Jackie Chan says no to Shah Rukh?

Shah Rukh Khan had openly declared that he wanted Hollywood superstar Jackie Chan to be a part of his forthcoming superhero film Ra One starring SRK himself and Kareena Kapoor.

SRK also confirmed that the deal seemed a little difficult as Chan was really expensive. After negotiating for a long time, Shah Rukh has finally confirmed the absence of Jackie Chan in Ra One.

He recently wrote on Twitter, “No Jackie Chan in Ra. One. That’s final now.”

We would have liked to see the two together though!

Shah Rukh Khan on Victorias mind

Victoria Koblenko might not be a familiar name for the Bollywood audience, but if Victoria’s plans come through, we might soon see her scorch the Hindi cinema screens with her gorgeous presence.

The Dutch actress has worked in the much acclaimed movie ‘ When Night Falls ’ and has also been a part of Netherlands’ most popular TV drama series ‘ Good Times, Bad Times ’. She is also a regular guest at the popular Dutch talk shows like ‘ The Weakest Link ’ and ‘ Celebrity Mole ’. We ran into Victoria, who is in India to attend the 11th FICCI Frames 2010 being held in Mumbai. The 3-day conference is all about films and entertainment and though a Netherlander, Victoria’s life is not untouched by the Bollywood magic.

Speaking to us fondly about Indian cinema, Victoria says, “I like watching Bollywood films. I watch them with sub-titles. As a kid I have seen my parents watch Indian films.” The beautiful lady confesses to us that she isn’t good with remembering names but knows faces, but still if there’s one man in the industry who has left a deep impression on her mind – it is Shah Rukh Khan!

At the first day of FICCI Frames, Victoria got the opportunity to share the dais with her favourite Shah Rukh. Talking about the endearing actor, Victoria says, “I have seen a lot of his movies. I can’t remember the names but he is also a favourite amongst my friends from Russia and Holland,” she says further narrating an incidence, “I was recently working on a Russian drama series and between shots, I would see my fellow co-stars watch Bollywood films on their portable devices. People there just love Bollywood.” And so does Victoria. No wonder then she does have plans to try her luck in B-town. “I would definitely love to work in Bollywood. But I don’t know Hindi and I don’t have Indian looks but if I get a role of a foreigner, I would be delighted,” says the Dutch damsel with a twinkle in her eyes. And just as we asked her whom would she like to get paired opposite, pat came her reply, “Shah Rukh Khan, of course!”

On her week long stay in Mumbai, Victoria Koblenko will be meeting Yash Chopra and also a production house to discuss opportunities. We wish her all the best for her Bollywood dreams.

Shahrukh Khan on Aamir Khan: We are friends. Really?

Aamir Khan and Shahrukh Khan have been the celluloid arch rivals for more than around 2 decades and the tabloid has always put them at wars with each other. But, whenever quizzed about their enmity, the duo have always given a diplomatic answers saying that they are friends off screen and their enmity is just a media-made up tale.

And whenever the films of both the stars are released in the same year, comparisons are drawn by the fans as well as by the tabloid. For instance, the collections of ‘3 Idiots’ and ‘My Name is Khan’ were scrutinised on a daily basis.

However, brushing aside all these tales, SRK quips, “We’re friends. At least, I’d like to think we are. We both have a sense of humour. At least, I do. I’d like to think all our exchanges are in good humour. Quite honestly, I’ve no desire to look at what he or anyone else is doing. I never look at my own box-office figures. Why would I look at others’ collections?”

So, will SRK be calling Aamir who is, incidentally, the birthday boy today? Well, Aamir will have to answer that. For the time being, we wish him ‘Happy Birthday’…….

Ra.1 is for my kids – Shahrukh Khan

You may wonder why Shahrukh Khan is doing a superhero film at this age but the superstar has a reason. He has done lots of films in the past for his fans, but this time around, he is doing for his kids.

Shahrukh said at the press conference organised to welcome the international R&B singer Akon that he is doing the superhero film Ra.1 for his children. Going deeper into the film, he added that there is a good guy, bad guy, beautiful girl, wonderful singer and a fantastic director. He went on to say that his character called Jeeva could solidify electricity.

He revealed that Ra.1 is a kind of film that his production house Red Chillies have not tried. He added that it is something new to all crew of the film and would give their best shot to make sure that it succeeds at the box office.

He is going to act with Kareena Kapoor in the film and Anubhav Sinha is directing it. International R&B singer Akon will record a number for the film.

