Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge Completes 750 Weeks

Just like old wine, SRK and Kajol’s blockbuster film Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (DDLJ) keeps getting better and better with each passing year. This month- February 2010, DDLJ has set yet another record by completing 750 weeks of continuous play. In a feat perhaps unmatched anywhere in the world, the magic of the evergreen romance keeps pulling audiences back to the Maratha Mandir theatre in Mumbai.

Directed by Aditya Chopra, DDLJ opened to full houses and rave reviews all over the world way back on 20th October 1995.

This evergreen Yash Raj Film remains the longest running film in the history of Indian cinema, as it passes one milestone after another, and is presently running in its 15th year of running.

–Rakesh

SRK – NDTV Awards – The Icon of 21 Years Of Entertainment

 

Megastars Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan were among those honoured with the NDTV’s Indian of the Year 2009 awards at a glittering function.

KHAN, also got the Icon of 21 years of Entertainment award along with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, who established herself as one of the leading contemporary actresses in the Indian film industry.

Presenting the award to KHAN, Home Minister P Chidambaram said, "I would love to watch SRK-starrer My Name is Khan… I am waiting for the English subtitles… It was great the way Khan brought out Mumbai’s solidarity… The attack on the movie (by Shiv Sena) was not an attack on the film, it was an attack on the idea of India."

SRK’s latest flick My Name Is Khan has raked in Rs 150 crore during the first week of its release.

–Rakesh

SRK Back As Filmfare Host

The 55th Filmfare Awards are round the corner and Shah Rukh Khan who has been busy promoting his film My Name Is Khan of late, will now step into the shoes of host for the night on Saturday night.

The actor has been working on his monologue for the past couple of days with his writers.

“He has been so busy that he hasn’t had any time to prepare for the award night. Normally by now his sessions with the writers is done and he is well on his way to memorizing his monologue and stuff. But he only had the first session with his writers last night,” says our source.

And like every year this year too we can be ready for a whole lot of laughs in true King Khan style.

“Shah Rukh Khan is very clear that he will poke fun at people present there. But it is never nasty or personal. And this year too, he is adding his own gags and one liners to the act,” adds the source.

The person behind the script this year is Vir Das. The standup comedian has worked with Khan earlier too and is aware of his likes and dislikes.

“The two sat together last evening to go through what Vir had come up with so far. Vir had been working on the script for over a fortnight now. SRK was satisfied with most of what was there. However, knowing SRK he will make some additions as he goes along,” adds the source.

The Filmfare Awards are this weekend at the Yash Raj studios. Expected to perform on the night are Hrithik Roshan, Katrina Kaif and Kareena Kapoor.

–Rakesh

My Name Is Khan – Now With Audio Description

Shah Rukh Khan starrer My Name Is Khan has become the first Bollywood film to be released in cinemas across the country with Hindi audio description (AD) for visually challenged people.

AD is as important to blind and partially sighted people as subtitles are to those with hearing problems. It is an additional narration that fits between passages of dialogue to describe action sequences, body language, costume and scenery, allowing the viewer to understand exactly what is happening on screen.

Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) worked with 20th Century Fox to achieve this after research amongst blind or partially sighted people found that over 55 percent of respondents were more likely to watch Bollywood films if AD was provided.

"Around 700 films are produced by Bollywood every year and our research tells us that blind and partially sighted fans want AD on these films. We hope other studios will follow 20th Century Fox’s lead," said Fazilet Hadi, director of RNIB.

The studio has come out with both English and Hindi AD tracks for My Name Is Khan.

"We are proud to offer for the first time ever a Hindi AD track on My Name is Khan. English speaking AD has been available on all our films for some time now, so we felt it was natural to progress and offer Hindi AD on our first collaboration with Bollywood," Martin Bromfield, executive director Twentieth Century, said in a statement.

"With help from RNIB and Deluxe Digital Studios, we worked hard to create an English audio descriptive track which was then translated before being recorded by a Hindi speaking audio describer, in time for the second week of release," he added.

Directed by Karan Johar My Name Is Khan features Shah Rukh as Rizwan Khan who embarks on a journey across America to win back the love of his life, Mandira, played by Kajol.

More updates will be posted soon…

–Rakesh

Ra.1 Filming starts from Mumbai – Goa – London

After the glorious performance in My Name Is Khan as a physically-disabled underdog journeying across America on a whimsical mission, Shah Rukh Khan is all set to play the super-hero flying across the sky to save humanity.

True to its mythological title, Ra.1 which starts shooting next month in Mumbai followed by Goa and London, will have Shah Rukh combating 10 villains. Raavan according to Hindu mythology, was a ten-headed demon whom Ram vanquished single-handedly.

In Ra.1, the modern day Raavan has been turned into ten different villains whom super-hero Shah Rukh, the modern day Ram will annihilate one after another.

After playing the under-dog in two successive films Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi and My Name Is Khan, SRK will be flying across the sky in Ra.1. The estimated budget of the film to be produced by Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies, is Rs 100 crores. And no Kareena Kapoor won’t be joining him in midair. She plays Shah Rukh’s grounded wife and not a super-woman.

Says a source close to Ra.1, "Kareena was keen to attempt the hi-jinks with Shah Rukh KHAN, especially since Agent Vinod where she has a lot of stunts has again been postponed But in Ra.1 all the conflict involves Shah Rukh KHAN and the ten villains."

SRK along with the film’s director Anubhav Sinha and journalist-writer Mushtaq Sheikh, has co-written Ra.1 and will be credited as one of the writers.

