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It was Shah Rukh Khan who started the trend of interacting personally with the fourth estate. There are stories that SRK also maintains a database of various journalists from across the globe, though this is denied by his public relations manager. But the woman concedes SRK has an elephant's memory; once he has been introduced to a mediaperson, he usually remembers the name and character traits. And occasionally, if reminded by a close friend-like Karan Johar- or his staff, he also remembers to call journalists and share a few thoughts with them.

It's just one more point in the list of many trends Shah Rukh has started in the industry.

At a time when the media was still taking Shah Rukh to the sky

...as compared to today when he can't do anything right in their eyes. The star is still the same, but the scribe's outview of him has changed and it's reflected in the writing.

I dunno... instead of getting angry over what is said of Shah Rukh, I personally take it as something interesting to note. I love human study like this. To me, nothing embodies the spirit of "...and life goes on" quite like the manic of the media over a celebrity.

Source (1994)
In his rise to the top, he has broken every rule, and set every tenet of the conventional wisdom on the film industry on its head. Consider, for example, the following:

• Rule number one: No actor who began his career in television could ever make it big in movies. Once a television star, always a small-time film actor. But Khan, who first came to public attention in such serials as Fauji and Dil Dariya, is today among the top-ranking heroes of the film industry.
• Rule number two: Heroes are heroes and villains are villains. A villain can change sides and become a hero (as Vinod Khanna and Shatrughan Sinha did) but you can't play both simultaneously. Shah Rukh Khan has ignored this dictum. He is the villain of Darr, plays an anti-hero in Baazigar, and yet is the most in-demand hero in Bombay.
• Rule number three: A young hero must never get married for fear of alienating the female audience. Amir Khan was married when Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak was released, but lied about this and hid his wife. Shah Rukh Khan married his sweetheart Gauri after a nine-year courtship before his first release, and is proud of being happily married.
• Rule number four: Keeping on the right side of the film press was essential if you were to make an impact in the industry. After all, if the audience didn't read about you in the film magazines, how would they know that you were part of the rat race? Khan has, however, consistently refused to play along with the gossip magazines, turning down interview requests and refusing photo-sessions with his heroines. What's more, he even got into a head-on confrontation with magazines who called him a homosexual, and then made out that he and Deepa Sahi were having a torrid affair - with the connivance of her husband Ketan Mehta - during the making of Maya Memsaab.

There is no doubting it - Shah Rukh Khan lives the role, forcing the audiences to sit up and take notice. And the people who are flocking to the theaters to see Baazigar and Darr are convinced that whether they love or hate him for the villainous roles he essays in these films, Shah Rukh Khan compels attention.

Despite his success, Khan is essentially a family man rushing home after a one-shift day at the sets to be with his wife Gauri.

Source (1995)

For one, no one possess his spark, freshness and spontaneity. Whatever the role, Shah Rukh has the exclusive gift of appearing totally relaxed, natural, un-self-conscious and unhibited. Then there is his rakish charm, boyish looks, sexy crooked smile, all gift wrapped in a uniquely stylish package. Reinforced by the intensity and energy he invests into every simple scene he enacts--tragedy comedy, heartbreak drama, romance or song - dance.

Crowned by his "one-point program" of accepting only those roles that excite, interest or motivate him, irrespective of their influence on his individual star-status, box office collections image or remuneration considerations. The last trait especially is both noteworthy and praiseworthy because it calls for guts, a clear focus on the direction chosen and the dedication to pursue the tricky, narrow path to personal fulfillment.

Why does it always take a Shah Rukh?

He came into ads at a time when it was not popular for a star to 'stoop so low by endorsing a lot of products' and now actors, including the young uns, scramble to be named as the highest-paid brand ambassador. He came into cricket and they tumble after him to gain a piece of the stake. And now it's an award function.

Remember the Na-real (Narial) Award he instigated with Saif in Filmfare last year? Somebody has decided to follow that up with a real one. It's called the Golden Kela Awards. I'm pasting the news here:

In a spin-off from Hollywood's Golden Raspbery Awards (also known as the Razzies) which recognises the worst in cinema, India will have its own version of the same, Golden Kela Awards, to be held March 7.

Launched by Random magazine, the ceremony will take place here on the same day as the 54th Filmfare Awards 2009 are held in Mumbai.

