Sunday, January 31, 2010

Interview during Billu release.. but there's also a bit of MNIK in it

Extract of the GQ Interview

I’ve a Strange Attachment to Socks: Shah Rukh (source)

Posted by Vamban on Jan 29th, 2010 18:05:02 and filed under Entertainment, National. ShareThis

New Delhi, Jan 29 – Thanks to his irrepressible sense of humour, Shah Rukh Khan comes across as an easy going person. But in real life the Bollywood star is little different and one of the things he is extremely finicky about is his socks.

‘I have a strange attachment to socks. They should feel right. I could be missing a flight, but if my socks are wrong, I have to take them off… I won’t wear nylon socks with sneakers. The only time I get disturbed during shooting is over my socks. I hate brown socks and different-coloured socks,’ said Shah Rukh said in an interview to the GQ magazine.

The interview will be published in the February issue of the lifestyle magazine.

In the interview, the 44-year-old also talked about his loneliness.

‘I can come across as a user, manipulator, disinterested, weird, reclusive, strange, arrogant from the outside. But the people involved know the truth…there are days I feel lonely on the inside. I guess that’s the way I am.’

‘I’ve never gotten into relationships because I’m scared to. I have a shield. I’ve lost my parents, so now I don’t like to lose relationships. I have to admit that at 44 I am socially and emotionally inept,’ said Shah Rukh.

The actor will be seen in his forthcoming film ‘My Name is Khan’, which is releasing Feb 12.

Directed by Karan Johar, the film features Shah Rukh as an unconventional hero Rizvan Khan, who embarks on a journey across America to win back the love of his life, played by Kajol. It shows how, along the way, his personality touches the lives of many and inspires a nation.

SRK Immortalised

I like this statue better. Rockstar feel.. suits him more, I think. The Madame Tussauds one appears serious coz of the sombre attire.

My Name Is Khan' SRK KING KHAN 31 JAN INTERVIEW CENTURY PLY



On the Couch with Koel - 2nd time



NEXT

Saturday, January 30, 2010

So? What are you waiting for?

The brilliance of Shah Rukh Khan

You can learn many things about him in this clip.. which you will have to probably unlearn come the next clip.. :P
  • The eyes of the people in the audience positively shone with anticipation during the whole act.
  • Shahid could do nothing but trail behind His Highness.
  • When Shah Rukh is after something, he's relentless. You either face him bravely or back out entirely.. the art of meeting halfway is lost on this guy.
  • I've never seen anyone who could handle a potentially explosive interview as suavely, entertainingly and positively as Shah Rukh has done here. I'd like to see someone else tries it.. ha!
  • Members of the film industry is very VERY lucky that Shah Rukh is firmly on THEIR side. Imagine someone like him running amok as a full-fledged member of the journalistic media...
  • He effortlessly turned an embarrassing memory filled with scornful sneer into one full of laughing camaraderie. Did he actually set out to accomplish this or did it happen accidentally? With Shah Rukh, one can never really tell. 


I can't imagine the Bollywood scene without Shah Rukh in it. He has permeated every corner of my memory that has anything even remotely to do with Bollywood. Throughout the 90s he carried hindi cinema almost single-handedly on his shoulders, spilling his love all over the place even outside of his home country while he was at it. Despite so many attempts to undermine all his effort, he's shouldered through the bad times that come with the good as we entered the new millenium. I hope his shoulders are as tough as ever.. tougher in fact, since he's bionic now.. 20-30-40 years in the future. Will I still be here as his silent witness? Only time and fate will tell.

KJo revealing secrets about Shahrukh & Kajol - MNIK - CNN-IBN (full interview yet to be on air)

Whatever else you think about any of these trio.. they're a highly entertaining bunch when grouped together *ish in stitches from laughing too much*




Update:
It's already out!

LoveGuru Shahrukh Khan - MNIK

Several things I gotta say...
  • For someone who doesn't understand the language, hindi sounds so beautiful when I hear it from Shah Rukh.. coz he speaks so fast! Nobody speaks hindi as fast and loaded with as many interesting points as he does in impromptu interviews. He has at least 3 paragraphs ready for the the host 2 seconds before the question is to finish. And they're not necessarily politically correct all the time either. 
  • The way he conveys his messages across... whether it's about movies, sports, business, rumours on his personal life, current world/national issues... makes me feel as if he's been fed the questions beforehand and spent the whole night searching for just the right words and practicing a coupla hours saying the lines in front of a mirror to come up with such answers. He sounds that prepared.
  • No matter how much in trouble he gets from his previous interviews, he'll just turn the situation around in his favour during his next ones.
  • He gave his MNIK promo schedule in this clip.. the full version to the one he briefly gave us in twitter.
  • I adore his love-hate interactions with the media. Wait for his punchline at the very end of this interview. And I do mean punch.. :P




Omi's Korner - Much ado about nothing..

Know what? After roaming the net searching for gossips on Shah Rukh.. I've found out a vital thing. There is absolutely NOTHING to be found on him in the big bad cyber world. At least, not the type that usually plagues an actor.. oh, like rumoured scandals with co-stars or anyone of the opposite/same sex, fights in shooting locations, etc. etc. Yeah, yeah.. I know about his alleged off-screen 'practice' with Deepa Sahi to get the sex scene to look real.. or his rumoured affair with Karan Johar.. or...

Ok, that's all. Anyone can contribute anything else?

The only garbage that gets recyled every 3 months is his 'cold wars' with the Bacchans, the other two big Khans (one of which is now true, to the delight of quite a number of reporters suffering from writer's block coz yeay now they have something they can write over and over about ad nauseam and the articles are guaranteed to be read by the bored and unimaginative section of the masses), the new actors on the block, and....

Okkkay.. that's pretty much it. That's all the dirt I got on a man who's supposed to have a life like an open book. Doesn't make sense. But Shah Rukh seldom makes much sense to me. Why do you think I write about him so much?

What do I think about the Deepa Sahi angle? Well, that stuff is over a loooong time ago. Anyway, he walloped the ass off the reporter who wrote that stupid article and got arrested for it too. That's the 'jailed for a day' thing he talked about in his recent MNIK interview. It's also told in Anupama Chopra's King of Bollywood book, if I'm not mistaken. He still remembers you, reporter dude! Maybe he's forgotten your name (altho I honestly think he hasn't.. despite him always protesting that he's bad with names) but I bet he still remembers your face, and your newspaper, and the address of the place where you used to live.. if you've moved elsewhere. Incidentally, that's the first movie of his I watched.. yep, the uncut version coz I watched it on UK tv, don't remember which channel. She's the only woman Shah Rukh has ever kissed on the lips publicly (albeit fictionally), didja gals realise that? Not even Gauri has that over her. Bet it annoys a lot of people that he's so stubborn about getting the no-kissing clause in his contracts after Maya Memsaab, but I think..even that ultimately works in his favour. Coz he can be as erotic as he wants on-screen without getting into trouble later on. Clever guy.

About him supposedly being gay.. hmmm, it's true that the guys in his circle are not the most macho men on the planet: Karan Johar, Mushtaq Sheikh, Manish Malhotra, Shiamak Davar.. well, Arjun Rampal is considerably macho though while Saif has Kareena, so... ahhh, and those love messages to Abhishek in twitter are too casually given, aren't they? *grins* I also notice that guys can't seem to stop themselves from hugging him/holding his hands/grabbing his face/kissing his cheeks/checking him out.. in fact, there have been youtube comments by heterosexual guys admitting that they're turned on by him. See, when I think about it.. it seems that we're focusing on this issue from the wrong angle. I think it's not supposed to be "Is Shah Rukh gay?"... it should be "How much do you (manly men that you all are) want him to be gay?" ..ha!

