Heat on SRK was because of scanner on Bollywood shows

WASHINGTON: The US Customs and Border Protection's extra scrutiny of megastar Shah Rukh Khan was triggered by Bollywood's showbiz having come
under the scanner of law enforcement authorities and intelligence agencies for dodgy financial transactions and alleged underworld links.

Khan was questioned closely by CBP agents on his arrival at Newark's Liberty International Airport last week with emphasis on ascertaining his local US contacts and engagements, an episode that caused an uproar in India, mainly in elite circles. It transpires that Khan was visiting the US primarily for Bollywood shows in Chicago and Houston promoted by brothers Farhath Hussain and Altaf Hussain, with few other local promoters, some of whom are on the radar of authorities in UK, US and India.

Although there was no red flag against Shah Rukh Khan's name itself, it was his local contacts which triggered off the alert, accorded to sources who asked not to be identified. The situation was compounded by the non-arrival of his baggage from London, a particularly sensitive station in American eyes.

US intelligence agencies have long been leery of a possible terrorist attack by Islamist extremists from a city dubbed Londonistan, particularly since British passport holders do not need a visa to enter the United States.

Farhath Hussain is a London-based businessman who modestly describes himself as the "world's Number One promoter of Bollywood shows, a showbiz impresario extraordinaire." His brother Altaf Hussain is a Chicago-based businessman in the gas station industry who founded the Lake County South Asian Entertainment Inc. to tap into the Bollywood showbiz market in US after the eclipse of Vijay Taneja, a former Indian partner whose founded a company called Elite Entertainment.

According to an industry insider, Farhath Hussain and Vijay Taneja had divvied up Bollywood shows in Europe and the US between then for many years. Both had promoted shows featuring Shah Rukh Khan and a number of other Bollywood stars. But Taneja was convicted in a massive mortgage fraud in the Washington DC area last year and sentence to seven years in the clink, allowing brothers Hussain to capture US territory.

Incidentally, the Chicago-based Altaf Hussain bears the same name as the London-based leader of Pakistan's Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) party, another possible trigger for the CBP red flag. That Altaf Hussain, a key player in Pakistani politics who is frequently accused of sectarian violence (most notably by Imran Khan) was a cab-driver in Chicago before he eventually returned to Pakistan to found MQM to represent Mohajir interests.

Taneja invested some of his ill-gotten wealth in Bollywood extravaganzas, including producing a movie starring Himmesh Reshammiya titled "Aap ka Suroor." He was $ 77 million in debt when he declared bankruptcy, a step which led to an investigation into his financial shenanigans which destroyed the lives of many home-owners in suburban Washington.

Taneja is currently in prison outside Philadelphia, serving out his sentence even as the Hussain brothers are taking over Bollywood tours in US. Farhath Hussain was till recently managed Shilpa Shetty's engagements in UK but they are now said to have fallen out, but showbiz insiders credit him with widespread connections in the industry, including with many financiers, which enable him to attract top stars for his US road shows. They said Shah Rukh Khan himself was above board, being a mere pawn in the game, even though he was an acknowledged top draw commanding high fees.

US officials declined to go into the specifics of the Shah Rukh Khan episode citing law enforcement sensitivities. "A lot of stuff we discuss with passenger we can't reveal because of privacy rules," CBP spokesman Elmer Camacho told ToI, while maintaining that the actor was treated with due professional courtesy and the process had not taken two hours as claimed.

Comacho also pointed out the actor himself had reeled back from some of the initial comments and acknowledged that the CBP was following a laid-down procedure. Phone numbers listed for brothers Hussain and other promoters of the "South Asia Carnival" went to mailboxes which were full. Messages left to their associate Monty Syed were not returned.

Meanwhile, sources who spoke to ToI described a complex web of financial transactions around Bollywood shows in the west, involving layers of players. At the top of the rung are promoters in Mumbai, who sold shows to overseas players such as Farhath Hussain and Vijay Taneja. These guys in turn sold the shows to local promoters in European and US cities, who banked on ticket sales and retail advertisers to recoup the money they spent to bid for the shows.

