SRK's Dulha Mil Gaya in 'BIG' trouble

Vivek Vaswani's Dulha Mil Gaya seems to be jinxed, after the much delayed shooting thanks to Shahrukh Khan the movie is financial trouble now. Anil Ambani's BIG Pictures which had brought the rights of the movie has given up on the deal due to the financial losses the company suffered in wake of the ongoing recession.

Vaswani on his part plans to re-offer the movie to BIG Pictures and if doesn't work out look for another potential buyer. The film stars fardeen khan and Sushmita in the lead and has a Special role by Shahrukh. Sources close to Vaswani say that some of the sequences with Shahrukh are still pending as King Khan is in South Africa promoting his team in the ongoing Indian Premiere League.

Dada is a dude for Knight Riders: Shah Rukh

Durban: Sourav Ganguly may no longer be the captain of Kolkata Knight Riders, but team owner Shah Rukh Khan feels the former Indian skipper is still a "dude" and pivotal in the side's scheme of things in the on-going IPL.

"Dada is fantastic and there is no two ways about it. He does not need to prove it to anyone how great as a player he is. We know it in KKR. He's the main cog of our team. He's the guy the team centres around," Shah Rukh said in praise of Ganguly.

"(Brendon) McCullum, (Chris) Gayle, Brad (Hodge), David (Hussey), Ishant (Sharma), (Ashok) Dinda, Laxmi Ratan (Shukla) all feel the support from him, feel his intelligence, feel his winning ways. Dada is a dude," said the Bollywood superstar.

Shah Rukh also felt that Ganguly's two wickets for 24 runs tilted the match in his team's favour against Kings XI Punjab.

"Against Kings XI Punjab he was amazing with those couple of wickets. When Dada came on and got those two early wickets it changed the match in our favour and after that also he sort of kept them quiet and scared. I think that made a lot of difference," he was quoted as saying by IPL official website.

Shah Rukh said it was too early to start celebrating after his team posted its first win in two games by beating Kings XI Punjab.

"It's good for the team that it has started coming together. Our top-order whether it's Ishant Sharma (in bowling) or Sourav Ganguly, Brendon McCullum and Chris Gayle (batting) all are coming good together. We did not play too hot on the first day. I think the first match would be considered as a practice match and we are working on the mistakes committed on day one. The team is working together and that's what makes me feel a little more firm and good. But there is still a long way to go," he said.

Shah Rukh had a tough choice when asked who he thinks is bigger hitter between Chris Gayle or Brendon McCullum. "It is very difficult to say that. With Gayle we have a bet that he has to send one ball from South Africa to Kolkata and with McCullum we have that he has to send one back to New Zealand. We'll find out who is going to win. "I think both have their different strengths. Gayle has this timing and strength, McCullum has all timing and bliss.

McCullum is more like (Virender) Sehwag who times the ball whereas Gayle has got this strength like Yuvraj Singh. You can't really choose between them, they are both fantastic and when they both get going it is fantastic to watch."

All's fair in love and cricket, says Shilpa

But match against friend Shah Rukh's team will be emotionally difficult for her

Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty whose co-owned Indian Premier League (IPL) team Rajasthan Royals faces her friend and superstar Shah Rukh Khan's team Knight Riders in Cape Town on Thursday (April 23), says "all's fair in love and cricket" despite it being a "difficult" match emotionally.

"We play on the 23rd in Cape Town against the Knight Riders, that will be a difficult one, not the match but the emotion... it's terrible to play against a friend's (Shah Rukh Khan) team but all's fair in love and cricket, I guess," Shilpa posted on her blog on Wednesday (April 22) from South Africa.

"Hope we have luck on our side this time... I've realised winning in this format (Twenty20) of the game has a lot to do with luck as well," she added.

Knight Riders hit by mental blog

CAPE TOWN: Shah Rukh Khan has spent a lot of money building up PR for Kolkata Knight Riders. He’s hired the right firms, been out there in the public just about all the time; there’ve been parties, press conferences, cheerleaders, music and almost all the right kind of bytes given by the superstar himself.

Yet, he’s a troubled man. That’s not just because KKR got off to bad start or that relations between ex-captain Sourav Ganguly and coach John Buchanan continue to be strained. It’s mainly got to do with an unknown blogger - who claims to be a KKR team member - bent on letting the cat out of the bag all the time.

The blogger - calling himself Fake IPL Player - is sure he’ll never be a part of the playing XI. "But, there’s one thing I do very well. Serve drinks. And that’s what I am expecting do in South Africa," he writes.

Evidently, he’s doing much more. The day begins with posts on what KKR did at the breakfast table to what Khan had to say to his team, who listened, who smirked, what the coach did the whole day, how’s Ganguly coping with lost captaincy and of course, what the rest of the teams and their players have been up to.

