After Madame Tussauds, Shah Rukh’s wax statue in Paris

Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan has more reason to smile - he will have a second wax look alike coming up in the West, this time in France. Barely a year after his wax statue was unveiled at Madame Tussauds, London, Paris’s Grevin wax museum will present King Khan’s wax statue next month.

This will make Shah Rukh the second Indian celebrity after Mahatma Gandhi to have a wax statue in Grevin and the first Bollywood star to have two wax statues in the two most prestigious wax museums worldwide.

Stating this in Mumbai Friday, Grevin’s marketing director Frederic Gouguidis said that this was the outcome of its exclusive partnership with the travel major, Cox and Kings, in the Indian market.

Khan is extremely popular in France with a huge fan following and the wax statue would give Indians another reason to travel to that country, he added.

Paris Convention & Visitors Bureau managing director Paul Roll said that Paris is a hot destination among Indian tourists. “Last year, over 300,000 Indians visited France, the second largest number after China,” Roll said.

A 19th century French journalist Arthur Meyer conceived Grevin’s wax museum. He collaborated with Alfred Grevin, a cartoonist, sculptor and costume designer to work on the project.

When the wax museum doors were finally thrown open to the public in June 1882, it was a grand success.

Some of the wax statues in the Grevin collection include Mahatma Gandhi, Albert Einstein, Pope John Paul-II, Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson.

IANS

SRK to select Rani Mukherji or Vidya Balan

It's a tough fight between Rani Mukherji and Vidya Balan, and a tough call for Shah Rukh Khan. A few days back we had reported that SRK and Priyadarshan will work together on a film where SRK will play himself. It is for this film that SRK is finalising his leading lady and he has to choose between the two, Rani Mukherji and Vidya Balan.

It is going to be exciting to see who finally bags the project. Rani and SRK have appeared together in numerous films and share a wonderful chemistry, whereas Vidya Balan, in turn, has worked with director Priyadarshan in Bhool Bhulaiya and shares a great rapport with him. SRK is playing himself in the feature. In a love story to be produced by his banner, Red Chillies Entertainment and directed by the King of comedies, the project will also see these two talents collaborate for the first time.

Meanwhile, Irrfan Khan has already been signed in to play a pivotal role in the film. While SRK is in the process of finalising his lead actress, he is also scouting for two actresses to play important characters in the film.

The film is scheduled to go on the floors in April and will be complete by August 2008. Priyadarshan had told us earlier, "I am looking forward to the film and working with SRK.

I'm excited about this film and am looking forward to working with Shah Rukh. I'm completing Mere Baap Pehele Aap with Akshaye Khanna."

SRK and Priyadarshan will come together for the first time to create a laugh riot along with Irrfan Khan and, er, Rani or Vidya. It won't be very funny for the one who doesn't bag it though. We'll keep you posted.

Mumbai Mirror

Can Shah Rukh save Sarabjit Singh?

Shaken by reports of mercy petition of her brother Sarabjit Singh, who is facing gallows in Pakistan, being rejected by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, Dalbir Kaur is now looking for other options to bail her brother out.

Kaur, who is camping in the Holy City since last night, has been looking for actor’s address and telephone number and other ways to approach him. Her niece Swapandeep, Sarabjit’s daughter, too has been trying to locate Khan’s address on the internet, but to no avail. “It is a tough job, but we will try to contact him. He can help us to save papa,” she said.

Kaur said the release of Kashmir Singh had rekindled her hopes, but they have now been dashed. She criticised the Indian government for failing to pursue her brother’s case effectively. “Khan enjoys a huge fan following in India as well as Pakistan and he can motivate people in both the countries to work towards Sarabjit’s release,” said Kaur.

She claimed that earlier too, Shah Rukh had evinced interest in her brother’s campaign. “Khan had promised to come over to Bhikhiwind with his colleagues to greet Sarabjit when he returns home from Pakistan, which shows that he regards our struggle and might come forward to help secure his release,” she said. Meanwhile, Kaur plans to leave for Delhi tonight to meet Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and other senior leaders in yet another bid to save her brother. “I will submit the appeal and give all proofs of his identity. My brother is innocent and I will continue to fight for him,” she said in a choked voice.

Express India