up, had some lunch, and I caught a bus back to my hostel. For the next two days, I was simply unable to filter out the images of DIL SE from my mind. I was so over-whelmed by the movie that my mind was not even willing to enter into a debate with some fellow hostelites over the merits/demerits of the movie. I wanted to hold on to the magic of DIL SE as long as possible. I did not wish for any external agents to pollute the beautiful/clean river called DIL SE flowing through the veins in my body.

DIL SE is like a poem; a poem encompassing love, sensuality, and the most dangerous gamble of humankind: life. It is an ode to the strength and weaknesses of the emotion called love; to the man-woman relationship in all its beauty as well as its not-so-beautiful manifestations; to the helplessness of a person who is as strong only as his heart. When viewed through the prism of the realities of life, DIL SE would end up a major disappointment. DIL SE is not for the person that is a realist; one who never looks back in life but only ahead; one who cannot flex his heart back to vulnerability. The lead character in this movie is someone who is not cornered by the boundaries of reality; or even of life in general. If DIL SE is a poem, then the emotional crests and troughs of Amarkant Varma (Mr. Shah Rukh Khan) are the penetrating words of this poem. Right at the outset, Mr. Ratnam makes it clear that the audience would be witness to a character comprising of a never-say-die (pun intended) attitude, one that is romantic and utterly honest to one’s heart to the core. The initial words of Amar at the railway station lay the ground for his characterization. While the realist might balk at the notion of a short conversation being labeled ‘the world’s shortest love story’, the romantic is going to have his/her heart flutter at such a start to the movie. When Amar mentions that he could get the character of Meghna (Ms. Manisha Koirala)—whom he meets barely a minute ago—stars and also conquer forts; it becomes crystal-clear that this is a man who doesn’t really bother syncing his heart and mind before mouthing words. In contrast, Mr. Ratnam makes his lead character fall head-over-heels in love with the female character who is not completely a realist, but someone who is definitely hardened owing to her volatile background. The background music when Meghna asks for just a cup of tea is fantastically ominous and serves as a portent to the fact that this one could end up a beautiful but doomed love story.

Mr. Ratnam creates a magical tragedy pitting a foolish yet optimistic character against a disillusioned semi-realist. The character of Meghna is semi-realist in the sense that the humanistic part of her character is negated by the harsh realities of her past, present, and future. She has carefully buried all feelings of a ‘normal’ person like love, the yearning for family, for children, etc., beneath her hardened exterior. Time and again, Amar manages to scratch her shell and she lapses into this layer of her character; but she is quickly pulled back to reality either by her commander or her comrade (Ms. Mita Vashisth).

Mr. Ratnam is a master when it comes to creating romance on the screen and he leaves the viewer breathless with many magical moments shared between the lead pair. The ones that stand out, however, are the scenes that are steeped in pathos: the conversation between Amar and Meghna at the radio station when Meghna asks for a job a (Amar asking Meghna to wipe her tears before she leaves touches the audience heart-breakingly and simply elevates the scene to amazing heights); Amar and Meghna conversing about the 3 things they like and dislike in life; Amar getting up in the morning to discover Meghna’s disappearance and her sand-written words; Meghna coming to Amar’s house on the day of his engagement (Mr. Khan’s expressions and the background music when he faces Meghna at his engagement simply wring the heart); Amar discovering Meghna taking a bath and gazing at her sensually—hitting with an impact more powerful than a hundred explicit scenes put together— but respectfully keeping his distance and closing the door, cinematically opening it to the outstanding SATRANGI RE song; the climactic conversation between Amar and Meghna before the blast, to name a few.
Besides these two compelling characters, there are two other characters that leave a haunting impact on the audience; the music and cinematography. The lensing of the movie by Mr. Sivan is exquisite and evokes surrealism in various hues and angles. Whether it is the chase sequence in Connaught place, whether it is the sands of Ladakh, whether it is the Rajpath, Mr. Sivan’s capture of the moving images is a soulful feast to the eyes.