What's my point in babbling all this? errrr...mmm...oh yes. Despite thriving in the prudishly strict media-policed world of the Bollywood entertainment industry for nearly 2 decades, being a celeb who has had more than 2 biographies written on him, and a life the public supposedly knows everything there is to know about.. that even he wrote in twitter to us fan + reporter followers something like: "You think therefore I am".. he's managed to escape unscathed year after year. Compare that to Tiger Woods who's currently languishing in a sex addiction rehab facility.. la la la la la. Shah Rukh is either THAT good.. or he's really totally squeaky clean *gasp*

I'm in despair of ever continuing my Omi's Korner, unless I change tact. And fast. So I've decided to focus on the controversy angle. It's pretty high-brow.. on the topics of religions, patriotisme, terrorism, sports, trade, yada yada yada.. I mean, seriously.. is this guy an actor or someone who runs for public office? So, I doubt my Omi's Korner is gonna be a popular section in this blog from now on given the discussion topic.. but what can I do? It's a life and death decision. And I chose to live the life of a bore, than to die a jester's death. Since I was born dull, this is not a difficult decision to make.. rather, it suits me just fine.. :P

*speechless*

Is anyone else in awe of this picture as I am? This is a great concept. Great. Love the mussed-up hair. Love the expression. Love the 'arrest photo' setting with the mushy message. Love the "must be expensive though it looks like an attire for the homeless" suit over the simple t-shirt. Love the extracts from the interview that'll possibly disturb/turn off/rankle some people in and out of his inner circle. Tell you what.. if you've decided to love Shah Rukh Khan, you have to be ready to read/hear/watch anything.. whether you want to, whether you like to, whether you care to.. or not.

Why is he called the King, when he's obviously not? Because he IS. That's all.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Bla bla bla about cricket

For all my blogging last year about KKR, I'm a novice in cricket. Okay, honestly? I took an interest in cricket after Shah Rukh acquired a team for T20. I have absolutely zilch knowledge in the game. I tried to watch a cricket match when I managed to catch a tournament on cable in a hotel this one time last year, and I spent quite long minutes staring blankly at the screen, and in the end mumbled... what the heck is so exciting about this sport?? (forgive my ignorance, all cricket fans out there.. *sweat*)

And yet I continue to take an interest in it coz Shah Rukh still remains in T20. Hey, some love affairs begin like that. I fell in love with tennis after watching Sampras and his near-robotic sure-win play in Wimbledon. Even tried to play it, albeit goofily, with a friend. Also, my current univ seems to have a good cricket team and our VC takes quite an interest in it..posting about tournament updates every once in awhile in facebook. I'm still hoping I'll understand the game one day..soon. Esp now that Lalit Modi has promised us a free watch on youtube.

What gets on my nerves while I was watching cricket is.. there seems to be this "endless waiting for something that I don't know what" time. It's like watching baseball but with more players loitering around doing nothing. I'm more used to football-type sports where, even if you have nothing to do, you'll run around to make it seem to your fans/sponsors/teammates/coaches/team owners as if you're doing a worthwhile activity even though the ball rarely comes at you. I'm always cheering.. screaming.. mumbling.. jolted into silent vigorous hand-movement actions when the unexpected happens like every 2 minutes. With cricket, I keep staring and staring.. and staring some more. And then suddenly there's a cheer from the crowd and I'm like.. what? what? what just happened??

Anyway, I'm happy that there's no frivolous antics from my favourite cricket owner this year. No video. No crazy last minute announcement (although this can still happen, knowing Shah Rukh). No reality TV show. No incessant team promotion via numerous ads. Just some simple updates about how the team is doing. And I was like.. yes, that's the way to do it! please don't say anything explosive this year! just let the team do the talking during the championship. THEN!! ...

That auction fiasco had to happen. And Shah Rukh of course had to say something about it. When I clicked open that NDTV Q&A show and saw the video title.. I groaned aloud.. Nooooooo! Then I read that PZ and SS did a joint press conference to 'clarify' the issue. Arrrrgh! When will these celebs learn that nothing..absolutely nothing..they say will appease anybody or everybody. By trying to 'clarify'.. they'll just dig a deeper hole for themselves to be buried in later. Have you read any press statement on the issue by India Cements? Or Deccan Chronicle? Mmm.. you don't know who they are? Here.

There's no use trying to clarify an issue that can't be clarified. But I like the way Shah Rukh answered the query without answering it. He's brilliant at this PR stuff. Every time I watch him asks, "Am I gonna get into trouble for saying this?" ..I tell my computer monitor, "Yes Shah Rukh, you will. So please don't say it~" ..but of course he ignores me and says it anyway. To those who think he should "do something about it".. I suggest you grow up a little. It's too easy to see why a  guy who's invested around 80 crores a year on a team out of his own pocket would be cautious in his financial endeavor. KKR faced this kind of problem before when, in 2009, Pakistani players were unavailable..resulting in Umar Gul's contract being suspended. Face it people.. this is not a knee-jerk reaction. It's a reaction based on a previous experience, so the owners are not to be entirely blamed.

Instead, why don't you blame the guys (it's always guys, isn't it?) who burned Lalit Modi's effigy? Or those who burned Mr. B's effigy.. and even Shah Rukh's posters in 2009? Or the gunmen who shot Sri Lankan cricketers in Lahore (also in 2009)? With fire-happy/trigger-happy guys like you running amok and uncheck by any authority.. who would dare to bring Pakistani players to India or vice versa? Lalit Modi made IPL happen in South Africa last year despite the risk of heavy losses, mainly because of security issues. And now people are nonchalantly suggesting that the security of the players and the tournament should not be made into an issue. Delusional much?

Some people are asking, "why didn't the IPL committee tell the Pakistani players that they're not gonna be bought in the auction anyway, so there's no use in participating?" I'm speechless reading this. Do people think first before giving suggestions like this or they just like to pull crap outta their asses in the hope of provoking some suckers out there into responding so they can get into a net brawl coz they're too bored with their mundane life and need some virtual action? Can't you fathom the kind of uproar that kind of announcement will set off? Can't you fathom a world beyond your own nose?

In my opinion, Shah Rukh doesn't need to say anything. But I also think he has no way of escaping from being made to say something. I guess I'll just continue to be the somewhat silent reader/watcher of the whole drama that IPL never ceases to be year by year. This is, after all, the country that gives us Bollywood. Hopefully the team I support will not be affected by anything the team owner adamantly gets himself embroiled into (I can hope, can't I?) and give us a roaring game this year. If Deccan could do it, why can't KKR? (that's my constant mantra for the 2010 championship coz I'm an eternal optimist).

It's nearly 4am, and I have work to do and a persistent father to attend to tomorrow. Have a good week!

Sunday, January 24, 2010

I don't know what is it about Pardes..

I've finally bought a copy after losing my non-subtitled one years ago. I repeat: years ago. And my memory box is not exactly the greatest *pokes brain to see whether it's still alive* ..but I found myself subconsciously spouting some dialogues. Needless to say, I freaked out..while feeling thoroughly impressed with myself.

