Shahrukh Khan funds solar electricity projects for seven villages in Orissa

Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan is being hailed as a hero in the villages of Orissa after he helped light up thousands of houses across seven villages by funding a solar electricity project.

Shahrukh funded rural electrification project in Ahriajpur, Banhipal, Okilapala, Palachua, Rangani, Denlasahi and Gupti villages, which uses solar energy that was implemented by The Energy and Research Institute (TERI).

For the villagers in Okilapala, Shahrukh has come as messiah as his funding helped these people to see the light of the day after 61 years of the country’s independence.

“All the 270 families in our village cannot forget Shahrukh Khan’s help. The contribution of this great man is incomparable. He has helped us very much. We were living in bad condition, without any light, he provided us with solar lights and villagers have to pay just Rs. 3 to get the light. We are getting the light at very cheap rates,” said, Tulsi Das, a villager.

The villagers have also been provided with solar lamps for which they have to pay a fee of Rs. 3, while a recharging station has been set up in the village and solar panels have also been installed to enable the villagers to charge their lamps everyday.

“Now we have no problems. Though we have to pay Rs. 3 for night, we are getting many benefits. Our children can study now, women can work properly. Earlier, there used to be many problems while using kerosene lamps, but now we avail many benefits. We have got lights from Shahrukh Khan. We had no idea about him, but now we have come to know about him,” said Kalindi Nayak, another villager.

Video: SRK turns designer

It looks like there could be a new addition to King Khan's resume. After being a superstar, producing megahits and owning an IPL team, he now wants to try his hand at designing clothes.

SRK to design for KJO

It seems there could be an addition to King Khan's resume. Being a superstar, producing megahits and owning an IPL team is clearly not enough to keep Shah Rukh Khan occupied. The Bollywood Badshah now wants to be a designer as well.

Vogue magazine's second anniversary issue celebrates the power of two with Shah Rukh and his ultimate leading lady Kajol. But there is another element to this power pair. And that is the director of their forthcoming film, their good friend, their interviewer and, evidently, their style guru as well - Karan Johar - who admits, "It's undoubtedly me; out of the three of us, I definitely take the style crown."

We're not arguing the point. But even if Karan's got his couture down pat, Shah Rukh is not letting that dampen his own aspirations as a budding designer.

"I will be designing an outfit for Karan, which he will wear for his show. I think he makes me look very dandified and I want him to look a little more relaxed. So me and Shiraz, who sometimes designs for me, are putting together an outfit for him," says Shah Rukh.

And what does Karan, who will make his own debut as a fashion designer at the forthcoming Couture Week, make of this? "Shah Rukh doesn't like my clothes. So he said he would wear my clothes only if I walked in his!" admits the young filmmaker.

Well that's trade off we're only too happy to accept.

And if you're wondering when you can get your hands on the King Khan collection, it may take a while coming.

"Just in case you don't like what you see, it's because Karan is a bad model, and not because the clothes are bad," insists Shah Rukh.

The good news is that modelling is just another one of KJo's many skills. So if he pulls this one off, the King Khan line could be just a fashion rack away!

Rains stop Khan

The downpour in the city yesterday forced Karan Johar to cancel the day's shoot of My Name Is Khan. The director has put up an elaborate set at Film City for the last schedule of the film.

KJO on a social networking site says, "Shooting held up because of sudden rain and thunder. Waiting for it to stop!"

Video: SRK and Kajol Exclusive Vogue photoshoot

SRK, Kajol back in Vogue

A couple that sets the screen on fire, a couple who can make make a million hearts beat faster, and a couple who's always in vogue...Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol.

The killer chemistry of the Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge couple is back and they embody the power of two. No other couple could have been more perfect for appearing on the second anniversary cover of Vogue magazine in India.

Shah Rukh said it is a 'relief' that he was finally picked to be on the cover of Vogue. He told NDTV, "I'm very excited I'm the Vogue cover. My wife was on the Vogue cover when it started off, and that's something everyone in the house teases me about that I have not made it to a cover that my wife did. So this is my claim to fame, and hopefully now I'll be looked up to in my house."

Despite the different camera, Kajol too had a good time, she said, "I expected it to be a lot tougher than it actually was, but everybody really rallied together and made us look fashionable, so we didn't have to try too hard."

It certainly is a casting coup- in more ways than one, because however hard it may be to believe this, neither of the two fit comfortably into their modeling shoes. They both insist that the differences between the still and moving camera are manifold and needless to say, in front of the movie camera, they are nothing short of perfect.

And a modest SRK said the reason he doesn't do too many cover shoots is simply because, "(he's) no good at it."

Both swear the differences between still and moving camera are manifold, so do they have a few fallback faces when faced with a lens they do not love?

Says SRK, "We are not the best people to be posing, we don't pout, we don't know how to smile, we don't know which side to look. We do silly things, we laugh, we joke, we kept looking in the wrong direction."

And what makes them the hottest couple? Well they are hardly in the mood to deliberate on that. Kajol said, "We have done so many films together that have done well, and they happen to be love stories...I think it is great. I don't understand it myseof so I can't explain it."

There are still many months left for the release of My Name is Khan, their comeback movie as a couple, and till then, this will have to do for the fans.

SRK to marry Rituparna!