There are truly no words to describe the words of Gulzar Saab. He, the wizard of Urdu, of Punjabi, of Hindi, of metaphors, of similies, of rhymes, of poetry, is in top-notch form. His words are embodiments of sensuality, love, desperation, and longing. Sample this from the song DIL SE RE—the futility yet necessity of love, of relationships, come across beautifully:

bandhan hain rishton mein – There are restrictions within relationships,
kaanton ki taarein hain – and there are chains of thorns,
patthar ke darwaaze diwaarein - doors and walls of stone,
belein phir bhi ugati hain – even so, the leaves grow root,
aur gunche bhi khilte hai – and even so, their buds bloom,
aur chalte hai afsaane… – and the stories keep continuing…

The wordings of the song CHAIYYAN CHAIYYAN are bathed in the magic of the beautiful language of Urdu and will remain fragrant for years and years to come. The song captures the purity of love and the dedication of a lover hauntingly:

yaar misaale os chale, paaon ke tale firdos chale – She walks like the morning dew, beneath her feet the heaven moves;
kabhi daal daal kabhi paat paat – Sometimes the trees’ branches, and sometimes the leaves;
main hawa pe dhoondoon uske nishaan – I keep searching for traces of her in the air;
sar ishq ki chhaaon chal chhaiyya chhaiyya – With your head blanketed by love’s shade come, come, my shadow

One can go on expanding on the beauty of the other songs; SATRANGI RE evokes the zenith of passion and sensuality; AE AJNABI is an ode to pining; JIYA JALE conjures up feelings of a person who is just about to enter the boundaries of a relationship and love.

Mr. Rahman’s music matches up to Gulzar Saab’s poetry in notes and spirit and the resultant ‘sound of music’ is the stuff of legends. Twelve years since the movie, the songs and the music still echo the same magic that they weaved at their birth. The sands of time haven’t rusted the soundtrack one bit.

Ultimately, the film remains a triumph for the director in Mr. Ratnam. His sense of romance, of imagery, of visual poetry, is awe-inspiring. Mr. Ratnam showed tremendous spine when he made the lead characters blow themselves to smithereens in the end. He did not succumb to the cinematic pressure of somehow making the lead characters survive and boldly emphasized that however beautiful or probable, in life, not all loose ends get tied perfectly. Viewers will note that Mr. Ratnam leaves no stone unturned in conveying a sense of hopelessness when the character of Meghna, NEVER once (even when she is about to die) tells Amar that she loves him, though Amar literally destroys his life for her. The fact that she cannot bring herself to confess her reluctant love for Amar painfully brings out the torment that she faces being caught between misplaced idealism at one end and the humanistic feeling of love at the other.
DIL SE can be arguably called the most symbolic movie post the 1970s in the Hindi film industry. It works like a Shakespearean tragedy. When discerning the movie, if one tries to infuse a sense of factuality into the proceedings, the movie would fall apart like a pack of cards for the viewer. Consider the scene when the terrorists visualize the assassination of the President – the scene is so minimalistic in its depiction that it almost could be fit into a stage-play.

Read more HERE

The comments are most informative and worth a visit to the site!!

Aaj ki taaza khabar - NEWS!

AKON and Ra.one

Not so long ago we told you how Akon was doing a song in Ra.One absolutely free (read Akon to sing for SRK for FREE!) as he was fond of Shah Rukh Khan. Now we hear that Akon is singing yet another number for the album. Apparently he had so much fun recording the first track that he decided to do a repeat. Looks like SRK’s charm got to Akon as well.

I really dislike this singer - rightly called Reshamiyya of the West

Spoofing old songs
Sonam, Imran, Katrina, Akshay and Aishwarya spoof old songs

It looks like this is going to be the year of spoofs. Few of the most awaited films like I Hate Luv Storys, Action Replayy and Tees Maar Khan will spoof Hindi film sequences of the past. Sonam Kapoor, Imran Khan, Katrina Kaif, Akshay Kumar and Aishwarya Rai will all be aping the songs of the '70s and '80s.