Can I say Arjun is my most favourite character out of all the ones Shah Rukh has played? If someone were to go.. "but he didn't like that role!" ..I'd go: Precisely! That he could dislike a role or be so uncomfortable with playing it..and still affect me so much by the end of the movie, is a testament to his acting prowess. P/S: Those who're not affected by his acting prowess and about to type something to that effect can just forget it. I'll only delete your comment later and that's too much work for me. Why delete? Coz I can.. that's why.. \(^o^)V

I cried buckets in certain scenes..then rewinded them and cried again afresh. I watched K3G, Baadshah and Pardes this weekend.. and he managed to wring tears from me every time. Yes, yes.. even in Baadshah, which is not supposed to be a movie that should cause anyone to cry, right? Errr.. right? Neeways, no one else has been able to make me feel this much in such a short time span. Ok, I lied. My family can, but that's besides the point.

What it would be like to have an Arjun in my life. Someone who could grasp a blade with his bare hand and swear that his blood would flow before mine were shed. Someone who would keep a leaf I thoughtlessly gave him as if it were a treasured possession for years afterwards. Someone who would drop everything and go on a wild goose chase to find me when I disappeared without a reason. Someone who could sense my discomfort with the slightest change in my facial expressions. In real life, we have our loved ones. But Arjun is an ideal (despite his lying ways when it comes to his venerable daddy ^^;).. hai na? I doubt I can find someone like him in my vicinity. Sorry hubby dearest... but that's how it is.

Movies are supposed to make you feel. I have a theory about movies. Humans are equipped with a riot of emotions, and rarely do we get to experience them all. And let's be honest.. do you want to know how it feels to be angry at a rapist, if the rape happened to involve someone you're close to?? What about the sadness of losing parents.. or trauma when your entire family was massacred by hired killers? Or the despair in having brothers who had to kill each other coz one is a cop and the other is a criminal? Movies let you feel all these.. but without the danger of suffering violent repercussions or post-traumatic stress later. Movies are cathartic coz when we vent on the characters as if they were real people, we feel guiltless since they're not actually real. They're make believe, but they're also based on real people out there. People whom you wish you'd never meet in your lifetime. People whom you wish could be your companions for life.

This is my favourite song from Pardes. I love this line the most.. every time I listen to the song/read the verse, I feel as if my entire being were sucked softly, softly into the whirl of purity that it conveys: "If you're interested in this life, then be prepared to die.."



And the best reason a lover can give for falling in love: "I shouldn't have, but I have.." and I love this thought: "If there is anything that does, it's love that recognises the feelings of a lover.." Vah, vah.. kya baat hai, kya baat hai. I love the lyrics so much. Wish I could write as good a verse as this one has aplenty of.

I can't write a short review on Pardes coz it will just turn out to be as longish as these ones. This is not even a review, and it's already turned out to be a long one *sweat*. But if you enjoy Shah Rukh's performances (I know quite a number of people are allergic to them.. for some unfathomable reason), I'd highly recommend this movie for you. Have fun watching!!

Rant.. rant.. rant

The reviews of Veer are out, and it's declared a flop (while in some other article, it was reported to gross higher than WANTED.. huh? WANTED is supposed to be a BB hit.. so I'm confused now). Why am I writing about Veer here in my SRK blog? Coz I increasingly find this 'fight' between which movie does better in gross than the other entirely ridiculous. I'm writing this because 3 Idiots was reported to be reaching the 400 crore bracket and I have a hunch (more like a premonition) that MNIK revenue will be compared severely to it. If MNIK scores better than 3 Idiots, will it make the latter a worse movie? No. It's as nice a movie as it was before MNIK's release. Shah Rukh gave a bullseye analogy about this when he talked to India Today Conclave 2009 (it's in there somewhere) on the story of two artists and a painting. Some people should listen to that and reflect before they froth at the mouth arguing over unnecessary things.

I'm not a student of economics, but even I know that for an industry to do well, more films should do well. Be it produced by whoever, acted in by whoever..if only a handful of (big) films work consistently, without any care being given to the small ones, the thoughtful ones, even the cliched ones...the future of films from that industry will be affected. Why? Because businessmen hate to lose money, and they will follow the formulas of the films that worked, not the ones that failed.. which is why we have Transformer 2 and Pirates of the Caribbean 3 (can I go off-tangent by asking why oh why has my dearest Johnny agreed to the 4th installment?? Enough already!!). Did the films flop only because they suffer from bad plots and untalented actors? Not necessarily. Sometimes the money game just didn't work. Remember what KJo said about Kurbaan?: "It was a cinematic success, although a box office failure."

Would 3 Idiots work that well without Aamir at the helm? Despite it being a nice story, I doubt it. This tradition of supporting only a cluster of popular actors has broken the hearts of many talented hopefuls and in a world that's increasingly becoming too open where entertainment is concerned, the younger generation may soon feel restless and start searching for new types of cinema from outside of India. Heck, with the click of several buttons I can watch any movie I want: thai, french, chinese, hong kong, english, japanese, korean.. anything. For FREE! Who cares that it's only 425 x 344? I just want to know the frelling story. In a perhaps-not-too-distant future where domestic products may no longer hold monopoly over cinema halls across India, will the industry face the danger of collapsing? Complaints are already voiced out over the double-bladed effect the multiplexes are having over the fate of small movies. Which is why I think the 'call' from fans to avoid certain films and go for certain films.. ONLY to support their favourite actors!!.. is at best childish and at worst destructive.

Let all films be successful! Let them all earn big bucks! If it grosses 200 crore less than the next one (e.g. Ghajini vs. 3 Idiots) or 30 crore less than the next one (RNBDJ vs. Ghajini), rejoice that the combined gross will go back to the industry for the next filmmakers to produce better films. Stop comparing hindi movies to Hollywood ones too. The western filmmakers do turn to Asian cinema for stories, you know... and the adaptations suck big time. So don't tell me: Hollywood = lotsa talent + great stories. And stop saying that "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" is an excellent chinese movie! Are you out of your friggin mind?? Have you watched Once Upon A Time in China (the first one)? Or Drunken Master (the first one)? Or any of the kung fu drama from Hong Kong? I'm telling you.. even the suckiest VFX from a small HK drama is preferable to CTHD..at least to me. Let's forget the reason (if there is any) why Chow Yun Fat was cast as the lead, shall we? Or I'd go off on another tangent here. And don't get me started on Hollywood adaptations of Korean & Japanese horror movies...grrr. There's something in hindi cinema that the western cinema will never capture. That something made me cry, laugh, angry, etc. at exactly the same scenes even after the 10th watch. Which I've never experienced with a western film, or any film from other countries actually (yep, including my country). Find that something and emphasize on it. You will have yourself a great movie.

This habit of obsessively comparing one actor to another, one movie to another, one country's film industry to another.. it takes the fun of just enjoying a good story out of the equation, dude. I cried when I watched Wake Up Sid. I laughed so hard I nearly fell off my chair several times when I watched Partner. I stared unblinkingly in awe at the scene where Krrish meets his father face-to-face for the first time. Good stories are there to be enjoyed! ENJOYED, you hear me??! Trade pundits can discuss BO flops or hits of films for all their worth coz THEY GET PAID FOR IT! Us fans, all we should do is just go watch the movies and have fun discussing them later. We're not having fun with all the stupid brawling we're having on and off the internet over who's better: Shah Rukh, Aamir, Salman, Amitabh, Hrithik, Ranbir, Akshay, etc. ad nauseam. And lemme tell you this.. to put Amitabh Bachchan in the same clause as those other names is an insult to the legend that he is. Come back to me 20 years in the future and tell me whether they are still hard at work doing movies, the way Amitji is still doing now. Until then, shut up.

Ok, I'm done. Dunno when the next rant will be, though.. :P


UPDATE: Aha! Just found this. I must be psychic.

Quote of the day...

Source 

"You can't help liking Shah Rukh Khan. He is so unaffected by stardom. He has this certain detachment from his success that's so astonishing."

