Back!

I doubt anyone has noticed my absence, but here I am.. ready to conquer the world! Or the tiny space I have staked my name on, at least.

Shah Rukh is as busy as ever. You know how he always says he's 2 days late? Well, I feel as if I'm always 7 days behind him. By the time I get to watch on youtube the programs he's participated in, he's already moved on to something else. And he's very good at putting the past firmly where it needs to be. THE PAST.

Anyway, I may be back... but I doubt I can be as bubbly and babbling as before. Real life intrudes and this time in a major way, which was the reason why I closed the blog down sometime ago. Not that anyone realised it *cough*

It's a surreal place with Shah Rukh tweeting directly into my twittbox almost everyday. If you haven't become his 'follower' (man, I hate that word. I feel like I'm in some kinda cult..or something) you'd better start now. And with that, I'm off for the week! See you guys in the wonderful world of twitter!

I think Shah Rukh is in dire need of a PR officer (I volunteer for that job! Please take me! I can even work for free!)

Breaking News!

Shah Rukh apologizes on Twitter

yep.. I (and quite a few others) could see this happening the moment he started gushing on twitter. Shah Rukh, Shah Rukh, Shah Rukh. You never learn.. do you? I love you for your recklessness, so I have to take the frill with the thrill.. I guess.

Can I act as his unofficial PR officer and clarify several things?

• Search through the voluminous tweets he's given since the start of the SS-provoked controversy and I guarantee you that the phrase "I'm sorry to the Shiv Sena/Balsaheeb" never pops up. Not even once.
• He clarified in the interview with @BDUTT that when he said he doesn't mind meeting Bal Thackeray, it's not to discuss the foreign players issue coz to him it's a non-issue. It's just to generate goodwill (you know, like Amitabh Bachchan did with his Thackeray-filled Rann premiere..  ahead of his Aman ki Asha program). Maybe most of you hotheads are still in your teenage years, but I'm ancient and I'm telling you that with elders.. this is how one generally behaves, regardless of how much one wants to smash their faces in over some crazy matter or other that they've cooked up. Shah Rukh did have a good relationship with them in the past.. so even though the Thackerays have been known to target their 'popular friends' before, Shah Rukh is the eternal optimist.. as every fan must have known by now
• He regretted that his principles and his stand on the foreign players issue may have caused hurt to the innocent fans & their families who have braved the SS goons to go to the cinema. There is no way he would retract his statement, and if he does it now.. I'll personally book a ticket to Mumbai to call him out of Mannat and whack him with a pillow. Okay, I exaggerated. I don't have that much budget or time or energy or courage to do it.. :P
• Even though it's true that what he expressed in the "India Questions" interview is purely his personal view, freedom of speech, and all that jazz.. there's a section of people in Maharashtra specifically, and India generally, who may not be Shiv Sena's supporters but are genuinely upset that he praised Pakistan as a good neighbour. Maybe they've had traumatic personal experiences in the 26/11 and they were unable to forgive him for saying that. It is to these people whom he addressed this message to: "If I have said anything wittingly or unwittingly, have disturbed any sentiments, I express whole-hearted regret."

 To all the fans and supporters, don't get so hyper and jumpy.. for goodness sake. Regardless of how you perceive Shah Rukh to be.. man, superman, God, whateva.. you're in that place because YOU want to be there. It was entirely YOUR decision. Think about that for a minute before you start fluctuating every time some 'news updates' come up.. kthxbai.

I watched this video very sombrely...

Also: My daughter thought we'd have to leave Mumbai: Shah Rukh Khan, Bollywood is often on wrong side of politics: SRK 

I wrote in twitter that I will be writing on this issue. But after reading so many articles and watching so many videos.. I'm still, like Shah Rukh is, bewildered. I still don't understand what he's being penalized for, so much so that he's being called a 'traitor'. He's a movie star, yes, but his life is not a movie where some people can write the word traitor outside of Mannat and expect him + his family to relocate elsewhere right afterwards. Do they also expect him to come back a decade later and train a gaggle of girls to act in a big budget masala movie in a desperate attempt to resurrect his career and in the end triumph against all odds? Me thinks they have been watching too much Chak De! India.

Far be it for me to look down on Indian politics.. I mean, our ex-Deputy Prime Minister is undergoing trial for a sodomy charge right now, his 2nd one in just over a decade, so it's not like Malaysian politics is any less of a drama. I don't pick up newspapers to read front pages anymore, I buy them just for the cartoon + entertainment sections and whenever I'm curious about the current Malaysian political climate I'll get my husband to dissect it for me (he can do it in less than 10 minutes, which saves me so much time). I don't think I have enough brain matter to dissect Indian politics in regards to this issue. So, I have decided to not look at what's happening to Shah Rukh from a political point of view.

Two things. Firstly, there's IPL. Isn't it supposed to be an in-your-face commercial sporting event with its quota of international players? I understand that there are weighty issues between India & Pakistan and, at a smaller scale, between India & Australia. If the general population of India, who makes up the majority of the IPL audience, objects violently to the inclusion of foreign players in their favourite teams, then I think the IPL management has to seriously consider dropping that quota completely. Just let the IPL teams consist of entirely Indian players. Just let IPL be enjoyed by an entirely Indian audience. The "I" in IPL does not stand for 'international' after all. It stands for IN-DI-A.

Why must the 'foreign players/coaches' drama that plagues IPL so much be allowed to go on year after year? If the Indian audience is disturbed by them and the political parties in power adamantly deny their entry, then what is the point in keeping the quota? The IPL management is irresponsibly putting the team owners at a very uncomfortable, unfair, unlucrative, even dangerous, and unstable position. It took a devil-may-care personality like Shah Rukh to bring the obvious to light and if someone like him, who's been called the Brand Ambassador of India in the past, can be branded a "traitor" for voicing out a simple opinion, who would dare to voice out the obvious again next time?

I don't understand where Lalit Modi is hiding in the midst of all this. Is he working on something behind close doors or is he letting his 'friend' to hang out to dry? I followed the KKR debacle with Mr. B last year quite closely, and I remember feeling very disturbed with the virulently scathing racist comments made by Indian cricket fans against him online and in the media. I mean, my issue with him is of his seeming incompetence in coaching KKR, but his nationality has never been a concern for me. Is it his fault as the (ex-)coach of KKR that Indians were murdered in his native country? That quite a large number of people could equate between his dismal performance in KKR and the murders committed in Australia is mind-boggling. Or to lump him together with Chappal and accuse him of being discriminating against Sourav because "that's what Australian coaches do". How did that correlation come about?

Having said all that, I don't need anyone to tell me that eliminating the foreign players quota and excluding foreign coaches are completely crappy suggestions. If IPL wants to become the truly global T20 cricket format that it wants to be, it has to educate its passionate domestic supporters and some members of the regional political parties of the importance in involving foreign players and staff in the clubs/teams.

