I would have preferred a soccer career, says Shah Rukh

Shah Rukh Khan is the best known mega Indian film star. But the other day he said he would have preferred a sporting career to one in films.

He was speaking at the finale of the Asia West Pacific Regional physiotherapy conference organised by the Dr Ali Irani-headed Indian Association of Physiotherapy. Dr Ali was the first physio to travel with an Indian sporting team. He was Indian cricket team physio from 1987 to 1997.

Shah Rukh Khan vibed well with the 10, 50 physiotherapists and delegates from 23 countries at the valedictory. He referred to the injuries he has faced all his life, first in sport and then thanks to the stunts he does himself by choice. Said Shah Rukh, "Thanks to my injuries I know every part of my body, the muscles, the tendons.

My body has pieces of metal in it. I have undergone spinal surgery and I am going for a shoulder surgery in some ten days.''

Shah Rukh said he was so injury prone that his interaction with physios began from the age of 15. "I was playing soccer at Delhi's Ambedkar Stadium and had a lower back problem. An old gentleman, Dr Abbott, treated me. I think he was orthopaedics guy. I don't think there were many physios then. That was the end of my professional sporting career. I would have preferred it to the one in showbiz. Now my son is into athletics and soccer and I think he will need the back-up of physiotherapy. ''

Continuing in a serious vein, Shah Rukh exhorted the physios to become affordable to all sections of the society. He said, "In India we are used to medicine of hakims and vaids. Invasive therapy is not the order of the day. Physiotherapy for most is means massage. I love massage though,'' he said smiling.

Shah Rukh-Manoj Kumar truce over 'Om Shanti Om' spoof

Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan met veteran actor Manoj Kumar for an out-of-the-court settlement regarding the cases filed against him in connection with the spoof in his home production 'Om Shanti Om'.

Kumar called him to his residence to discuss withdrawal of the court cases, Shah Rukh told reporters in Mumbai on Tuesday night.

"He told me that he was elder to me and was forgiving me for the mistake committed. I and director Farah Khan had sought forgiveness from him several times for our mistake," he said.

"The spoof in the film was not with an intention to belittle him or hurt him. He told me that he would not like to carry on the burden of the court cases," Shah Rukh said.

Kumar had dragged Shah Rukh to court for not honouring the promise of deleting the sequence in the film that shows security guards of a movie theatre beating him up after he displays a driving license showing his photo in his trade mark style covering the face with his palm.

The veteran, who has produced and directed several patriotic films earning him the title 'Bharat Kumar', had asked Shah Rukh to withdraw the scene to which director Farah Khan and he as the producer of the film agreed.

But, the scene continued to be a part of the film and before its television premiere Kumar filed a case against Shah Rukh.

Shahrukh and Kajol return after shooting in Los Angeles

Eight years after they last paired together, Shahrukh Khan and Kajol have completed the first schedule of their next film.

While Shahrukh had been in the US since December last year for Karan Johar’s next directorial venture My Name Is Khan , Kajol joined the shoot only in the second week of January.

The two stars shot for as many as twenty days in Los Angeles before the first schedule was declared complete by Karan Johar . Now, they will shoot the next schedule in Mumbai from March to May. After that they will return to the US to finish the film’s shooting in the final schedule in June.

During the recently concluded schedule of the film in LA, Kajol was accompanied by her mother, sister and daughter Nysa. In fact, the reason why Kajol dilly-dallied so much to do this film is because she did not want to be separated from her daughter.

SRK and Kajol are one of the most sought-after onscreen couples in Bollywood. Though they last paired in Johar’s Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham , Kajol has made special appearances in SRK-starrers like Kal Ho Na Ho , Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna , Om Shanti Om and Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi .

At last in ‘My Name Is Khan’ they are romantically paired after eight long years. The movie has SRK playing a man who suffers from milder form of autism. Kajol plays his wife.

Shahrukh, celebrity guest in Nach Baliye Finale...

