Roaming headlines

This one actually only has one measly headline on a Shah Rukh-related article and the others are my flaundering attempt to connect everything and everything in Bollywood to SRK. Did I succeed (lol)? Pls don't take my posts so seriously. I'm really worried about my SRK blog being followed by Bollywood fans who lack a sense of humour.

1. Emaar-SRK to Sell Aryan Lifestyle to Primus Retail
...looks like the 'correction' tsunami flattens everyone in its path, SRK is no exception. I have not heard of the Boulevard for quite sometime now. I wonder what's happening with that deal. I'll rummage around and see what I can find. Hey, it's easier to be nosy about a celebrity's life than turn away from the internet and solve the problems in your un-reel life, you know.

2. When Arjun Rampal apologised to Big B via SMS
...Shah Rukh said he's gonna be blogging too once his website is set up. So everytime I read Amitji's and Aamir's very involved and elaborate posts waxing soliloquy on some issues or non-issues in their blogs, I alwiz recite this little prayer in front of my monitor that goes a bit like this: Shah Rukh, pls don't publish everyone's SMSes to you and your SMS replies to their SMSes. Pls don't write 10 paragraphs long on each and every tragedy happening in India and around the world. Pls don't tell us the details of your film shoots down to the last fragment of prosthetic you have dangling on your face. Pls don't post a blow-by-blow of your nervousness every time your film is about to be released. Pls don't publish the content of your private emails to some idiotic reporter or other on some interview or other that you have done with her/him that has rankled your sensibilities when it makes front page on some tabloid or other. Et cetera et cetera et cetera (this prayer has gained in length the more I read their blogs, so maybe I should just stop following them ^^;).

3. Of Bollywood's new-found love for NRIs and Delhi
...I just have to comment on this. Who's the actor who starred in the first very successful NRI-themed movie? Shah Rukh. Who's the actor who never misses a chance to tell the interviewer about his hometown Delhi and that he's a proud Dilliwala even though Mumbai is his city now? Shah Rukh. If you're annoyed with my obsessed self, you're welcome to leave my SRK blog any time now XD

4. Filmfare awards have become more organised: Javed Akhtar
...o yeah? Who's been hosting for quite a number of years before the award function gets 'more organized'? I think there's a reason why Shah Rukh went in there and dressed down a lot of people (and he did say the people he and Saif were gonna insult were usually told about it beforehand). A shy and polite person by nature doesn't hurl potshots at others for no reason and he never ever does it in public appearances or interviews or blogs (unlike some people).. I should know this coz I've been reading/watching a gajillion of his talk shows, interviews, etc on the net. Maybe he thought the industry people were getting too serious and someone had to go do something about it.. ha! Also, I don't understand why it's only SRK who got the brunt of the anger.. Saif was up there on the stage with him every step of the way but it's alwiz Shah Rukh they complain about. Is it becoz he's not 'one of them'? It's like that scene from K3G, everytime he's pleasing the father..he's the beloved son. The moment he does something out of turn, he's not family.

They're saying Imran and Ranbir were 'extremely humorous and not offensive at all to anyone', but hey.. they're your babies. Of course they wouldn't say/do anything that could hurt their fathers, mothers, uncles, grandfathers, great grandfathers, cousins, second cousins, all sorts of distant relatives.

5. Abhishek Bachchan breaks Guinness record
...ha! Maybe Abishek was inspired by Shah Rukh's Billu whirlwind promotion where he spent one whole day promoting his film with 5 events back to back? Sorry, I have this habit of connecting all sorts of Bollywood events and people to Shah Rukh.. as you may have noticed (lol).

6. We are ordinary folks: Amitabh Bachchan
...hmm, another 'ordinary' star? It reminds me of SRK's famous quote: "It's not special to be special. It's special to be ordinary". Did you know he's been saying that since the release of Devdas? At least that was the earliest reference I could find anyway. I've posted the link to that interview in my humongously huge interview link post. Just ctrl-F: 'Shahid Malik' and watch the clip if you're as obsessed as I am XD.

7. 'Ghajini' outstrips DDLJ to become biggest domestic earner
...sounds familiar? Maybe coz you've stumbled on this article comparing between Sholay and DDLJ. IMO, a comparison of earnings between a current film and one from a decade ago is rather pathetic. Who knows what kind of business Sholay and DDLJ could have done if they were to be released today in this time of multiplexes, global marketing and internet.

8. Where Are The Lover Boys?
...this article earns its right to be here as it mentions Shah Rukh several times XD. I pasted it here to emphasize on my previous point that good story and characterization are starting to win against big names in quite a big way when it comes to the modern Hindi cinema. I think as long as the current filmmakers make movies that firmly target the youth or GenNext, they will sell like hotcakes. Or else they will bomb.

