CHAK DE INDIA, KAAFILA and RUSH HOUR 3 open together

It seemed like a solo release for Yash Raj Films and Shahrukh Khan's CHAK DE INDIA when the release date of the film was announced as August 10th. First jolt came in the form of Sunny Deol's KAAFILA which suddenly found itself hot in the industry circles after the success of APNE. After being delayed for quite a while, the film would now be opening simultaneously with CHAK DE INDIA.

If this wasn't enough then there is more to come. Competition now only multiplies with the arrival of RUSH HOUR 3 which sees a worldwide release on August 10. Starring Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker in the lead, the film should be yet another Hollywood success in India after SPIDERMAN 3, DIE HARD 4 and HARRY POTTER's latest adventure, which is still doing good business.

With the adventures of Chief Inspector Lee [Chan] and Detective James Carter [Tucker] traditionally been accepted with open arms by the Indian audience, one can expect some real action at the box office counters ones CHAK DE INDIA, KAAFILA and RUSH HOUR 3 open together.

Source: IndiaGlitz

Shankar has signed up Shah Rukh Khan to play the lead role in Robot

CHENNAI: Director Shankar, the emperor of style, has pulled off a spectacular coup.

He has signed up Shah Rukh Khan to play the lead role in Robot, a sci-fi film, and supposed to be Shankar's dream project. Robot is Shankar's second project in Hindi, Nayak being the first.

King Khan was so bowled over by the story that he has stepped in as producer too. And Shankar's magnum opus would be produced by Red Chillies Entertainment.

Shah Rukh, whose Chak de India is set to release soon, is so excited about Shankar's film that he has decided to push all other projects aside, sources close to the actor revealed.

Work on the mega budget film will commence in four months' time, although Shankar is already busy writing notes on every aspect of Robot.

The rest of the star cast is being finalised, and with the badshah of box office in the lead role, there is already stiff competition among other Bollywood frontrunners to go the Robot way.

Much is being read into the fact that Shankar and A R Rahman were in Canada on the eve of Rajnikanth's Sivaji and speculation is rife that the latter may score the music for Shankar's latest celluloid offering.

Shankar when contacted, refused to comment on the movie but confirmed that the film would be on the floors soon with SRK in the lead role.

Robot the making of which was first reported by this website's newspaper, is likely to hit theatres in 2008.

Source: Newsindpress

I would like to believe that I am the last superstar of India, Shah Rukh Khan

Film critic,Anil Sinanan, talks hockey and greatness with Indian hero Shah Rukh Khan

I arrive for my 5pm appointment with Shah Rukh Khan at the plush Yash Raj Studios in Bombay, only to be told: “I am afraid Mr Khan is running a little late.”

This is no surprise: Khan is a busy man. The star of more than 50 films and with a fan base that’s numbered in the billions (Bollywood has a global audience of 3.6 billion; Hollywood has 2.5 billion) it is the consistent success of his films that was directly responsible for putting Bollywood as we know it on the global cinematic map.

Born in 1965 in New Delhi, Khan entered Bollywood via theatre and television in the 1980s. Initially, his success was based on his antihero turns in Baazigar and Darr, both released in 1993. In 1995 he resurrected the good romantic hero in the blockbuster Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995) – or DDLJ, as it is known – which widened his fan base and took Indian cinema to an international audience.

This was the first film to include a positive “untainted by the evils of the West” nonresident Indian (NRI) character. It spoke to the NRIs of the world, who returned to the cinema in droves. His subsequent NRI hits such as Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998) and Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham (2001) entrenched Khan’s hold on the domestic and overseas box office.

So it is that all of five-and-a-half hours after the appointed time that I finally meet “King” Khan. He is dressed in jeans and a crisp white shirt, and wearing large sunglasses, because of an eye infection. Even without being able to see his eyes I think he looks tired.

Luckily, he lives up to his bubbly reputation and chats away about his next release, Chak de India (Go for it, India!), which next month becomes the first Indian film to be given a London open air premiere. In the film he plays a hockey coach who trains a girls’ team. Traditonally, hockey is India’s national sport – Indians invented the game – but in recent times its popularity has slipped behind those of cricket and football. Does he hope that his film will revive interest in the game?

“I think the reason Indian hockey went down was due to the change in the format of the game, from one that was skill-based to one based on physical strength,” Khan explains. “If, in this country of one billion people, six girls and two boys decide to take up hockey after seeing the film I think I will have succeeded in passing on a message of the importance of hockey as an art form.”

But Khan is taking a professional risk. With the exception of the Oscar-nominated Lagaan (2001), which dealt with cricket, there are hardly any successful sporting Indian films. Was he aware that the film may fail? “If people such as me who are at the top of our work do not take chances and make different kinds of cinema, no one else will,” the actor reasons.