SRK will be the center of attraction yet again, and this time he will grace the Nach floor as celebrity guest for the Grand Finale on February 1st...

Shahrukh Khan after debuting in television with Red Chillies Idiot Box will now be seen as the Special Guest in the Grand Finale of Nach Baliye 4!!

According to our source, “SRK will be the celebrity guest for the finale and he will be here to promote his upcoming movie Billo Barber”.

The Finale of Nach Baliye 4 is going to be a tough contest as two of the favorite Jodis, Naman Shaw and Megha Gupta and Shaleen Bhanot and Daljit Kaur will fight it out for the last honors.

“Ali Merchant and Sara Khan, the popular pair of television who had hosted one episode of Nach earlier will be in the finale as support to Naman and Megha, while the dashing Karan Patel along with Karishma Tanna will be seen supporting Shaleen and Daljit”, adds our source.

Not all of the eliminated contestants will be performing in the Finale though. “Mohit-Aditi, Jaspal Bhatti and Savita Bhatti along with Sudeep Sahir and Anantika were to perform with Farah Khan, but Sudeep is down with fever and has been advised by the doctors to take complete rest. This means he will not be performing in the finale. The sensational Rakhi Sawant, minus her Baliye of last season will be performing too”, concludes our source.

The Badshah was recently seen in NDTV Imagine's Oye.. It's Friday.

With SRK all set to rock the Nach floor yet again, the countdown to the Finale of Nach Baliye 4 starts now!!

It’s Jodi # 4 Naman Shaw-Megha Gupta V/s Jodi #11 Shaleen Bhanot and Daljit Kaur to lock horns on February 1st in the Finale of Nach Baliye only on Star Plus…

SRK goes under the knife

.. this time for a tear in the shoulder, aggravated by shooting for Karar Johar in the LA winter.

Shah Rukh Khan, who underwent a difficult and painful back surgery some years ago, is now destined to go under the scalpel again for a tear in the shoulder muscle. He suffered the injury in Mumbai when shooting a stunt scene for Mudassar Aziz’s Dulha Mil Gaya. But, as if keeping in mind the old adage ‘no pain, no gain’, SRK continued shooting with occasional physiotherapy from his old friend Dr Ali Irani. Then, instead of resting, he flew to LA where he had a month-long schedule slated for Karan Johar’s My Name Is Khan. The LA winter did him in. He was taken to a hospital in pain where an MRI showed up the tear in his left shoulder. Now the actor is back and looking at undergoing a shoulder arthroscopy to repair the tear in his supraspinatus muscle.

Talking to this paper, SRK who dragged on in LA through the pain just so that Karan Johar’s shooting schedule might not get disrupted, admitted, “I was advised surgery, but pulled through on temporary medical assistance until I could not bear the pain any longer. I have to now go in for surgery in the next few days.”

He has no choice because the next schedule of My Name Is Khan requires the Bollywood Badshah to be fighting fit and performing all kinds of stunts. His doctors, of course, have advised him otherwise. “Inshallah, I’ll be fine,” smiled the hero.

Meanwhile, the Bollywood Badshah remains undaunted at the prospect of surgery. At the Asia West Pacific Regional Physiotherapy Conference organised by Dr Ali Irani of the Indian Association of Physiotherapy, he kept medicos, some 800 physiotherapists, delegates from 23 countries and students in splits by referring to all the injuries he has faced.

Said Shah Rukh, “Thanks to my injuries, I know every part of my body, all the muscles, the tendons. My body has pieces of metal in it.” His interaction with physios began from the age of 15. “I was playing soccer at Delhi’s Ambedkar Stadium and developed a lower back problem. That was the end of my professional sporting career. I would have preferred it to the one in showbiz,” he said. “Indias are used to medicines of hakims and vaids. Invasive therapy is not the order of the day. Physiotherapy for most means massage. I love massage though,” he said smiling.

Eros to release Billu Barber worldwide on 13 February

Eros International will release Red Chillies Entertainment's Billu Barber worldwide on 13 February, 2009.