Farah chooses Salman over Shahrukh

Shahrukh and Salman are not good friends, the exact opposite of Shahrukh and Farah- no secrets there. With Farah’s new directorial venture, Tees Maar Khan, Shahrukh has been sidestepped by Farah for Akshay. At the same time, hubby, Shirish Kunder has signed Salman for this next movie planned to start after Alien Sahib starring John Abraham.

The casting with Salman is certain as confirmed by both Farah and Shirish. At Salman’s birthday party in Panvel on December 24 Farah and her husband sealed this deal. Speculation on where this casting call will leave Farah in her perpetual alliance with her mentor Shahrukh Khan remains to be seen in the coming months

Farah Khan not in Shahrukh's guest list

Farah Khan's name gets struck off from her buddy Shahrukh Khan's guest list for last night's meet-Akon bash. Minutes after we ask SRK about it, she gets an invite to the said party.

It's official! Director Farah Khan's name has been struck off from Shahrukh and Gauri Khan's guest list. After she decided to do her third film with Akshay Kumar in stead of Shahrukh Khan, both actor and director maintained that it was a professional decision and nothing would come in the way of their friendship. But the omission of Farah's name from the usual suspects at Mannat, tells a different story.

We learned hours before the party that Farah hadn't been invited to last night's bash at Juhu five-star. Everyone else on the guest list had been informed about the party a week in advance.

The Morani brothers organised the party at Shahrukh's home in Bandra, and they were specifically told to leave out Farah's and her husband Shirish Kunder's names. Sajid Khan's name was on the list and he was aware a week earlier about the bash being held to celebrate the launch of an energy drink and also a meet-and-greet with international singer Akon, who is in the city to record for Red Chillies' Ra.1.

When we checked with Farah, she confirmed, "I have no clue about the party. In any case, I am out of town shooting for Tees Maar Khan with Akshay Kumar."

Within 10 minutes of texting Shahrukh about Farah not being invited to the party, she received a call from one of the Morani brothers who told her, 'We are only just inviting people now.' An insider adds, "Shahrukh doesn't make the list, Gauri does. When he must have realised Farah's name had been kept out, he must have ensured that she was invited, whether she could make it or not. SRK and she genuinely care about each other."

Shahrukh Khan makes Akon to sing

Everybody knows that International R&B singer Akon is composing as well as singing a song for Shahrukh Khan’s film Ra.1, but do you know that he sang a song at the party organised by the actor ahead of the IPL?

Akon said that Shahrukh requested him to sing ‘Smack That’ at the party. Shahrukh, who owns the IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders hosted the party ahead of the India Premiere League Season 3.

Akon said that he is a great fan of Shahrukh and follows his works. Shahrukh gave back in kind by saying that his kids love him and so too he. He added that he deserved the biggest welcome into the country that anyone has ever had.

Well, there is no harm praising each other!

Shahrukh's MNIK rakes in 174.60 crore worldwide

In spite of the reports that the collections of My Name is Khan featuring Shahrukh Khan and Kajol have dipped after the release weekend, it is continuing to rake in revenue big time. Believe it or not, it has already earned Rs.174.60 crore worldwide and still counting.

Film distributors said that MNIK grossed Rs.102.2 in Indian alone and Rs.72.4 crore from abroad, which is an all time high for a Hindi film at the international market.

It earned USD 3.3 million in the Middle East, which is the highest for a Bollywood film. The collections are nearly on par with Hollywood biggies like Dark Knight, Transformers 2, Spider Man 3 and Twilight: New Moon.

Vijay Singh of Fox Studios said that the revenue is expected to shoot up when it hits the screens in countries like Jordan, Lebanon and Syria on March 10. He added that it is spreading to other markets and even crossed over to non-diaspora audiences. It has increased from six to 14 screens even in Indonesia.

Shahrukh Khan promises not to kiss

Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan created quite a stir at the very outset of his career with an explicit sex scene in Maya Memsaab. It was way back in early 1990s. Interestingly, this very actor has now promised not to kiss his co-stars in films.

Actors from Hrithik Roshan to Akshay Kumar to Abhay Deol to Emraan Hashmi have kissed on the screen but Shahrukh is not in the mood to do so. He said that he doesn't kiss his heroines on screen because he feels shy.

Well, it's a big surprise that Shahrukh, who has a romantic image, refuses to kiss his co-stars.

