SRK, Sania, Sachin may feature on postage stamps

NEW DELHI: Celebrities and national icons can now find immortality through postage stamps during their living years, if the government decides to end the decades long custom of honouring people only posthumously.

"We are considering a proposal to issue stamps on young achievers in various fields, who have made the nation proud. These personalities include Shah Rukh Khan, Sachin Tendulkar, Sania Mirza, Harbhajan Singh and Remo Fernandes among others," Shakeel Ahmad, Minister of State for Communication and IT, said.

These people have achieved a lot in their life and this needs to be conveyed to the youth to encourage them, as well as promote philately.

"Stamp collection is not merely a hobby. It teaches about our culture, civilisation and important happenings within our country and outside," the minister said, adding that this would also give the much required revenue to the postal department.

He, however, said that there was no custom hitherto to issue stamps on living persons. "It is very rare and exceptional... we are debating on this in the ministry and we expect to take a decision on this soon," he said.

Asked if any amendment was required in the Postal Act to issue stamps on living personalities, he replied in the negative.

"No amendment is required in the Postal Act. We just need to take a decision. I have written a note to (Communication and IT) Minister A Raja suggesting this," he said.

Times Of India

I'm leaving: Shah Rukh

LET ME GO!

There seem to be no end to Viveck Vaswani’s woes and the director might not complete Dulha Mil Gaya in time. Shah Rukh hasn’t provided the required dates for the film. He was supposed to shoot for a song on a cruise liner but the shoot was cancelled after rains played havoc with the schedule.

One song only

The latest buzz doing the rounds is that Shah Rukh has conveyed to Viveck that he won’t be able to be part of the project.
Says an insider, “SRK was doing the film as a goodwill gesture for Viveck but after a while, the producer expected him to do more than just one song. While Shah Rukh isn’t keen on doing more than just a song, Viveck wants to use him as one of the major highlights, to give the film more weight and value.”

Shah Rukh and Viveck go back a long way. When the actor had first arrived in Mumbai from Delhi, Vaswani had opened his home to him.

Initially, Shah Rukh had given unavailability of dates as a reason for not being able to do the film.

However, now he has informed the director he isn’t interested in doing it at all. The source continues, “It’s strictly between Viveck and SRK now. No one else has been told about this change (??!).” The next schedule for Dulha Mil Gaya begins in March.

Tushar Joshi, Mid-Day

Ajay and SRK’s Toony Tiff !

Shah Rukh Khan’s recent announcement in Variety magazine about producing an animated kiddie flick has stirred a hornet’s nest. According to the Ajay Devgan camp, the stories of SRK’s and Kumar Mangat’s animation film, Toonpur Ka Super Hero, are the same!

A source reveals that Ajay’s camp is miffed that Khan is going ahead with a project that is very similar to theirs in terms of ideation and plot. The similarity isn’t just about who the film is catering to, but also the treatment. Both the movies are using state-of-the-art effects and will have a video game feel.

Ajay’s angry

Apparently, Devgan was infuriated when Shah Rukh roped in Anubhav Sinha for the project. “Ajay has been conceiving Toonour Ka Super Hero even before he started work on U Me Aur Hum. In fact, during Cash, Ajay had discussed the project with Anubhav and now Anubhav is working with Shah Rukh on a suspiciously similar project.”

Kumar Mangat says, “I have heard that the stories of Anubhav’s film and Toonpur being similar. Some people in the trade have informed me but when I checked, I found out that Anubhav Sinha’s story is different. I know that he’s making an animation film but I am not sure if Shah Rukh has said yes to the film.”

Both Anubhav Sinha and Kumar Mangat are working at breakneck speed to complete their films they want to release their film first.

It’s a race

Mangat says, “I don’t know about Anubhav’s film but 80 per cent of our animation work has already been done. We will complete shooting by June and definitely plan to have a Diwali or Christmas release.

Doing an animation film is no child’s play. It takes months to work on a character — extensive knowledge and research.”

Crowded space

He continues, “Kirit is an experienced ad filmmaker with his own animation company. One wrong frame and the entire shooting gets wasted. We have been working on Toonpur since last 15 months and now only two songs including one with Ajay and Kajol need to be shot. Ajay and Kajol’s song is called Chal baliye chal Toonpur chaliye and will be shot with 5000 animated characters.”

Mangat is roping in noted animation specialist Charles Darby for TKSH. Kumar Mangat says, “We are in talks with a Hollywood technician who has worked with Steven Spielberg in his films. Everything will get finalised in a few days.”

When asked if his film is similar to TKSH Shah Rukh says, “No.”

Tushar Joshi & Upala KBR, Mid-Day