Friday, January 22, 2010

If this film makes u yawn at first (like it did me), don't give up on it until u pass the time after Sid fails his exam!



NEXT

SRK's message to SRK.ORG members

This is from last year?

Tributes

Tell me the name of one actor who's done tributes to the golden stars of yesteryear more or as extensively as Shah Rukh has. I'm telling you.. this man is loved!

KISHORE KUMAR

Shahrukh Khan- Tribute to Kishore Kumar-1

Shahrukh Khan- Tribute to Kishore Kumar-2

Shahrukh Khan- Tribute to Kishore Kumar- 3

Shahrukh Khan- Tribute to Kishore Kumar- 4

Shahrukh Khan- Tribute to Kishore Kumar- 5

Shahrukh Khan- Tribute to Kishore Kumar- 6

Shahrukh Khan- Tribute to Kishore Kumar- 7

Shahrukh Khan- Tribute to Kishore Kumar- 8

Shahrukh Khan- Tribute to Kishore Kumar - 9 (the end)


RAJ KAPOOR

Shahrukh khan- Tribute To Raj Kapoor- 1

Shahrukh khan- Tribute To Raj Kapoor- 2

Shahrukh khan- Tribute To Raj Kapoor- 3

Shahrukh khan- Tribute To Raj Kapoor- 4 (the end)


DILLIP KUMAR

IIFA 04' [Shahrukh's performance]

Devdas

Dilip Kumar and Shahrukh Khan on Zee Lux Awards Red Carpet Reception
(he rolled out the carpet himself?? O_o ..I bet he wanted to do that himself and suggested it to the organizers)


YASH CHOPRA

Shahrukh Khan's salute to Yash Chopra - Zee Cine Awards 2006 - Part 1 

Shahrukh Khan's salute to Yash Chopra - Zee Cine Awards 2006 - Part 3 ( darr )

Shahrukh Khan's salute to Yash Chopra - Zee Cine Awards 2006 - Part 4 ( silsila )

Shahrukh Khan's salute to Yash Chopra - Zee Cine Awards 2006 - Part 5 ( dil to pagal hai )

Part 6 unavailable

Shahrukh Khan's salute to Yash Chopra - Zee Cine Awards 2006 - Part 7 ( veer zaara )

Shahrukh Khan's salute to Yash Chopra - Zee Cine Awards 2006 - Part 8 ( Bunty aur Babli )

Shahrukh Khan's salute to Yash Chopra - Zee Cine Awards 2006 - Part 9 ( DDLJ & Waqt )


VARIOUS

Yash Johar -Shahrukh Khan in Yash Johar Lifetime Achievement

Amitabh Bacchan - Don: The Chase Begins Again

Shah Rukh is on up to 3:46

Some fun stuff I found..



MKMM extract

I find it very amusing that those who keep taking Shah Rukh's hand and dragging him on the stage were the men. Sorry dudes.. he's not interested in a dostana relationship.. :P

I don't think he really took off his shirt as the reports said..just the suit. What do you think?

I can't believe they let him be a host again.. LOL~

You know how this equation looks like?

Shah Rukh + anyone = highly entertaining hosting job in award functions

Cute Shah Rukh in cute song~

The only award function Shah Rukh has hosted without any controversy? (how boring...)

Wait for it!!



I love Shah Rukh in spectacles. Makes me scream out "Ojii-san!!" every time.. :P

What is this about? *ish an ignorant alien*

On the subject of perfection...

Just musing aloud..

Shah Rukh tweeted on Jan 18th:

"perfection is so boring. jagged..raw..unfinished..tainted...so much more to complete for the beholder with his/her imagination."

..and of course the Indian media picked that up as an 'attack' against Aamir Khan. Since I'm not one of the thousands of people who believe that Aamir Khan is Mr. Perfection.. and I seriously don't understand how Salman got sucked into this equation too (maybe the 'boring' part?).. I find the media's take on the subject at worst laughable..and at best, highly amusing.

I'm not a sociology scholar who can discuss on the concept of perfection, but I've found a nice article on it. I like what he says about it:

"The ideal is impossible. According to the photo chart, all of the women at the top still fall short of the ideal. Yet when the ideal, the normative definition of perfection, is achieved, it looks weird and is unappealing. The ideal is, well, not ideal (take that Baudrillard). Transhumanists are acutely aware of the unreality of perfection."

I dunno what a transhumanist is, but the guy talks sense.. yaar. The post was on a study of trying to combine 40 ideal women to get the most definitively beautiful woman in the world.. In his next post, he put up a file emphasizing his argument.

Anyway, I doubt our idea of perfection is the same as Shah Rukh's idea of perfection. Take his accomplishments, for example. As an obsessed fan of Shah Rukh, and a student, I think I understand what he means when he says he's not as intelligence/good at business/etc. as people think he is.

His brilliance  is obviously at a level higher than average people.. and what you or me think can be called satisfactory, for him it's probably just below average. When he says he's not good with numbers and names, he probably means he can't memorize more than 500 digits in pi or more than 10,000 contacts stored in his digital archive (have you watched this interview? What kind of crazy memory is that?? Well, I dunno about anyone else, but I'm fuzzy about what I did last week..never mind 20 years ago). When he talks about being good in business, he'll compare himself to the billionaires, multi-millionaires, or anyone much above his income bracket. When he talks about being smart, he'd look towards those personalities who've won Noble Prizes/international recognitions/etc. But he'd also be overjoyed when he can solve his children's schoolwork.

He's humble, and yet he's not. But that's how most things usually go with Shah Rukh. He's like a coin, or that puzzle cube in K-20.. all his faces/facets/personas can rush out and embrace you like a storm. And I don't think any of us would want to have it any other way

Mini pic spam~

..no, Shah Rukh still hasn't given his photos. I found these elsewhere...




Wednesday, January 20, 2010

It's raining Khan!

..ok, maybe not raining coz I only have 2 pictures to share, if you haven't seen them already that is ^^;


(courtesy of @putlu1 & @kjohar25) Even though I'm not a Khan, I still want this t-shirt! Does it come in black background?


It's an old picture but what the heck.. I love it~ (esp the gold tie)

...and yes, I'm posting from work. Have to go b4 somebody catch me loitering on the net.. bye! *runs*

Need a change..

Must be coz I'm getting old. The tiny letters of that blog format are starting to get on my nerves, so I dumped it for a new one. Now it's very minimal, coz I dunno know how to edit html, and stretches on to forever (or at least up to the limit of your monitor). Can't believe how much everything is emphasized when there's a white background as support.

Shah Rukh promised us some pictures yesterday but he couldn't give them this morning.. so the pictures (picture?) have to wait until tomorrow. The fail whale appeared several times during the course of the chat.. haha. The 'airwave' must be jammed due to our humongous tweeting activity. It's a GIANT CHAT ROOM!! Now the rate has increased to more than 60 tweets/sec. Cool..

I've abandoned the disheartening feeling of never having Shah Rukh read anything I write and just tweet for all its worth. Just do it!! I think the only time he has to actually sit and read whateva's in his twittbox is during these live sessions, so I'll be positive about it. I hope y'all be positive about it too and stop asking him to reply to you every 2 seconds or babbling about how he's never gonna read your tweets..yada yada yada (yes, I have the twitter search page turned on 24-7 and laid side-by-side to his). Don't waste your time with that kinda garbage when it's your (only?) opportunity to communicate with him...ON (almost) A DAILY BASIS.