YAWN

Big B and Katrina in Jha's next

Amitabh-Kat in Prakash Jha’s next

It seems that director Prakash Jha has been maha impressed by Katrina Kaif’s histrionics in Raajneeti. So much so that he has already earmarked her for his next project. Amitabh Bachchan has also been reportedly cast in the project and so is Jha’s favourite Ajay Devgn. The film is reportedly based on the reservation politics and how it affects the common man’s life.

BIGGER YAWN

First photo from the sets of Ra.one!

The first official photo from the sets, looks a bit mysterious top me, most of the bystanders are in the dark!

SRK dumps Ritesh for Arjun

LINK

Shah Rukh Khan, Arjun Rampal and Ritesh Deshmukh were close friends till SRK chose Arjun over Ritesh to play a baddie in Ra.One.

They say three is a crowd. And going by this recent incident, the commonly held belief seems to be true. The close friendship between Shah Rukh Khan, Ritesh Deshmukh and Arjun Rampal has now reached an impasse. The cosy bond now only involves SRK and Arjun while Ritesh has been left to fend for himself.
 
Buzz is that Shah Rukh chose Arjun over Ritesh to play the villain in his home production Ra.One. Despite Ritesh being the original choice, Shah Rukh eventually brought in Arjun to play the same role.

A source says, “Ritesh and not Arjun was the first choice to play a baddie in Ra.One. Director Anubhav Sinha also wanted Ritesh as the film’s villain as he had worked with the actor in Cash. Everything was going fine and Ritesh was very excited about the project as his look and remuneration was also decided. But the next thing Ritesh read in the papers is that Arjun is playing the bad man in Ra.One.”

“Even when Arjun was suffering from a back problem for a brief period and he was not too sure if he would play the role, SRK didn’t ask Ritesh to step in. Ritesh’s sudden ouster was so unprofessional,” says the source.

Even though Ritesh was shocked at the unfair treatment, he didn’t confront Shah Rukh. “Ritesh is a very mild-mannered guy. He undoubtedly felt very disappointed but he didn’t express his displeasure to SRK. He only talked about it to a few of his close friends. Shah Rukh or Anubhav should have at least informed him that he is no longer in the film,” adds the source.

While Shah Rukh’s character in Ra.One is of a super-hero , buzz is that Arjun will be playing his nemesis. The sci-fi film, which went on the floors early this month, has Kareena Kapoor playing the female lead. The film is based on gaming, bad guys and super heroes.

We sent text messages to Shah Rukh, Anubhav Sinha but they remained unavailable for comment.

However, Ritesh says that he was never offered the film.

Life before and after MNIK

BEFORE THE EVENT

Year 2006 - I convinced my wife that we had to watch KANK, and cannot MISS it. So she obliged, and i have regretted ever since the mistake i made :) Bottomline - I was told in future no more KJo movie watching. PERIOD. I was not worried at that time, since i never knew what Karan had in store...

Year 2009 - Kadz my idol was in my town for MNIK shoot. Since i had my priorities right, managed to go and watch the shoot, at just the cost of a work day. Now i made a vow that i will watch MNIK no matter what.

Late 2009 - MNIK's release date is out.. “Feb 12th 2010”. I mark it up on the calendar and start plotting to watch it, after 18 months of drought of movie watching in theatres. Then the light goes off in my head. Why not take the spouse for MNIK on Feb 14th, as a Valentine's day surprise...

Feb 12th 2010 - D-Day.. Movie gets released, and it gets a mixed review, and even good friends who are SRK fans give it a lukewarm review. So now I am in a state of PANIC.. I don’t want to screw up my Valentine surprise, and be in the dog house for the rest of the year.. So changed the plans, and moved out MNIK watching for a later date..

