You know the old myth that Shah Rukh only wants to work with his friends? The myth-mongers forgot to tell you guys that his friends only want to work with him, huh? XD
And why not? He was the one who encouraged Aditya Chopra to direct his first film. He was the one who encouraged Karan Johar to direct his first film and starred in it even though at the time he knew Karan had zilch experience in directing. He not only encouraged Farah Khan to direct, he also starred in AND produced her first film, and second. And the coming third. Farah said she only wants Shah Rukh in her movies, as a producer too, and no one else. At no time during their discussions was money ever the issue. Oh, I forgot to mention that all the films they made with him as the lead actor became big hits.
You wonder why these people are loyal to him? I wonder why you wonder.
Reading all the malicious reports regarding his team's failure in IPL 2 by the media with the anti-SRK and SRK-haters replying back in support by writing paragraph after paragraph of their passionate sentiment against Shah Rukh, I have to admit... I laughed aloud. You guys, if you hate him so much... why pay him this much attention? I bet it's not just about cricket, right? If you're cricket fans and you're angry over the various issues that surfaced in KR during IPL 2, I don't mind it. I'm angry over some issues in KR too, although I don't want to come right out and talk about them since my knowledge in cricket is zilch.
SRK-haters are usually ardent fans of other stars. Well, except for the new brigade consisting of disgruntled and embittered cricket and ex-KR fans, that is. I'm not Aamir's, Salman's, Akshay's, etc.'s fans so I didn't bother writing in their blogs/websites or articles about them to state passionately why I dislike them. I don't understand it. Does Shah Rukh bother you guys so much? If yes, why? This is a mystery I would like to solve. Maybe I should open a discussion topic on this somewhere on the net, collect the answers and make some statistical study out of the result... ha!
See here... what do I care if Aamir's currently the 'Most Powerful Man in Bollywood' by Filmfare? I still don't like his kind of films and I'm not into his style of acting. What is this 'intelellectual actor' and 'Mr. Perfectionist' tags that the media and his fans always slap him with anyway? So, if I'm not into his films, then it means I'm not intelligent enough to understand them? So, he's a perfectionist and that means other actors aren't? So his films are mostly of the critically acclaimed variety and if they bombed at the box office, it doesn't matter? What a crocka bullshit.
I'm with Shah Rukh in liking movies that concentrate on entertaining the audience. Dark, depressing, self-absorbed movies turn me off... blegh. Shah Rukh risks his life again and again during filming and rehearses 1001 times for a scene ...and if that's not being a perfectionist, I dunno what is. And he might give himself the tag of a 'frivolous geek' to escape from being labeled as an 'intellectual', but one only needs to compare the speeches between the two during the producers-multiplexes meeting to notice that even without a prepared speech, Shah Rukh breezed through it while Mr. Intellectual errr-ed and emmm-ed every 2 seconds even though he's supposedly better prepared. Intellectual people who believe in everyone's opinion that they're mighty clever are the pits. I work in a university. I'm surrounded by them, so I should know.
Another of my pet peeve ...I'm tired of reading that RNBDJ is a flop or did not do well at the box office. What the hell. What planet are these writers currently residing in? And every time, every frigging time, they always compare it to Ghajini. Hello? Look at the way these two films were marketed. RNBDJ was hardly promoted before it was released due to 26/11 while Ghajini was marketed to the hilt. Aamir even got the ushers of the multiplexes to shave their hair Ghajini style on the day RNBDJ was released and this was broadcast during the RNBDJ press meet. Shah Rukh took it sportingly, what else could he do but joke wittily about it? It's their Mr Intellectual who carried out this dirty trick, so they said the move was an ingenious one. Imagine the uproar that would have ensued if it were Shah Rukh who ambushed Aamir this way. Hmmph.
You want some hard numbers? I'll give you hard numbers. The domestic total gross of RNBDJ is $2,078,956 as compared to Ghajini at $2,430,627 while the worldwide total lifetime grosses for RNBDJ stands at $29,914,469 and Ghajini at $38,316,564. RNBDJ was in release for 35 days at 83 theaters while Ghajini was in release for 37 days at also 83 theaters. (source: RNBDJ, Ghajini). Wiki gives two conflicting tables so I dunno which one to believe. While keeping in mind the mood of the Indian public after the 26/11 attack, the lack of promotion for RNBDJ before its release and that the collection still poured in AFTER Ghajini was released two weeks after it... would rational, sane people call it a flop film? NO. So, I'm convinced that every time I read an article stating that it's a flop, I'm reading the writing of a rambling maniac.
(You still don't want to believe the numbers even when they're staring you in the face? What do you want to believe? Your immensely intellectual brain?)
I wonder why this kind of negative rivalry at the degree that it is only happens in Bollywood. Hong Kong has its share of hero-worship too but I don't think Samo Hung, Jet Li, Donny Yen and Jackie Chan are compared to death in the way hindi film heroes are. Each of them has his own unique acting and fighting style so how can we compare between them and say that so-and-so is No. 1? One only needs to watch 'The Forbidden Kingdom' to understand that there's no "No. 1" tag when it comes to acting. I don't believe that Shah Rukh is No. 1 in Bollywood, but neither do I believe that Aamir is, or Amitabh Bacchan is, or anyone else is for that matter. To me, Shah Rukh is my most favourite actor in the world ...and that's it.
I hope this is the last time I feel the need to rant about this versus versus thingy. Before I started this post, I was all ranty and full of angst but as I neared the last paragraphs, I felt myself becoming bored with the topic I've chosen... meh.
But I'm still angry that they're spamming Shah Rukh's blog like nobody's business. I'm angry that they're laying all the blame regarding his team's poor performance in IPL 2 at his door. I'm angry that the media is having a field day cataloging all his so-called 'recent failures'. I'm angry that whatever he says will always be met with controversies. I want my smooth-talking, cynical, witty, acerbic-tongued Shah Rukh again. I don't want him to turn into this mild-mannered, acutely sensitive, politically correct actor just because numerous humourless people out there demand that he holds his tongue.
I know he's supposed to be older and more mature now, a family man with two growing kids, so he needs to watch his public humour. I guess I can understand that with the world becoming more and more open online and everyone has an opinion about everyone, any small thing can be exaggerated and blown out of proportion. But I'm telling ya, the world is less fun when he's so guarded. You dry, boring people are in danger of turning my interesting Shah Rukh into a dull guy.
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