The film will be in Hindi. Says the source, "He was advised to make the film in English. But Shah Rukh KHAN decided to make it in Hindi. Why should he pitch his super-hero film to the Western audience when they already have their Superman and Spiderman? Shah Rukh KHAN has no aspirations of cracking Hollywood on their terms."

The film requires the star to perform never-before heart-in-the-mouth stunts, which he’s gearing up to do.

–Rakesh

DON 2 starts this year – 2010

Farhan Akhtar, who directed the SRK starrer DON, had announced the sequel to the film quite some time back. While Farhan got busy with his acting assignments and SRK too decided to work on “RAB NE BANA DI JODI” first and “MY NAME IS KHAN” next, one kept wondering when Farhan and SRK would start the next instalment of DON.

"DON 2 will start in October this year. We’ve locked the script and also the locations," Farhan and his producer-partner Ritesh Sidhwani, confirms this news. The new DON will have two leading ladies. "Priyanka Chopra will be one of them. The second will be finalized in due course," Farhan states.

More Updates about DON II will be posted soon…

–Rakesh

SRK ropes in Akon for Ra.1

Akon will be seen in Anubhav Sinha’s Ra.One starring Shah Rukh Khan and Kareena Kapoor, which has music by Vishal and Shekhar.

Our source reveals, “Ra.One is a SFX movie and director Anubhav Sinha wants to achieve Hollywood standards. SRK and Anubhav spoke about having an international pop singer in the movie, and SRK opted for Akon, who is popular with the youth.”

The source continues, “During a recent visit to Los Angeles, Shah Rukh KHAN met Akon and they had a long conversation on Indian and Western music. Akon will sing in Ra.One and this will be his debut in Bollywood. He has been signed for a whopping amount. Akon had performed last year at the closing ceremony of the IPL.”

–Rakesh

My Name Is KHAN – Repairing The World With Love

 

 

–Rakesh

My Name Is Khan Grosses Rs. 150 Cr. In Just 10 Days

MY Name Is KHAN 150 Cr. gross in 10 days. The breakup :- India gross 90 cr. [share: 35 cr.], Overseas gross 60 cr. [share: 30 cr.]. Total share: 65 Cr.

My Name Is Khan has grossed Rs 150 crore worldwide in the first 10 days after its release, the film’s producers said today.

Trade analysts expected it to become, within the coming week, the highest grossing Shah Rukh Khan film ever.

MNIK, a love story set against the backdrop of racial discrimination post 9/11, had raked in Rs 90.2 crore ($ 19 million) worldwide in its first three days, the biggest ever three-day collection worldwide in the history of Indian cinema.

The makers of the film are happy that MNIK has achieved all this in February, rather than in the summer holidays or the festive October-December period. Traditionally, February is not considered a strong period for a major film release because of the cold weather in many parts of the country and the world and school examinations in some parts of India. Besides, MNIK had to contend with controversies as well as the situation arising out of the bomb blast in Pune on February 13.

According to the release, the business done by MNIK in ten days in February was twice that achieved by any other Bollywood film ever released in this month in the past.

The release said MNIK was the biggest Bollywood film of all time within ten days in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), South Africa, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, East and West Africa, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Mauritius.

Mr Mario Haddad, Head of Empire International Middle East, said that due to the demand they were opening the film in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria on March 10.

In the United Kingdom, MNIK has become the fastest film to cross GBP 2 million, managing the feat in just 11 days. The producers said that in the United States and Canada, MNIK was already the highest grossing Shah Rukh film of all time, within just ten days of release.

"We are delighted to be entering this elite group with our first major Bollywood venture. The film was created for a global audience and continues to break records worldwide. It is truly proving to be India’s first global Bollywood film," Mr Vijay Singh, CEO of Fox Star Studios, added.

–Rakesh

SRK Cancels/Suspends/Holds Deal With LUX COZI

This is great news for almost all SRK Fans… Because the Lux Cozi Logo wasn’t looking good with the Kolkata Knight Riders T-Shirt… 

Kolkata Knight Riders have suspended a sponsorship deal with a clothes manufacturing firm after public protests over its owner’s links with a controversial murder case. A Knight Riders statement said the deal was on hold but KINGSRK understands it is likely to be scrapped.

"Respecting the sentiments of Kolkata and people of Bengal, both Lux Industries and KKR have decided to put their association on hold until issues are resolved and the sensitivities of the aggrieved group are adequately addressed," Joy Bhattacharjya, the KKR team director, said.

"Our love and respect for the sentiments of our fellow Kolkatans drives us to put on hold any further activity with regard to our association, till such time an acceptable resolution to the situation is arrived at.

"We sincerely hope that our effort to redress this grievance is positively received and this may bring to end any strife, hurt or anguish caused to anyone who has raised their displeasure in this matter," Bhattacharjya said.

After the farce revolving around his film My Name Is Khan, it was the actor’s endorsements that caught the lime light. Not too long ago, Shah Rukh KHAN was signed on as the brand ambassador for well known innerwear brand Lux Cozi. What’s more his IPL team – the KKR, were also supposed to promote the brand on field as their uniforms would carry their logo.

However, a controversy took birth over this tie up as the brand is owned by Kolkata’s Todi brothers, who are accused in the infamous case of hounding Kolkata youth Rizwanur Rehman to suicide.

The latest updates now state that SRK has, cancelled his endorsement contract with Lux Cozi. The reasons behind this sudden cancellation are apparently, the bothers involvement as well as the criticism by Muslim groups and civil societies in Kolkata.

Besides, Rizwanur’s mother had also requested KHAN not to endorse a product owned by the Todis. The deal hence, won’t be going ahead anymore.

–Rakesh