(I love how he ordered Karan Johar around on twitter :P *ish amused*)

Have to go to school now.. my carriage awaits! (and 'the driver' has been poking me every 2 seconds to get ready ^^;;)

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Omi's Korner - Chapter 3

  • Dulha Mil Gaya reviewed.."sleep walk through a role and yet be bloody convincing"?? Is that a compliment or an insult, Mr. Omar 'I dunno why I talk like a robot' Qureshi?
  • Shah Rukh Khan missed the premier of the movie he nearly lost his arm acting in and nobody wrote an article commenting/speculating/rumour-mongering about it?? Hmmm... interesting.
  • Even though every one keeps harping on about the SRK-Aish jodi and how much they want to see the hot on-screen couple whose personal & professional relationshipships were broken apart (by the messed up, drunken then-boyfriend on the set of Chalte Chalte) and that they have supposedly become amiable with each other after what seemed like foreva coz Aish was so determined to be such a victim about it.. Shah Rukh finally clarified in Jan 16th tweet to a question posed by fans that sadly.. no, Aish is not gonna make an appearance in Ra-1. Boo hoo.
  • What is this? Where did this rumour of Shah Rukh playing The Peacemaker between Vivek and Abhishek come from?? Vivek is being such a good little boy now (he looks the part too, awww..so cute~). I have no idea why Shah Rukh is rooting so much for him, but we'll just have to trust his judgement coz his reputation of being a star-maker does precede him, not just of actors.. but directors and choreographers as well. I just hope that next time Vivek won't get into anymore trouble in his professional life just coz he's adamant to mix business with pleasure like he did in the past. Learn the code, Vivek~ ..or else the backlash will be fearsomely pricey.
  • Shah Rukh clarified that there's no feud between him, Farah Khan and her husband.. AGAIN (1:02-1:50). He had replied before... I mean, seriously.. how many times are they gonna make him come up with various versions of the same answer?? Despite him being one of the most articulate, wittiest guys on earth (according to me), the man has a boredom button just like the rest of us. Stop it with the pushing already!

My favourite non-actor personality: Karan Johar



LOL.. he's such a fanboy~






Konkona Sen is so interesting!


Friday, January 15, 2010

Omi's Korner - Chapter 2

Why do good things always come in three's? There's Shah Rukh-Kajol-KJo, and then there's Shah Rukh Khan-Salman Khan-Aamir Khan. Even the Bacchans come in as a power of three (Jaya auntie doesn't count coz she's not actively acting anymore).

I think the top stars held some kinda secret meetings end of last year and decided that for 2010, they're all gonna be praising each other's movies and attending each other's premieres.. starting with Paa and ending in MNIK, I think. Kites is in a different league coz Hrithik, who once was always pitted againts Shah Rukh, has managed to steer clear of the confrontation with the sheer power of his iron will (with no help from Papa Roshan, thank you very much). 
  • It all started when Big B blew a huge honk over at his residence in bigadda.com  that he had invited Shah Rukh and Aamir to his premiere (what, no Salman?)
  • Everyone (except non-moronic people like me) waited with baited breath to see Shah Rukh, Aamir and Amitabh in the same frame, but alas.. Aamir was too importantly busy to watch other star's movie until the end credit.. saying, "As Mr Bachchan had invited me, so I came to attend the premiere," ..yeah, whateva. I think the commentator said it (1:42 - 1:60) better than I ever could.
  • Which left us with Shah Rukh's magnanimously sweet and humble presence..and that's how I like it anyway. Infact, Shah Rukh took it further when he asked for extra passes for his family! Love the way he just went.. "this is boring talk~" at the reporters when they started asking him about the non-feud between him and Aamir. You rock my sox, sir!
  • Then it's time for 3 Idiots. And Shah Rukh came to the premiere and hugged everyone, including Aamir Khan! *gasp* ..he even told us that story about him having Aamir & Juhi as movie idols when he was in college which, if you've read his 4 kg biography by Mushtaq (Still Reading Khan), is entirely true. Mushtaq wrote (in the The Others chapter, I think) how Shah Rukh was so obsessed with reaching Aamir's level that he vowed to "destroy" the guy one day when he just started his film career. This hot exclamation is on par with the now-famous "I'm going to own this city one day" promise he made when he was down and out and frustrated during his search for Gauri in Mumbai. I love his hot spighit. Wish my thanda soul is as warm as his is.
  • Oh, Salman came to the 3 Idiots premiere too but he was never anywhere near SRK at any time during the launch. And huh.. no Amitabh?
  • This nice gesture was reciprocated by Aamir when he said how he's confident that MNIK's gonna be bigger than 3 Idiots. Sir, it's not rocket science that MNIK is gonna be bigger than 3 Idiots based on its marketing strategy alone so us fans have kinda figured that out from the start. But thanks anyway for the vote of confidence.
  • Not to be left behind, Salman reportedly called up Karan Johar to tell him that he likes the MNIK promo and that he 'loves' Shah Rukh Khan in the movie (the way they frame that one word in this news clip is so hysterically filmi)... awwww. Is it coz of the eyes too this time?
  • What else could Shah Rukh do but return the compliment? I mean, what else can you say but give praise when it comes to a film that prides itself for injuring so many people, innocent bystanders + annoying reporters + bothersome stalkers alike, even before it's released? I too think it's such an original campaign that only Salman can carry it out with such style and panache. He comes out of it all looking like a winner. Uhuh.

Omi's Korner - Chapter 1

I have to say, starting this corner with Karan Johar bears good omen for the endeavour. I absolutely love KJo.. he's so sweet! And Shah Rukh said in an interview with Rajeev Masand that a lot of relationships (in Bollywood?) go through Karan. That's like saying the guy is the Keeper of Secrets for the PTBs in hindi cinema..right? Cool.

I dunno how to link up specific tweets as reference. Is that even possible? Anyway..following Karan's tweets is such a delight. He's always coming up with exclusive stuff on MNIK. On Jan 14th, Shah Rukh tweeted us the link to the international promo.. just a bit later than KJo did. So most of us obsessed fans have already seen it, and told him so. Poor boy :P ..am still waiting for that exclusive stuff he promised us. When Shah bhai?? When?? Hmm...

Yesterday, KJo gave us the link to the Tere Naina 30 sec promo. O my.. any SRK fan who's not excited about this movie after watching it, you'd better go to a doctor and check your hormon level. That haircut scene was so charged it could power up my whole country (we're much smaller than India). I dunno why KJo didn't say anything about this new "K Korner" thing he's got going in NDTV, but apparently some youtubers are already up in arms screaming how dare he for saying that it'll be the last time Shah Rukh & Kajol will be together on screen.

Come one dudes & dudettes.. look at how long he tried to bring them together this time.. 8 bleeding years! Shah Rukh and Kajol are already wearing reading spectacles by the time they started filming MNIK and KJo's long been sporting grey hair. And I think KJo, who's such a worrier that I wonder how he's managed to keep all his hair intact all these years, is not really confident that he can give them another story that matches the brilliance of MNIK in the future. He really looks up to those two professionally, even though he's bullied a lot by them in his personal life. But even the bullying comes bundled up together in the warmest love and respect. Plus, it's a brilliant marketing strategy.. duh?

My Name Is Khan will be the cornerstone of hindi cinema..not only in the kind of ideas it wants to put across, but in the way it's marketed all over the world. There're people out there who still don't understand, or unwilling to accept, the significance of DDLJ and KKHH to the hindi film industry. If you're not there with us to experience the bang MNIK is gonna create..you'll be missing out on something phenomenal. And that's a promise.

Gossip of the day, week, or wheneva..