Bollywood-starved NRIs pony up anywhere from $ 25 to $ 500 (for the priciest tickets) to see their favorite stars. Top stars, especially a crowd puller like SRK, could command as much as $ 50,000 per show. One source spoke of an actor who was paid $ 900,000 for an 18-city tour that went from Fort Lauderdale in Florida to Los Angeles, California couple of years back.

"Many of these transactions are unreported...you can understand why the business is on the scanner of authorities especially because of the shadow of the underworld on the Bollywood showbiz," he said.

Katrina crosses over to SRK!

This is one that made our antenna go up, dahlings.

And it’s an exclusive bit of news from a first class air passenger, who was on the same flight that Shah Rukh Khan was on from London to Mumbai (en route from his infamous brush in the USA with the immigration officials).

As we know, Katrina Kaif was also on the same flight and we hear from our ‘flier-on-the-wall’ that once the plane was in mid-air, it was Katz who went across the aisle to sit with SRK and get into an animated chat.

And Shah boy, gentleman that he is, got up and gave his seat to the lady. All the while chatting away. Mainly about his experiences in the USA and UK. And the only time Katz went back to her seat was when the plane was to land in Mumbai.

Awesome, this dostana, eh? But wonder what loverboy Salman has to say to this one? Hopefully, SK and SRK don’t fly ‘in’ to America together soon, or maybe they should, for two Khans are better than one, right guys?

Govt. approaches Shah Rukh for anti-child labour campaign

After actor and film maker Aamir Khan refused the offer to be brand ambassador for its anti-child labour campaign, Maharashtra Government has approached superstar Shah Rukh Khan, a senior minister said.

"Aamir Khan has said he would not be able to participate in the campaign. We have approached Shah Rukh for the same and are awaiting a word from him," Labour Minister Nawab Malik told reporters at Mantralaya here today.

There is a budget of Rs one crore for an advertisement campaign for eradication of child labour in the state, the minister said.

Noted adman Prahlad Kakkar has agreed to make the advertisement, Malik said.

Dulhe Ka Divorce to follow Dulha Mil Gaya

Vivek Vaswani’s Shahrukh Khan starrer Dulha Mil Gaya is finally set for a November 13th release date. The film marks the return of Main Hoon Na jodi of SRK and Sushmita Sen, after a gap of 5 years. The film however revolves around four main characters of those of- Shahrukh Khan, Sushmita Sen, Fardeen Khan and Tara Sharma, and is directed by Muddassar Aziz. Now news has come in that Vivek Vaswani is working on his next movie titled Dulhe Ka Divorce.

Our source reveals, “Vivek has tentatively titled his next as Dulhe Ka Divorce. Shahrukh Khan has been a part of most of his projects, and it was in fact Vivek who got him his first major break in Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman. He simply loves SRK and if there is a role fitting him, SRK will definitely be on board for this one too. But there will be newcomers cast in the main leads.”

There was also a buzz that Dulha Mil Gaya would premiere in USA, but in the wake of Shahrukh Khan being frisked at the US airport, it won’t happen. Vaswani states in this regards that he had planned the premiere in Trinidad, since the movie has been extensively shot in Trinidad and Tobago. So there was never any question of the film premiering in USA and that it will be releasing simultaneously all over.”

Are there any grudges between Shahrukh Khan and Vishal Bhardwaj

The "King Khan" of Bollywood Shahrukh Khan is again in limelights for holding grudges with director Vishal Bhardwaj.

According to the sources, these rumour fled when King Khan's wife Gauri Khan came with director and friend Karan Johar on the premiere of Vishal Bhardwaj's movie "Kaminey". Gauri Khan and Karan Johar reached at the premiere of the movie at Yash Raj Studios.

There was a creative differences over a script led to a spat between SRK and Vishal. The dispute was a topic of discussion for everybody around but King Khan's wife attended the screening which proved that there is no spat left between the director and the "King Khan".