We like them fast and crisp, with a global cast or at least a global-themed story and strong babes please ..not whimpy ones (if they can kick butt, that's even better). I wonder why Bollywood has not churned out a story on hackers yet, given that India is one of the leaders in the IT industry. That will be nice. The hacker should be a kid and the mentor/controller is played by Shah Rukh. I'd like to watch that one, please.


...ha! I just gave the above suggestion to Mr. Karan Johar altho I doubt he'd read it XD. Hey, why not? He's my favourite young modern director (Farhan Akhtar is fast becoming another favourite but unfortunately he doesn't have a blog..hmmph). Don't you just love the internet and its promise of instant communication?

My comment:

Hi Mr. Karan Johar,

I've been waiting for you to update as I don't want to comment hyperly to a post that talks so somberly about a sad incident (the Mumbai attack), but after several months of waiting in vain I've become desperate. Please don't publish my comment in your blog (if there's a chance in hell that you'll read it while browsing thru the gajillion comments you must have got everyday). I just want to say MNIK is THE MOST AWAITED movie this year so please give us the most titillating promo ever leading to the release of the movie as only you can do.

I dunno if suggestions on future movies annoy you (if it does, pls forgive me ^^;) but ..what about a film on hackers? A kid hacker and an older mentor/controller with some interesting current issues as the backdrop of the movie. Throw in some modern romance (non of those draggy whimpy scenes with whiny heroines) and I think it'll be a cool movie.

Thanks for reading my crazy comment!
Love,
Ami

Roaming... and some cricket comments

I just knew that Shah Rukh came to the 54th Filmfare! *bonks own head for not sourcing that out sooner* ..o my, he's looking dapper with the designer sling. Such co-ordination, white suit.. black sling. *ogles the half-opened shirt*

More pictures to be found here.

I've been reading some comments by fans and non-fans about him not getting the Best Actor award and all I can say is, relax people. Of course he wants to win in everything, but if he acts only to get awards, I tell ya.. he wouldn't have played some roles he's chosen to date. Actually, even though I'm an SRK fan, I only want him to win Best Actor when the juries and people think he deserves it. Period. Can we please move on?

This one puzzled me though.. what's the past between Amitji and Rekha? (too lazy to find it out myself).

On cricket

By now everyone who's not even a cricket fan surely must have watched/heard of the massacre that killed 8 people (6 police and 2 civillians) and injured 4 (or 7?) Sri Lankan cricket players in Pakistan.

Why am I blogging about it here? Becoz Shah Rukh is the only reason why I'm even taking an interest in cricket in the first place. I'm not into sports. I've never understood how people can journey thousands of kilometers away from their hearth and home to watch a bunch of boys kick/bowl/hit a ball from one end of the field to another. But ever since SRK bought his cricket team, I've been following some news on the Indian cricket front (altho I have to confess I understand zilch. Most of the cricket terms don't even sound English), but my interest in it is still not enough to make me watch the game from start to finish though ^^;

Several countries have already boycotted playing in Pakistan, Australia since 1998 and followed by others: England, South Africa and New Zealand. Some excerpts on the 2011 World Cup:

"Of the 15 World Cup venues that had been identified, eight are in India, four in Pakistan, two in Sri Lanka and one in Bangladesh. Bangladesh is to host the opening ceremony on February 19, 2011 while the final will be played in India and the two semi-finals shared by Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka had agreed to the tour after India pulled out of a scheduled Test visit to Pakistan earlier this year following worsening relations between the two nations over the Mumbai attacks." (link)

Some questions that have been playing in my mind as I watch the news:

• If the attack was meant for the Sri Lankan team, why are the ones dead comprise of only Pakistani policemen and civilians (even though the article said that the gunmen 'appeared young and well-trained')?
• Who stands to gain the most from these attacks? ..surely not Pakistan as ICC is under pressure to move the Champions Trophy out of that country (and this has been countered by the threat from the Pakistan Cricket Board that it will boycott the Champions Trophy if the tournament is relocated to another country). But as an outsider, I understand the fear of allowing their teams to go to a country to play a game while facing the risk of being sprayed by bullets on the way to the field.
• How will this affect cricket and cricket players from Pakistan? How is Shohaib's status with Kolkatta Knight Riders for the second season?

Man, without any knowledge of the game, it's almost impossible for me to understand the repercussions of what's happened. On a personal note: I hate this blanket term for all the atrocities committed all over the world - terrorists. Who the hell are these 'terrorists' anyway? If they're organised enough to appear 'equipped and trained', I say some biggies have been funding them to create havoc in someone else's countries for their own gains. But of course that theory won't go down well with 'the World Police'.. geh.

I hope they catch the guys who killed the Pakistani policemen and civillians. Their bereaved families deserve at least that much.

Headlines

...with Shah Rukh in hiding for the few weeks (or months?) to come, my headline posts on him are becoming shorter and shorter XD

1. Star Plus in talks with Shah Rukh
...a game show with a polygraph test in India? Are you sure they'll tune in? I for one would love to watch it only for Shah Rukh, of course. But then, I'm not much of a game show viewer. I haven't even watched his KBC (the ones uploaded on youtube).