And Khan’s mission may well succeed – Bollywood stars are treated like gods. Why is this so? “In this country entertainment is the last achievement for the common man,” he says. “People regard me as taking away their everyday sadness for three hours, when they can sit in a dark, air-conditioned hall and see me fulfil their dreams. Shah Rukh Khan gives hope to people.”

He is right: he is often dismissed by critics as a ham actor with five basic expressions, but Indian audiences do not really care about acting ability. It is star quality that matters and Khan’s energetic, endearing and cheeky screen presence is the key to his appeal.

So what’s next for King Khan? Has he thought of going back to his theatre origins, perhaps in London’s West End? “I do not think my accent is right for the West End,” he smiles. “And I don’t have the time.”

As I take my leave – at midnight – I ask him about Bollywood’s future. “The entertainment industry is changing rapidly, with the growth of satellite channels and multiplexes. Soon there will not be any superstars. I would like to believe that I am the last superstar of India.”

Source: Times Online UK

Shahrukh and wife Gauri will buy 10 per cent stake in BAG Glamour

BAG Glamour, which will soon launch channels in the entertainment and lifestyle space, is part of the the parent company BAG Films & Media Ltd.
Sources confirmed the development adding that the actor and his spouse will hold the stake in their personal capacity.
The other investors in BAG

Glamour will be India Bulls’ promoter Sameer Gehlaut, who will buy 15 per cent, Kolkata-based private investor High Growth will have 15 per cent, and the remaining 60 per cent will be held by the parent company and promoters such as Anuradha Prasad, Rajiv Shukla among others. When contacted, Chairman and Managing Director, BAG Films & Media, Anuradha Prasad declined to comment. Khan has been dabbling in the entertainment space though this is the first time that he will invest in a TV channel and production house.

Earlier, Khan had floated film production house Dreamz Unlimited with actor Juhi Chawla. He also launched
Red Chillies Entertainment, a film production house in 2004. BAG Films & Media, apart from producing television shows, also operates in the radio space, under the brand name Radio Dhamaal, via a separate entity BAG Infotainment.

The company has announced plans to diversify into television broadcasting and will launch channels in the non-news and news segment. While the non-news channels will operate under BAG Glamour, the news channels will come under BAG Newsline. The channels are expected to go on air by 2008.

Source: Business Standard

SRK talks about Abu Salem’s phone calls

Not long ago actor ShahRukh Khan used to live in fear of underworld Don Abu Salem. However, in a recently released biography, King Of Bollywood Shah Rukh written by Anupama Chopra, the actor talks about Salem’s phone calls.

Shah Rukh says Salem tried to pressurise him to do certain films on communal grounds.
“What kind of a Muslim are you? You refused to work with a Muslim. Shouldn't you be doing something for your community?” Salem used to say reveals Shah Rukh.

However, Shah Rukh says that he did not flinch. He apparently replied to Salem.
“I have worked with Mansoor Khan, Abbas Mastan and Aziz Mirza. I am also working with Mahesh Bhatt whose mother is a Muslim,” says Shah Rukh.

According to the book, Salem was impressed by Shah Rukh's composed answers and decided not to attack him.
Security was beefed up at Shah Rukh’s residence after the incident. But the phone calls did not stop.
Salem did not resort to extortion but kept asking Shah Rukh to do certain films.

The book also claims that impressed by the actor's courage, Salem finally let him off.

"I believe that technology is the promise of tomorrow," Shah Rukh Khan

If reports are to be believed, King Khan is also 'tech savvy' as he is acting savvy...

During a Hewlett Packard event yesterday, Shah Rukh 'Don' Khan actually confirmed this...

Speaking to this correspondent, SRK, as he is fondly called, said it's through technology that a child, the society, and the country can progress. "I believe that technology is the promise of tomorrow," he said.

A self-confessed gizmo freak, the debonair Khan said, "The day a new gizmo hits the market, I grab it. Its in fact kind of a 'first day first show' for me."

A tad wary of computers, SRK feels every now and then you need to update and upgrade your PC with the latest software available in the market.

Meanwhile, he loves his laptop, and ferries it along wherever he goes.
"In fact I have stopped writing. I use my laptop for everything -- script reading, editing, going through shots at film shoots, et al."

All said, he believes that in today's day and age, every household - every child - in fact, everyone with a dream - must have a PC.

Known to be a devoted father, Shah Rukh said he allows his kids to mess with his PC. One can always retrieve what is lost, he says.

Of course it irritates when kids keep pestering you with questions. But he informs that the simple way out is to ask your kid to search whatever it is that he/she is looking for on the net.

Shah Rukh's penchant for technology is much publicized. In fact, the Bollywood buzz is that he's set-up a gaming zone in his gym to play virtual games every night after work-outs.

The other thing he likes is dabbling in visual effects. Which might explain why he's signed S Shankar, director of "Sivaji: The Boss" for his next film. Shankar is credited with some of the best computer graphics in his films.