I think IPL has depended on Shah Rukh enough, don't you? I mean, face it, without Shah Rukh as one of the team owners, IPL may be as massively well received in India as it is now due to the country's obsession with cricket. But do you think any of us outside of India would care for it? Why should we follow it? We might as well be following the Cricket World Cup, or cricket championships in our own respective country. We'd probably still be intrigued enough to know that IPL exists, but I doubt we'd follow it as closely as we did for the last two years. Even though Shah Rukh was just joking when he said he is the USP of IPL, I think a lot of people would agree, albeit grudgingly perhaps, that what he said is completely true.

(also, as gung-ho about cricket as PZ and SS are, I doubt any of us wants to follow IPL coz he/she wants to see two Bollywood actresses cheering wildly for their teams in the stadium.. or at least, I don't)

I think it's high time for IPL to try to stand on its own and come out with its own stand on issues that it has directly or indirectly brought to the fore. The Pakistani/Australian/foreign players issue can be the start for a good discussion. Let's turn this uncomfortable and high tension drama into an opportunity to educate the masses, Lalitji. I want to see you on television explaining about this issue after the tournament is over. Don't do it now. The tournament is too near and God knows what kind of controversy that discussion will spark. Especially coz I know you'll drag Shah Rukh into it again.. just like you did with South Africa. It's something you always do, isn't it? Why is that? Don't you have enough confidence to carry this out on your own? Or at least with some BCCI members? Shah Rukh is not one of the people making all these policies you guys keep throwing at our faces, is he? Stop getting him into trouble for something BCCI has created. I want KKR to win the championship this year, so I want the players to focus on the game.. not on some stupid controversies.


Secondly, let me just say that the slogan "Mumbai for Marathi" confuses me so much. My country is a multicultural one.. we have different races staying in any state they choose to live in. We have our differences, of course, but I could never imagine that there would be a day when some people can matter-of-factly spout on public platforms slogans like "Selangor for Indians" or "Perak for Chinese" or "Kedah for Malays" or "Sabah for Kadazan" or Sarawak for Iban". To even imagine telling a Malaysian of chinese descent to "go back to China" or of indian descent to "go back to India" is something short of blasphemy to me. My grandparents came from Indonesia.. if there were to be a day some fellow Malaysians shout at me to "go back to Indonesia", I would be shattered. I've been to Indonesia and it is a lovely country, but I was born in Malaysia. My family's here. My husband's here. My heart's here. No matter how much I like to travel overseas, this is my home and this is where I belong.

I don't know what else to write. I'm bad at ending emotional posts so I'll just leave it there. I feel a sense of despair for Shah Rukh, not just because I genuinely love the guy but also because he is one of the few priceless mirrors in which I reflect my own existence. I wish him happiness.

Just ignore this post..this is just me being weird, and bored.. as usual (hehe)

There're fans who drove for 2 nights in a row just to catch a glimpse of him, and then there're fans like me who'd probably just look from afar even when he's by himself with no bodyguards surrounding him. Some may say I'm not a 'real' fan for not wanting to be in the same space as Shah Rukh.. but I do think he needs fans like me, as much as he needs fans like them. He needs to be pursued relentlessly, but he also needs to be left alone. All of us serve some purpose in our own way. I do think that most of the purposes are ours with no regard whatsoever to what he may feel about them, but is that bad? That's just us being human, IMO. Obnoxious and endearing at the same time. Humans fascinate me. I fascinate me. I'm happy being me, and I'm happy that Shah Rukh Khan is Shah Rukh Khan. Am I making sense? Probably not.. :P

I'm happy documenting his life in my blog, and now following him/writing to him on twitter. This feeling of happiness is real. I didn't make it up. I didn't have to force myself to smile when I read what he wrote, or hear what he said in an interview. It's a natural thing. And not just smile.. I always laugh my heart out when I detect a joke hovering in-between the lines or just blatantly out there for people with a clue to pick up on them. I cried when he was injured. I'm angry when he is cussed, insulted, despised. I'm bewildered when he's hated. I just want to be with him forever. But I also know there'll come a time when I'll drift away from his world. Change is inevitable. So before I change.. or he changes, so much so that I can't follow him anymore.. I'm determined to enjoy him now as much as I can in the only ways I can.

To actually believe that by watching all the 10 episodes of the Discovery Travel & Living series, or read his autobiography that will come out "next year for sure" (or so he said), one will know the real Shah Rukh Khan.. is a delusion of the highest degree. We are allowed to see only what he allows everyone to see. He may stay that way for some time in the future, but he will change too and those changes will probably not be documented. Comments like.. "But you said this before, and now you say this!" thrown at him really annoys me. No. People with no imagination is what really annoys me, coz they're inevitably the ones who always give out irritating comments like that. You know who else annoy me? People who think he's perfect. People who jump to his defense (especially when there's no need to do so).. not to defend him, but to show that they are his defenders. Just because the solar system revolves around Shah Rukh Khan, doesn't mean you can be some dust particles in the asteroid belt that zig-zag madly about and go collision-happy with any asteroid in your path. I have plenty of chill pills, if you gals/guys run out of supply.

You want to know why I love Shah Rukh Khan? Because he's always been consistent in showing to us how human he is. That he's imperfect. That he's NOT the hero he always portrays on the big screen. That he can get hurt, physically and emotionally. I love that it's completely okay for him to let us know that he's petty.. and arrogant.. and selfish.. and self-centered.. and completely focused in what he wants to do that everyone else can take a backseat (except his family who's his most important entity).. and that he loves his fans/friends/colleagues a lot as long as we understand that we don't own him. I love how he flaunts his stardom, his wealth, his fame to our faces.. and yet casually goes to public functions in his t-shirts and jeans as if he doesn't care that the image he projects makes him look exactly like the newcomer he was back when he first came to Mumbai nearly 20 years ago, minus the baby fat of course. I love his contradictions and his unyielding principles. I love how scandal-less he is despite being the star most embroiled in controversies. I love everything 2D that I know about him. I love that there's so much I don't know about him, 2D or otherwise.

Following Shah Rukh Khan is like following 20-50 celebrities at once. And that's just how I like things to be. My name may not be Khan, but I'm currently very happy.

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!

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

@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.

Reading this, I cried a bit..

I've always wondered whether his thoughts exist only in the moments he thinks them, so that tomorrow this thought may have changed form and become something else..but I find it sad that in that particular moment, this is how he thinks of himself when he's being pursued by autograph books, cameras, and videos. Shah Rukh, you're an inspiration.. not just some cardboard cutout. Give yourself some credit, yaar.

Source

"My life is two dimensional. People should take picture with me. I think I am only good for camera. That's why when somebody just meets me, I know all everyone wants from me is a photograph or an autograph or may be a roll of a video and that's all. When I exists I exists more on a film roll than in real life,"

You want to know how you've inspired me? I have a treadmill in my house now after your 6-pack abs revolution (yes, yes..I use it regularly) and most of the songs accompaniment are from your movies. Almost every time I get angry or disheartened with my project, I always remind myself that you've faced more problems and failures than I have and you didn't quit so who am I to complain? So I shut my whining up and shoulder on. Despite my work that seems not going anywhere, I took time to try out some activities (extreme sports stuff) that have been in my wish list since forever because of this "Just Do It!" attitude you keep going on and on about.