The blogger uses names coined by him to refer to these people. So the pieces are about "our megalomaniac owner", Badshah d****, Coachie, Skipper (Brendon McCullum), Calypso King (Chris Gayle), Lord Almighty or Lordie (a former skipper) and fast bowlers Kaan Moolo and Little John.

Then there are non-KKR personalities like a commentator, Kishen Kanhaiyya, a star batsman, Prince of Patiala and a pacer, Appam Ch*****, among others.

KKR camp slams ‘poison-pen’ blog

An unknown blogger who claims to be a Kolkata Knight Riders team member is letting out what he claims to be KKR team news, giving co-owner Shah Rukh Khan a big headache.

The blogger claims to bring "news" straight from the dressing room. Sample: "Lordie ( a former skipper) took over the match briefing, and boy, was he charged up or what. He just let loose, telling the boys what is expected of them - imagine the slowest member of the team chastizing guys twice as fast on matters such as agility, speed and throwing."

The blog has become such a rage that almost all players in the tournament are clued in, wanting to know who partied where the last night, who went out with whom, and so on.

There’s more. The blogger claims that there’s now a ‘witch-hunt’ to nab him within the next 24 hours and he’s convinced that that will just not be possible.

The team seems to be rattled. Kolkata Knight Riders arrived in Cape Town on Thursday morning for their match against Team Jaipur on Friday.

However, on Thursday, at least till late afternoon, there wasn’t a clue what the team was up to. No training session, no press conference. None of the players or officials were seen moving out of their hotel rooms. Phones were either switched off or put on voice mail.

There was just a buzz that there’d be a team meeting presided over by SRK. But that remained a buzz till the time of going to press.

KKR CEO Joy Bhattacharya has called the blog "poison-pen writing of the dirtiest variety". According to him, there are far too many factual errors and far too little information or insight for the writer to successfully pretend to be a KKR member.

The KKR management’s response itself has provoked several pieces. Like this one: "In Cape Town. Laptops hv bn banned. I’net removed fm rooms. But posts wl continue thru SMS, relayed by my bro in India."

There’s serious gossip doing the rounds not just within the KKR camp but among other teams as well.
There are rumours that there’s quite a bit of infighting inside the team and that a few players and coach and the owner don’t see eye to eye. One of the blogs says how Ganguly is waiting for that one big knock to get back at SRK.

The latest one also talks about senior players being questioned about the blog.

So, who’s Fake IPL Player? That’s now a subject of intense speculation. Is he actually a KKR member or just faking it? The blogger describes himself as a "perennial no hoper" Ranji cricketer who bowls and bats a bit, and fields "like a maniac". There are several personal references - but these could well be red herrings.

SRK defends his Knight Riders!

Passion could well be Shah Rukh Khan’s middle name.

Be it his films or his IPL franchisee Knight Riders, SRK puts his mouth where his heart is. Like in this interview to BT hours after the Knight Riders scored their first points in IPL-II on Tuesday, after winning against Kings XI Punjab courtesy the Duckworth-Lewis method.

The turning point in that match, feels SRK, was that the entire team got into the act. “Dada getting quick wickets, Ishant Sharma doing his bit, and then Chris Gayle and Brendon McCullum coming out and batting like that, it was heartening to see the team supporting one another,” says SRK. But even as he states that the Knight Riders were “deserving winners”, he admits that the Knights are also “spirited losers”. “We were cold at the start of the tournament,” SRK says it as it is, when asked about the team’s dismal first performance against Team Hyderabad, “but the first few matches are all about team building and team strengthening, and we’re getting there.”

Over to the team. Is there additional pressure on the Knights to perform, considering the team has been mired in controversies from the start? “What everyone says need not always be true. We have a thought process behind our decisions, be it the multi-captain theory or the change of captain. We aren’t bothered by controversy, in fact, it brings us closer, binds us more, when the world puts us down, we find confidence and support in each other. We stick to what we believe in, we Knights are married to each other,” says the ever-positive Khan.

The Knights will play against last year’s champs Team Rajasthan today, tough match? “Each match is tough, because the pitches are unknown to us. But we’ll give Shane Warne and his team an entertaining fight!” promises SRK.
But the Bollywood star has a peculiar dilemma — he was born in Delhi, works in Mumbai and owns a Kolkata franchisee — how does he balance his loyalties?

“Kolkata is my playground, Mumbai, my home. It just shows I’m a true Indian, a walking, talking epitome of being a true Indian!” he laughs. But despite being the owner of the team, SRK knows when to step back and let others do the talking.

“When it comes to cricket, I am also an outsider. I let those who know the game make the decisions. I don’t know if a decision is good or bad, but I will support it nonetheless. I treat my team like I treat my children, and fans should support us in good times and bad. It should be from the heart...”

No wonder, then, that King Khan is their Knight in shining armour!

