Shah Rukh's next postponed

Seems like we've officially had the first big casualty of the ongoing multiplex-producer battle. The release of Shah Rukh Khan's next, My Name is Khan might just be postponed to the early part of next year.

Yup, you heard it right! A little birdie tells me that Shah Rukh Khan has no intentions of bearing the brunt of the ever-changing release dates of all movies.

Thanks to the shuffling in the release schedules, a lot of major producers are trying to scuttle around and find 'safe Fridays' to release their films. Add to that there is the concern of cutting into each other's business.

So Shah Rukh Khan who was initially supposed to release his film around December will now let Aamir Khan's 3 Idiots and Saif Ali Khan's Qurbaan fight it amongst themselves.

Shah Rukh, I am given to believe, is looking at releasing the film some time in early 2010. What a relief, at least we'll have something to look forward to in the new year!

SRK waiting for feedback on team KKR

Kolkata Knight Riders team owner Shah Rukh Khan may be hundreds of miles away from his IPL team, who are currently playing in South Africa, but the Bollywood star wants constant feedback on how things are moving in the Knight Riders camp.

To serve this purpose, King Khan has asked co-owner Jay Mehta to keep a close watch on the boys and provide him a first-hand account on the latest developments.

The Kolkata team will play their final match of the IPL’s second season against Rajasthan Royals on Wednesday but will end up at the bottom of the points table, irrespective of the result.

“As Shah Rukh didn’t go back to South Africa, Mehta is acting as his eyes and ears. It’s understood that Shah Rukh will be briefed on all matters once the edition ends,” sources told a newspaper.

According to reports, Mehta has already started working on his assignment and had conversations with the skipper Brendon McCullum as well as some other players.

Mehta is also expected to meet the support staff including John Buchanan and director Joy Bhattacharya, a meeting which is expected to decide the fate of several members of the team.

South African hottie wants to learn cooking from Shahrukh

One of the top three contenders to win the Miss Bollywood IPL crown at the ongoing tournament in South Africa, sexy model Gabriella Demetriades wants superstar Shahrukh Khan to teach her cooking.

Not that the King Khan is known for his culinary skills, but the 22-year-old South African model desires to learn to cook a special dish from the Bollywood star.

“I want him (Shahrukh) to teach me how to make a really great lamb korma,” Gabriella is quoted as saying.

With nearly 14,000 votes in her name, Gabriella is sitting pretty on the third spot among 16 Miss Bollywood IPL finalists from different teams at the T20 tournament. Interestingly, she doesn’t represent SRK’s team Kolkata Knight Riders, but the Hyderabad team, Deccan Chargers.

Gabriella has traveled to India before and claims to be “fascinated” with the country.

“I'm fascinated with the country; there are extremes in terms of wealth and poverty, but the country is diverse, and has great shopping,” she said.

The top spot among Miss Bollywood IPL finalists is taken by the 35-year-old Dune Kossatz who is a model and actress from East London. She’s got 15,888 votes. 24-year-old Genna Cloud, a business marketing graduate from Johannesburg, is on second place with 14,352 votes.

The winner of the Miss Bollywood IPL contest, to be declared at the tournament’s finale, will get a package of prizes including a tour to Bollywood and also a role in Hindi movie.

Gauri designs for Arjun Rampal!

Guess who’s designing one part of the restaurant-cum-lounge that Arjun Rampal
and Mehr Jessia are opening in Delhi coming July?

Bollywood style icon and Shah Rukh Khan’s wife, Gauri Khan. Arjun told BT about his well-kept secret, “Gauri and Nandita Mahtani will design one of the tables, Tarun Tahiliani and Rohit Bal will do one each, and the fourth will be done by me. Mehr will be in charge of the entire club, but the idea of having these four specific designer tables by popular celebrities is to give the club an added advantage.’’

The party place is expected to be visited by the biggest names in Bollywood including Shah Rukh Khan, Karan Johar and Farhan Akhtar. And its novelty, in keeping with international club culture, is that four specific tables will be designed by four renowned designers. Arjun, who would not reveal more, added that everybody was working on their corner. Gauri’s table is likely to include designer crockery or glassware especially designed/sourced by her superstar husband.

Kolkata Knight Riders end losing streak; beat Chennai Super Kings by 7 Wickets

In an exciting IPL encounter at SuperSport Park, Centurion, Kolkata Knight Riders ended their 9-match winning streak to beat Chennai Super Kings by 7 wickets. Skipper Brendon McCullum and Brad Hodge played explosive innings to see their team through. The Kolkata Knight Riders successfully chased an improbable target of 189 to register a win off the last ball.

Chennai Super Kings won the toss and elected to bat first. They piled up 188/3 in 20 overs. Suresh Raina was the top scorer with 52 off 37 balls. He hit 3 boundaries and 3 sixes. George Bailey and Parthiv Patel contributed 30 and 25 respectively. Dhoni remained unbeaten on 40, while Albie Morkel remained not out on 21.

Chasing a victory target of 189, Kolkata Knight Riders lost Ganguly early, but McCullum continued with his explosive batting and made 81 off 48 balls. He hit 12 boundaries and 3 sixes.

Brad Hodge continued from where McCullum left and powered his team to a much-needed victory. Hodge remained unbeaten on 71 off 44 balls (4 boundaries and 4 sixes), as Kolkata Knight Riders reached 189/3 in 20 overs. Wriddhiman Saha remained unbeaten on 25. Brad Hodge won the "DLF Maximum Sixes Award". He was also declared as the "Man of the Match".

Shahrukh Khan to go the 007 way for next film

Shah Rukh Khan is going the James Bond way for his next project, RA-1, directed by Anubhav Sinha.

