November 23, 200717 yr Shah Rukh Khan 'Sexiest Asian'LONDON, NOV 23Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan has emerged as the Sexiest Asian man in the world in 2007, according to a list published by a weekly newspaper here.Eastern Eye, a leading British-Asian paper, says last year's winner Abhishek Bachchan was relegated to the fourth position this year. Hrithik Roshan came second followed by John Abraham.It is the first time the 42-year-old actor has topped the list in its three-year history. The first-ever winner was Abraham.The top ten were: 1) Shah Rukh Khan, 2) Hrithik Roshan, 3) John Abraham, 4) Abhishek Bhachchan, 5) Upen Patel, 6) Aamir Khan, 7) Salman Khan, 8) Ali Zafar, 9) Jay Sean and 10) Saif Ali Khan.British Asians on the list include Patel, Jay Sean, cricketer Mark Ramprakash (13) and footballer Michael Chopra (25).On being named the sexiest man on the planet, Khan told Eastern eye: "Me, really? Thanks. I feel too sexy to talk to anyone now!"I never thought I would be called a sexy guy or be put into that category. It's only because I carry myself the way I am comfortable - that is what is sexy, I think?"Hamant Varma, editor of Eastern eye and founder of Sexiest Asian Men list and Sexiest Asian Women List said: "Shah Rukh Khan is the complete package, good actor, good dancer, good looking and a showman. He is a great ambassador for India."
November 24, 200717 yr Shah Rukh Khan : The Lord of 2007It will take more than the combined might of a Hollywood studio and one of India’s most successful directors of date to dislodge SRK from his throne.So, who’s the king of the castle?In Bollywood, there’s no formal crowing, no oohs of mock surprise, no clasping of hand-on-mouth for that perfect byte. Everyone knows that 2007 has been, unarguably, Shah Rukh Khan’s year.This year’s double Diwali dhamaka has turned into almost-universal thumbs-up for SRK’s Om Shanti Om, and almost equal derision for Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Saawariya. Post that crucial first weekend, trade figures have pegged the former, a 70’s joyride through Bollywood, a clear winner, both in India and overseas (Om Shanti Om is reported to have made more than £5 million pounds in the UK, while Saawariya has barely managed a little over £16,000; in the US too, the former is way ahead in the box-office stakes).Though it will take another week or so to really get the figures down in India, the clash of the titans has made a couple of things clear. It will take more than the combined might of a Hollywood studio and one of India’s most successful directors of date (Sony Pix and SLB) to dislodge SRK from his throne. And that nothing succeeds like success: India is still going rah-rah after the splendid showing of Chak De: audiences are still in like-mode with the story of a dispossessed hockey coach who whips an unlikely team into a winning machine. SRK will have to do something seriously wrong to start sliding from here on.In retrospect, it’s very easy to go on a blame-game round, but it was evident from the opening Friday that a light-hearted spoof on all things Bollywood, drawing an arc of 30 years, was a better festive offering, than a relentless black-and-blue-tinted ode to Bhansali’s favourite filmmakers, inspired by a Dostoevsky short story White Nights. Saawariya is more a series of still paintings than a film, gorgeous but which leave you unmoved. You admire the handiwork of the cinematographers and the set designers, but nothing about the plight of the young lovers engages you.Fun and flashbackIn comparison, Farah Khan’s revisiting the 70s’ era of polka-dotted shirts, big collars, bigger hair, and long sideburns is a lark. At least in the first half. So you can sit there, and be transported back to the high melodrama of that time, where filmy moms would feed aloo parathas and kheer to their beloved betas, and know in their dil that their sons will make it big. The second half is unexciting, but it is still possible to coast on some leftover fun-and-games. And like Saawariya’s brand-new lead pair, Ranbir Raj and Sonam, which has been appreciated, OSO’s debutant leading lady, Deepika, has gained huge mileage.The part of the movie-making chain which will hurt from Saawariya’s performance will be some of its distributors (the producers, Sony Pix, have already made a table profit, before the movie hit the screens). The distributors of OSO, Eros International, who reportedly paid upwards of Rs 70 crore for the film, are crowing about how OSO will be the biggest movie for them this year, even better than Partner, the other comedy which viewers embraced with enthusiasm earlier this year.