You're right of course..that movies don't change people's lives. But the personalities who drive the movies do. That's YOU! man. So don't think you're "only good for camera". That statement makes me want to whack your head and hug you at the same time. And everyone doesn't just want "a photograph or an autograph or may be a roll of a video and that's all". They want a piece of you to bring back with them..that's essentially what those photos, autographs, etc are. Pieces of you. They can't very well tear you into a large can of mince meat and distribute the bits, can they?

I sound angry, but I'm actually sad. Love is painful, I guess. No matter how much we love, it'll never be enough. No matter how much we want to show how much we love, it'll never be adequate. What I wrote above may sound crazy and nutty, but I've been in other fandoms (not Bollywood ones) before and believe me..fans are serious when we claim that we love our idols. I've some theories about this fandom phenomenon, which I won't bore you with by dispensing them here. Watch the Lift Kara De episodes if you want the visual illustrations. And I've learnt to take everyone's seriousness seriously, coz I'm serious too.

Anyway, I doubt I can change how Shah Rukh feels about himself. I can't even change how I feel about myself. I just feel like venting, is all.. :P

If you're allergic to Salman Khan, avoid this video. He's in too many frames~

..anyway, I always like to observe Shah Rukh everytime he's on stage or on-screen with another hero(es). Don't you think he always goes quieter? Even his body language slows down to a minimum when the other heroes are talking/doing their stuff..except when he's expected to perform. It's fascinating to watch.

I really don't get it when people say he's arrogant. He's the most respectful person in an entertainment industry I have ever encountered. All his crass jokes were confined to his Filmfare hosting stints with Saif, and even then he's usually told the nominees who're gonna be mentioned. He's talked about 'destroying' Aamir Khan from the time he starred in his earliest movies, so his competitive nature is nothing new. I have no idea why the media makes such a big deal out of it even now.. it's all talk with him. When he's with the stars he's 'in competition with', he's always the politest, most appreciative person in the lot.

I love it that he knows what he's got, he knows what he wants, and he knows where he's going (or appears to know, anyway). And I love it that he appreciates his fans so much, coz I'm one of them..even though we've never come face-to-face and perhaps never will. But even across such a far away distance, we can feel his love and appreciation. It's a lot of fun being his fan. I'm always entertained, and I think that's what he always tries so hard to do anywhere he goes and in anything he does/says.. to entertain, and to see people smile for him and with him.

..eeep, I'm getting mushy on a Friday morning. Maybe coz it's raining so heavily outside and I'm kinda sleepy. Don't want to go to work~~~

Hoshiz.. Shah Rukh is on Twitter!!&*%#*&111!!!??!

My face is red. I can't believe I'm blushing just from getting all excited over finding him on twitterverse.

I did wonder how long it will take the tech-savvy Shah Rukh to get on that medium when the rest of his cohorts have been jumping into the bandwagon. I mean, Karan is always going on in his tweets about persuading this and that person to be his twitter buddy that it's pretty impossible for Shah Rukh to escape his radar.

I would not have believed it were him either were it not for Priyanka sounding the gong for the rest of us to take notice, and Pree has thousands and thousands of followers. Karan promoted it too in his very recent tweet. I bet the reaction is rather slow from the media coz Shah Rukh started this revolution on a Sunday. Typical.. :P

I'm sort of shaking a bit right now, trying to reign in the screams. I want to jump around, but am at the lab (on a Sunday..uhuh). So have to control my unmachoness, at least until I get back home.. dunno when yet.

Gyabo.. be calm my furiously beating heart.

I miss this movie.. I want to buy the CD!

I can't get over how sexy he is in this movie like in almost every frame! (shyaddap all you who don't think so..LOL), despite not acting in a romantic role. What I like the most about Maxie's image? The earring! I also love it that he is constantly clothed in an undershirt.. o yumm. I love the cut-off gloves too, and the bicycle chain he's always swinging around.

I know some fans hate Ash due to some of her remarks regarding the issues they had after Chalte Chalte, but what can I say.. I have a preference for big-eyed, cutesy females. Anyway, I think Ash and Shah Rukh make a nice on-screen couple and I'm one of those few fans in the SRK fandom who want them to get together in a movie again..dem her ex-bf for ruining their work and personal relationships.

They look good as brother and sister here, but then.. Shah Rukh has never not been able to carry out any relationship equation with his co-stars. When he's a college student, even after we've seen him in suits and an 8-year old daughter just a few frames before, he'll be believable as a college student. When he's an older brother, even with an intensely attractive and over-gorgeous taller younger brother, he manages to grab the screen whenever they're together in a scene (according to the unbiased me). When he's playing this (psychotic? delusional?) teacher in love with a dead girl, even when he's standing right next to the imposing and charismatic school principal, he manages to appear to be not just the saner one.. but the more righteous person of the two.

There's an art form to Shah Rukh's method of acting. I can't figure it out or why I'm so drawn to him despite whatever the official/unofficial critics say about his acting ability. I love the way he approaches a scene, his character, the surrounding characters.. everything. There's an empathy between him and what's unfolding in the story that makes me want to absorb every single gesture, expression, action, etc. of his. I don't feel this way about any other actor, no matter how greater an actor he is as compared to Shah Rukh (according to everybody else). I don't understand why there's a need to explain this biased reaction of mine towards Shah Rukh to anyone, really. I like him the best.. better than the rest.. toh kiya?

The idiot has gone and done it again...

Far be it that I'm here in my own SRK blog promoting someone else's film, but since this guy's recent public remarks (he's dredged up a long-forgotten stale issue..for the umpteenth time now!!) has managed to provoke a very funny response from Shah Rukh, I have to do this post so that I can paste it here. No, no..not the media-edited one. It's this:

"Do you..have a relationship with the editor, or the cameraman? Or are you the greatest friends with the gentleman who's writing this script for you? Are you sir, sleeping with a cameraman of yours because he's shooting the shot for you? No. So, you know..we just work with each other and have a good time."


And the saala reporters even laughed at several places, even though the jokes were on them. There's no accounting for some people's stupidity, really. They just go on and on. I think it's become so ingrained in their work ethics now, they dunno how to do it differently anymore. See, I have absolutely no problem if this kinda moronic reporting comes from tabloid papparazi, but these guys/gals call themselves journalists and claim that they work for serious papers/news channels. Errr.. okkkaay~

I find it really amusing that he imitated the "Kkkkkiran" dialogue in one of his public appearances. After all, it was a role that he turned down (coz it would hurt his hero image..hmm) before it went to Shah Rukh. Btw, I read somewhere that the stutter was Shah Rukh's input. The logic behind it is.. coz Rahul is so in love with the girl, he can't help but stumble over her name with reverence whenever he calls her.

And no matter how cynics might laugh at Shah Rukh and keep on making snide remarks about how he 'is still stuttering', the fact that most people remember about the stutter after 16 years have passed is truly an amazing thing, huh? Some of Shah Rukh's movies may be out for toss (i.e. I would have never ever touched them with a 10-foot pole if it weren't for him acting in them) according to me, but DARR would not have been the wonderful movie we know and love if it hadn't been for the way Shah Rukh played Rahul. My favourite scenes are the ones where he kills people, esp. the balcony scene. It's like... "hahaha, I'm sorry" *BAM!* ...the girl hits the pavement. Ooops.. that's in Baazigar.. :P ..anyway, nobody plays a psycho the way he does.. ish simply awesome.