Inspired by Filmigirl's gossip posts/columns.. I think I'm going to emulate that style in my blog. Difference is mine will always be related to anything Shah Rukh. It's not difficult to fill up the pages coz basically 99.99% of what's going on in Bollywood has a connection with him, however tenuous it is.

I've decided to do this coz I'm tired of going around reading sporadic posts on him. I just want to collect all of them under one BIG heading and be done with it, and in the process..have fun blabbing about them. But be warned that this will be the end of my 'no talking about movie stars other than Shah Rukh in my OMBOLLYWOOD blog' rule (which I conveniently broke once in a blue moon when I felt like it) coz it's impossible not to talk about them when you're gossiping, isn't it?

With Shah Rukh, the gossips can span several years, so be prepared to read cobweb-y, rusty stuff I dragged out of the pile in order to make a point. Just bear with me, kay? You guys are welcome to join the fray, but pls don't post anything rudely personal to any of the other givers of comments, no matter whose fans you are. This is MY blog, and I'm the only goonda allowed in the ring I want everyone to be nice to each other, and to me especially.. kay?

I'm calling it my Omi's Korner. It's a combination of Om (for the blog), Ami (my name, duh) and K coz his name is Khan.. get it? No? Why not?? It sounds like some cheesy coffee shop thing? Ack.. okay.. I'm not good with names.. so whateva.

What am I waiting for?! Let's start, shall we?

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Colin Firth interview - A Christmas Carol

Colin Firth talking about...

...his rôle in his latest film A Christmas Carol, about appearing in Mamma Mia! , A Single Man, his career and his work as ambassador for Oxfam.

Colin Firth promoting Mamma Mia! on Regis & Kelly 07 15 2008

Colin Firth - A Single Man interviews

COLIN FIRTH ANS A SINGLE MAN INTERVIEW
(embedding is disabled)





Colin Firth A SINGLE MAN The Gay Issue + His Toughest Scene


Colin Firth A SINGLE MAN: How Clothes Make This Man

SPOILERS: Colin Firth A SINGLE MAN His Favorite Death Scenes He's Done

Colin Firth A SINGLE MAN: What He Thinks About the Film's Awards Buzz

Colin Firth A SINGLE MAN: Why He Chose This Film & His Thoughts on Tom Ford







LOL!

"... I mean, one each is fine too~"

Colin Firth in SNL

...wait a minute. Colin Firth in SNL???

Colin Firth looking pretty..

How he can sit on that bleedingly dripping red sofa looking all yummy and tell us that he has a mid-life crisis?? *wants to bonk him*

This is my new anthem song!


...and I'd so vote for Sameer Behl (Shahid's character in the movie)! The movie will be out on 15th Jan this week.



Unfortunately, none of our reality show guys here is this hawt. Altho, if any of them were to bare anything more than their faces, there'd be an uproar and several street demos protesting against it. Plus, that contestant will be banned, which defeats the purpose of his entering the competition in the first place. I love my country, and that is not a cynical commentary.. no it's not.

Somehow, the ending reminds me of Bacchus and his worshipers...

Rani maa~~~

Lift Kara De subbed is out (3 days ago, but I just found it today ^^;;)



Shah Rukh on Lift Kara De part 2 with English subtitles

Shah Rukh on Lift Kara De part 3 with English subtitles

Shah Rukh on Lift Kara De part 4 with English subtitles
 
Shah Rukh on Lift Kara De part 5 with English subtitles

Shah Rukh on Lift Kara De part 6 with English subtitles

Shah Rukh on Lift Kara De part 7 with English subtitles

 

Background update...

Today, it's the struggle with tiling the pic...awwww.

Some fans tried to help..but alas, it's to no avail and we're all stuck with viewing a bigass picture on the background.

But truthfully, when one is attempting to type as many words as possible in record time to avoid being pushed down the tweet queue, who cares about viewing backgrounds?? (except maybe some anal fans who annoyingly kept asking him to edit it *dushum*).

I've seen this pic floating around the net, but Aryaan making that funny face must have rendered this shot one for private viewing only hehe. 


Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Twitterverse update..

Is this twitter update thingee's gonna be a regular feature here in my blog?? Lemme channel my inner tweet and confirm it.. ha! I'm sorta addicted big time with that social networking site now.. demmit. I registered to follow Karan Johar (coz I genuinely like him, and reading bits of SRK updates was a bonus) but since Shah Rukh is in twiverse as well, I doubt I can leave.

Reading other fans' tweets (and mine) made me wonder.. what kinda face he makes while reading them? Expressionless, I bet. The kind of face he reserves for listening to story narrations from directors.. LOL. I think his unfeeling(picked up this word from his interview)-ness about certain things that can affect people so greatly is the reason he can go ahead and "Just Do It!" ..something I can surely learn to emulate in my work life (and personal too..with some relatives).

What was the point of this post, again? Oh yes. He changed his background pic today.. way da go Shah Rukh! You rock, man! *phewitt* Now it's this:



Karan looks so gay. Hey.. why are you frowning at my post like that? Stop it! I meant gay as in 'cheerful' okay! But I do think something suspicious is going on with this red theme. In that MNIK press conf, it's Shah Rukh with his red-rimmed spectacles and Kajol too.. with the red-bordered saree. Oh, Karan also had that red collar for him during the conf. And now this picture turned up, courtesy of Shah Rukh, with Karan wearing a (very classy) pair of red-rimmed sunglasses. What's up with that? Ish curious coz I'm anal like that.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Updates from the twitterworld...

- I've found a much easier way to tweet using my ombollywood twitter account. So if you have an account and don't mind getting spammed irregularly with all sorts of SRK-related links that I can't be bothered to log into the blog and post about, you can join the currently smallish crew over here (I hate the term 'followers' ..eeep, it makes me feel like some sorta spiritual leader or something).

- After checking up on @iamsrk messages every so often over at twitter search (via a very convenient app), I'm now thoroughly convinced that my tweets will never be read by Shah Rukh. They're out there, buried under a sea of muck and occasional gems sent out oh-so casually by more than 60k people at a rate of 57 times per person per day. Meh. I'll continue sending him tweets daily though, coz I'm a masochist like that.

Friday, January 8, 2010

Now I get why some fans worship his picture... *stares* ..bone definition.. mmm


@iamsrk is LOVE personified! (longass post alert)

Been reading twitter search for replies to Shah Rukh's tweets (they're very amusing. I recommend reading them as a time pass activity).. and I think they missed the most obvious explosive fact about his explosively revealing twitter picture. Such a lukewarm response.. I could hardly believe it. Are you gals trying to look cool and macho on tweets or what?? Coz that's like.. soooo boring.

He's showing you what you've been asking for since 2007, gals (and guys?)!! Come on! React more enthusiastically to it! He's gonna take it off (not his pants, I meant that pic) and replace it soon, so this is the only chance you have to ogle it..really. I doubt he's gonna show that type of picture again on his twitter account.

Me? The part of my brain that contains concentrated fangirl matter nuclearrifically exploded. I was reduced to a blushing, gibbering wreck..dem you, you too-sexy-for-your-shirt-that-you-had-to-eat-it-for-supper, soon-to-be-45-year-old man candy! Grrrr... for the next hour everywhere I looked, I saw the twittpic floating around me like Tinkerbell on ice and had to severely rebuke myself to stop giggling already (yes, I giggled and scolded myself aloud.. no one was home so I managed to avoid getting committed to a mental institution). I had to leave my comp for some time after I went berserk over that pic to go do some house duties and every ticking second, I felt sick in my gut..worrying that the pic will be gone by the time I get back on twitter before I could save it. I'm sick, I know. 

