Shahrukh Khan kissed by a man at Rome Film Festival

It was a grand, glittering celebration of Bollywood with dancers dressed in Indian traditional dresses dancing at the venue of the Rome Film Festival. Yes, the razzmatazz of Bollywood shone through as Shahrukh Khan was welcomed for the screening of his film My Name is Khan.

SRK looked quite dapperly in black tuxedo when he walked the red carpet and dancers showered flower petals on him. Suddenly a guy dressed in sherwani went up to him and not only hugged the star but also kissed him on the cheeks. Shahrukh, who is joined by his entire family in Rome, tweets about his overwhelming experience at the film festival: “Had a wonderful reception at the Rome red carpet for KHAN. Fantastic to feel Roman love with my son in tow...now to Trevi fountain.”

But the film’s director Karan Johar and its female lead Kajol missed the glitz of the film festival. Explaining Karan’s absence, SRK tweets, “Poor Karan couldn’t make it. down with malaria...he would have really felt proud about KHAN. missing having him here...he would love Rome.”

Shahrukh Khan Celebrates 45th Birthday in Berlin

Priyanka Chopra and Hrithik Roshan joined their Don 2 co-star Shahrukh Khan on Tuesday in Berlin to celebrate his 45th birthday and we have the pics! After a short stint in Mumbai to perform at this year's Sahara Sports Awards, Shahrukh Khan returned to the set of his new movie Don 2 in Berlin to work, and to celebrate his bday!

 

Priyanka Chopra, who stars opposite SRK in the Farhan Akhtar directed flick, joined Hrithik Roshan, who was in town to shoot a cameo for the film, to wish King Khan a happy birthday. Hrithik had kept mum about his cameo, but his wife Sussanne couldn't keep a secret and took to Twitter to tell fans she was going to Berlin and that could only mean one thing!

"Hello all leavin for london tonight n berlin after..supposed to be freezing there..really lookin forward. Off 2 Berlin today its gonna be a crazy trip, heard D city is 1 of a kind..my first time there, N i has d need 2 feed d soul w new memories!" she tweeted, before adding, "had a lovely evening in berlin w entire unit of don 2..celebrated my fav @iamsrk b'day..full power super sonic energy to u always!"

Well at least the Roshans got to celebrate the King of Bollywood's bday! And judging by SRK's tweet he had a good, but cold, time! "Slagging with the kids.cut birthday cake in freezing cold.father in law said tv in india celebrating my birthday. thanx media guys..miss u," he tweeted. How sweet!

Produced by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani, and directed by Farhan, Don 2 - The Chase Continues is the sequel of the 2006 box-office hit Don: The Chase Begins Again, which in turn is a remake of the 1978 classic Don. Check out our pics of Priyanka, Hrithik and Shahrukh in Berlin and let us know if it looks like SRK had a good bday!

Gangster scare at Shahrukh Khan’s bungalow

Shahrukh Khan is far away in Berlin but a hoax call to police created a panic at the superstar’s bungalow in Mumbai today.

According to reports, the police control room received a call from an anonymous caller on Monday afternoon, claiming that a businessman, allegedly Gutka baron Sachin Joshi, would be killed by members of gangster Chhota Shakeel at SRK’s bungalow.

The police cordoned off the bungalow after receiving the call and checked every parcel that was sent to SRK’s residence as birthday gift.

But nothing alarming was found at the residence, leading the police to believe that it was a hoax call.

“It was just a prank call,” Additional Police Commissioner Amitabh Gupta is quoted to have said.

As a precautionary measure, the police have asked Sachin Joshi to be alert.

SRK turns 45, readies for superhero avatar

In film after film, Shah Rukh Khan has romanced the screen as the ultimate lover boy. As he turned 45 on Tuesday, the unconventional looking youngster who took Bollywood by storm 18 years ago was set to blaze a new trail by turning superhero in Ra.One. Shah Rukh, who has over 60 films under his belt and millions of fans across the globe, enjoyed his birthday in Berlin where he is shooting for Don 2.

"I have not had so much fun on my birthday before…learnt ripsticking...Duggu (Hrithik Roshan), Sussanne, Raveena and the gang of Don 2 partied," he posted on his Twitter page. He also thanked all his Twitter fans "around the world" for making him "feel so special" on his birthday.