Anyway, it's cool that Shah Rukh is finally going public with his environmental work (even though he still looks a bit shy about it). I probably should start doing the same, at least around my house and neighbourhood *cough* ..being a lazyass doesn't help in making my feelings about the environment felt by the people around me LOL. But o hey, I do try to conserve water in my daily usage! ..emmm, I think.

PS: To anyone who passes through this blog and is currently fuming with fingers poised above his/her keyboards to write some angry comments to me coz I call him an idiot, here's the idiot himself clarifying why he indeed deserves to be called that in not just one interview, but several (I only bothered to find three, so you obsessives out there can go find the rest yerselves~) ..here, here, and here!

Speech in INDIA GATE

Am I the only one who have goosebumps watching this?

If I had not known who SRK and the Prime Minister of India are and someone were to point out this guy while he's delivering this speech to me and tell me that here's the newly appointed Prime Minister of India who replaced Manmohan Singh in the 2009 election, I would have believed it.

You know how we say 'the whole is greater than the sum of the individual parts'? With Shah Rukh, even his individual parts are great. I read many articles where people ask "Who's the real Shah Rukh Khan?". My attitude towards him is thus: Shah Rukh is whoever he is at the moment he is whoever he is. I accept whatever he wants to throw at me, coz each piece of him is blindingly brilliant.

I have no idea what he's saying in the hindi part of this clip, and I have a feeling that I won't agree with a lot of things that he's saying about Islam.. but that doesn't take away the fact that he's so convinced with his truth, it makes my conviction in my truth pales in comparison. Were I to have 1/1000 of his belief in the rightness in which he lives his life in the rightness of how I live mine, I'd be a better person than I am now.. I think.

I've always found it weird how people try to make him into an ambassador of Islam. You don't search for ambassadors of your religion in the cinema halls, dudes. But then this is also a country in which temples are erected in worship of Shah Rukh and pooja are carried out to pray for his health and well being..so out of respect for an unknown world and culture, I hold my silence on this issue. Shah Rukh is who he is because of everything he has gone through, so who am I to complain about things I understand nothing about?

Love you Shah Rukh, and take care!



Another version:


PS: On another note, OMG..someone actually went and typed the speech he delivered in the India Today Conclave, how dedicated is that? (LINK)

Happy Birthday, Datuk!

The more I read of him, the more I love the guy.. LOL. He's super cute! Well, you have to be in tune to that kind of sense of humour to get kicked about it. All you serious, tedious people.. keep out! :P

Ness commented to my rant post, and I have this burning desire to write an essay in reply to her short question. Well, when it comes to Shah Rukh.. everything in this blog inadvertently gets turned into an essay (lol). In the end, I think I should stop myself from going overboard and just come up with a short list of why (I think) SRK got all the criticisms he did over the years, i.e. hamming, familiar mannerisms, OTT (over the top), et cetera et cetera ad nauseam:

1. First of all, I'd like to clarify to the SRK fandom that it's not only SRK who gets all types of flak from media, anti-fan, etc. Every movie star gets it.. be it from Bollywood, Hollywood, Kollywood, Mollywood, Hong Kong, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, even our (relatively) small Malaysian movie industry with actors who earn not even 1% of what Shah Rukh earns per movie. They all get it. So stop getting depressed about this issue, yaar.
   
2. With the advent of internet, everyone who has an opinion can broadcast it to the world (like tiny, puny, little old unknown boring me in this blog). Before, you have to get your articles checked by your editor to get them published. Nowadays, even articles riddled with misspellings and grammatically wrong sentences are deemed as rocking and cool. They get read, re-published, and now.. re-tweeted. We're all essentially reading recycled rubbish for hours at a time whenever we open the entertainment section, which is where most of SRK-related 'articles' reside. The compound effect of all the trashy materials depresses our soul. My advice.. if you can't take it, leave it!
   
3. As to SRK's acting as per my opinion.. I mean, you all can have a different opinion about this.. but mmm, see if I care. Shah Rukh has been asked in an interview long ago about why he acts the way he does, i.e. hamming it to the hilt and very stylized.. according to the interviewer (I think I read the interview at Planet SRK forum, my source to most of SRK's old uploaded stuff). He answered something like, "...is there any other way to do it?". So there you have it, folks. I'm asking you guys/gals.. looking back at all his previous films, would you have wanted them done differently? I don't. And people who do.. they can go watch other movies starring other stars, if they know what's good for them.
4. Contrary to popular belief that critics review movies as honestly as they can, errrr.. they don't. They're there to criticize. It will be weird for a critic to go on and on about a movie they like and stop the article without highlighting something absurd or bad about the movie. IT'S THEIR JOB TO HIGHLIGHT THE BAD STUFF, GET IT? That means, no matter how crazy they are about a movie with paragraphs that start with something like, "...Shah Rukh Khan is simply superb as first the shy Suri and then the flamboyant, full of energy, Raj..", they'll still snuck in a "...But as SRK’s character’s transformation comes in the grip slowly loosens and you start feeling restless with the pace slumping down considerably" (link). See what I mean? Either you stop reading reviews on his movies, or get over it already.
5. Having said that, I'm in complete agreement with Ness that he gets unfairly slammed on all fronts, esp. during Billu release. O God.. that was such a circus! So much so that I'm now completely numbed and even managed to laugh uproariously at some truly beleaguering posts. Want to know how I get from being pissed crazy enough to shout at my computer screen on some issues to laughing it off and going 'oh, gimme a break here'? I read so much of it and commented so much to it too. Seriously, if you read and commented to the kinda crap people write about SRK over and over and over and over and over x100000000000.. one fine day you just wake up to it and go ...hahaha, that's funny!
6. I think it's human nature to put everyone and everything under neat labels hence.. Aamir Khan is an 'intelligent' actor, Salman Khan is the 'bad boy' of Bollywood, Shah Rukh is always 'hamming' it.. etc. etc. They said Abishek is 'wooden' ..and here I thought he's the most natural actor I've seen of the younger generation. Hrithik always 'plays larger-than-life characters'. And now they've poised Ranbir as 'the young gun who is giving Bollywood biggies a run for their money'.. even though the kid is humbleness itself (I like his sarcastic reply ..hehe). I personally think that no one from the succeeding generations has managed to surpass Amitabh Bacchan.. and the 67-yr old actor is still working hard like there's no tomorrow with one after another of his old movies being remade by the current crop of filmmakers.. so the thought of younger stars surpassing the Khan Triumvirate is quite ridiculous.. really. They've already got 2 decades worth of work under their belt. By the time Ranbir, Imran, and Abhay get there.. the Khans have already reached the next stages of their careers. Go and catch 'em if you can!
7. I watched Maya Memsaab (the uncut version) in 1995, DDLJ in 1997 and KKHH in 1999. From being intrigued about Lalit to being confused about Raj to being blown away by Rahul, Shah Rukh has done something none of the actors I've loved has managed to do.. he gets under my skin. He makes me feel what his character feels, so much so that when I watched Devdas.. I empathized with the story from Devdas' POV, not from the POV of any of the women in the story. I was so affected by the character he played that I wrote several poems from Devdas to Paro and to date they remain my favourites among the ones I penned (here's a sample, but I'm warning you.. it's quite blegh so read at your own risk. I've never tasted alcohol so I just kinda imagined this is what Devdas feels about Bacardi.. lol). Okay, to be honest.. my poems are all crappy but I love the Devdas ones the most. Which is why I don't mind what other people think about his style of acting. I love the way he does it on screen, so why should I suddenly be affected by what other people think about it? Shah Rukh has magic!
   

