Shahrukh Khan untraceable

Making a living as King Khan’s look-alike hasn’t been easy for Raju Rahikwar. He has made a documentary on it called, Living in King Khan’s Shadow. The 24 minute documentary is almost done except for a quote from Shahrukh Khan. Raju has tried hard to contact Shahrukh, but his efforts have been in vain.

Raju wants the world to know how he has come up in life. He just wants two minutes from Shahrukh, for that will complete his documentary. He reminisces on meeting the star many times and one time when he spoke to him at Holy Family Hospital in Bandra. He remembers Shahrukh being very humble. He had given Raju his office number and asked him to drop by. But Raju couldn’t.

He is sure that Shahrukh will meet him when he knows it is Raju trying to contact him.

Salman says Shahrukh is insecure

Salman Khan Seems to be in no mood to bury the hatchet with Shahrukh Khan. A few weeks back he had taken a take a dig at SRK by calling his airport detention as 'no big deal'. Now the actor has termed Shahrukh as the most insecure actor in the industry. In a recent interaction with the media Salman said the if Shahrukh could get rid of his insecurity he would become a nice guy.

The Wanted added that they were good friends as both of them started their career at the same time. But with increase in fame and money Shahrukh's insecurities increased and he could not bear others achieving success around him. Well seems like a new can of worms between the two has just be opened. It will be interesting to see how King Khan reacts to that.

SRK, Aamir and Big B Ka Emosanal Attyachaar!

Maa…mein aa gaya…

Screams the young boy; tearing the crowd gathered in-front of his house, only to find his mommy dead.

Nahiii!

The famous words said by the hero, drown in the loud crash of the medicine bottle and wails of audience in theater.

Action…Drama and loads of ‘rona dhona’ in bolly-flicks is something Indian cinema is renowned for. Touching the chords with right emotional components has been prevalent since a long time.

Dreadful death of a positive character due to cancer and tuberculosis would give a filmmaker masala and make audience drown the theater with their woeful tears. Indian cinema has come a long way, and so has the trend of diseases.

Today Mommy doesn’t die on khatiyas from a mere fever. Our filmmakers in tinsel town have been innovative to churn out storylines based on new set of syndromes that always existed, but were never touched upon.

In this brave new era, Bollywood is embracing disability and is not shunning it to sub-plots; making a difference, filmmakers today convey a message to make aam junta sensitive to medical conditions that were earlier locked up in Pagalkhaanas.

Taare Zameen Par (Dyslexia):
Actor-producer Aamir Khan reinvented his career as a director with this masterpiece, which brought him countless laurels.

Ishaan Awasthi (Darsheel Safary) a dyslexic patient finds difficulty in reading and writing. His misery goes unnoticed even by his parents, in the name of carelessness.

Misery reaches its last stage when Ram Shankar Nikumbh (Aamir Khan) Ishaan’s painting teacher first discovers his disease and induces a great level of conviction by making things easily teachable to him.

Taare Zameen Par conveyed the message- every child is special and parents should let them live to the fullest without any pressure.

My Name Is Khan (Autism):
My Name Is Khan is yet to hit the silver screens. This SRK-Kajol starrer has already created buzz due to the beautiful on-screen couple making a comeback.

My Name Is Khan revolves around a very sensitive condition called Autism, a syndrome that impacts social interaction abilities. SRK suffering from this disease eventually falls in a big soup. What happens next is interesting to witness. The story has been penned down and directed by Karan Johar.

U Me Aur Hum (Alzheimer):
‘I will there with you in your thick and thin’ promises Ajay (Ajay Devgan) to Piya (Kajol) who are happily married. However, fate has something else in store for them.

Piya a patient of Alzheimer tends to forget things and eventually it leads to a total memory loss, where she can recognize none, not even her husband and son. A well-directed film by Ajay Devgan, it got critical acclaim for its portrayal of Alzheimer Disease in a sensitive way.