A source reveals, "RA-1 is a superhero flick with special effects, gizmos and gadgets just like in 007's films."

The source adds, "SRK will be going a strict diet and wants to get into a killer shape before he begins shooting for RA-1." The film is slated to go on the floors in September. The project was pushed back due to the surgery SRK had to go through for his shoulder in February.

Knights gift SRK surprise holiday

If the Kolkata Knight Riders had played the way they had expected to, Shah Rukh Khan would have been here today in the “City of Gold” to be with his men in black and gold.

SRK had planned to return for the Knights’ last three matches and stay on till the May 24 final at the Wanderers. But thanks to the way the team has performed, he is not coming.

“Shah Rukh was always supposed to leave at the end of April regardless of how we played in the first four matches,” team director Joy Bhattacharjya said. “He had promised to rejoin the team from mid-May, only if they did well. Juhi Chawla was to come with him.”

As were many of the celebrity supporters who were at Eden Gardens last year — among them director Farhan Akhtar and musician Vishal Dadlani. “The turn of events is really disappointing,” Vishal said. “But I’m sure SRK and KKR will bounce back big time. I have absolute faith in his ability to inspire.”

Well, Shah Rukh is in no mood now to come over and inspire the team. And that has thrown the superstar’s calendar in disarray, something he said only his two kids could do.

Then again, he calls the Knights his kids, too.

He can’t even shoot because director-friend Karan Johar hadn’t scheduled filming for My Name is Khan in May because SRK was positive the Knights would make it to the semis and he would be here.

Shah Rukh is trying to make the most of the two free weeks he suddenly has. According to a source close to the actor, he has been religiously undergoing physiotherapy sessions to improve his operated-on left shoulder.

“He is also slated to shoot for a couple of days for Vivek Vaswani’s Dulha Mil Gaya,” the source said. SRK had injured his shoulder shooting for the film.

However, “the boss” hasn’t completely disowned his boys. The famous text messages are still coming, to select members of the Knight Riders.

IPL's Miss Bollywood won't star with SRK!

There will be no Bollywood movie role with Shah Rukh Khan or in fact in any Bollywood movie for the winner of the Miss Bollywood IPL 2009 contest being run by the Indian Premier League (IPL). But she will get a chance to visit India.

Commentators interviewing winners at each game had been asking finalists how they would feel about a role with Shah Rukh and as late as Monday, press releases issued on behalf of the IPL were still saying that 'the winner would receive a role in a Bollywood movie, 50,000 rands in cash, a business class trip to India and other prizes'.

But IPL spokesperson Trevor Jones, who initially denied that this had ever been said, confirmed to IANS that there had been some confusion around the Bollywood movie role: "The launch press release said the winner 'stands to win a role in a Bollywood movie', although subsequent releases should have been clearer on this."

"The initial release did not say the person would win such a role because such a thing could never be guaranteed in advance; neither did the announcement refer to starring with Shah Rukh Khan.

"We're sorry if there's been any confusion on this. We still believe the overall prize is a worthy one for the ultimate winner."

At each IPL game, a finalist is selected from the crowd, as a measure to create a further element of fun and excitement at the matches.

Asked about the criteria used in selection of the finalists, Jones said: "In keeping with the emphasis on fun and excitement, these criteria are different from the rigid score sheet format of a typical beauty pageant."

Jones also said that Bollywood stars Shah Rukh and Preity Zinta provided their input and some ideas before the launch, but have had no direct involvement since they spend most of their time travelling with their respective teams while in South Africa.

Jones dispelled any concern about potential unfairnesses in the selection process by saying that anonymous 'spotters' made choices, after which the project leader of the programme made the final choice.

"Cameramen do not have the final choice, they can make suggestions, which may or may not be useful. There are adequate measures built into the process to prevent abuse. Disclosing the nature of these measures would defeat their object," Jones added.

"If there were to be any structural weakness in the initiative, it would have come from people such as model agents trying to identify our Miss Bollywood spotters and influence them. We believe we have avoided this potential problem."

On the question of why finalists selected had been almost exclusively Indian or white women so far, and whether this was because there were very few Black women attending IPL games, Jones said: "There is no quota system in operation.

"We believe it is neither desirable nor practical to try to operate a quota system at individual matches or in terms of the overall Miss Bollywood IPL SA initiative."

After the last entrants are decided, a web-based voting process will open on the iplt20.com web site for about 48 hours to reduce the total entrants from 48 to a short list of finalists. Details will be announced in a general release closer to the time.

"The finalists will be brought to Johannesburg at IPL cost," Jones concluded.

"The format of the final event will be made known closer to the time in a general media announcement. At this stage, the intention is to crown Miss Bollywood IPL SA before the final, and then have the winner and all finalists also present at that match."

SRK's 'Yana Rascala' act to become a film

Shah Rukh Khan's cool Quickgun Murugun act in Om Shanti Om has inspired Telugu actor Rajendra Prasad to do a film on SRK's character!

A spoof, the film will be in English.

"The film is targeted at young audiences. We are exploring the possibility of building it into a franchisee brand," said Vijay Singh of Fox Star Studios.

In Farah Khan's blockbuster OSO, Shah Rukh played a popular actor. One of his roles was a South Indian film, where he fights a fake tiger, and mouths dialogues like superstar Rajnikanth. Though it lasted barely five minutes, people simply loved it. In fact, his 'Yana rascala' became a huge hit.

Will Rajendra Prasad's Quickgun Murugun become a big hit too? Let's wait and watch.

Shahrukh Khan pose for Filmfare

Bollywood mega star Shahrukh Khan pose for cover page of Indian showbiz magazine Filmfare, the 2nd issue of the month of May 2009. The cover page tagged with “I hate to lose India’s biggest star, SRK candid confession”.