Chak de: Shah Rukh eggs India on against Pakistan

Johannesburg: Indian film super star Shah Rukh Khan reached here to watch the Twenty20 World Championships final between India and Pakistan here on Monday.

"I am here to back India, who have been playing really well in this tournament. They have already done us proud and I hope they prevail over another team that has been doing well," said Shahrukh.

"Chak de India," he signed off in a brief impromptu session with some mediamen.

Shahrukh's recent film Chak de India has been a big hit in India and is one of the few films made in Bollywood based on sport.

It is a fictional account of the Indian women's hockey team going on to win the world championship with Shahrukh playing the role of the coach, who inspires the players to raise their game several notches.

Incidentally, the title song of that movie has been played in South Africa whenever India has won a match.

Source: IBN-Live

King Khan to attend Twenty20 World Cup final

SRK will cheer for Team India at the Twenty-20 World Cup finals against Pakistan.

Indian Film Superstar Shah Rukh Khan, business tycoon Vijay Mallya and BCCI Vice President Rajeev Shukla will join hundreds of fans to cheer for Team India when Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his men take on Pakistan in the final of the Twenty20 cricket World Cup in Johannesburg on Monday.

Khan, who played a hockey coach in his latest release Chak De India , earlier made a surprise visit to the India-England third Test at The Oval last month.

Khan, Mallya and Shukla will leave on Sunday night by the liquor baron's private jet.

"We will root for the Indian team, which has made us proud by its commendable show. An India-Pakistan match is always a humdinger and we are going to enjoy every bit of it," said Shukla.

Source: TimesOfIndia

It is impossible to catch the "DON"

Getting combined dates from Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan can be quite an impossible task, it's driving Bhootnath producer Ravi Chopra crazy!

There seem to be no sign of a thaw in the cold war between Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan. The latest to be affected by the not-so-cordial relationship between the two bigwigs of Bollywood is producer Ravi Chopra. The expensive sets of Chopra's Bhootnath, at Mehboob Studios, have been ready for months but are lying unused as SRK and Bachchan are both unavailable for shooting together.

Apparently, Ravi Chopra got dates from Amitabh Bachchan to shoot on the day of the music launch of Shah Rukh Khan's Om Shanti Om. However, a cancellation was made at the last minute.

News of the cold war between senior Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan has been doing rounds for a long time but neither has openly admitted it. An industry source says, "Combined dates of Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan don't seem to be working out. When SRK gives his dates, Amitabh Bachchan is not available and vice versa. It is very obvious that both are not very keen to work together and are just trying their best to avoid coming face-to-face with each other."

Both actors have already shot for scenes for the film. "Both of them have shot their individual scenes and the film is almost 85 per cent complete. This schedule has to be completed before the entire unit leaves for the outdoor shoots to Goa for song picturisation which is scheduled in the second week of October," says the source.

There are certain requirements that have to be made on the indoor set at Mehboob Studios. Depending on the dates from the two stars the producers can make the technical arrangements before the shoot.

When contacted Ravi Chopra, he says diplomatically, "We have got some dates and we will start shooting at the Mehboob Studios sets from October 1-10."

Kunal M Shah & Bharati Dubey, MumbaiMirror

Ich Liebe Dich, Shah Rukh Khan

Heil Shah Rukh! say SRK's German Fans.

Shah Rukh Khan and Om Shanti Om appear to be the hottest thing in Germany right now. What else could explain the mass hysteria for the film there? Says director Farah Khan, “A hand-written petition, signed by 10,000 German fans, has been sent to Dorothy Brennar (the director of the Berlin Film Festival) to get Om Shanti Om featured at the Berlinale. Apart from that, the Om
Shanti Om website (omshantiomfilm.com) has gotten at least two lakh hits and posts from Germany, Poland, France, Austria and Russia. They all want the film to be released there, which is shocking!”

Khan adds that these SRK fans come from all over Europe to attend the Berlin film festival and hence want OSO to be shown there. “I have asked our distributors, Eros International, to release the film in Russia and thus open up a new market for us there,” says Farah, elated.