Woh Lamhe (Schizophrenia):
Loosely based on the life of late Parveen Babi; Kangana Ranaut stepped into the shoes of sensuous actress, who in her later stages suffered from schizophrenia. Kangana Ranaut fitted in the glove perfectly.

Rituparna Gupta is another actress in a complex author-backed role in Beti Kromi, who brought into limelight the fatal consequences like miscarriage of this disorder and garnered loads of critical acclaim for her performance.

Luck (Dextrocardia):
Dextrocardia is definitely not a disease, but an unusual case of a person born with their heart situated on the right side, instead of left.

Such is the extent of ignorance– that when this medical condition was showcased in LUCK, it did not go down well with many, including critics. Imran Khan is discovered with his heart on the right side, when he escapes death as bullet crosses his chest from the left side where a heart is usually located.

Pa (Progeria):
Child is father of the man, here in ‘Pa’; it can be interpreted quite literally, as Abhishek plays on-screen father to his real dad Amitabh Bachchan. Sounds confusing?

Well it’s not really that hard to understand, if you understand Progeria, a rare genetic condition in which a person ages 4-6 times faster than an average human being. Premature aging should pretty much explain the reason for Big B to play sonny to his sonny!

Cheeni Kum director, ad whiz R. Balakrishnan aka Balki is directing ‘Pa’. Balki is keeping his film and Big B’s kiddie look a big secret; we say what’s all the hush-hush about, after all Balki we can watch better on Progeria- Robin Williams JACK is on DVD you know!

Saif wanted to kiss SRK

Saif Ali Khan was offered Dostana by Karan Johar at the time Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan were being considered. Saifu however declined the offer, ‘I didn't really chicken out - I mean I just thought, I think there was Abhishek and Aishwarya in the movie at the time I was being offered it and I was just wondering if I needed to do that and how I would fit in really and I told Karan that’, he told Rajeev Masand on his talk show, To Catch A Star.

Aish and Abhi hogging the limelight could have been the only reason for his Saifu’s refusal. For everyone knows Saif and Shah Rukh were the ones who bought being gay out of the Bollywood closet. Their camaraderie in Kal Ho Na Ho is legendary and Karan owes the success of Dostana to the two of them literally. He went on to say, ‘The gay thing didn't scare me off. In fact I don't think they (Abhishek and John) actually kiss. I would have.’

Incidentally, SRK too didn’t have a problem snogging in the film if he was offered Dostana, to which Saif added, ‘Yeah I would have kissed Shah Rukh.’SRK has even gone to speak about it earlier, saying he was disappointed how the kiss was shot in the film.

Truthfully, we can’t imagine Saif do a John in Dostana and thank heavens Priyanka replaced Aishwarya. But if Karan wants to recreate the magic of Dostana, Saif and Shah Rukh going at it with each other surely is the hit formula for Dostana 2, what say? Just make sure Bebo is cast in Priyanka's role.

Shiney Ahuja turned down Shahrukh once

While he is right now in the news for being a real life villain accused of raping his maid servant and languishing in Mumbai’s infamous Arthur Road jail, Shiney Ahuja, it is learnt had missed a golden opportunity to play the villain onscreen opposite none other than B-Town Baadshah Shahrukh Khan.

Reveals a source from Shahrukh’s production house, “The first actor approached to play the role of the villainous producer Mukesh Mehra in Om Shanti Om was Vivek Oberoi but Vivek declined the role, since he didn’t want to be seen in a negative role, in the mega film starring King Khan. Then the next actor to be approached was Shiney Ahuja.


“His Gangster back then had just released, and he had been winning accolades for his acting skills in Hazaaron Khawaishen Aisi and Gangster. In fact, Shahrukh even had a few meetings with Shiney over the role. But Shiney finally opted out of playing the part, since perhaps he thought this villain’s part might slot him as a negative role specialist actor and it would become a dead end for his solo hero aspirations.”