Source: Techtree

Shahrukh Khan announce New Compaq Desktops and Laptops in Mumbai

As if one Shah Rukh Khan isn't enough, sometimes you get two for the price of one. "You always believed in the future. Don't you always say Kal tumhara hai (Tomorrow is yours)? I believe if you don't have a dream, what do you have?" said Shah Rukh. On Tuesday, the actor turned up at an event to promote a new range of Compaq computers he endorses. The computer-savvy star said he doesn't have much time to spend on his computer, in fact he used the opportunity to make a dig at contemporaries like Aamir Khan and Anil Kapoor who have recently taken to writing Internet blogs to promote their films. "I think one of the reasons that I have good fan following is because I work very hard. So, either I can write blogs or can keep working hard," said Shah Rukh.
endorsed practically every available product already, one cannot help but ask him what he would like to endorse next himself. "Would I want to do more products? The more the merrier. I could promote journalism," said Shah Rukh. Any takers for journalist Khan? We think not. That one, we'll pass!

An exclusive interview with Shah Rukh Khan

Chak De India appears like a very non-SRK film with you having no romantic liaisons or tear-jerking concerns.
I have known the director (Shimit Amin) for years. He is a very simple, hardworking and talented guy. He has worked with me in the film Asoka. He's a very sweet, unassuming kind of a guy and to choose a film which is on sports and which is normally neglected is daring. Apart from Lagaan, Hip Hip Hurray and Iqbal we haven't really made sports film now. It’s something that I wanted to do when I was younger but I didn't get a chance. So when I am old and grey and over the hill I am glad someone like Shimit thought that I could sort of fill in to a sports film. Field hockey has been a personal favourite sport of mine and I have been wanting my kids to learn it. I do feel I am no one to really comment from the outside that the state of Indian Hockey is not good but I have always felt that if there is anything I can do via the medium I love, that is acting, I will go to any extent to do it. Plus the fact that Yash Raj was producing it made it even special because they are all friends and family to me.

Also this time your character doesn’t have a lover-boy image.
Yes. I play Kabir Khan. He is a coach and an ex-Indian hockey player. He is having some problems in his life and wants to overcome them without being cynical and disturbed. He decides in his mind and heart that he is going to do something positive about it. It's a film about achievement in the face of failure and it's a film that looks at failure in a positive way. The idea is to take on some kind of a challenge and try to overcome that obstacle which had stopped you earlier so I would say the character is quite aggressive when he wants to be. It’s a mix of Jaideep's writing, Shimit's outlook, Adi's belief and my mannerisms and style – all rolled into one.

You don’t look the regular Shahrukh in Chak De India
I have reached a stage where directors do not want me to look the same old ShahRukh Khan. Shimit wanted Kabir Khan and that's how I look. A tough coach and a determined coach. I think the producer, director and the writer all thought that may be with a beard and shorter hair I would look different and I was fine with it. Only it’s very scratchy when you wake up in the morning. Even after a bath, you don't feel clean. I hope I don't have to grow a beard for another role for the next couple of years.

The entire hockey team in the film comprises of new actors.
Earlier I thought that working with newcomers would be a bit of a hassle because they would not know their lines. You know you become a little patronizing and a little kind at times, a little agitated and irritated too because things are not going the way you think they should go. But I think the whole production team had worked very hard with them and I do not want to take any credit away from these girls. I think they are very hardworking and wonderful. They have put their heart and soul into the film. They have practiced and learnt hockey, they have learnt the lines, they know the scenes they knew everything and at the end of it all after having worked for 18 years as an actor I thought I got a lot to learn.

Among the girls in the team, many of them must have been your fans.
We had a lot of readings before we started the film and couple of meetings so that we got easy with each other apart from some of them liking me. It's a little embarrassing because some of them were five to six years old when they saw my films. Then you suddenly realize, god! you are old and you've been in this industry for long. It was also important for me to be comfortable with them and not treat them like kids because the whole purpose of the character of Kabir is that he doesn't treat them like kids or girls he treats them like grown up, tough people. I think that little bit of being fans and stalwart compared to the others got over very fast in the reading and meeting stage and then we were all co-actors and co-actresses, just working together and having a great time.

You are known to be a sporty person. Did you play hockey in school?
Yes. I used to play a lot of field hockey in my school days. I was good at it but when I went and played for the film I was horrible. I was really awful. I had no stamina left. I think the technique of hockey has changed, Astroturf itself is very tiring. As shameful as it is to say but I thought I would be able to beat the girls but they kicked my butt as they were really good. I am no good at playing field hockey I realized. I realized while playing with them that it would be better if I use my status as a super star and not practice at all and tell them that I can pull it off by acting so I did that because I knew that no matter how much I practice, I would never be good at it but I have given it my best shot and hopefully it looks good enough.