"The Golden Kela Awards is the first of its kind to be held in India on the lines of the Razzies in America. It'll be very funny and entertaining for the audience and we hope to make it an annual event just like the one in the West," Jatin Varma, founder of Random magazine that is launching the award ceremony said.

While Himesh Reshammiya, Hrithik Roshan and Salman Khan to name a few fall in the worst actor category, actresses like Priyanka Chopra, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Kareena Kapoor and Katrina Kaif compete for the worst actress award.

"As compared to Hollywood, Bollywood comes out with a lot of movies annually and not all of these do well. So, we have already made it clear that we are just poking fun at them with no personal remarks," Varma said.

The Indian version will also be honouring comedian Jaspal Bhatti, who is also the "Godfather of the ceremony" with the lifetime achievement Kela award.

Varma was, however, not deterred by the missing celebrity quotient from Golden Kela.

"We have invited the celebrities but we haven't heard from them yet. We might get overshadowed by the Filmfare Awards this time but we will still have a lot of humour quotient and stand-up comedians to spice up the ceremony," he said.

"Our celebrity quotient might be a bit less but hopefully we will have celebrities themselves attending the awards in the coming years to receive their trophies themselves just like in the West," he added.

The categories and the nominees have been selected by the editorial board of the magazine and will be selected via an online poll for the public on the website www.goldenkela.in.

...needless to say, I'm greatly amused :P

The results are out...

And I'm not pleased! Why didn't Naseerudinji get the Best Actor award?? A Wednesday didn't win a single bleedin award! Also, the two biggest movies of the year (Rab Ne and Ghajini) did not win anything in the important categories. Geh.

Before anyone stab me with a blunt object for not rooting for Shah Rukh as Best Actor, my defense is.. he may have played the character to perfection, but I don't think Suri/Raj is an award winning role. It might have been though, had the story concentrated on Suri. To be fair to Adityaji, it's a story he wanted to tell and he told it. I doubt he made it with the intention of winning awards. I love the story, I wish it had won some big awards, but in my heart I also know that there are others in 2008 which are more deserving. Hopefully he will come up with an excellent story with award-winning elements and cast Shah Rukh in it so they can make another clean sweep next time.

Here's the Filmfare result (link):

• Best Film - Jodha Akbar
• Best Director - Ashutosh Gowarikar (Jodha Akbar)
• Best Actor - Hritik Roshan - (Jodha Akbar)
• Best Actress - Priyanka Chopra - Best Actress (Fashion)
• Lifetime Achievement Award - Om Puri & Bhanu Athaiya
• Best Music Director - AR Rahman (Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na)
• Best Story - Abhishek Kapoor (Rock On)
• Best Supporting Actor - Arjun Rampal (Rock On)
• Best Supporting Actress - Kangna Ranaut (Fashion)
• Best Playback Singer (Male) - Sukhwinder Singh (Haule Haule - Rab Ne Bana De Jodi)
• Best Playback Singer (Female) - Shreya Ghoshal (Singh is Kinng)
• Best Debut (Male) - Farhan Akhtar (Rock On) & Imraan Khan (Jaane Tu)
• Best Debut (Female) - Asin (Ghajini)
• RD Burman Upcoming Talent - Benny Dayal (Ghajini)
• Best Costumes - Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!
• Best Background Score - AR Rahman (Jodha Akbar)
• Best Cinematography - Jason West (Rock On!)
• Best Editing - Amit Pawar (Mumbai Meri Jaan)
• Best Coreography - Longinus (Jaane Tu)
• Best Lyricist - Javed Akhtar (Jashn-e-Bahara, Jodha Akbar)
• Best Sound Design - Vinod Subramanyam (Rock On)
• Best Visual Effects - John Deitz (Love Story 2050)
• Best Action - Peter Heinn (Ghajini)

Here's the Star Screen result for comparison (link):

Best Background Music
A. R. Rahman - Jodhaa Akbar

Best Music
A. R. Rahman - Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na

Best Playback Singer (Male)
KK - Khuda Jaane (Bachna Ae Haseeno)

Best Playback Singer (Female)
Shilpa Rao - Khuda Jaane (Bachna Ae Haseeno)

Best Lyrics
Anvita Dutt Guptan - Khuda Jaane (Bachna Ae Haseeno)

Most Promising Newcomer (Male)
Farhan Akhtar - Rock On!!