Euphoric feeling

However, as much as she’s delighted with the response and euphoria towards her film, Farah says she can’t show OSO at the Berlinale. “The festival is scheduled to take place in February. It’ll be too late to release it there,” she says.

Shah Rukh Khan, who is also aware of the petition, adds, “OSO will release in Germany, along with the rest of the world, on November 9.”
Farah adds that Shah Rukh has a huge fan following in Germany. “Main Hoon Naa did very well there after we dubbed it in German. His fans keep asking him to come there as they’re dying to meet him, and now they’re desperately looking forward to OSO. They have a lot of fun watching our films, and all the songs, dances and emotions that go with it,” she says.

The German love for SRK doesn’t end there. “The German magazine Rapid Eye is doing a book on the making of Om Shanti Om. They came here to cover the shoot and even sent their photographers. Mushtaq Sheikh is writing the book on OSO in India, while Rapid Eye will be in German,” says Farah.

Upala KBR, MidDayMumbai

For Some Dreams...One Lifetime is Not Enough...

The tagline for Farah Khan’s Om Shanti Om reads: ‘One lifetime isn’t enough to fulfil a dream’. After many years, the rebirth story has resurfaced in Indian Films.

Shah Rukh Khan, who starred in Karan Arjun, another reincarnation film, is back in a similar role. It’s a new avatar for the actor himself, what with the talked-about six pack and all. And that’s not all, Satish Kaushik has bought the rights to remake Karz, the 1980 Rishi Kapoor blockbuster.

Says filmmaker Apoorva Lakhia, “Two of my all-time favourite Hindi films, Karz and Karan Arjun , are based on the reincarnation theme. And I am looking forward to OSO to see what Farah Khan does with the script.” Everyone is, no doubt, but will an abstract theme like reincarnation work in the age of the Internet and palm tops? “Every religion preaches Karma and past life influences. I think it’s a cool subject to explore,” says Apoorva.

Actor Vijay Raghavendra says, “You never know. A lot of subjects that are from another era have worked in recent times. Plus, there are many examples that force us to believe in miracles.” Actress Sharmila Mandre points to Madhumati, Nagin, Hamesha, Karan Arjun and Karz, saying, “It’s been a long time since someone thought of that subject, so if the film is convincing, it’ll be a success.”

But not every movie-goer agrees. And Priya Sudeep is one of those few who isn’t too thrilled about OSO’s storyline. “I was looking forward to OSO but was slightly put off when I heard it’s a reincarnation story. I think the theme has been overused in Bollywood. I personally don’t believe in rebirth, so even when I saw Karan Arjun I couldn’t relate to it,” she says. “Then again, there’s the SRK factor. People will love it as it is.”

Apoorva explains, “There is no set formula in Bollywood. People just want to be entertained. When we started making Shootout at Lokhandwala, people had all kinds of apprehensions, but it was a hit.”
“I would love to do a reincarnation role,” says Sharmila. “It’s like playing two characters (a double role of sorts), which is very good for an actor,” she says. “And if the story is told well, people will believe in it too. I don’t know about the Karz remake, considering what happened to RGV Ki Aag, but the promos of OSO look fresh and good. With SRK, Deepika and a whole list of actors, I think the theme will just be that — an anchor,” says Vijay.


Resarch on rebirth

“There is a reference to past lives and reincarnation in every religion. While 60 per cent people don’t believe in God, all of them believe in the existence of past lives. Modern lifestyles lead people to live like there’s no
tomorrow, leave alone
another lifetime. But when they encounter serious
problems like trauma and chronic diseases, and all else fails, they think about past life influence. “Extensive research has been done on past life and it’s connection with our present. We practise past life regression therapies in which we hypnotise the patients and take them back to their previous lives to find the root of their problems. If there is enough evidence to show if the past life problem is solved, the present life will also get back on track.
“It’s just that people are not aware that
parapsychology was termed as a science in 1969. They fall for quacks and their tricks. But hopefully that will change soon.”
Sujendra Prakash, Psychologist and
qualified Indologist

Tejaswini Tirta, TimesOfIndia