SRK wants to make his kids to be proud with 'Ra.One'

Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan wants to make his children proud with his upcoming film 'Ra.One'.

"'Ra.One' is a very special film I made for my kids. I hope I can make my children proud and this country proud. I am trying my best to make it a very good film," Shahrukh said.

Directed by Anubhav Sinha 'Ra.One' is a sci-fi flick, starring Shahrukh, Arjun Rampal and Kareen Kapoor, who plays the love interest of Khan, and will be released on October 26.

King Khan has two children, 14-year-old son Aryan and 11-year-old daughter Suhana, from wife Gauri.

"It is a kind of film, a genre that we haven't tried. You make a film with passion and love. You want to make it right and want the world to watch it," Shahrukh said.

The 45-year-old actor also said he was inspired by Hollywood actor Hugh Jackman to make this superhero film.

"I watched all the 'X-Men' movies. The role of Wolverine was the biggest inspiration for me to make 'Ra.One'. I was completely inspired by Hugh's film," he said.

Did Abhinav Kashyap rejects Shah Rukh Khan from Dabangg sequel?

Though Dabangg director Abhinav Kashyap has stated that actor Shah Rukh Khan is not the reason he left his launch pad, sources claim otherwise. The director is apparently spending most of his time networking with King Khan for his forthcoming film. It is learned that the film-maker is keen to launch a film with Shah Rukh at exactly the same time that he was slated to direct the Dabangg sequel. Abhinav apparently moved out of Dabangg with his team of assistant directors. One of them, Himanshu Mehra, is the co-producer of his forthcoming film.

“Abhinav had kept the Khan brothers — Arbaaz and Salman — in the dark about his plans for his own film. He didn’t want to shoot the film at the allotted dates. It then came to light that he was having meetings with Shah Rukh for an action thriller. His friend Sunil Vohra brought in a corporate giant as the producer, and has already had at least three meetings to get Shah Rukh on board. The actor’s yet to finalise the project, and Abhinav is eagerly waiting for the final nod,” informs a source, adding that the film is tentatively titled Project 18.However, an official from the production house confirms that the film is on even though Shah Rukh has not signed on the dotted line.

When contacted, Arbaaz Khan said, “The official reason that Abhinav gave me was that the film is being done too soon. But I have to go ahead as soon as I get the dates from Salman. I’ve heard of talks of him having received an SMS from us that prompted him to break off, on the contrary I was the one who got the SMS of him not doing the film.”

But what of the fact that he ditched Salman’s film for SRK? “Whether he ditched the film for someone else’s film is a question that he can answer best. For me, Abhinav is a closed chapter! It’s a good thing that we had our differences now, and not when the film was being made,” says Khan, who will be making his directorial debut with the Dabangg sequel.

Shah Rukh Khan rejects Twitter, joins Facebook

Even as almost every big Bollywood star has been active on micro-blogging site Twitter, actor Shah Rukh Khan seems to have abandoned it (his last tweet, as appearing on the site on Monday, was posted on January 2).

Having over 8 lakh followers on Twitter, the news might shock his fans but SRK has joined popular social networking site Facebook instead. He however said that he would go back to Twitter as he has promised to do so.

"I went on Twitter for two reasons -- one, Karan told me and... I'll go back to it because I have promised one gentleman," SRK told Headlines Today recently admitting abandoning the micro-blogging site.

Reasoning it he said, "I have enough faces and names not liking me and saying it on my face. I'm ok with that, I can deal with that. But when it became nameless and faceless people saying things to me 'oh you are saying this because this is the agenda attached to it'... because people like to believe that if you are a movie star then you are manipulative, you have some agenda, that's why you are talking about."

"Like, suppose I write '@India Today Conclave having fun', somebody would write 'oh he is trying to show off that he was called to India Today Conclave and somebody else wasn't' or something nonsense. I started finding it ochha (cheap). I said I'm not going on this (Twitter). And there are only two people maybe out of 100 who are saying this but I'm over sensitive," Khan added.

Asked if he would be back on Twitter, the actor referred to a recent interview wherein he had promised to do so.

On the other side, SRK recently surprised his fans by joining Facebook. His Facebook page was inaugurated on Sunday with the online premiere of his 22-minute documentary on Mughal-e-Azam, which celebrates 51 years of the classic directed by K. Asif.

