Shah Rukh Khan's 'London Dreams'

Here’s a piece of Shah Rukh Khan’s life in Hans Raj College. The actor dreamed of studying in LSE and spent hours outside Kirori Mal College hoping he would get some acting assignments just like ‘Amit ji’ did!

Actor Shah Rukh Khan is a Hans Raj College alumnus. He graduated in Economics and not many know that SRK wanted to study further after completing his graduation (but he took up acting instead). When we met him on one of his recent visits to the city, he told us, “I was very fond of Economics. I got 72 per cent marks and I personally think that was a good enough percentage. Post Hans Raj, I wanted to join the London School of Economics but that didn’t happen. But I tell all the people I meet to read and write as much as they can. I tell my kids – Aryan and Suhana– to read a lot, as it is studying and acquiring more knowledge all the time that helps one in the long run.”

What else does he remember of his days at Hans Raj – does he miss spending time in the canteen, like most other students do? “I remember going to the canteen but I have to admit that I wasn’t very social in college. But I do miss going to the canteen. I also miss my co-students and the hostellers’ fights. I was a keen sportsperson aur main bahut khelta tha. My favourite sport was football. I have fond memories of my bike too,” SRK
told us.

And his life in college wasn’t just about sports, he developed an avid interest in acting in college too. He said, “I remember, my friends and I used to go and stand outside Kirori Mal College. We used to stand there for hours and look at the building, its gate and at the students going in and out of the college and say, ‘Kaash koi humein bhi, Amit ji ki tarah filmon mein kaam de de.’”

He further recalls, “And in my time there used to be these races in college too. Hum university ke chakkar lagate the and I always used to win.”

If he’d not become an actor, SRK says he would’ve “either been a teacher or a Manchester United player – I know that for a fact!”

Let there be floods: Karan

Karan Johar is leaving no stone unturned to give his film My Name Is Khan a unique look. He has recreated New York at Film City and now a flood sequence is being shot there. Apparently, Karan has ordered for thousands of litres of water in tankers to depict the flood.

However, being the ever thoughtful producer, he also did not want the unit to fall sick shooting the entire day in waist-high water, so he got designer Shiraj Siddiqui to make special waterproof costumes.

Our source from the sets said, “The entire set will be under water for the next few days. It is going to be a difficult shoot and Karan is tensed about it. This is one of the most important sequences in the film and all precautions are being taken. Many tankers have been called to fill the set with water and Karan is very particular that he wants everything to be right. However, he is also very concerned about the health risks of staying in water for hours. That’s why he has asked his designer friend Shiraz Siddiqui to make special waterproof costumes for himself as well as his entire unit. However, the actors SRK and Kajol will not have the costumes as they have to be seen in their look for the film.”

Karan Johar didn’t want to talk about the scenes to maintain the ambiguity that he has been projecting regarding the film. But he did say that it was a difficult and elaborate scene that he was shooting.

In Pics: Shah Rukh Khan at the Sprite 'Kholega Toh Milega' Meet-n-Greet event

SRK is Karan's showstopper

Karan Johar will launch his own clothing line soon. Not surprisingly, Shah Rukh Khan will be the show stopper...

Karan Johar has always had an abiding interest in fashion, whether it is as a designer for Shah Rukh Khan and other male stars or whether it is choosing his own clothes. In fact, he has often confessed to having so many clothes that he needs a whole separate apartment to accommodate them. A fact that he surely will keep in mind when he buys his next (sea facing) apartment.

While on the subject of clothes, he also confesses to having jeans and shirts in all sizes for the very unwelcome event that he might one day become fat again. "The trouble is, that in my mind I am still a fat boy," he admitted ruefully, one day.

And so it comes as no surprise at all to hear that Karan has now decided to launch his own clothing line in collaboration with Varun Bahl. Reportedly, it will be launched on October 16 at the couture week which will be on at that time. And we hear that while Imran Khan and Ranbir Kapoor will open the showing, the show stopper will be, but naturally, Shah Rukh Khan with Gauri Khan being the only female model.

Karan Johar confirmed that he was launching his own line with Varun Bahl. "I have been designing for Shah Rukh Khan for 12 years and it is a given that he will be part of my first collection. It will be a menswear collection and will have several other elements which will be a pleasant surprise but I am still in the process of finalising these and so can't comment at the moment," he said.

The line will be called 'Karan Johar with Varun Bahl'

Shah Rukh Khan, new brand ambassador for Colgate

The advertisement fraternity does not seem to believe in the maxim that the hit pair of the silver screen needs to be drafted in pair for the endorsement of a product. So, the hit pair of Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol, one of the most romantic pairs of all times, would now be facing each other in endorsing a product. Shah Rukh Khan would be the new brand ambassador for Colgate Dental products, while Kajol is the brand ambassador for Anchor White.

It would be interesting face-off between the fans of Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol as they still have legendary fan following and when they would be endorsing dental products of the rival brands, it would indeed be an interesting battle that would pan out. Probably taking a cue from the fact that celebrity pairs should be roped in as pairs, Airtel decided to use Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor together in series of advertisements that are being aired on various television channels these days.

If one were to go into the history of pairing for endorsement of a brand, the history does not have a rich antiquity. Among the celebrity pairs that have figured in the past include Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone for Pepsi, and before them Arbaaz Khan and Malaika Arora for a coffee chain. The most successful pairing however is that of Bipasha Basu and John Abraham, but it has also been now broken up, as in the new series of Reebok advertisements it is the Indian captain, MS Dhoni who now features along with Bipasha Basu. Other pair that features on a regular basis in new campaigns is that of Ajay Devgan and Kajol, though it has not been able to enlarge its ambit, as the pairing has been used only to promote Whirlpool brand of white goods.

The concept of pairing may not have gained ground on account of the controversy that emanated with the first such campaign, that between Milind Soman and Madhu Sapre. The synergy of pairs endorsing a brand from that time onwards has been only in fits and starts and it does not follow a smooth upward curve increasing more in its ambit on a regular basis.

Interestingly enough a pairing that has been a hit was that between Aamir Khan and Darsheel after TAARE ZAMEEN PAR, and it is one of the rare advertisements where Aamir Khan appears in a pair with Darsheel, a male-male combination. This pairing has got a much larger acceptability manifest from the number of additional brands that they are endorsing. Salman Khan has also appeared for the first time in a pair along with brother Sohail Khan in Chloromint advertisement.

One only wonders whether somebody from the advertisement fraternity would do some out of the box thinking and think of featuring Shah Rukh Khan and Saif Ali Khan as the new pair endorsing a product.