The movie which stars Shah Rukh Khan, Irrfan Khan and Lara Dutta and has been directed by Priyadarshan, will have its advance previews in the UK on 12 February.

Billu Barber is a slice of life, feel-good musical with elements of romance, comedy and drama.

Eros International president distribution – Europe & Africa Pranab Kapadia said, "Billu Barber is an extension of the relationship Eros enjoys with Shah Rukh Khan's Red Chillies Entertainment. After the success that Eros and Red Chillies enjoyed with Om Shanti Om, we are excited about leveraging our global distribution in promoting Billu Barber. With Priyadarshan's special, the film is bound to touch the hearts of the audience."

SRK does it, only for Priyanka

Shahrukh Khan recently played a perfect friend to Priyanka Chopra. Priyanka features in a special song-and-dance sequence in Shahrukh's new film Billu Barber. The song -- Khudaya Khair -- was originally composed keeping just Shahrukh in mind and that meant Priyanka would have had only some shots in it. When SRK got to know about this, he immediately called up the music director of the film, Pritam, to make some modifications to the song so that Priyanka would have an equal screen time in it.

A source says, "Shahrukh always keeps his friends in mind when he does a film. Priyanka, Kareena and Deepika agreed to do the film because SRK personally asked them. As soon as he approached Priyanka to do the song she readily agreed without even asking about her screen time."

The insider adds, "Shahrukh called Pritam to tweak the original song and he himself checked it before starting the shoot with Priyanka."

Pritam says, "The original song was composed keeping Shahrukh in mind and he did tell me to make modifications for the song which would have Priyanka in it. And during the video edit of the film, I sat with a female vocalist and introduced new female vocals in it."

Shah Rukh Khan to be chased by '50 mulkon ki Police' in Don-2

On the sets of 'Oye! It's Friday', Shah Rukh Khan and Farhan Akhtar found themselves in such a playful zone that it turned out to be a two-episode show instead of a single episode. Have a look at what to expect in the second and concluding episode that would be aired today.

- Shah Rukh jokes about how it's difficult to explain to his children the need for wearing makeup for macho roles. He also talks about how Indian Cinema is growing by leaps and bounds with young talent making Indian cinema go places.

- Shah Rukh tries to relive the Mohabbatein moment as he 'attempts' playing the violin all over again. A difficult task for him because he is pitted against none other than Violin maestro Lakshminarayana Subramaniam, also known as Ambi, who in spite of being in just his 12th standard has already begun to follow in the footsteps of his father, the famous Violin Maestro Dr. L. Subramaniam.

- This young genius gave his first performance at the age of seven and has already performed extensively in Indian and abroad. Ambi has also performed with his father for Karnatic concerts at the prestigious Dussehra Festival at the Mysore Palace and recently performed at the Lincoln Center Out- of- Doors Festival.

- Even though Shah Rukh believed that playing a violin was his 'Dain haath ka khel', all he could do was just 'pretend' playing the violin. However, once Ambi started playing it, SRK didn't have any other choice but to admit that actors are after all only the face of the talent. However, the mischievous man that he is in real life, SRK did joke about how he would teach Ambi to 'act' while playing a violin.

- Shah Rukh Khan also shared an interesting anecdote about a real life situation that he found himself in during the shoot of Mohabbatein. He reveals that he was so bad at playing the violin that Amitabh Bachchan and Aditya Chopra actually banned him from using a real violin, courtesy the kind of sounds that he produced while playing it. However, when it came to Ambi, his riveting performance got him a standing ovation from Shah Rukh Khan, Farhan and the entire Oye audience.

- There is an interesting game played as well where Shah Rukh Khan is required to recognize his heroines. So how does he do that? Well, he uses his glasses, sunglasses and the torch!

- One of the major highlights of the show involves Farhan Akhtar asking Shah Rukh to call a girl from the audience. The girl here turns out to be Silky. Well, SRK being SRK, he tells her - 'Silky, I'm Milky'. He scares her though with his ever-so-famous 'Madan Chopra' dialogue from Baazigar. The girl is obviously shocked but this is when SRK does something that relaxes the atmosphere. What did he do?