That folks.. is my *cough* short list. I hope you had fun reading it!

Finally, I just want to say.. I love everything written about Shah Rukh: the good, the bad, and the weird (high on my list right now must be this one.. I am totally amused!). It's really much much worse if I have nothing at all to read about.. that would definitely freak me out. So yeah.. bring it on, babeh! <(^o^)/

Another rant

I must have ranted about this somewhere in the blog, but I want to rant about it again.. ha!

I do get irritated whenever I read people comment on how he 'chose to be a star over being an actor', how he overacts, how he's not a good actor, and how his films are too sugarcoated.

See, movies are a funny thing. Sometimes if they're good enough, they acquire a life of their own regardless of how crappy the plots are (that's why we have B-rated cult movies). But there are instances where in the hands of an actor, an intelligent movie can turn into the most banal thing you ever saw in your life.. and vice versa.

Personally, I don't understand what you're doing torturing yourself reading my blog if you're not an SRK fan, but let's say hypothetically that you're not. Picture Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Baazigar, Darr, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Dil To Pagal Hai, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, Chalte Chalte, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, and Chak De in the hands of your favourite hero.. someone other than Shah Rukh. The result is for you to digest yourselves, not me. Coz I can't picture them with anyone else playing the lead other than SRK.

I don't think people give enough appreciation to the roles he has played. All they ever concentrate on are individual scenes or the movie itself. Isn't it odd that out of the movies of his generation, the movie characters that stand out the most are the ones Shah Rukh played. I remember exact mannerisms of his heroes/anti-heroes after just the first watch. Not to mention his impeccable timing with his co-stars despite the many movements he tends to slot in for even the smallest and tiniest of scenes.

Granted, he looks the same in every movie.. but seriously, how different can a human be after the first 20 films? Esp. to the fans who have followed him almost obsessively since he was in Fauji... they're sure to spot every nervous gesture, every quirk of an eyebrow, every dimpled smile, every downcast face, every cynical smirk, and every teary expression that he displays for the camera. Do you want him to undergo a plastic surgery for facial alteration so he'd look drastically different in every movie??

So now I forget about trying to see whether Shah Rukh Khan acts differently this time. Instead, I try to see the guy he's portraying, I try to see the story he's trying to tell, I try to empathise with the plight of the hero, or.. if he's playing an anti-hero like Don.. the absolute relish he's projecting while inflicting all manners of devilish tortures on the poor victims around him. This way, it makes me feel less guilty for not liking some scenes or some movies he's done coz.. see, I just can't connect with the characters or the stories. It's how I deal with (my other movie/drama idols) Johnny Depp, Nicholas Tse and Lee Jun Ki. And this is also why I don't get it when people say, "I tried hard to like him, but I can't.." or "I tried hard to like this movie becoz he's in it, but I can't.."

Arre yaar.. why do you have to force yourselves? If you don't like him or any of his movies, turn the DVD off or walk out of the movie theater and go watch/do something else. Really, I do feel like bonking some heads whenever I read that kind of comment. Are you a bunch of 8-year olds? Even 8-yr olds know how to turn off the TV when a Naruto episode gets kinda sucky (or maybe that's just me and my 8-yr old mentality). Stop doing what you think you should do, and just do what you know you should do. Throw off the automatically installed societal-switch and just be. You can do that and still be a polite human being who doesn't bitch and curse in the comment sections of other people's blogs and websites, you know.

Another one is... earlier, it was quite amusing to read SRK movie reviews that talk "intelligent"ly about why he's the suckiest ever choice for this or that role he's played in it. Now, it's just plain irritating. Guys/gals.. if you could predict him as well as you say you could, why bother watching his films? I hate it when people who clearly don't enjoy something participate along with me in it anyway, and then proceed to thrash it (which happens to be something I love) with relish for paragraphs and paragraphs in their blogs to the whole world.

What a truly dull hobby they have. See, I'm not a Salman Khan fan, or an Aamir Khan fan. I do love a bit of Hrithik and Abishek though, but not enough to follow their 3.5 hour movies from start to finish. So I never bother to review their movies. How bothersome is it to blab about a movie you're not passionate about when you don't even get paid for it? Or maybe it's true what I said before in the blog.. those people are really masochists. They like to torture themselves with Shah Rukh's presence. Maybe it's because "...SRK has such beautiful eyes, it can make anyone go crazy!!!8@93%7&&5!!??!111!" (lol).

And with that, I take my leave for the rest of this week. Have a good weekend!

What do I love about Shah Rukh Khan? Let me count the ways...

#1

PS: The number does not in any way indicate an order of preference. It's just some number randomly stuck in my equally random post (that has a potential of being expanded to more than one posts in the same label/tag).

Shah Rukh changes people and consequently.. how they live their lives.. just by being so open about himself. Which is why I don't understand when anyone calls him insecure.

I think to be able to talk about anything that embarrasses you, brings you joy, makes you laugh or cry.. or simply sharing the love that's in your heart, showing how vulnerable you are, telling someone how they can hurt you just because you love them too much.. these all take a lot of courage and an ability to be so secure about yourself to know that you'd be okay regardless of the comments from family/friends/strangers that you guess you'll get after such an exposure.

I think more than anything.. more than talents & good looks (of which he has aplenty, in my humble opinion), more than good scripts & directors, more than being at the right place & the right time.. Shah Rukh endears himself to us by constantly reminding us that he's one of us. Like.. "Hey, listen. I'm just like you guys. You know, you can get this success you always equate me with if you work as hard and diligently as I do. You can have a lovely family and still be excellent at your job if you work hard enough all the time to get them both going. Never give up and you'll get there".

He's such an inspiration. But of course there're always those of us who get so inspired by him and then sit on our asses doing nothing but surfing the net all day despite having numerous deadlines hovering over our heads like the sword of Damocles (errrr.. me?).

He's so candid about his personal life (despite still keeping it a very private affair.. how he manages that, I have no idea) that even I, a person who comes from a conventional muslim society that opposes mix marriages between non-muslims and muslims, can only think of Gauri Khan and his children with affection. In the end, I made a promise to myself to stay quiet on this front. But that doesn't mean I'm not aware of what Shah Rukh has sweetly achieved in getting the lot of us to accept his family despite shoving them into the limelight with his endless "...my wife said..." quotes and various mentions of shared religious celebrations.

Even taking the religious quotient out of the equation, I've yet to find a murderous female fan in the cyber landscape who bitches about SRK's married status over an extreme & irrational jealousy against Gauri (except for Vidya Balan, that is.. LOL). This harmony is almost unheard of in female-dominated fandoms, and I've been in several others before (japanese, korean, and english artists').