Shahrukh Khan sports funky hairdo

Aamir Khan is known for his hairdos – remember his look in Ghajini? It seems Bollywood Baadshah Shahrukh Khan too doesn't want to lag behind in this hairy race. He rarely try out weird hair styles but it was different Shahrukh at the recent 55th Filmfare Awards function. He sported a funky hairdo that is hot amongst the youngsters today.

Yes, Shahrukh gave a sauve and sexy touch to his hair style. He has cut his long locks and chosen a short-spiked hairdo. In fact, he looked young and hot in the new porcupine-style hairstyle.

Shahrukh said that he looked a bit like a shorn sheep in short hair and is learning to comb this porcupinish headset. He humorously said that water bounced off his head during Holi and that he has less hair to wash and comb now.

It is said that the actor has gone for an army-cut for his role in the film Ra.1.

My Name Is Khan: Losing lustre in the very first week

It came into the battle field like a brave Gladiator, but now its condition is like Gone-with-the-Wind (not like the movie of course!). Being pitted with the brilliant 3 Idiots, which has broken all the previous box office records, My Name Is Khan has started huffing & puffing within 4-5 days of release.Many single screen theatres which saw a full occupancy during the first weekend, are now almost empty.

‘There is a huge fall in ‘My Name Is Khan’ ticket sales. While it was just 30 percent Wednesday, it is only 20 percent Thursday. The film is not being appreciated because of the content,’ said Amit Awasthi, manager (programming and operations) of Spice Cinemas.In fact people have started saying that, this ‘SRK-Kajol’ starrer is a big time bore, and it has zero entertainment value, and that is why people are staying away from it.’The entertainment aspect in the movie is zero. Thought is has some emotions, there is nothing much to offer,’ added Mr. Awasthi.

As the stats goes, the normal occupancy in multiplexes are 20%-30%, where as the PVR are noticing only 50% foot falls now. In fact they havestarted saying that the movie the movie will run, at max, for one more week only.’Our occupancy has fallen from around 90 percent to 50 percent Monday onwards because of the content of the movie. We are guessing it will stretch to one week more,’ said the source.

Many distributors are saying that it’s another ‘Kurbaan’ from K Jo camp. It has less entertainment value for the youngsters, who want to see entertaining movies on the big screen, rather than an inspirational & subtle love story. All thanks to 3 Idiots, the youngsters want a fun loving, bright and entertainingmovie.

But there are some people, who think that MNIK is the movie of SRK-Kajol, the most successful pair in our country, and it will speed up in the next weekend.

‘Footfalls for ‘My Name Is Khan’ have fallen but the weekend is expected to be good. The occupancy at present is about 30 percent which is decent enough considering it is a working week and that there are close to 12-14 shows per day across different properties for themovie. The movie will sustain business and occupancy will be close to 70-80 percent over the weekend. ‘said Yogesh Raizada, corporate head (cinemas) of Wave Cinemas.

Shahrukh Khan is losing out To Aamir Khan

‘My Name is Khan ’was what SRK was screaming from his rooftop to the Berlin Wall; but after a phenomenal start the film got on its opening weekend; its downfall has already begun. Reports are pouring in that since Monday i.e. only at its 4th day, the collections started to peak southwards and as the week progressed, the cash box is not exactly jingling.

It’s true that the film’s 1st weekend collection outscored 3 Idiots’ 1st weekend collection overseas but now that the steam is fizzing out; there are lesser takers for the Karan Johar film. A source from PVR cinemas said that the occupancy has fallen from 90 percent to 50 percent on Monday.

Not that the film is not doing well; it’s still being watched as there hasn’t been any other big release this week (only a lowly-hyped ‘Toh Baat Pakki’), but the frenzy and the familiar queue that one noticed for ‘3 Idiots’ is surprisingly absent. And frankly speaking, Shiv Sena did a huge favour to the film by raging a war of words for SRK as fans stormed into theatres for lending out sympathy and support to ‘King Khan’. Tongues had started wagging that it’d break the record set by 3 Idiots but now it seems a distant dream. The film is good but not as fresh or brilliant as 3 Idiots and just by yelling ‘My Name is Khan’ won’t help SRK as even Aamir can shout ‘My Name is Khan’ for he, too, is one.

Kareena Kapoor: The Aamir Khan, ShahRukh Khan Factor

Ask Kareena what inspires her to do better work and she will tell you the khans do. Now, that does not mean that she does not want to work with the other actors, but lately, this damsel is all gaga over Saif Ali Khan of course and professionally it is Aamir and ShahRukh.