Well Shiney’s loss was Arjun Rampal’s gain as his non-happening acting career suddenly flourished after Shahruukh took him under his wing. But for Shiney, his career never took off from where he started!

Shahrukh Khan becomes a father

Shahrukh Khan is all set to play the role of a father and believe it or not he will play it in two movies My Name Is Khan and Anubhav Sinha's Ra 1. Although most actors shy away from playing such roles Shahrukh had qualms about playing a father on screen. Most stars are apprehensive of loosing their charm once they play an aged character on screen but not Shahrukh.

Shahrukh who plays Rizwan Khan in My Name Is Khan will be the father of a teenager in the movie. The superstar said these things should not bother an actor. He argues that at 30 if he could play a college student Kuch Kuch Hota Hai at 43 he can definitely play a father with his own son Aryan being 11 years old.

When Underworld came calling for Bollywood

Underworld has been lurking in the shadows of the glamorous Bollywood glitterati, haunting and hunting Indian cinema since ages.

Recently it claimed another victim; Ronnie Screwala head honcho of UTV has been targeted by the underworld. On July 11, six people, alleged associates of Pujari gang barged into UTV’s office seeking the whereabouts of Screwala.

Bangalore police has been in search of Pujari gang for various extortion cases in the city. The incident came as an alarm to them after the attack on Ronnie. Pujari seems to be chasing Ronnie for his alleged support to Dawood.

Taking a walk down the memory lane we take a look at some of the stars who were threatened to be dragged down by the slew of underworld.

Shahrukh Khan- Although he turned hostile to Bharat Shah case but the super star truly broke his silence in 2002 narrating the story that has taken shape in 1997-98 for working in the film that brought SRK in the hit-list of underworld dons.

First, Chotta Shakeel compelled him to work to which SRK sort of gave a nod. Things somehow did not work and he later got threatening calls from Abu Salem himself. The story has not changed though characters on the other end might have.

Rakesh Roshan- This filmmaker not only received the calls but also felt the terror of mafia. He was shot at while leaving from his office at Santa Cruz on January 21, 2000. Roshan had a narrow escape as he was shot in the left arm and thus underwent a surgery.

The then Chief minister Chhagan Bhujbal had suspected the involvement of Abu Salem faction of Dawood Ibrahim. Despite, filing a case, Roshan continued to get extortion calls from underworld. And then during the release of Krrish Roshan’s anti-piracy campaign gave another reason to underworld for extortion.

Not just that even junior Roshan the heartthrob of Nation was on target, if we go by the telephonic conversation between Sanjay Dutt and Chotta Shakeel on November 2000.

Mahesh Bhatt- The filmmaker had been targeted when an unknown gunman entered his office at Juhu. The gunman fired two rounds in the office after he got aware of Bhatt’s absence.

Ravi Pujari again was suspected in this case by Ashok Pandit; who happened to visit Bhatt’s office, and take Pujari’s call threatening Bhatt. Similar call was attended by Bhatt later. Strangely, Bhatt had not been warned of this attack before.

Preity Zinta- She was the second one in a long list of celebrities who did not deny the claims of getting calls from underworld during the Bharat Shah case.

It was during Chori Chori Chupke Chupke in 2000 during the shoot that she got an extortion call referring to Bhai ka Aadmi for an amount of 50 lakhs.

In a statement to police she had agreed to pay 25 lakhs as remuneration for acting in Chori Chori Chupke Chupke. Later, she also admitted her willingness to act in the film despite all that drama.

Aishwarya Rai- She although did not get the direct calls from underworld. However, the conversation between her and Salman Khan made it clear that Salman would threaten her in the name of underworld don.

Central forensic report with the help of the samples of their respective voices through audiocassettes proved Salman having connections with underworld.

Apart from these top-notch stars, there were others such as Govinda, Raj Kumar Santoshi, Himesh Reshamiya, Abbas-Mustan and Mahesh Manjrekar who have become the soft-targets of extortion by underworld dons.