King Khan & Tolly queen play man and wife in ad film

This Mahasaptami, Shah Rukh Khan will be married to Rituparna Sengupta.

Before you go into shock (or awe), let us set things straight. Bollywood’s Hero No. 1 and Tollywood’s Heroine No. 1 will play husband and wife for a product promotion to be shot in Mumbai’s Filmcity on Friday.

SRK will play a common man and Rituparna his homemaker wife. And the (Ayurvedic) magic potion that keeps them together? Chyawanprash, from the stable of Calcutta-based Emami Group.

“Both of them are our brand ambassadors, and so we thought pairing them would be the perfect marriage for the brand,” said Emami director Aditya Agarwal. “Shah Rukh will provide the national connect while Rituparna will provide the regional connect.”

The superstar with more than a national connect is learnt to be happy at the prospect of working with the regional rage, continuing his long tradition of romancing Bengali beauties on screen, from Kajol to Rani.

“Shah Rukh has seen Rituparna’s work in Main Meri Patni Aur Woh and also remembers her coming to Eden Gardens to support his Kolkata Knight Riders team in the first IPL season,” said a source. “He okayed the concept of the commercial at one go.”

Rituparna, too, did not waste time before saying ‘I do’.

“I am very excited but I am very nervous too,” she admitted. “I will be shooting with the Shah Rukh Khan. I am a huge fan of his.... Plus, I have recently done a film titled SRK with Vinay Pathak. And now, I will be shooting with SRK himself!”

Rituparna, who will be going to Mumbai on Tuesday for a pre-shoot session, is now busy juggling Bolly and Tolly, with shooting on for Priyadarshan’s untitled film co-starring Akshaye Khanna, Ajay Devgan and Bipasha Basu.

Shah Rukh is dividing his work time between the last schedule of Karan Johar’s My Name is Khan and shooting lots of advertisements as part of his brand commitments.

The Chyawanprash ad film will be directed by Ram Madhvani of Equinox Films, who shot the Bheja kum song in Taare Zameen Par, and is also slated to direct Amitabh Bachchan in the forthcoming Vidhu Vinod Chopra production Taalismaan.

“I have seen her in a couple of Bengali films apart from Main Meri Patni Aur Woh,” said Madhvani.

“I think she is just fantastic and I am really looking forward to working with her for the first time. I have worked with Shah Rukh before and the two of them would make an unusual but good pairing,” he added, from Mumbai.

The SRK-RS commercial will go on air from end-October. Star Bollywood photographer Dabboo Ratnani will shoot the stills.

Shah Rukh Khan gears up for an action-packed 2010

Shah Rukh Khan's fans have seen little of the actor in 2009. After his Rab Ne Bana De Jodi released in the December of 2008, the actor has been in the news for his Indian Premier League team, Kolkata Knight Riders and its controversies and his US trip where he was questioned at length by the airport security authorities on India's Independence Day. But the Badshah promises to change everything in 2010 as he gears up for an action packed year.

The year will begin with the release of Karan Johar's My Name is Khan. In March SRK will get into the boots of a league owner and guide his team, KKR in the third edition of IPL. All of March and April, the actor will devote to his cricket team and ensure that his team puts up a better fight this year.

Shah Rukh will also start shooting for Farah Khan's next film. The choreographer turned director is currently scripting her film and should be ready to roll by the end of the first quarter of the year. Come August, King Khan will gear up for Don. The sequel will be once again directed by Farhan Akhtar and has a long European schedule. Shooting for the film will be in the locales of London, Dublin and Frankfurt with a short schedule in Berlin. Also on the pipeline is Anubhav Sinha's Ra 1 and another film with a debutant director.

Shah Rukh had to take it easy for some time as he was recuperating from a shoulder operation after he hurt himself shooting for Viveck Vaswani's Dulha Mil Gaya. However, before the year ends, this film will release and audiences can get to see SRK in an extended special appearance for this film.

As they say there is always a lull before the storm and one can expect to see SRK in full action mode in 2010.

In Pics: Shahrukh Khan meets Akshay Kumar on the sets of 'Blue'

SRK pays surprise visit to Akshay at the sets of 'Blue'

Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan took everyone on the sets of 'Blue' by surprise when he walked in to meet Akshay Kumar.

The team of 'Blue' was shooting for a special number 'Fikrana' with Akshay and Zayed Khan at Floor number one in Film City in suburban Mumbai.

While the crew was in the middle of the shoot, Shah Rukh walked on to the sets to greet Akshay making the crowd go berserk seeing the two stars together.

The duo then stepped into Akshay's vanity van where they spent nearly 15-20 minutes.

An eyewitness present on the sets said, "We knew SRK was shooting nearby but no one expected him to come on the sets of 'Blue'. He surprised everyone including Akshay. They both even posed together for photographs."

"While we were shooting for Blue on Floor 1 at Filmcity, SRK was shooting on Floor 12 for an automobile commercial. Though the distance is considerably large, Shah Rukh actually walked down all the way to meet Akshay. That was simply incredible," a source from the production team said.

'Blue', an underwater action thriller directed by Anthony D'Souza is slated for a Diwali release and stars, Akshay, Sanjay Dutt, Lara Dutta, Zayed Khan, Rahul Dev and Katrina Kaif in a special appearance.