2. Dev D hits Box Office gold
...I know he's not in it, but by virtue of this being a remake of a movie he's done before, I'm pasting it here. Also, I want to make a point (yeah.. my posts alwiz have a point *cough*). As I've posted earlier, 2008 in India is the year of debutantes and acceptance of different kinds of cinema, A Wednesday, Rock On and Dev D is a good example of that.

Does this mean masala films will take a back seat? I don't know.. it could be a one year trend, with cinema you can't really predict. I also don't know whether SRK would like this kind of cinema or not (I don't think he would ^^;), but as a fan I do think that he should at least try it out a coupla times. That's why I'm looking forward to The Zoya Factor. I think that movie's gonna be cool if it's done about the same style with Chak De India.

I'm sensing a future where good stories and good acting will mean more to the Indian crowd than big names though, which has not alwiz been the case in the past. Maybe becoz the younger generation has such freedom to choose whatever movies they want to watch from the net so they're getting more choosy about the kind of movies they have to pay money for to watch.

3. Ganguly, the umpire for SRK's Angels
...Anushka's in it too! Another reason for me to watch it.. if it gets uploaded to the net, that is (pwz?)

4. Juhi Chawla joins Ghar Ki Baat Hai
...an update on RC Idiot Box TV show.

5. Anil Kapoor hosting Kaun Banega Crorepati?
...the guy has only disappeared from the public eye to rest after his surgery for a few days and they're already eager to have him replaced. See the fickle nature of a corporate organisation? That's why I said it's a waste of time to be sentimental about their business decisions. I'm not sure how much of the story is true though as SRK has said that he's on for another season of KBC and becoz of what Anil said in Feb of last year, but I'm still pasting the headline here just so I can say I'm not pleased with it. Esp the 'passe' passage. You want me to passe your brain onto a pavement somewhere?

Headlines

1. SRK, Aamir, Abhishek Make It to Forbes List
...The US publication, known for its rankings of wealthiest persons across the world, has named these Bollywood stars among ten celebrities adding star-power to mobile phones.

2. Yesterday once more
...the Colonel is making another Fauji series. Wow. I'm speechless.

3. Youngistan strikes gold!
Extract:
“Stars such as Shah Rukh and Hrithik are stable and time-tested.” Shailendra Singh, joint managing director of Percept Limited, agrees. “Asin is yet to prove her youth connect despite the success of ‘Ghajini.’ So her unrealistic price could disappear if her next film flops.

Nevertheless, India has a large youth population and so it is guaranteed that youth will connect with brands.”

I think the reviewer's obsessed, mate

I found this blog post that talks about a review he/she has read. I just have to quote here the review quoted there coz it has a high LOL factor. I'm greatly amused.

"The nude body of Shahrukh in OSO may also be seen as a visual iconography with sexual meanings, operating in a pleasure economy, and being an icon of “permissiveness”. His performative act in the song “Dard-E-Disco” is principally centred on the male body, symbolising a different erotic genre."

If we're going to get technical, nude or naked means absolutely no clothes, right (..or have I been reading the wrong dictionary)? And SRK still has his pants on, to the annoyance of some millions of his female (and male?) fans.

Picture link

While on the subject, am I the only one who realised that the only time he showed that 6-8 pack abs is during the song? They (the abs) are absolutely covered right before and after that video. I think I represent a wide section of his fan base when I say I'm greatly peeved that we only get to ogle them for less than 10 minutes. Shah Rukh bhai, you're such a tease.

But reading this quote made me realise that someone has to take on the task of writing exclusively on this different erotic genre thing basing the whole argument on Shah Rukh's (half) naked body in Dard-E-Disco. I would volunteer for that job if only I knew what the hell erotic genre is supposed to mean. Maybe I should do some research on the subject.. ha!

Accidental stumbles

I found this blog article on Shah Rukh and I sorta like it. It corresponds to some interviews SRK gave and I think the author had not even read them b4 he wrote that post so it's rather impressive. FYI, it's written by a guy who's french, which made me doubly impressed. I love reading anything people write/talk about SRK, whether they're bashing him or praising him. If they bash him, they suck and if they praise him, they're my comrades XD. But I prefer if it's written unbiasedly (IMO) the way this one has been written.

Also, it greatly amuses me when someone who claims he/she is not a fan writes at length about SRK. I mean, I know why I'm doing it (coz I'm obsessed with him, yes) but why are they writing about him if they're not even paid for it after they confess to a dislike.. or even hatred (altho this one alwiz makes me go, "huh? Why on earth would you hate a movie star???").. regarding his films/shows/concerts, personality, looks, God-knows-what-else-they-want-to-criticize-him-about?

Humans are strange.

I stumbled upon a treasure trove of articles and interviews. Excuse me as I pretend to work on my adobe homework while browsing through the archive.