Insider leaks KKR information on blog

Shah Rukh Khan is not going to be a happy person for too long; especially since an anonymous blogger seems to be telling the world what’s happening in the green room.

The blogger is penning down details of team strategy, happenings at the team meeting and gossip in the dressing rooms and other private circles.

The blog’s authenticity hasn’t been proven yet. The writer writes using either code names for the players (Lord Almighty for Saurav Ganguly, Sheikh of the Tweak for Shane Warne).

The management has condemned the poison pen writer and hopes to bring a stop to his posts soon.

I cry when KKR loses: SRK

Bollywood superstar and Kolkata Knight Rider co-owner Shah Rukh Khan says his involvement with the Knight Riders team is intense and that he cries on nights when they lose.

"I feel disturbed when things go wrong, I cry when my films go wrong, and even here at the IPL I cry very, very often," King Khan said.

He said his fans in Kolkata should realise that "compared to movies, more things can go wrong in cricket." He asked for their patience, saying that "my dream is to come to Kolkata on a barge and bring the cup with me."

For that to happen, he said, the team needed "ten crore positive sentiments from all the Bongs and Bengalis out there."

He said he would even give new steps for his team's 'Korbo, Lorbo, Jeetbo' war cry. But "along the way if we go wrong, please pray for us," he said.

SRK said that he received "strange hate mail for decisions that he took for the team," and that he would like at some point to "go to each house and explain" what he was doing. He said "it's not unfair for fans to expect that, as professionals, we do well all the time," but they must also understand that there would be win and loss in a sport, "much more than in a movie."

Of the emotional nature of Kolkata's people he said: "Kolkatans are lovers one night and angry men on others."

Having dropped Sourav as his captain, SRK batted for him by saying that "Dada was always hot."

"Instead of bad-ass, I'm going to rename him Dad-ass" he quipped.

"I want everyone who has derided him to know that he's the greatest player in the country and the greatest player in the team," said SRK. He praised his other star batsman Chris
Gayle, saying that he had a deal with him to lose as many balls as he could outside the park.

Talking of the Bollywood babes in the IPL, Preity and now also Shilpa, SRK said that he loved women and would not fight them. "My son does that because he's young enough to do that," he said. "but if they were guys I would set them right. I don't fight with girls."

He pointed out that both Shilpa and Preity had debuted in Bollywood opposite him.

Exclusive: Shah Rukh Khan on his Knights

Kolkata Knight Riders have registered their first win in IPL season 2 and team owner Shah Rukh Khan now wants to put all the controversies behind and concentrate on cricket. He spoke to Vimal Kumar after the victory celebrations.

SRK: It's going to be difficult at times. People are not going to understand from outside. All I can tell you is: "You can love us, you can hate us, but you can't ignore us. We will try our best as humbly as possible. We will try and entertain everyone. We are open to be talking about the team the way we wish to. We love you and we are going to try our best. Whichever the part of the country you are in, make sure you are proud of Kolkata Knight Riders."

Q: IPL is shifted to South Africa. Rain is playing spoilsport. Your take on that

SRK: Weather is not something that even I can control or, you can control. It's unfortunate. But apparently, it is not seasonal rain here, either. So things happen like this. When the moment is big, the occasion is really important, small things can spoil it. But the idea was the IPL2 should be held. So forget the rain. Whenever it rains we just sing a good rain song. But beyond that, yes it's unfortunate. I feel sad that some of the matches are getting curtailed because of rain.

Q: You must be feeling happy that your team has started winning.

SRK: I don't think we have started winning. We have twelve more matches to go. I can't be happy so soon. But I am very happy that the team has started playing together. And inshe allah... as we go along the next twelve matches we will play together. As long as we play together, winning or losing is not important. I think if we are able to bring the spirit of the Kolkata Knight Riders into this, that is more important. So I am happy for the kids. I think they were very depressed after losing the first match. I am happy that they are happy now. But a long way to go.

SRK's KKR '09 Sprite Ad Shoot

King Khan’s children get special IPL chutti

As we put on our TV sets to watch the Indian Premiere League season 2’s matches of Shah Rukh Khan owned Kolkata Knight Riders we can also see Khan’s two kids Aryan (11) and Suhana (8) cheering for their team in South Africa. But it is learnt that they have been given special exemption to attend these matches and bunk the special classes of their school - Dhirubhai Ambani School.

Our source reveals, "Last IPL, the King Khan’s children, especially son Aryan was a regular feature in most of the KKR matches. But since the matches were held in India it was easily possible for their superstar dad to take them to the match venues. This year as the venue has shifted to South Africa, it seemed difficult that SRK would manage to take them along. Also since their school was holding special classes delaying their summer vacation. But Shah Rukh apparently applied for a special permission and the school gave his kids five days of holiday as a special case.”