What was your experience of working with Shimit Amin?
I think Shimit is a very sweet director. He's very quiet and very unassuming. He is an amazing technician because he himself is very skilled at editing which I think is half the battle won for a director and knowing fully what he wants, where he wants and how he will edit it. A sports film has to be shot in a very special way and normally it required somewhere between two to six cameras at times to shoot the film, so its very difficult to keep track of all that unless you happen to be a good technician. I think he has had a lot of education in world cinema and not just Indian cinema. He loves Indian cinema. Thus his exposure to both kind of cinema gives him an edge over a lot of other directors. He's young and he's made a wonderful film in the past 'Ab Tak Chhappan' and he's a friend. I have known him for years and he is very comfortable to work with. A really sweet guy, he doesn't get angry, is great by nature and knows his job. He's an ideal director to work with.

Hockey as a sports option is not very common in schools today. Do you think it's a good game for the children of today?
I just hope the film can educate people to understand that even though Hockey is played with a stick and white ball it's not pool, it's not billiards, it's a different sport. It's a national sport. I would tell kids to give it a shot if they like it and go ahead otherwise there is always soccer, cricket or a Taekwondo.

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the words Chak De India?
Chak De strangely to me is a line from Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jaayenge. I remember we used to say Chak De Phate in DDLJ. I hope Chak De India becomes like a sporting line whenever Sachin is playing. Or perhaps when Dhanraj Pillai is going with the ball, somebody screams Chak De India which means score a goal or hit a sixer or get Sania Mirza to win the Wimbledon.

Source: IndiaFM

Nothing but the best Shah rukh Khan starrer 'Chak De India'

On the face value, USP of CHAK DE INDIA may appear to be just Shahrukh Khan. Still, if one digs deep down, there is much larger effort that has gone in making this film truly different from what Yash Raj Films has made in the past.

First and foremost the director at the helm is Shimit Amin who could easily be counted as the unlikeliest of all when it comes to associating a film maker with YRF. Otherwise how could one imagine the man behind a gritty AB TAK CHAPPAN to be making a film for the production house which thrives on feel good entertainers?

Well, this is not all as the major part of the film's crew also comprises of technicians who are easily the best in the business.

Jaideep Sahni, the man behind projects as diverse as 'Company', 'Bunty Aur Babli' and 'Khosla Ka Ghosla' pens the screenplay of 'Chak De India'. Amitabh Shukla, who has used his scissors to perfection in films like 'Namastey London', 'Krrish', 'Kabul Express' and 'Bluffmaster' has been roped in as an editor. Sudeep Chatterjee, who has captured the frames of 'Iqbal' and 'Dor' with as much élan as 'Jaan-E-Mann' is the film's cinematographer whereas art director Sukant Panigrahy has left the fantasy world of 'Jhoom Barabar Jhoom' behind to get more realistic with the real drama of 'Chak De India'.

Usual suspects like Ganesh Acharya and Salim-Sulaiman hardly need an introduction as they come together for choreography and music of the film. Last but not the least, with brains of producer Aditya Chopra behind the project, it makes it a 10 out of 10 for 'Chak De India' when it comes to setting the base right for the film.

'Jhoom Barabar Jhoom' may have bombed at the box office but that hasn't stopped Yash Raj Films from being busy. Neck deep into the promotion of 'Chak De India', the country's numero uno film making house has made sure that they deliver nothing but the best for this ambitious Shahrukh Khan starrer.

Source: Bollywood Trade News Network

S Shankar is all set to work with Shah Rukh Khan

Director S Shankar is keen to repeat his recent success working with Tollywood’s finest Rajnikant in Sivaji, this time working with Bollywood’s finest Shah Rukh Khan. Khan and Shankar have been in touch for some time and are working on the script and other details of the action thriller.

Shah Rukh, who is yet to sign on the dotted line, will like to start work on Shankar’s film after he completes Shirish Kunder’s untitled Sci-Fi film in which he plays the lead, possibly as a super hero.
A common thread between Shah Rukh and his new directors appears to be their love for FX.

Kunder is an FX aficionado having used it extensively with his directorial debut Janeman.

Shah Rukh, of course, happens to own India’s finest FX studios.

S Shankar, a reputed director of Tollywood, is known to use state of the art FX in his films.

Besides Sivaji, Shankar is well known for films such as Indian and Anniyan.
Shah Rukh will be next seen in Yash Raj Films Chak De which is set to hit theatres on 10 Aug 2007. The film is directed by Shimit Amin, who made the gripping crime thriller Ab Tak Chappan, starring Nana Patekar.

Shah Rukh’s home production Om Shanti Om, directed by business partner and choreographer Farah Khan, is slated for a Diwali release. In the film Shah Rukh is paired against debutant Deepika Padukone.

Source: Sawf News