- Farhan Akhtar jokes that instead of '11 mulkon ki Police', there should been at least 50-60 countries involved or maybe even 3-4 planets. A possibility explored? Try doing that in Don 2!

- On a serious conversation around 'Brand SRK', Shah Rukh again maintains that 'He is not SRK; instead he works for SRK'. He also talks about how when something works, branding starts! He adds though that basic level of honesty is required in all what one does and though it is not necessary to rebel, one should not do wrong things because everybody is not a superhero. He also mentions that there is no alternative to hard work!

- Shah Rukh Khan talks about his presence in 20-20 Cricket. He also jokes about how all his childhood pictures were the ones that showed him playing sports. He brings up his love for Chak De India and talks about the sorry state where children cannot tell their parents about their aspirations to be sportspersons. On this, Farhan requests parents to support children who are inclined towards sports.

- Of course, how could a Farhan Akhtar show get completed without a gift being given to the guest? While Farhan does hand him over something interesting, Shah Rukh jokes that how Farhan could have asked him earlier about his choices and he would have been glad to send over a list.

- Shah Rukh Khan makes a grand exit to one of his most popular songs of the decade. Any guesses?

Shahrukh not to attend Amrita's marriage

Amrita Arora's wedding (March 2) guestlist consists of the who's who of the film industry. And yes, Shahrukh Khan is on that list. It will be interesting to see if SRK will attend the wedding festivities that kick off next month. Says a source close to Amrita, "Amrita Arora and her sister Malaika are extremely fond of Shahrukh and Gauri Khan and are regulars at every party at Mannat. The SRK-Salman fight did not affect the equation between the women of the families, who continue to be friends."

However Sohail and Arbaaz stopped accompanying their wives Seema and Malaika to SRK's home after King Khan's jhagda with Sallu. Which is why it seems like the only person from Mannat who will be seen at the Arora shaadi is Gauri. Sources close to King Khan are sceptical about his presence at the wedding, because Amu's like a member of Salman Khan's family. Given the equation between the two actors, to avoid unpleasantness, SRK will probably stay away. He wouldn't want to be on Sallu's turf, given what happened the last time.

Says the source close to the bride-to-be, "Amu has always held Shahrukh great regard for SRK and she is keen that Shahrukh attend the wedding. Amu personally called to invite him. Apparently, the actor voiced his concern about bumping into Salman and causing a tense situation on her special day." Amrita plays it safe, "I can't comment on this. I haven't yet decided my wedding date, so where's the question of inviting anyone?"

Shah Rukh to essay the role of B-town’s famous baddie ‘Mogambo’

It was his bad boy conniving act that bought him much acclaim and turned him into an overnight sensation and now it seems that Shah Rukh Khan is going back to his roots. After being touted as the industry’s romantic boy, SRK will reportedly be seen enacting the most famous villains of all time - Mogambo.

Apparently, Shekhar Kapur, the director of superhit ‘Mr India’, is bowled over by Shah Rukh’s baddie acts. The filmmaker who has been toying with the idea of making a sequel to the film has reportedly approached King Khan for the legendary role essayed by Amrish Puri earlier.

Even though Shekhar states that the role has been tailor made for Shah Rukh; the actor is yet to give his final nod.

A news daily quoted a source as saying, “This film will also star Anil Kapoor and Sridevi, as in the original, but the script has been twisted, to be made more villain centric. Today, there are very few villains who have the towering personality required for the Mogambo type of role, which was played with flourish by the late Amrish Puri in the original ‘Mr India’. And who better than Shah Rukh, who has excelled in negative roles like ‘Baazigar’ and ‘Darr’, to play the role?”

Prior to approaching Shah Rukh, the filmmaker had offered the role to KK Menon. But after the script was made to be villain centric, the team started hunting for a much bigger actor to play the baddie