Actually, I was expecting a picture of him with his reading spectacles on, lounging on his couch at home surrounded by a clutter of books and staring out at the camera as the background. And the twittpic would be just his face in close-up smiling at us. Pretty mild and dull imagination, huh? I have to say, when it comes to creativity, Shah Rukh does it much much better than most of us could ever think of.. no matter how much money he has in the banks.

Okay, I've never commented about his tweets here before. My brain was pending for several days over teh awesome, wonderful fact that Shah Rukh is in twitterverse.. and so am I, and I'm following his tweets, and he's telling me things straight from his own mind & fingers *cough*, and I don't have to get those thoughts through a 3rd party (media) anymore.. that I couldn't form a coherent macro review. But here it is now:

Hey! He didn't write his tweets in CAPITALS! (but now everything is in small letters, including people's names.. LOL)

I love the way Shah Rukh always throws out issues/questions that 'force' you to respond with your own views on them (plus a quotable quote at the end). None of the celebs I follow (I only have those from the hindi cinema in my list) do this so regularly. Once or twice, yeah.. but not every time. For example, aside from the usual personal updates..OMG! personal updates from Shah Rukh!! *whacks hyper self* ..okay, I'm calmer now.. today's (or yesterday's?) tweets have 2 stuff going on: Money vs. Creativity & the state of the Indian hockey team. I can't comment on the latter, but the former certainly milked around 10 tweets from me.

And he sounds just like.. I dunno how to put this.. just like a regular guy. Just like a regular but somehow quite interesting guy you happened to stumble upon on twitter and felt like following. There's not even a whiff of "hey, I'm Shah Rukh and I'm too cool for my fans and media" or "look at me! look at me! I'm Shah Rukh Khan!" or promo lines like "My movie's coming out on Feb 12th, catch it yo!" x1000000000 yet to be found. Just him and his struggle with uploading his twittpic (which alwiz made me go.. awwww.. Karan, help the poor boy out!), his thoughts on some not-so earth-shattering but nonetheless interesting concerns, his good nights & I love yous, his updates on his oh-what-a-normal home life, his apologies for the late updates, his plea for us to understand that he can't reply to all of us individually. 

I feel like I'm slowly falling in like (love is just a round the corner, I'm sure *cough*) with a real human being, instead of just the Shah Rukh Khan persona I've been obsessing over in movies, interviews, ads, whatnots. 

On the issue of replying to fans.. you know your twittID will be front page news if you become the second person Shah Rukh replies to in his tweets, right? Are you sure you're ready for that kind of spotlight? Barkha Dutt is a public figure, and so is everyone he's following (except The Onion, who's not a person..obviously, duh) so it's okay for them to be showered with so much attention. Think before you ask for it so desperately. You may not like what you'll get if what you asked for is granted. Btw, Priyanka was the 2nd person he replied to, just that the guy only mentioned her name, not her twittID. I think he learnt the lesson from seeing how much attention the media paid to his @bdutt tweet. Or maybe he just (conveniently) forgot how to do it the twitter way.. :P

I'm very clear about my tweets to Shah Rukh. He receives..what?..like 5-7k worth of tweets a day, and my 6 tweets are needed to make up that bulk. That's all. I doubt he's gonna pause at my tweets and go..wow, what a terrifically interesting bunch of tweets! Who's this terrifically interesting person with a cartoon character I've never seen before as his/her twittpic? I must click her twittID and find out who he/she is! Maybe I'll even stalk his/her terrifically interesting self later, coz following him/her will put him/her in my 'follow' list and he/she'd be massacred by some terrifically immature twittfans in my dunno-how-many-billion-fans-populated fandom. Gimme a break. Have you ever tried going through more than 4,000 tweets (with like 33% of those being just retweets) every day? Even with his speed-reading skill, he'll never manage. And the guy is only one of the busiest, most hard-working guys on the planet.. who's just won Best Actor in an award ceremony btw.. with 2 growing kids and reporters chasing him for interviews at every corner (altho he's too polite to tell us that when he apologized for being late in updating). Like, dudes & dudettes.. he'll read your tweets when he reads them? ..kthxbai.

(Off-topic: Rahul Khanna just gave me a smile in DM.. yeay!! I'm grinning so much right now..hehe)

The twittpic deserves a separate post. I need to enshrine it here for my ogling purpose.

For archive

Source

KHANDAAN

His name is Khan. Shah Rukh Khan. And he doesn’t want people to give him any privacy. “They shouldn’t. All my life I’ve worked very hard for it,” he quips on camera. And so India’s biggest superstar has allowed his fans access to the kingsize life that he leads. At home, at work, at play... over a whole year.
Discovery Travel & Living (DTL) has been following King Khan around the world, as he shops for shoes in London with Karan Johar, cheers on his KKR team in South Africa or relaxes in his den Mannat. The result? A series called Living with a Superstar that will premiere across Asia. India gets to see it from February 26.
What did it take to get that kind of access to Shah Rukh? At the launch of the show in Mumbai on Tuesday, Rahul Johri, senior vice-president and general manager, India, of Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific, gave an estimate without crunching numbers. “Shooting India’s biggest star with a 15-member crew across the world on high-definition — the 10-episode show cost us more than thrice of a whole season of Asian Diary.”
The investment now seems worth it. The first episode, previewed at the launch, accompanies SRK on vacation. So you get to see Bollywood’s Badshah playing football with kids at London’s Hyde Park, even quarrelling with son Aryan when he cheats. Or posing with Sachin Tendulkar’s wax model at Madame Tussauds like any cricket fan.
The idea sprouted over lunch when Johri met Samar Khan, who heads the TV wing of Khan’s company Red Chillies, and Raj Gopalakrishnan, CEO of Blue Mango Films, which has created some of DTL’s earlier Indian ventures. “Samar’s biggest contribution was the access. But when we broached the topic with Shah Rukh, his first reaction was ‘I am such a boring guy. I wake up in the morning, play with my kids, go to work... what kind of show will that make?’” laughs Johri. The meeting took place in July 2008. The shooting started in March 2009.
Filming a man on the move meant being ever-ready with camera. “He is very flow-oriented, very impromptu, gets switched on like a snap of a finger,” says Vikram Channa, vice-president, programming, India, and head of production, Asia-Pacific, who followed him around. Pointing to an instance in the first episode, he recalls how Shah Rukh suddenly hailed a rickshaw in London, asking the cameraman to take the second. The rest “had to huff and puff behind”.
Extra budget has to be kept ready too. “We had finalised the episodes when suddenly he said he was going to Dubai for Christmas. I had no idea where to squeeze that in but then no one has seen his Dubai house,” Channa laughs. The California trip was more organised. “We rode on the back of the (My Name is Khan) crew there,” Johri says.
Though the star enjoys greater latitude abroad compared to back home, crowd adulation follows him everywhere. “Word had leaked out where he was staying in San Francisco, and three girls had driven for two nights to catch a glimpse of him. They would sleep in the car and loiter on the pavements all day. But the very moment they went to grab a bite, SRK went out. They were so distraught that we engineered a meeting.” This is something the crew vouches for — Shah Rukh always makes time for his fans.
There is no anchor or voice-over. Shah Rukh takes the show along, with both the walk and the talk. The reason the show worked despite Gauri and the kids not being used to the camera, according to Samar Khan, is because the crew never overstepped limits. “For instance, we never shot him while he ate. And the kids could go tell Papa any time ‘We don’t want any more’.”
There are two images one is left with at the end of the screening — Papa hugging two children before he leaves for work, the younger one too busy with a video game to turn her face to him. The other is of a superstar waving to a sea of frenzied fans gathered outside his house.
Both men are called Khan. Shah Rukh Khan.