And now, it's become acceptable for movie heroes to flaunt their wives/gfs as if they're the most precious treasure (which they should be!) the way.. O God.. everyone is doing now. I mean, guys.. it's okay with wives, but do you have to go gaga over every gf you're into at the time you're into her? Like Shah Rukh (see Koffee w Karan episode with Farah Khan), I also get very confused over the 'musical chair'-like pairings in the B-industry. Not that I dwell too much on it tho, but I do wish they'd get married soon and live happily ever afterward.

Maybe you weren't into Bollywood pre-SRK but lemme tell ya.. this was an unheard of phenomenon until he came along. Bollywood stars of yesteryear usually deal with the media invasion of privacy by shoving the beloved members of their families deeper into their homes as if they were a part of some shameful secrets that can't be leaked to the public. Somehow, Shah Rukh managed to make his wife the only woman (promotional stills with his heroines don't count) he got paired with in photo shoots. She was even in some TV advertisements with him. When I stumbled upon those ads on youtube, I thought that was some awesome work. How did he convince those sponsors to agree to that concept??

What brought this babbling on? Just a mention of him in these posts (one, two) I stumbled on today. You know, just by him admitting on national TV (bantering with his mother-in-law and his bro-in-law no less! And 'Jeena Isi ka Naam hai' had his father-in-law brought onto the show.. so I think Farah's program has completed the set.. unless Gauri has other siblings we don't know about) that he's proud to be a henpecked husband made a lot of couples come out with interesting bits about their regularly imbalanced lives.

He made it cool for men to be a JKG and for women to fess up about being the dominating force in the family. And that's reason numero uno of why I love him.

Just mumbling...

I stumbled upon this blog post today... it's not that I'm ranting against it in a big way or anything, but I've found similar posts/forum comments like this scattered all over the net and just feel like mumbling about it in cyber space:

You know guys/gals, people do change. And as we change due to whatever.. age, some big/small life experiences, meeting new people or just coz we feel like it.. the things/people/stuff we love sometimes (or most times, as usually is the case with me) change too. Nobody should point fingers at you and say, "How dare you don't love Shah Rukh anymore!" nor should the change of heart make you feel guilty.

In fact, if anyone were to tell you that you don't deserve to call yourselves SRK fans before coz now you don't love him in the same way you used to, you should tell 'em to bugger the fug off. It's your heart, it's your time, it's your life, hell.. it's your money. You loved him once, and as some romantics say.. it's better to love once than never to love at all.. right? :P

Shah Rukh makes something happen to my heart (kuch kuch hota hai, hmmm?) and as long as he continues to make me feel that special feeling that only a few people can evoke, I'll be around. I wish I could be closer to him, but I also know that it's not really what I want in life. I just want to be the little old me who goes about puttering in her crampy lab doing experiments that may or may not result in something interesting, watching his new/old clips on youtube everyday while wearing down her treadmill (ha! I wish! I run like an old woman..), dancing to songs from his movies a few times a week, buying his DVD whenever she can spare some cash, and writing crappy posts in this SRK blog whenever she feels like babbling about anything SRK-related. I don't want to go to his concert, I don't want to que for his autograph, I don't want to do a darshan in front of his Mannat, I don't want to line up the side of a road to catch a glimpse of him and scream his name when I spot him walking/driving/rushing by, I don't even have India anywhere near the 5 countries I want to visit the most. I'm probably the most useless fan Shah Rukh has ever had!! (lol)

I'm very selfish when it comes to Shah Rukh. I love him as long as he keeps me entertained. I don't know him personally, nor do I want to (coz I think a meeting with him can change my life, and I love my life the way it currently is too much to have an epiphany now) so I don't feel guilty about this. However, let me say something here.. I do pray for him. He is the only muslim celebrity I have ever prayed for. I take my prayers very seriously.. I don't even pray for the goodness of a relative if I don't think he deserves my prayer (there's a relative of mine who I think can pray for himself for all I care). But I do pray for Shah Rukh. I love him lots. He's changed some of the ways I think, and consequentially some of the ways I do stuff, simply by being his schizophrenic self in interviews and by just leading his simple yet complicated life the way he wants to. It's been a fun ride following him from afar so far.

So you know, if following Shah Rukh Khan is no longer a fun ride for you.. you should get off at the next station. You should be happy with the people you spend your time with, even if they're not physically there with you. I have a few others that make me happy, and if anyone tries to make me feel guilty for not focusing exclusively on SRK, I'll kick their arses and tell 'em to bugger off 'n get a life. That's what I think about this 'skrimishies' (this is my own word, don't go finding the definition on google) issue.. I wish me writing about it will make it go away, but unfortunately humans love to torture themselves over skrimishies issues over and over again. It's been happening for millenniums and I doubt that it will disappear simply coz a puny critter like me wish it to. Probably coz it saves us from having to think about heavyweight issues that will require us to take action and do something positive with our lives.. ha!

Whatever. I'm done here.

Huh..

Know what? I'm beginning to get really really pissed off with this guy. I know it's such a waste of time since he's thousands of miles away from me and a movie star and I don't know him personally so he shouldn't affect me in any negative or positive way. Plus, I'm so not a fan even though I did like his acting in a couple of his movies so why should I care, right? And I've promised myself not to rant about anyone else in my SRK blog, but seriously.. I have to get this ugly feeling off my chest.

Who am I talking about? It's that actor famous for his short term amnesia in media when it comes to Shah Rukh, of course.. who else but Salman Khan. I wish he'd stay away from Shah Rukh, in real and reel life. I mean... what is this??? It's like a love-hate, obsessive relationship he's having with SRK.

He was the only A-list actor who repeatedly agreed to act in two-hero films with Shah Rukh. He pursued the leading lady of Devdas where SRK is the lead and SRK's own production film, Chalte Chalte, until it effectively got her kicked out of the movie (not that I'm complaining about this since I like Rani as an actress much better) and soured SRK's relationship with her for years becoz SRK turned his back on her in support of him. I mean.. she acted in other movies too, with other leading men.. why made such a public fuss ONLY while she was in SRK's movies?

At least Aamir Khan, when he makes tasteless jokes about SRK, they sometimes amuse me as they're clearly designed to garner publicity for his upcoming films (there're also all those reports of them being amiable to each other off the set).. but when Salman makes bad jokes about Shah Rukh, he actually means them to the point of trying to get into fisticuffs over them while in a drunken state at a party in front of family members, his and SRK's.

Salman has this very very annoying ability to completely believe in everything he says ..at the time, anyway. He's been giving so many negative quotes on SRK after that near-fight that it made me want to print out an A0-size poster of him with a big red cross slapped on his mouth and a sign.. 'WANTED - silenced forever' ..on it. Then he made an abrupt turn and started praising SRK.. even saying SRK has beautiful eyes.. what?? Being a bad-tempered person, I naturally want WANTED to flop at the BO after all this ruckus! But unlike many of Salman's juvenile fans whose brainless comments I found littering Shah Rukh's clips on youtube and articles in entertainment news, I can't be bothered to worry about the fate of a movie by someone who I don't fan. Meh.. he's had, what?.. 12 flops back-to-back already. Maybe he's due for a break.