THE MOVIE - MNIK - Nomadic Journey from San Francisco to Sacramento

Here are my scattered thoughts about the movie:

One rarely hears SRK talking about doing research for his character, and going to town with that. For MNIK he did both, and i think the disciplined approach to the role shows in the movie. He has delivered a very good performance as Rizwan with lot of consistency through out the movie. I would rate this is as his best performance to date.
(Individual Score = 4.5)

Kajol as Mandira has ably supported SRK, but that’s just about it. For a Kadz fan in me, it was a disappointment. She has acted as though she walked off from K3G sets. Her mannerisms and interaction with her son in the movie is so K3Gish. Her Screams were very jarring. OFC she has excelled in emotional scenes.
(Individual Score = 3.0)

Technically the movie is of a high calibre. Especially, Ravi Chandran has done a marvelous job of capturing the city by the Bay, in all its magnificent splendor. Editing is good within the context of lack of screenplay (more about it later). Background score is passable.
(Individual Score = 4.0)

Post K3G, Karan has been trying to move towards serious contemporary cinema and his sincerity shows in MNIK. He clearly lacks touch and vision and it shows in the second half. Second half is very poorly executed.
(Individual Score = 2.0)

Rizwan who could “repair anything” probably could not repair the script. Shibani has continued her downward spiral as a script writer with MNIK.
(Individual Score = 1.5)

Overall the movie did not live up to my lowered expectations. First half of the movie was like driving through the Mojave desert. Flat and emotionless, even though there were few good moments and chemistry between SRK & Kajol was exceptional, as usual.

Second half of the movie was like driving DOWN the CROOKED street (in SF). The journey part of the movie is its biggest letdown. The timeline of the journey has been unnecessarily extended to include most recent political events in US, and hurricane episode just did not fit in.

In short, it is a movie of many missed opportunities. I feel for SRK who has delivered an exceptional performance only to be let down by other aspects of the movie.

Rating: 3 STARS (4.5 + 3 + 4 + 2 + 1.5 = 15/25) 

AFTER THE EVENT

As Rizwan Khan starts to shake his hands with the POTUS and the end credit starts to roll, my mind starts going into over drive. Usually, the walk from the theatre to the car is the toughest 5 min walk of life, if the movie is NOT to the Spouse's liking. More so if i am the ONE who chose the movie.

Then as we are about to walk out of the unreal world, light bulb goes again (trust me, it does not happen too often) in my head. I immediately act upon it. Placed a call to the Baby sitter who was taking care of the Lil one...and was hoping that she will stay on the line till we reach home... Luck was on my side I guess, as i was talking, the better half took over the phone to talk.. and i got home before the end of conversation. For the rest of the day, it was all about Lil one at home, and thus i thought i had dodged the 'bullet'.

Now i had to do something to avoid any reference to MNIK... Worked out a plan, and told the better half.. "I have a surprise" Response - "Oh yeah". Me – “Yes i will take you to a place and show you something which you never seen before, just like Rizwan did :)”.. "Ok. Will wait" is the response.

One fine afternoon took the family to workplace and then took the better half to the open patio on the 25th floor.. and asked her "Had you seen this before ?" showing the overview of the bay :-)

It worked, and here i am narrating my life story.

DISCLAIMER: All the characters and incidents in BEFORE and AFTER THE EVENT are fictitious and any resemblance to any real people and real incidents are intentional.

Tracing Shahrukh Khans roots in Peshawar

Omer Farooq Khan

PESHAWAR: Peshawar has a strong Bollywood connection. In the bustling streets of Peshawar’s walled city, it takes ten minutes on foot to come across the homes of three greatest legends of the Indian cinema. The genesis of Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor and Shahrukh Khan can be traced back to these narrow alleys. The birthplaces of Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor in Peshawar are known to all and sundry but an accurate account of the family history of the Indian cinema icon Shahrukh Khan has not been reported, the way it deserves.

Shahrukh’s entire paternal family lives in Shah Wali Qataal area of Peshawar’s famous Qissa Khwani (Kahani) bazaar. The Qissa Khwani Bazaar (street of story-tellers) extends from west to east in the heart of the city of Peshawar. The cosmopolitan character of Qissa Khwani Bazaar is lined with its traditional ‘Kehwa khanas’, stalls of Tikka and Chapli Kabab and dry fruit shops. In days gone by, the bazaar was the site of camping ground for caravans and military adventures. The professional storytellers recited ballads and tales of war and love to mobs of traders and soldiers.