Shah Rukh Khan with his children at Hyde Park. See it on the TV show Living with A Superstar
Waiting to meet King Khan at Mehboob Studios in Bandra was a tricky proposition, having just heard him declare on Living With a Superstar that “Time starts when I come in. I am never on time for my meetings and I am very proud of it...” The minutes ticked on. He was said to be locked indoors for a photoshoot with Kajol, but his customised van was there to gape at, parked next to his silver BMW, both bearing numbers ending with 555. Suddenly the van door opened. He was already inside!
On why he did the Discovery Travel & Living show...
I would never bring my family on the sets. I can never act in front of them. I say this with due respect to the women who bring their moms to the sets — I know they need the security or the feeling they have people around. I have never really told my children how I do what I do. Being a movie star is a strange part of my life that my family does not know about. My kids are not big fans of what I do. I feel this documentary could come in handy there. Also I am glad I’ve said things about my wife and my family and my sister which I cannot say to them. I am strangely formal with my family. I have still not opened my wife’s cupboard. I would not open her handbag. I knock on my kids’ door. My wife says ‘Are you mad?’ — she is a Punjabi — ‘Why are you knocking. Just enter, nah!’ But I can’t get into personal spaces. Also the show is made well. So I will look and sound better (winks).
If he did the show for posterity...
I have never worked anything for prosperity or posterity as far as acting is concerned. It is all right for people to know what I do. This year was nice as there was a lot of travel. And they had the money to follow me. We were in LA, San Francisco, Dubai, South Africa, London.... Also, because I was injured, I was home. From the outside my life may seem exciting, private jet and all, but it’s very normal. I play soccer with my kids... they (Discovery) haven’t caught me doing homework with them. I didn’t want to look dumb (laughs). The kids are not often on camera because of security reasons and because they haven’t done anything to deserve it.
But it’s all right to let people know another side of me. There are words that are said about me — I have a business head, I am manipulative, I am a fantastic father.... all of those are quite untrue. I am as much of those as anyone else is. I want people to understand that. I am writing a book also which, Inshallah, I’ll finish someday. This show is the most public private part of me that has ever come out.
(Turns to Samar Khan of Red Chillies TV) You haven’t caught me taking a bath. (Samar: We have the Lux commercial for that.) (Laughs out loud.)
The real Shah Rukh...
Very few people know who I really am. Strangely a girl who has worked just 35 days with me — she is very intelligent, Anushka (of Rab Ne Bana De Jodi) — she said something which was very true... that you see a different Shah Rukh Khan every day. It’s not that I am moody in the morning or don’t talk to people. I am generally very well-mannered. But very few people know how I get hurt, how I am angry, how I get disturbed, how I compete, how I am vicious, how I am kind.... Every celebrity has that. Again, there’s that part of me which wants to go out in public and create this aura of a superstar. I, toh, live for the camera. If the camera’s not on, I don’t work (smiles).
On the family agreeing to be part of the show...
This year was the right time and the family agreed. That goes also for people like Kajol who was shooting with me. I asked if it was ok with her. Otherwise, they would be following only me.... Earlier, my daughter used to hide, my son used to walk away. But over the years they have come to accept the fact that the camera is part of our lives when they go out with Dad. If they felt so, they would say ‘Papa, I don’t want anymore’ and they would switch it (the camera) off. The guys making this documentary had to have that kind of integrity.
On revisiting his own work...
I don’t watch my films. I have kept that for when I am 97. Even on the first trial, I will walk in, have a few drinks, and go. It’s not nervousness. I thought of it, I made it and now it’s there. A film will depend on what you guys think of it, not me. Like I don’t read my interviews. I look at pictures. I have kind of trained myself not to read them. I find it strange to read what I’ve said. Mahesh Bhatt told me once “Yaar apna interview khud padho toh sabse ajeeb lagta hai.” Khud hi chauk jate hain apne hi jhooth se! And of course you guys make it much better than we are. Now that I am writing on Twitter I know how bad I am.
On spending time with children...
I love children. I don’t know if Michael Jackson was a paedophile — is that the word? — whether the case was proven, but I totally understand his love for kids. I have no friends. They are my friends. On the 13th, my wife is going to leave for a party in Goa. And I am very happy that all her friends are going to leave their children with me. They are outstandingly real. If I can get their purity of expression in my acting — that love, kindness, meanness....
On his calibre as a businessman...
Zero on 10, yaar. I am not as intelligent as people think I am. When things go right, everything goes right. My parents used to say, achha waqt aa gaya.... I believe in striking when the iron’s hot. I believe in a basic tenet of business — it has to be very retail like. Subah ko dukan kholo, raat ko shutter down karo. I have seen people like Mukeshbhai (Ambani) and Lakshmisaab (Mittal). I sit at their meetings and try to understand. They are awesome. But for me, bijli paani ka kharcha nikal jaaye — that is how you start business.
On his IPL team...

I didn’t buy an IPL team to make so many crores. For two years now, we have made a profit, but not because of the cricket! Not a big profit, but the only company, I believe, to do so. If I am going to be earning from a business which is not working because of the business then it is redundant. This is where I feel I have a certain amount of honesty left in my business. I still haven’t sold my soul. If my team is not going to play good cricket this year then woe be upon the fact that they make money this year. It amounts to zilch. I can make money by dancing at weddings and I do. Why do I have to stress about the controversies, feel sad when the team loses? I can make more money by doing what I do best. But I want sports to be a big thing in this country. I feel bad when I hear we are lagging behind in Commonwealth. Look at our stadiums. I wanted to shoot an ad and I went to Pune because I was told that was the best. How cheap is it that a guy who comes to shoot for a night does up the stadium better than it should be done by sports people! I have not shot at Eden Gardens, and I am not pointing fingers at CAB. But I want my son to come and say ‘Dude, I want to play hockey.’ I want that option to be there. Nobody wants to be a sportsman. Is this because we were subjugated? British raj mein ek naukri mil jaaye toh behtar hai? From back of beyond, dude comes from Jamaica or Trinidad & Tobago and wins everything. Their running facilities are far better than in India! I am a genuinely nice hockey player. I have played in Ambedkar Stadium, in Bombay also…. But when we went for Chak De!, Australia was completely different. I couldn’t play on the astroturf. I thought, shit, I haven’t seen this in my country. Every developing nation is fantastic in soccer because it is the cheapest game to play— Nepal, Surinam, Nigeria… You are from Bengal? The only place in India where someone — Bhaichung Bhutia... but for how long? There was Ochiba, Ochimi? (Cheema Okerie) Aur ek bhi naam nahin sunta hoon, yaar. I want to inculcate sporting consciousness. I am a movie star. I endorse so many things. Why can’t I endorse sports in my own way? I had wanted to make a stadium. I spoke to Nike, but it didn’t work out. Now this is my way of giving back.
On venturing into hi-tech production...
I want to make the best studio. This is my social work. All across the world there is “Bollywood, Bollywood” but then they come and say “This is where you make a film!” When I am in LA, the American crew tells me let’s do this, do that….I say “very good, very good”… you don’t speak because they will find out we don’t know! So I thought can we make a film that is technologically superior? That is why I turned producer (and started the VFX unit of Red Chillies), so I can have control over that aspect of the film. I am making a new film (Ra-1, with himself as superhero). A superhero film is internationally the most commercially viable. My belief is the new thing in the next five years here will be technology. If it’s not, we will lag behind.