The actor is going for a image makeover with his home production Ra.One. "People like Shah Rukh like reinventing themselves. They like challenges and they like donning different characters. When you are 20-21, you can play a college lover boy easily but he understands that once you are above 35 or so, you can't just do the same thing, so he reinvents," film critic Omar Qureshi told IANS.

Shah Rukh Khan"He is very smart and he knows what works. I'm sure when he thought of doing a superhero thing he knew that it will work," he added.

Shah Rukh made his film debut with Deewana in 1992. In the initial days, he essayed charaters with grey shades in Baazigar, Darr and Anjaam. But it was his dream role in Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge that got him a firm place in romantic sagas and turned him into the nation's heartthrob.

Later Pardes, Dil Toh Pagal Hai, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Dil Se, Mohabbatein, Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna and Veer Zaara helped him climb the ladder of superstardom swiftly. With a string of hits, the superstar, also called King Khan, became a phenomenon that defies explanation. That didn't stop Shah Rukh, the son of a freedom fighter, from taking up unconventional roles in Swades and Chak De and earning praise from audiences and critics alike.

He also dabbled in production and television. The actor, who began his career with popular television serial Fauji in the late 1980, went on to host Kaun Banega Crorepati and Kya Aap Panchvi Pass Se Tez Hain.

The actor, who has 13 Filmfare Awards and a Padma Shri, this year tried to be different by doing the issue-based My Name Is Khan which highlights prejudices against Mulsims after 9/11. The year 2011 will see him both as don and superhero.

While Don 2 - The Chase Continues is a sequel to Farhan Akhtar's Don also starring Om Puri, Priyanka Chopra and Kunal Kapoor, Ra.One is a science fiction story where Shah Rukh will be seen as a superhero laden with extraordinary powers. "Ra.One is a simple story of a father and a son. There have been a lot of movies and songs dedicated to mothers but unfortunately, fathers are ignored. I being a father myself and a part of cinema, decided to give them all some space through my film," Shah Rukh said.

"The film is dedicated to all the fathers in the world. I hope this film will help bring fathers at the front and make me a hero in the eyes of my son," he added. The actor has two children - son Aryan, 13, and daughter Suhana, 10 - with wife Gauri Khan.

Shah Rukh is expected to do some daredevil stunts in Ra.One, which is being directed by Anubhav Sinha and also stars Kareena Kapoor and Arjun Rampal. It is being produced under Shah Rukh's production banner, Red Chillies Entertainment.

Will the superhero avatar reinforce Shah Rukh's superstar status? Watch on.

After decades, a Bollywood film to scale Great Wall

It is essentially an Indian theme in an US setting, which is now on its way to hit screens in China on November 30. In the process, My Name is Khan will be the first Indian film that will be released in China in decades.

The Shah Rukh Khan starrer will have 50 prints with Mandarin subtitles and the premiere is likely to be in Beijing.

Because of the strict entertainment policy, each year, barely 20 foreign language films make their way to movie halls of China . The country has chosen MNIK as one of its foreign language films for release in 2010. Other Indian movies such as Dr Kotnis Ki Amar Kahani (1946), Awaara (1951) and Do Bigha Zameen (1953) were the previous big hits in China. However, after 1962 India-China war, films made here became the first casualty as diplomatic relations between the two countries soured.

“The Chinese authorities are really tough when it comes to foreign films. To be asked to release MNIK is an amazing honour,” said Mr Vijay Singh, CEO, Fox Star Studios India, the distributors of the movie. It now remains to be seen if this will pave the way for other films from India and, conversely, encourage the entry of Chinese films here.

Not run of the mill

MNIK, quite unlike its predecessors that were screened in China decades ago, is not exactly a hardcore Indian film. Dr Kotnis…, on the other hand, was a sure entrant given that the focus was China, while Awaara and Do Bigha… were Indian at their core.

Where MNIK set a benchmark is the fact that it was the first Hindi film to be released in 66 countries through Fox Searchlight. This strategy, known as a platform release and adopted by major Hollywood studios, was tried out for the first time in a regular Bollywood movie.

Fox Searchlight had, incidentally, released Slumdog Millionaire with 100 prints but increased it to over 2,000 prints after seeing the response to the film.

MNIK, likewise, kicked off with 2,200 prints and gradually grew by another 500 in six months in non-traditional markets such as Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Poland.