Most Promising Newcomer (Female)
Asin Thottumkal - Ghajini

Best Story
Neeraj Pandey - A Wednesday!

Best Screenplay
Shiraz Ahmed - Race

Best Editing
Rock On!!

Best Art Direction
Rock On!!

Best Cinematography
Rock On!!

Best Animation Film
Roadside Romeo

Best Jodi
John Abraham - Abhishek Bachchan (Dostana)

Lifetime Achievement Award
Sanjay Khan

Ramnath Goenka Award
A Wednesday!

Best Popular Actor Award
Akshay Kumar - Singh Is Kinng

Best Popular Actress Award
Aishwarya Rai - Jodhaa Akbar

Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Male)
Arjun Rampal - Rock On!!

Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Female)
Shahana Goswami - Rock On!!

Best Actor in a Negative Role (Male/Female)
Akshaye Khanna - Race

Best Actor in a Comic Role (Male/Female)
Tusshar Kapoor - Golmaal Returns

Best Film
Jodhaa Akbar

Best Director
Ashutosh Gowarikar - Jodhaa Akbar
Neeraj Pandey - A Wednesday!

Best Actor (Female)
Priyanka Chopra - Fashion

Best Actor (Male)
Hrithik Roshan - Jodhaa Akbar


...notice the glaring similarities? I wonder if the juries are the same people for those categories. Another of my pet peeve is this double winners these award functions sometimes do. Can't you just choose one of them? It's called 'Best' so that there'll be just ONE person standing at the end of the day (or night, as we have it). This happened to SRK too when he had to share the Best Actor award with Ajay (link) and the industry was lucky he poked fun at it in a jovial manner instead of making it a mockery.

One thing I love about Shah Rukh (among the gajillion things I love about him) is he respects the awards he gets and is not shy to admit that he covets them as proof of recognition for his works. I like that bluntness more than all this talk about not caring about awards and yet submitting his name year after year to the same award functions he's never attended (I bet everyone knows who I'm talking about here). To 'that guy', I want to say that if the awards repel you so much.. take your name off the nomination list coz you're wasting everyone's time in the voting process. The whole of India and the world knows that you're No. 1 (...errr, because you told us so? Hmmph...) so what's the point in contesting anymore, right? Take an example from Lataji and make scarce.

I hope Shah Rukh win some Best Actor awards next year (altho I'm not quite sure about the films he's chosen to act in this year, actually ^^;). But looking at the 2008 trend, I'm seeing some interesting things occurring. It's the year of debutantes and acceptance to the popularity of different kinds of cinema. I'm writing this with full bias: I think Shah Rukh is the person who has affected the most changes that's happening in the Hindi Cinema industry today. Off the top of my head:

1. He's the first TV actor with no filmi family/political/financial backings who came to Mumbai and was awarded Best Debut for his first released film, Deewana. That was achieved all the while he was thinking he'd be in Mumbai for only a year. To all you struggling actors, top that before you whine so much.

2. He's the first Hindi film hero who plays villainous roles, not in just one film but three, and two of them became hit movies. Actually, there's another recent one.. Don. I'm looking forward to Don 2 where he's supposed to give the character its wholesome evil worth.

3. Correct me if I'm wrong but I think he's the first actor who got the Best Actor award for a villainous role. In fact that was his first Best Actor win.

3. He's done successful remakes of two of the most famous movies of yesteryears (and the legendary actors who played the central characters are still alive and kicking), Devdas and Don. Hmm, I just noticed that both the central characters's names start with a 'D'.

4. He made a 180deg turn after Anjaam (and Karan Arjun + several flop movies ^^;) and starred as a romantic hero in a movie that has made history as the longest running film in India (second longest in the world, I think), Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge.

5. His roles are so varied from movie to movie it makes your head spin: bad guy, comedian, gundaa, romantic hero, victim, patriotic sportsman, etc. Did you know that he filmed Darr and Baazigar in the same schedule (link)? And both are hits (by virtue of being a workaholic, he's always had 1 or 2 hit films almost every year). And he got away with Best Villain and Best Actor, one for each. Anyone else wants to argue that he can't act? In fact, I should list down some of his hit films that he made in the same schedule just so I can impress some people about this guy.

I'll stop here coz this post is getting too long and I haven't even touched the stuff he's affected outside of the film industry.. like ads, sports, overseas popularity, et cetera et cetera. I guess I'll pick up this topic in another post later.