Anyway, back to Shah Rukh's beautiful eyes. The exact quote is: "SRK has such beautiful eyes, it can make anyone go crazy," and I went.. oh? Including you, Salman? And before this.. I remember an interview where he said SRK is a matlabi person coz why? He didn't keep in touch! Awwww.. poor Salman, ignored by Shah Rukh. Seriously, if you don't like a guy, why do you want him to keep in touch with you? This is purely from a girl's POV though.. I'm not sure how male relationship works. Do guys like to have other guys they dislike to keep in constant touch with them? This is a mystery to me..

And now, he's gonna buy an IPL team.. LOL. Doggedly pursuing SRK from films to TV stints to the pitch, I see. Salman, even though people say Shah Rukh is gay coz he's surrounded by allegedly gay friends (this rumour still circulates despite him being happily married for nearly 20 yrs to a strong-minded, gorgeous lady and having two of the cutest kids in India), I doubt he's so gay that he's enjoying you hounding him wherever he goes (although, Shah Rukh being a masochist.. he probably does enjoy the 'attention' this guy has been giving him, if not so much.. at least a bit).

I'd like to say this.. Salman, you're a nuisance to us in the SRK fandom. What a drama queen. You should read our collective comments on you in the SRK forums, but the archive is massive and reading is probably not your strong suit. Lay off the chase, man.. it makes you look pathetic. I'd like to wish people who make tremendous effort to pursue the luff of their lives to gain them in the end, you know.. happiesss endingsss. But this is one couple I want to keep separated. Anyone who is even thinking of attempting to put them together in the same screen (again??), be it Farah Khan or whoever, is gonna get a virtual whack from me.. although I doubt that'll be stopping any of them from trying.. bleh.

Hmm, I started out being pissed off at Salman and ended up feeling amused at this whole Salman vs. SRK thing. It's probably just a spurned lover's attempt to get attention after all.. ha! Really, someone should try to write a fanfic about these two, with Salman as the uke of course. It works out more brilliantly that way, trust me. They give us plenty enough materials for several book volumes.

With this, I'm off the issue already...

I've been reading comments from SRK fans who're calling out to other fans to do something tweetily nasty to a journalist over his/her comments on SRK's detainment issue.

I don't do tweet so I didn't get the lingo he/she was using. But thing is, that's as bad as an anti-SRK person calling out to people who don't like him to write nasty comments in every article in the news on the incident.

You gals/guys just missed the point, didn't you?

I know everyone feels like he/she has to do something about it.. but don't go over the top with this just on Shah Rukh. What happened to him had probably happened to your next door muslim neighbours, see. Do you care to find out more about what has happened if they had told you about it? Do you care enough to spread the awareness about those injustices .. not just about what happened to your muslim neighbours, but also to other members of minority communities that have been treated unjustly by the authorities or by the society you're living in?

It's easier to fight for Shah Rukh's cause since he's so far away and we're not personally responsible for his well being. Our anger over his incident can flare up so magnificently in a month and die a quick and painless death the moment another controversial issue pops up. Our violent reaction towards the issue allows us the illusion of doing something useful while leaving us a way out in order to not be held accountable for our actions.

Look at the muslim groups who burnt Shah Rukh's effigies and were so ready to pronounce him an apostate just how many months back. Last Sunday, some of them were probably there during the burning of President Obama's effigy as a protest towards SRK's detainment (link). And they were probably there too during the staging of that demo outside Salman Khan's house protesting over his flippant comment published last Monday (link).

I hate mob mentality as much as I hate sweeping generalization. I don't remember in what movie where a character says, "A person thinks, people don't!", which I found was a bizarre statement at the time, but now I'm getting it.

A mob is like a fickle stream. It goes meandering every which way it feels like going. It has no scruple, principle, conscience, empathy or compassion. In the disguise of struggling for righteousness, it gives itself absolute justification and complete absolution over whatever atrocities it wants to commit during the fight for its cause. Most of the time, by the end of it, it's forgotten what's the cause it's fighting for in the first place. I doubt there's any way to stop a mob. You simply can't argue with it. It's created without an organ for hearing or thinking or seeing.

I tell you frankly one thing. I'm a person who's scared of authorities too, just like SRK, and I'm very law-abiding. To be pulled up for extra questioning while knowing that you haven't consciously done anything wrong as your papers have all checked out and to be told it's because your name pops up on their computer... lemme tell you, that kind of horror will haunt you everytime you want to enter the gates of that country in the future. What if his family were with him? Would they have been taken to a different room for 'questioning' too? It's a good thing he has friends in the consulate whom he could call for help. What if he doesn't? How many hours would he have languished there?

For those who are certain that they'll never be prejudiced against, you have no idea what Shah Rukh's incident has made us, the muslims, feel personally... inside our hearts. We know that a lot of other muslims have gone through the same experience, just like Salman Khan said. What is not a big deal to Salman may be a big deal to somebody else, I mean come on.. this is a guy who has gone to jail several times and once publicly stated that he doesn't mind going to jail again in the future, okay. So what's a little secondary inspection at an airport to him? I've been to America post 9/11, and I'm saying here that it's an experience I'm sooo not eager to go through again. The difference is, the media is willing to give SRK a platform for which he could tell the world in detail what had happened. Most of us will never be given that kind of a chance.

We re-lived our past experiences through his report and we remember our fears at the time. Can anyone of you who've never been through the same ordeal truly tell us that you understand the situation? If you don't understand it, then please shut up and just empathize. That's all we need from you, an awareness of what's happening around you to one part of the minority communities who have been subjected to humiliating treatments at the hands of the authorities you have elected. Where's the need to be sarcastic or cynical about it?

And to those who're angry about the incident, react only in a way that is honest and true to the feelings in your heart. Don't react just coz you think you're expected to react since you're an SRK fan. You're not a mindless slave to those irresponsible instigators. You're not simply a number in the crowd. You're a thinking person. Act accordingly.

I dunno what else to say about this incident, and I think I've said too much for a usually silent person when amongst strangers, which is essentially what the visitors to this blog are to me. We are strangers to each other, you and I. I wish the world could be a perfect place where everyone just loves one another and strife doesn't butt into anyone's life. However...

The Matrix says that people thrive on conflict and they're absolutely miserable in a utopian setting. Maybe that's true, I mean.. look at us now as opposed to us in history. We haven't changed one bit when it comes to our grumpy, warring ways. We don't want to learn the lessons from the past coz we're so adamant on re-inventing the wheel and learning it the hard way. We're hopelessly hell-bent on destroying this planet with nuclear weapons trained at every other country to prevent the other guy from firing first.

Maybe because I'm a cynic and a nihilist that it prompts me to see things from every angle I can, even from the most depressing one. I can go on and on but what's the point. This is the last post I'll be writing about this issue. Nabil, a popular comedian in our country, has this tagline for one of his shows that goes, "Lu pikir la sendiri!" (the pronunciation is as it's spelt), which means 'You gotta think for yerself, bro' ...and I really like that tagline. It's quite deep despite it being so abrupt.