Adjacent to Shah Wali Qataal in Qissa Khwani, lies Mohalla Khudadad, where Bollywood legend Dilip Kumar (Yousaf Khan) was born.

Towards west of Shahrukh’s family house, the ancestral home of another Bollywood legend Raj Kapoor is located in Daki Naal Bandi area of Qissa Khwani within 400 metres.

In one of the narrow lanes of Shah Wali Qataal stands a dilapidated four-storey building where Shahrukh’s father Taj Mohammad was born. Taj Muhammad was the youngest of the five sons and daughter of Jan Muhammad, Shahrukh Khan’s grandfather. Taj’s elder brothers were Mian Muhammad, Ghulam Muhammad alias Gama, Allah Bakhsh and Khan Muhammad and his sister’s name was Kher Jan. Kher Jan, Mian Muhammad and Khan Muhammad did not marry. Several members of the family are still living in the same locality. In the ancestral home, Gama’s daughter Noor Jehan, a local councillor, lives with her husband.

Shahrukh’s father Taj Muhammad did his graduation from Peshawar’s Edwards College, an old prestigious institution of Pakistan’s North Western Province, where the legendary Indian film star and Raj Kapoor’s father Prithvi Raj Kapoor also studied.

A diehard Indian nationalist, Taj was active in student politics and had affiliation with All Indian National Congress. After partition, he bid a final goodbye to Peshawar and moved to Delhi in 1948. One of his brothers, Ghulam Muhammad was arrested for being a staunch supporter of the movement “Akhand Bharat” and remained in jail until 1954. On his release, Gama left West Pakistan and migrated to Bengal. After the cessation of East Pakistan (Bangladesh) in 1971, Gama returned to Peshawar and engaged himself in a family business of making ladders from bamboos, which was going on in the family for generations.

“We feel proud of Shahrukh whose fans give us exceptional regard when they come to know that we are his cousins,” said Maqsood Ahmed, the elder among all of Shahrukh’s cousins living in Peshawar. Maqsood runs his small business enterprise of bamboo ladders, just close to his house in Shah Wali Qataal. He said Shahrukh visited Peshawar twice, along with his father. He first came in 1978 when he was 13 years old and then in 1980, when he stayed with his family for a month in Peshawar.

During Khan’s stay in Peshawar, he visited Torkham, a town in the Khyber tribal region on the border with Afghanistan, Maqsood said. “We went to Swat and stayed there for few nights. We also visited Michni where Shahrukh swam in River Kabul. Shahrukh loved Afghan food,” he recalled.

“Although he was too young at that time but he had all the potential to become a great actor. He was jolly, intelligent, cool and could easily trap you in discussion. Endowed with such a gifted personality, anyone would feel honoured to be called his cousin or relative,” he said, adding that the present status he enjoys is due to his exceptional qualities of head and heart. Nevertheless, Maqsood was not inspired from Khan’s acting, saying Shahrukh copies Dilip Kumar. “Indian cinema has so far not produced any actor of Dilip’s caliber. He is a king of tragedy and my cousin copies him.”

Maqsood visited once his cousin’s house in Delhi. “I went to Delhi with my mother in 1980 to offer our condolences on Shahrukh father’s death. We stayed there for a month. My aunt (Shahrukh’s mother) would send me to Shahrukh’s school, St Columbus, to give him the lunchbox,” he recalled.

The last of Shahrukh’s relatives who paid a visit on him from Peshawar was his cousin Noor Jehan (Munni), Gama’s daughter, who went along with her husband Asif to Mumbai some years ago. They were warmly welcomed by their cousin.

However, Khan’s family is no longer in contact with him, said Maqsood. “We expect that Shahrukh will visit us in Peshawar one day,” Maqsood said.

