Shahrukh, Nikhil Dwivedi friends again

Shah Rukh buries his differences with Nikhil Dwivedi, invites him to join his family in South Africa to watch the World Cup final

He was once a protégé of Shah Rukh Khan, but then Nikhil Dwivedi apparently fell out of favour. After a while in the wilderness, Nikhil is back is SRK’s good books and is currently in London with his mentor and his family and will accompany them to South Africa to watch the FIFA World Cup final.

Our source said, “There had been rumours for a while now that SRK and Nikhil were no longer friends. SRK had helped Nikhil during his debut film My Name Is Anthony Gonsalvis and even presented the film.

They had been friends for years, but around a year back there reports that SRK and Nikhil had parted ways Nikhil was no longer amongst the regulars at Mannat and was not even invited at SRK’s parties.

Recently, Nikhil was also seen in the company of SRK’s arch rival Salman Khan during an awards show and there were strong buzz that he had joined the Salman Khan camp. However, SRK invited Nikhil to London where he is currently holidaying with his family. He will accompany SRK and his kids to the FIFA World Cup.”

Asked about his patch up with Shah Rukh, Nikhil said, “Yes I am currently in London with Shah Rukh. Our friendship is a personal affair and I really don’t wish to talk about it.”

SRK and Lalit Modi watching the FIFA World Cup Semi-Final

The football fever is on in full swing with the Grand finale of the World Cup 2010 scheduled to take place this Sunday. A lot of our Bollywood celebs are already in South Africa or on their way to be part of this sporting extravaganza.

Spotted at yesterday's semi-final match between Spain and Germany was none other than superstar Shah Rukh Khan along with his kids Aryan and Suhana. SRK was joined by former IPL chairman Lalit Modi who seemed to be enjoying himself. Lalit Modi tweeted, "Beautiful eve in Durban. Nil at half time" While SRK and his son were rooting for Germany, Lalit Modi was supporting Spain.

In the end it was Spain who emerged victorious much to King Khan's disappointment. SRK tweeted, "Germany my team lost...feel bad taking my lil ones to matches where our team loses...but one day insha allah we will win...trust me kids." Now that his favourite team is out, it will be interesting to see which team SRK cheers on in the big final this Sunday- Spain or Netherlands?

OLD IS GOLD: Shahrukh Khan & Amitabh Bachchan - Photo

Shahrukh Khan & Amitabh Bachchan during old times

Shahrukh the most reliable Khan

A whopping amount of Rs 300 Crore is riding on Shah Rukh Khan’s next two films, RA.One and Don 2.

Agreed, Bollywood has lost crores this year because a lot of expensive films failed to retrieve their expected turnovers (Blue, of course, stands apart for its sheer wastage of money). But the biggest production companies seem to have blind belief in films that star Shah Rukh Khan. Nearly Rs 300 crore is riding on King Khan’s shoulders.

Newsflash: Reliance Big Pictures has not hit rock bottom with the poor turnover of the Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai starrer Raavan. Neither has Hrithik Roshan and Barbara Mori’s Kites debacle at the box office obstructed their soaring fund levels.

The buzz in the trade is that Reliance Big Pictures has bought the rights of Don 2 from Excel Entertainment for Rs 125 crore, which is about Rs 25 crore more than what they purchased Kites for. The deal has taken place even before Don 2 has gone on the floors, which implies that even in today’s times when films are flopping days after their release, the buyers in the market have extreme faith in a film that has Shah Rukh playing the lead.

Added to this is, there is talk in the industry of Eros International buying Shah Rukh’s home-production RA.One for a whopping Rs 175 crore.

A leading distributor says, “Shah Rukh rocks. He is still one of the top three stars in this country. His film guarantees good returns. Yes, Reliance Big Pictures has bought Don 2 for an amount which is definitely more than Rs 100 crore. But I think that Shah Rukh’s deal with Eros International on RA.One could be a funding proposal, which implies that Shah Rukh can still sell the film to other buyers.”

Even trade analysts in the film industry seem to second this view. A leading trade-analyst says, “I am unaware of the exact figures between Red Chillies Entertainment and Eros International, but I know that Shah Rukh is asking for at least Rs 150 crore for RA.One, wherein he has used some top-notch technicians to take his project to a very high level.”

Priti Shahani, chief strategy and marketing officer of Reliance Big Pictures confirmed, “It’s true that we have Don 2 in our slate of films for next year, but there is no truth in the purchase price that is being speculated in the market.”

An official from Eros International also confirmed that their latest purchase is RA.One, while refusing to reveal the exact terms and conditions of the agreement.

Sunil Lulla (President, Eros International), Amit Khanna (CEO, Reliance Big Pictures), Ritesh Siddhwani (Excel Entertainment) and Shah Rukh Khan remained unavailable for comment.

Currently, Shah Rukh is busy shooting for RA.One. As soon as he completes it, he’ll start work on Don 2, which co-stars Priyanka Chopra and Arjun Rampal. And all this hard work does indeed pay off. And how!

Shahrukh-Ranbir: Strings attached

Shah Rukh Khan and Ranbir Kapoor — both of who love their friend filmmaker Karan Johar to distraction — have another common link these days. Both actors are bound by the guitar strings.

SRK, too, has tried his hand at strumming the guitar when he was on a holiday in Spain. Ranbir who is taking guitar lessons for his role in Imtiaz Ali’s Rockstar, apparently, impressed friends and family with his rendition of Ek haseena thi (from Karz where his father Rishi Kapoor played the lead). The makers of Rockstar are said to have postponed the shooting by almost a month because Imtiaz — of the long locks fame — wants his hero Ranbir’s hair to grow long.

I'll follow Shahrukh on Twitter soon: Aamir Khan

One wonders if Aamir Khan's rivalry with Shah Rukh Khan has so far kept him away from following him on Twitter, but the Lagaan actor says he would love to track Shah Rukh's posts on the micro-blogging site.

"I have lots of friends in life but I don't follow everybody on Twitter. It's just been a few days since I have joined the site and I will start following people soon and yes, I would love to follow Shah Rukh on Twitter. Why not?" Aamir told reporters here Wednesday.

Till now, Aamir follows Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan, Karan Johar and nephew Imran Khan only.