Anyway, I found this video and I thought it's uproariously funny. Those who don't have a sense of humor, you'd better not watch this though. Don't say I didn't warn you. And with that, I'm off...

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Shah Rukh Khan Detained at Newark
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Healthcare Protests

Shiny happy people holding hands

A follow-up from my previous post due to new incoming articles on the net.

I think we can safely divide the people who cared enough to comment to articles on SRK's detainment into three main groups: (1) Members of minority communities who have seen/heard/experienced/had family members or friends went through the same thing in the western countries or specifically in America... whether they're aliens (that's what non-US citizens are called in America and Japan) or US nationals, (2) Empathic and sympathetic people... usually those who travel/read a lot, or meet up with foreign visitors occasionally/regularly in the course of their work or daily lives, (3) Those who don't care a whit but feel that others should know what their thoughts about it are, most of which are made up of much crap and has no necessity to be dispersed about in public in the first place.

See, I want to make one thing very clear to anyone who bothers to read this post. When you say SRK has blown things out of proportion, step back and evaluate the incident. Who actually picked up the issue and made a big ruckus out of it? The journalists, of course. From the so-called respected TV channels/newspapers/etc.

Then who made a 180 degree turn and eagerly documented comments from those who accused SRK of making a big fuss out of nothing? Yep, the same journalists who had a field day stepping over each others' toes to be the first to report the incident on the day it happened. Welcome to real-time reporting courtesy of the 24-7 internet mechanism.

Times like this when I, an engineering student, hate technology. It has a tendency to disrobe us of our humanity, transform us into these cold and calculating creatures. I think it's this 'faceless' edge the net gives us that makes us think we can write whatever about whomever in whichever site we want. See, it's already succeeded in transforming the untalkative me into this blabbermouth who can't stop talking, or rather.. typing, in comment sections of other people's posts and my own blog.

I dunno where I'm going with the content of this post, just feel like ranting. I doubt whatever I, or anyone else, write about it will change any part of the world, especially not the US superpower. What.. do you think the immigration/custom officials and their higher ups are having secret meetings right now to discuss what the rest of the world thinks of this incident? They don't give a frell's arse what we think about it. That's the way they're running the country, for friggin sakes. Who are we... Third World occupants, and me muslim and female to boot... to question them and tell them they're running it wrong.

Tell you what... let's follow the examples set by Salman Khan, VGS from Bangalore, yasmin from abu dhabi, Jit from the ol' US of A and Jay from India. Let's treat all injustices meted out on us by Uncle Sam as a no big deal. Let's all just sweep everything under the carpet, shall we? And the next time, if our next door muslim neighbour went missing during his vacation to America, we should just shut up and mind our own business. I mean, come on.. the guy must have been planning to nuke the US and got caught while entering the country. But hey, if he's planning to carry out terrorism, why did he bring his family along? Oh! Must be coz the entire family are suicide bombers in disguise. Right. Well, that's that then.

I got the comments (blue font) I pasted below from here.

Calig, Los Angeles, CA, says: SRK is HUGE, to not know him is to not know what's going on outside your own country. Maybe if the USA would pull its collective head out, you'd realize this. But besides that, here is a guy who is being hassled for no reason other than having the "wrong" name and the "wrong" color skin. This is prejudice pure and simple. He did nothing suspicious or illegal. And it most certainly doesn't happen to white Americans when we travel abroad.
[19 Aug, 2009 0008hrs IST]

Jim Prince, New York, says: Looks like most people have completely missed the point. Of course, no movie star or politician deserves any special treatment. However, in United States and other Western Countries like U.K. there is a huge undercurrent of racism/profiling. It is done under the guise of law and order and security. Most people, most of the time are not discriminated. However, when you who do get discriminated, you recognize it right away. For minorities, be it black, hispanics or Muslims, these incidents are extremely humiliating and the person tends to remember it for life time. Which in turn feeds the hatred and resenment. With the weapon of law and order, often innocents are arrested, jailed and their lives completely destroyed. Blacks, hispanics and other minorities who are often pulled over for minor or no traffic violations are well aware of these facts. No one is encouraging special treatment for VIPs but under the guise of haulting terrorism, in Mr. Khan's case What you see now is the humiliating, arrogant actions, which affect the minorities psyche at a very deep level. No one, including the President of India, is safe from it.
[18 Aug, 2009 1935hrs IST]

VGS, Bangalore, says: I think in all stupidity of ours a whole - we are blowing this issue out-of-proportions. As a country they have complete rights to check someone's antecedents and precedents. Just because Shahrukh has been a Megastar in India, he would mean nothing to an American security agent at airport, he was nothing more than a rich traveller going thro' gates to his First class seat. At an individual level I agree and empathize with Sharukh for the ordeal he might have gone thro' and I am sure with his maturity he should accept that these are part and parcel in life. Also a way the God brings in some humility in us.
[18 Aug, 2009 1651hrs IST]

yasmin, abu dhabi, says: The writer has well scriped the events and well the episode was blown out of proposition. Shahrukh Khan should have shown self-restraint as it is obvious that Muslims community is maligned therefore, always be ready for events like this. We, as a nation treat our luminaries as demi-gods and take their lives as an integral part of our living. This atttitude needs to be changed. Every nation has a law and nobody is above the law of the land. Having said that, in parallel lines, US is paranoid after September 11 and many innocent people are victimised to the non-chalant and ruthless attitude of the immigration authorities. Life goes on and events occur at distinct stages in the world. They have to move on and so does Shahrukh khan. He needs to behave more maturely as every individual brings their own share.
[18 Aug, 2009 1528hrs IST]

Jit, USA, says: It was awesome.. Indians should understand that there is no one greater than the security of the soil. We should frisk their celebrities like they did, but not only the celebrities, every person who enters the country should be given the same treatment. Give them a huge welcome when they pass the security checks, not before that.
[18 Aug, 2009 0453hrs IST]

Jay, India, says: Excellent Article,, everyone should understand this and SRK is no exceptional.. out of 100, if 10 are facing the same detention then why SRK is an exception ?? why people are taking this issue so seriously because he is a superstar in India ???? There is a moral lesson behind this which everyone should learn that rules apply to 'everyone' in US and the same steps should be taken in India to stop the terror entering from outside,, I am not against SRK or any other superstar but we should treat all human equal,,Everyday we see many people gets detained for 2-3 hours for the same questions and why there is a big deal when the same queries are asked to SRK >>>>
[18 Aug, 2009 0426hrs IST]

Reddy, USA, says: Be a bit more rational and mindful of human rights. I am just another common man but i am very unhappy that I need to go through nonhuman and disrespectful procedures at airports. Sure, airport security personnel are professional, and I do not have any objections with them doing their duty. However, I do want them to make their procedures proficient and more respectful. If they took 66 minutes and a phone call from Indian Diplomat to verify Mr. Khan's identity, you can imagine how frivolous, mindless, and utterly useless the procedures they currently follow. I am not asking for VIP treatments, but efficient procedures. In your Zeal to ape US, don't follow mindlessly.
[17 Aug, 2009 2243hrs IST]