Khan would also be promoting his upcoming film Ra.One on Facebook.

Shahrukh Khan reveals not to mix religion with politics

You don’t expect someone to lift their shirt and show their abs to the august gathering such as one that was at the India Today Conclave in New Delhi. But Shahrukh Khan not only got away with that -- with applause to boot -- but also shared a few nuggets of his wisdom.

Shahrukh, who has developed brawns for his home production Ra.One and Farhan Akhtar’s thriller Don 2, did not shy to lift his shirt up when he was asked if a six-pack was “lurking behind that sharp suit”.

Pulling his shirt up to give the audience a peek at his abs, SRK said: “I don't know whether it is a six pack, but it is definitely a four.”

SRK’s stunt was approved heartily by the gathering where the topics under discussion were quite serious.

“My wife always tells me, 'Please don't try to be funny at serious events...please don't speak too much'. And I am told this is a very serious event,” Shahrukh said.

On a serious note, the super star spoke about the politicisation of the word Mumbai and how Bombay has now become a dreaded word.

“Indian cinema is going from Mumbai to Melrose. Though I would have preferred saying Bombay to Beverly Hills, that kind of alliteration is not allowed to Muslim actors,” SRK said.

Talking about communalism and using of religious agendas by political parties, Shahrukh was eloquent.

“I truly believe that politicians should not use religion as an agenda. It is just not acceptable. The issues like education, development and women's upliftment, which are sidelined are the basic political issues which need to be looked upon,” Shahrukh observed.

The actor’s secular mindset was revealed when he reflected: “I am a Muslim myself and I am married to a Hindu lady and my children know about all religions and it’s my conscious decision to make them aware of it. Religion is a personal thing and nobody in this world has the right to come between you and your God.”

SRK, Akshay ahead in advance tax payment

Actors Shah Rukh Khan and Akshay Kumar are top taxpayers in Bollywood (in individual category), at least for the third installment of advance tax payment, the last date for which was Tuesday. According to figures available with the income tax (I-T) department, the two actors have paid Rs 10 crore each in the January to March period, which is the third installment.

The I-T department collects advance tax from individuals in three installments in September, December and March. From corporates advance tax is collected in four installments by the 15th of June, September, December and March.

The two actors were followed by Salman Khan whose recent release Dabangg broke collection records. Salman paid Rs 5 crore as advance tax in the third installment.

Aamir Khan followed Salman with payment of Rs 4.4 crore as advance tax in January to March period.

Actor Priyanka Chopra, on whom the I-T department had recently conducted searches, is next with payment of Rs 3.25 crore as advance tax in this period. She leads among female Bollywood personalities.

Youngster Ranbir Kapoor also made to the top Bollywood taxpayers list by paying Rs 2.6 crore followed by Ajay Devgn who made advance tax payment of Rs 1.5 crore in the third installment.

Actor Kareena Kapoor was just behind Devgn with payment of Rs 1.4 crore.

SRK lines in social networking team

Shah Rukh Khan is busy shooting for Farhan Akhtar’s Don 2 in Malaysia. The actor is expected to be back in Mumbai mid-March. Once back, SRK will begin shooting for Ra.One as a week-long schedule of the film is still pending. But, even though the actor has been very busy he still has been taking time out to tweet to promote his team Kolkata Knight Riders.

That comes as a surprise, as a while ago SRK had opted out of being a part of the social-micro-blogging frenzy and had been pretty much inactive on Twitter. But, prior to the Indian Premier League, the actor hopes to cash in on the Twitter frenzy. That’s not all.

The actor has roped in a team to promote KKR across all social networking sites including Facebook. With the ongoing World Cup, SRK who is a huge cricket fan sms-ed cricketer Gautam Gambhir after the Indian cricket team’s victory against Bangladesh and Ireland.

‘Shah Rukh didn’t select Zoa for my film’- Roshan Abbas

A new hottie is set to enter Bollywood. But before she hits the silver screen in SRK’s Red Chillies production, Always Kabhi Kabhi, Zoa Morani is creating excitement. Of late, speculation has been ripe that SRK took a personal interest in casting Zoa, since her father Karim Morani of Cineyug is close to the superstar.