LINK

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

MNIK promotions in full swing! UPDATED with NPR interview (02/10/2010)

February 11, 2010
He's the biggest movie star in the world. Because even if you never heard of Shah Rukh Khan, a billion people in India — and more across the Middle East, Africa and beyond — certainly have. He's the biggest draw in the outrageously oversized films that come from the Hindi-film industry often called Bollywood.

How big a draw is that? More people around the world watch Shah Rukh Khan than Meryl Streep or Brad Pitt. Maybe Meryl Streep and Brad Pitt. His film Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, made in 1995, is still playing in one Mumbai cinema.

"In India, the films are not looked upon just as entertainment," Khan says. "They're a way of life.

And Shah Rukh Khan has made them his life. At age 44, he owns a production company and is host of India's version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire. And he keeps starring in Bollywood productions — films that get shown everywhere from remote Indian villages to multiplexes in New York.

In some ways, that broad distribution requires a certain style of filmmaking.

"The idea is that you have to some way make a film that appeals to my 90-year-old grandmother and to the 9-year-old kid," Khan says. "So it's like a cabaret. Like, I have a couple of films written by American guys, and I bring them back to Mumbai, make them sit down. And then I ... say: 'OK, here's the song, and here's the mother.' 'But there's no mother in the film.' And I say, 'There has to be a mother in the film.'"

In movies that commonly last three hours, Khan might howl his lines, with his hair flying everywhere. He may dance on the roof of a moving train. It comes with the territory.

"People talk about Bollywood being very kitsch," he acknowledges, "and just songs and dances. And over the top and colorful."

But in his latest production, being released the U.S. Feb. 12, he's not doing anything quite that over-the-top. He plays a Muslim man with Asperger's syndrome, who's driven after the events of Sept. 11 to constantly repeat a single explosive phrase:

"My name is Khan, and I'm not a terrorist."

From A Real-Life Horror, 'The Butterfly Effect' For Two Innocents

A Muslim star in a mostly Hindu country, Khan says he's always been interested in challenge of starting from a real-life incident and weaving a fictional story around it.

"And there is an aspect of Islam that needs to be addressed now," he says. "Otherwise this demarcation, this divide we keep on increasing. So I just thought we should have a message about a film with humanity. Just goodness."

In one way, Khan says, his character is speaking for millions of Muslims with that startling sentence.


Enlarge
Shah Rukh Khan and director Karan Johar on location
"Yes and no — because the line is actually very emotional," he says. "People who are autistic or have Aspergers have a compulsive behavior. ... He just gets this line in his head, and compulsively keeps saying, "My name is Khan and I'm not a terrorist. And it's a more emotional thing."

The movie, he says, isn't really about Sept. 11, or about terrorism. It's a love story. It's about "the butterfly effect of an incident like this."

"That you know, two people who are actually unrelated to an incident somewhere in the world and how their lives and their love changes, and gets completely thwarted."

Soon after he finished filming My Name is Khan, India's biggest film star almost found himself thwarted. On a visit to the United States, he was detained and questioned for two hours at U.S. immigration. The incident made front-page headlines across India.

"I didn't react to it as vehemently as I think everyone people back home did," Khan says. Because I'm used to it. You know, my name is Khan, really. And I'm sent to the other side, which is okay. I don't make a big issue out of it."

Others were more offended, though Khan makes a joke of it now.

"The foreign minister in India said that, you know, we also are going to do the same to the Western world people when they come," Khan says. "So I said, 'Give me the chance to frisk Angelina Jolie if she comes to India, please. I should be the first one to try this.'"

'Our Fantasies Are Very Real'

My Name Is Khan isn't like most of Shah Rukh Khan's other films. Most of them, for one thing, are primarily as secular in character — while most audiences might well presume that he's playing playing a Hindu character, that character's religion isn't central to the plot.

But Khan says it wasn't a particular risk for him to make a movie about an explicitly Muslim character.

"As far as the public is concerned, India is amazingly secular. ... I am a Muslim, but I am a leading star for the last 20 years, so if you just go by that, there is no issue ever. ...

There are vested interests who will always bring that up to provoke people, which I guess keeps happening everywhere."

