"Digital is going to be big in India," says Shah Rukh Khan

Remember the time when prints were carted around in the boot of a car from one theatre to another in the first week of a film's release? Things may still remain largely the same in the bigger metros but satellites are increasingly being used for transmitting films to smaller centres, cutting not only costs but also curbing the rampant piracy existing there.

Digital prints require projectors that cost Rs 40 lakh plus transmission equipment to beam the film. But the economics works in its favour. Each physical print costs Rs 70,000 whereas the new technology allows a few master prints to be used to transmit the film across the country (see box). So, had Sajid Nadiadwala released 350 prints of Heyy Babby in celluloid, it would have cost him Rs 2.5 crore. But, by using digital technology, he managed to cut down costs by 80%.

Distributors and exhibitors gain by being able to screen the film in smaller centres in the initial weeks of its release. “There is potential for increasing box-office revenue by 100%. Piracy, which takes away 40% of the revenue, can be curbed better now,'' a cinema manager from Amravati said. New films hitting small towns like Amravati now coincides with their worldwide launch; places like Amravati are used to seeing new movies a week or two after they hit the metros and this allows pirated prints to reach these towns earlier.

Om Shanti Om and Saawariya are among the immediate releases whose makers are riding piggyback on digitalisation to broadbase their release.

“Digital is going to be big in India,'' actor Shah Rukh Khan said. Three hundred and fifty of Om Shanti Om's 850 prints are being released digitally; the plan is to bombard the smaller centres and capitalise on the hype in the first few days of its release.

Bharati Dubey, TimesOfIndia

Fab at 40

Men will always be boys. Be it their car, house or bank balance, size does matter. At least till they turn 40.

Then, all the locker-room talk is about keeping score - like how many minutes, calories and kilometres you clock on the treadmill. Or how many pull-ups you grind out.

And with even Shah Rukh Khan - who spent two decades proclaiming he was an actor, not a bodybuilder - showing off his newly acquired six pack, the bar has been raised even higher for 40+ men who're busy bench-pressing, squatting and running their to way to body beautiful.

‘‘By 40, men are settled in their jobs, have a picture postcard family, drive a hot set of wheels, own a house... personal fitness is the next obvious thing to look into,'' says Ajay Chand, a trainer at Delhi's Ozone gym. Chand reveals that the number of 40-year-olds enrolling at the gym includes businessmen and industrialists looking to work off their stress. ‘‘These members make for 40% of total gym users and the numbers are growing,'' he says. Adds Abhimanyu Sable of Pune-based Abs Fitness and Wellness Club, ‘‘I have many clients post-40 wanting a sixpack like Shah Rukh's.'' Of course, other Bollywood stars like Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar have long been fitness icons. And then there's Shekhar Suman who's turning heads with his brand new biceps. But it's SRK's metamorphosis that has really inspired people. The reasoning: If he can do it, so can I.

But be warned, King Khan's transformation didn't happen overnight. According to his trainer Prashant Sawant, Shah Rukh trained and dieted for over six months. ‘‘Shah Rukh has been working out regularly since his role in Don. But to achieve this look we needed something different. I put him on a high-protein, low-carb diet along with special exercises for his chest, shoulders and back. The result is for all to see.'' Can just anyone do it? ‘‘If you really want it and work with a good trainer, you can get it,'' he says.

Source: TimesOfIndia

Mrs Khan Steps Out in Style

For the first time ever, Gauri Khan will step out of the huge shadow cast in Bollywood by husband Shah Rukh Khan and into the limelight herself. Yes, the proud homemaker is doing a small walk-in role in Farah Khan’s Om Shanti Om, for which Gauri herself is producer. It’s the blink-and-you-will-miss-it kind of appearance that Alfred Hitchcock was famous for in Hollywood.

The scene requires Gauri to walk a red carpet for a song at the end of the movie as the credits come on. Typical of Farah, the technicians and crew members of the movie take a bow too in this number. Farah had tried earlier in vain to convince the elusive Mrs Khan to make a guest appearance in her first movie, Main Hoon Na . “But she ditched me. I think, Shah Rukh convinced her to do it this time,” said Farah.
Gauri is said to get bored very easily of the takes and several retakes while shooting.

“She has no patience, that’s why we don’t try to get her in front of the camera,” explained Farah. “However, for this shot, she just had to step out of a car and walk the red carpet waving to the crowd like a star.” According to the director, Gauri did not require to put in much effort for this scene. “She is very natural before the camera and is poised and stylish even otherwise,” said Farah. “Next time, I’ll try and get her to do an entire song!”

That Gauri is a style diva in Bollywood, is known. Men are also reported to find her hot! And she has constantly attracted the attention of ad filmmakers and movie producers who have all tried unsuccessfully to lure her onto the screen. Mira Nair was one of them.

Shah Rukh is among those who admits to Gauri being stylish and with a sense of fashion that is her very own. “Style is inherent. And Gauri has that,” he said. The Bollywood badshah and his begum have often been compared to British footballer David Beckham and his style icon wife Victoria. But Shah Rukh finds that amusing. “I thought we were the Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie of Bollywood,” he said smiling.

Afsana Ahmed, TimesOfIndia