Actor-turned director Roshan Abbas says, “Shah Rukh has nothing to do with Zoa’s selection. In fact, she is the first actor, whom I finalised. In fact, she had initially come through another girl who used to work at Cineyug. At that time, we didn’t even know that she was related to the Moranis.”

Zoa plays a firebrand character in the film, an adaptation of Abbas’ 1999 play, Graffiti. “I want to dispel all the notions about it. The initial meetings with the actors would happen in my office and Shah Rukh was busy. No one even told me that Zoa is a Morani,” says Abbas.

“SRK for a long time, had known about my play before he asked me, if I wanted to adapt it for film. So, it would be gross injustice to suggest that the film has come through because of SRK’s friendship with the Moranis,” adds Abbas.

Few years ago, Zoa was quoted as saying that “my father is also co-producing my debut film.” In the past, Morani has produced films like Raja Hindustani (1996), Damini(1993) and Arjun (1985). Abbas, however, feigns ignorance. “You have to check with Red Chillies if Moranis are the co-producers,” he says.

Zoa, incidentally, has been as assistant director to Rajkumar Santoshi for Halla Bol (2008) and Farah Khan for Om Shanti Om (2007). Abbas is truly impressed with the acting graduate from Anupam Kher’s Actor Prepares. “During a scene, I wanted her to dive into the sea when the tides were very strong. Many people asked me not to make her jump. But she dived in fearlessly. In another scene, we made her stand at the edge of a cliff. Many thought it’s dangerous, but Zoa did it without any fear. She has been very impressive,” he says.

I’ll play the lover role with SRK says Vidya Balan

But engagement though is not on the cards yet. To Vidya Balan, love is when you begin to see yourself in another person's eyes and you like what you see there. On her recent trip to the city, the actor decodes 'Ishqiya'

 

Critical acclaim, commercial success and controversies. All that has been part of Vidya Balan's life in the recent past. And now, there are also rumours of her getting engaged to corporate honcho Siddharth Roy Kapur — who also happens to be the elder brother of actor Aditya Roy Kapur of "Guzaarish" fame.

 

Kolkatans have even gone to the extent of claiming that since she loves all things Bengali, she has chosen to date someone with a Bengali surname! But, fact is, Siddharth Roy Kapur doesn't have roots in Bengal and the Roy part of his surname has a Punjab-connect . Vidya, who was in town to promote her commercial with Chandrabindoo, shares her Kahaani.

Dabangg director replaces SRK in the place of Salman Khan

Abhinav Kashyap said no to Salman Khan's Dabangg 2 because seemingly Shah Rukh Khan gave him a better offer.

After frequent admittance and denial, it was finally reported today that Dabangg director Abhinav Kashyap won't be directing the sequel. The report claimed that Kashyap didn't want to direct the sequel which he expressed to producer-actor Arbaaz Khan. With Abhinav's ouster, Arbaaz has taken over the directorial reins and will be directing the sequel now.

However what is surprising is why did Abhinav Kashyap refuse to direct Dabangg 2 especially since it's a big project, more so after the immense success of the first part? The other side of the story seems to be untold. An industry insider claims, "Arbaaz was not willing to give Abhinav a good price as a director despite Dabangg being a huge hit. Kashyap expected a better remuneration. Other big banners were willing to offer him Rs 2-3 crores but he kept saying no to them because of his attachment to Dabangg . While he didn't expect that kind of money from Arbaaz, he surely expected something better than what he got for his debut film".

But there seems to be an even bigger reason for Abhinav Kashyap to leave Dabangg. "Apparently Salman Khan's archrival Shah Rukh Khan managed to bowl over Kashyap with a mind-boggling offer", claims the source. " SRK is desperate to make a masala film starring himself and wanted Kashyap to direct it for him". As per trade sources Shah Rukh lured Kashyap by offering him a hefty fee of Rs 2 crores.

But over the fact that money is good, Abhinav Kashyap seems more kicked about directing Shah Rukh Khan. "Also Shah Rukh was willing to offer complete creative freedom to Kashyap in terms of directing the film", adds the source. "It's a known fact that Salman Khan had things go his way during the making of Dabangg . Lines in the script were changed at the last minute. Also Abhinav did not sit for the editing".

Kashyap seems to have taken a Dabangg step of shifting loyalties from Shah Rukh to Salman. Let's see if he is able to recreate the same success with the other big Khan of Bollywood.