What the movie has in common with many Bollywood fantasies is this: Khan's character comes to America.

"I say this to everyone: Our fantasies are about earning a good living," he says. "Having maybe a car — not two. Getting an education for your kids. Our fantasies are not about getting to be president of the country, to sit in a rocket and go and break a meteor. Our fantasies are very real.

"As a matter of fact," he continues, "I find the Western cinema very fantastic. You've got aliens. And you've got things we don't know about. ... Blue creatures. You have Batman, you have Superman. I remember the first time I was here — someone interviewing me in a hotel, and they said, 'Your films are such fantasies.'

"And I'm like, We are fantasies? Our guys just want to sing and dance on the roads. Our guys just want to drive a big car. Our guys just want to come to America. You know, we don't want to go to Pandora. ... America is our Pandora."



Question Time with MNIK Team - IBN LIVE





















SRK on Jonathan Ross Show

SRK and Kajol on BBC

LINK



MNIK on New Zealand TV

LINK



SRK and Kajol wishing 'Happy Valentines's Day'






Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol meet SAJA and SAMMA





Stars of My Name is Khan Rings The NASDAQ Stock Market Opening Bell



PICS -






SRK @ On The Couch With Koel










SRK in Indore









SRK at his Funniest Best

SRK NDTV Interview -








SRK and K Jo at My Name is Khan tie up with Century Ply



PICS -






SRK on GQ Cover










Khan ka salaam pyaar ke naam contest

Gone In 60 Seconds - 25 Things Not To Ask Shah Rukh Khan

Karan's Korner Promo

Music Ka Maha Muqabla - Shahrukh Khan - Part 1

Kajol and SRK greet viewers in New Zealand

SRK to host IIPM Quiz

IIPM is all set to host its celebrated International B-School Quiz- ‘DARE 2010’, the first ever International Business & Marketing Quiz in association with 4Ps (India’s truly Global Business and Marketing Magazine), in Bengaluru in the month of February 2010.

In keeping with the tradition of IIPM’s various global academic projects and initiatives, the institute is expanding the scope of the event to an International level in order to establish Dare‘10 as an international meeting ground for the very best of the planet’s business and management students to meet, ideate & vie for honors while challenging their marketing wits and acumen.

This event is not only a celebration of the intellectual might of some of the world’s best trained management students but is also a platform for them to share cultural and intellectual insights that create a unique synergy across borders and B-schools.

Read more about it from HERE

Shah Rukh Khan to guest on Jonathan Ross show

Bollywood star, Shah Rukh Khan has managed to land an appearance on mainstream chatshow, 'Friday Night With Jonathan Ross'.

He will appear on the BBC One show a week prior to the release of his blockbuster movie, 'My Name Is Khan'.

It will be the first time a Bollywood personality will be seen on the show talking openly about the release of his upcoming movie release. Previously, Shilpa Shetty was seen on the show after her 'Celebrity Big Brother' win.

TV presenter Lorraine Kelly has also been confirmed as a guest of the same show.

The episode will air on Friday 5th February at 22:35 on BBC One.

Incidentally, the BBC Asian Network announced yesterday that it was holding a day dedicated to the superstar on the same day the Jonathan Ross episode is aired.

LINK




SRK in Ahmedabad. -





Some pics from that event -














SRK poster on the streets of Berlin






MNIK on Apple.com

LINK

Raj and Pablo in Conversation with Shah Rukh Khan

Join Raj and Pablo in conversation with Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan. Be part of the audience with the chance to ask your favourite Bollywood star questions. Due to the popularity of this recording, we are operating a random draw. You can enter the random draw until Friday 29 January at 1am. No applications will be accepted after this date and time. You can apply for a maximum of two tickets per household.

Good Luck with your application.

LINK



His schedule for promotion -

27th- Ahmedabad
28th- Mumbai
29th- Indore
30th- Mumbai
31st- Interviews
1st to 5th - Overseas
6th- Interviews
7th- Lucknow
8th- Bangalore
9th- Delhi
10th to 14th - Overseas
15th - 20th- India promotions