After having worked with Aamir in 3 Idiots she is looking forward to act with him in another romantic film which he has promised her. The film would be made sometime next year as reports suggesting that Aamir will be resting throughout 2010 are pouring in from all fronts.

As far as ShahRukh is concerned, he has been Kareena’s personal favourite always and so her wish is going to be fulfilled again with the film ‘Ra 1’. The shooting of the film will take place in Miami USA. Kareena is soon to join the rest of the unit there.

As is known, she and Saif were not so successful as reel partners in ‘Kurbaan’, but her pairing has been very well received by the audience with Aamir in 3 Idiots.

With ShahRukh she had come early in her career in the film ‘Asoka’, which had not been as successful.

Nevertheless, this time round things do seem different with new storyline and exotic locales and ‘Ra 1’ being a sci- fi movie all eyes are surely on this one Starring ShahRukh Khan and the hot Kareena Kapoor.

Shahrukh Khan or Aamir Khan

After having heard it innumerable times that the Khan war has finally ended the two are almost at the opposite ends of each other after the battle of their films ‘My Name Is Khan’ and ‘3 Idiots’ has finally shown results. According to reports ‘My Name Is Khan’ has seen a considerable drop in ticket sales in it’s 2nd week which was about a 65% to 70% less than in the opening week.

The film ‘3 Idiots’ managed to keep going strong for a long time. There was a very big hype created due to the Shahrukh Khan remark on the inclusion of the Pakistani Players in the IPL and a corresponding release of SRK’S film ‘My Name Is Khan’ created a frenzy all over due to whichthe opening sale of tickets was mind blowing for the film and thus there were reports that it would beat the Aamir Khan starer ‘3 Idiots’ in no time.

But just into its second week and the film ‘MNIK’ has slumped down in sales proving that the success of Aamir over SRK in 2010 is also established. The whole saga of competition has been carried forward from 2009 when Shahrukh’s film ‘Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi’ had released and was on top of the charts but as Aamir’s film ‘Ghajini’ released all box office records were broken and it became the supreme hit of the year leaving SRK’S film far behind.

Now with recent reports on the Aamir Khan film running far ahead of the Shahrukh Khan film it is once again making Aamir the Mr. Perfectionist of bollywood. The collections of ‘MNIK’ in the 2nd week are Rs 150 crores in contrast to the collections ofthe film ‘3 Idiots’ which was approximately Rs 240 crores in a ten day period.

Having said all about the films, the fact still remains that SRK has ruled the hearts of millions of his fans the world over and this may be a temporary phase in the actor’s life and sunnier days will surely come soon. As for Mr. perfectionistAamir Khan it will suffice to say that he has surely proved that he has what it takes to be a successful star and on top of the slot amongst the best of the best. So, till the next level of competition arises let the winner be in blissful planet!

Want To Meet Shahrukh Khan?

Nokia has brought a contest where you may win an opportunity to spend some time with Shahrukh Khan. The Indian Premier League 3, Nokia India and Kolkata Knight Riders today announced the ‘Main Bhi Coach’ consumer campaign.

Consumers can send advice and tips to the KKR team on strategy, line-up, tactics, style, almost anything that can help clinch the title. The winning entries will get exciting prizes including anopportunity to spend time with the king of Bollywood, Shahrukh Khan on the sets of his latest movie.

Commenting on the association with Nokia, Shah Rukh Khan said “The Nokia-KKR association goes back a long way and further strengthens with every cricketing season. We share common beliefs and will continue to strengthen our relationship while giving our fans an entertaining cricketing experience.

SRK added, “In India, every fan is a self proclaimed cricket guru and believe can guide the team to victory if given a chance. Main Bhi Coach is anopportunity for them to make their dreams come true and coach their favorite team. With such exciting campaigns Nokia promises to make the third season more exciting for all KKR fans.”

Nokia and Kolkata Knight Riders continue to strengthen their association and shared commitment to make IPL more exciting and engaging for Indian cricket fans. Main Bhi Coach is open for all cricket buffs and is not linked to the purchase of any product or service.

Speaking on the occasion, Shivakumar said, “Nokia and Shahrukh along with Kolkata Knight Riders have provided some very exciting moments to the Indian cricket lovers. Main Bhi Coach is an interesting and simple consumer campaign aimed yet again at connecting people to their passions. The campaign has been innovatively designed to engage the entire nation, by providing them anopportunity to be a part of the action on the pitch. I am confident that this initiative will strike a chord especially amongst our youth audience; helping them to connect emotionally withNokia as well as provide pragmatic support to the KKR team.”