November 24, 200717 yr Berlin Film Festival invites 'Om Shanti Om'"OSO is a seriously funny film," says SRKCNN-IBN's Entertainment Editor, Rajeev Masand, caught up with King Khan at the International Film Festival of India and quizzed him about everything from Om Shanti Om to being voted the sexiest man in Asia.Rajeev Masand: You've been a cine freak all your life, so did you attend a lot of film festivals when you were in Delhi and when you were training to be an actor, during your growing up days?Shah Rukh Khan: Yes, earlier in Delhi, there used to be a lot of international festivals and they used to be competitive. But I never attended as an invited guest. I used to be one of the ushers. The theatre groups used to give us between Rs 50 and Rs 100 for ushering people inside. This is the first time I have been invited to a film festival.Rajeev Masand: Very few people know that your latest film, Om Shanti Om has been invited by the Berlin Film Festival. Are you going there in February?Shah Rukh Khan: I don't have the details but yes, that is what our international film distributor said, that we have been invited.Rajeev Masand: It's really interesting that a film festival like Berlin, which is meant to be a serious film festival, has invited a film that really celebrates the glory of mainstream masala film making. So is that sort of an indication that Bollywood is becoming immensely popular?Shah Rukh Khan: Well, I think Om Shanti Om is a seriously funny film so there is a part seriousness there and so I think its okay to go to the Berlin Film Festival and showcase a film like it.Rajeev Masand: The UK paper, The Eastern Eye, has voted you the sexiest Asian alive. Give me a final word on this.Shah Rukh Khan: As hard as I am trying to be the chief guest of an international film festival and be serious, you declare me the sexiest Asian and make me look rather flippant again. Just when I thought I could be an actor, you've taken my chance of roles in serious cinema away again. I don't think it's amusing. I get very shy and embarrassed when someone calls me sexy.
November 24, 200717 yr SRK’s Wedding Affair to RememberThere is no second thought about the fact that Shah Rukh Khan is the most sought after actor in Bollywood. Practically everybody who can afford wants a bit of the superstar.SRK is in huge demand for anything and everything in the world - be it films, brand endorsements, product launches, events or performances at weddings.And while audiences have accepted him in possibly every medium, his performances in weddings has found strange reactions from many. While some feel it’s too cheap for someone of the caliber of the King Khan to dance at anybody’s wedding, others are of the opinion that Shah Rukh will stoop to any levels for a good price.But the Badshah has his own theory when it comes to performing at weddings. Also he blames media for their half knowledge in reporting since the general masses are of the opinion that Shah Rukh Khan starts dancing in the marriage mandap or on the way, which is far from the truth. The King breaks his silence and speaks at length about his views on the issue.SRK has a lot of people coming up to him who want him to dance at their son or daughter’s wedding. But there is huge money attached to his performances since Shah Rukh has a huge dignity for labour. And the unbelievably steep price that he quotes has these very people returning with sad and disappointed faces.But then again Shah Rukh never refuses an offer which he can’t resist. Just like anyone and everyone he puts his mouth where the moolah is. He believes that marriage is the most joyous occasion for a family and isn’t ashamed of being a part of such an occasion provided the monetary gain involved for him is worth it.And the actor makes his point when he opines that he does not charge for his presence at a wedding but only if he is asked to perform at the venue.Most don’t find his remuneration feasible but there are exceptions everywhere and industrialist Laxmi Mittal was one amongst them. Shah Rukh goes on to detail about his much talked-about performance at Laxmi Mittal’s daughter’s wedding ceremony. He agreed to it only due to his friendship with the Mittals and the fact that Mr. Mittal had everything arranged in Paris beforehand.Khan didn’t perform at the wedding, as might be the usual perception, but at a venue close to the wedding. Arrangements were made for an auditorium that could house an audience of 3000 people. SRK even asked Mittal to bear the costs of a troop of dancers (around 100 of them) in addition to a production team and others for the performance. According to Shah Rukh his performance at Laxmi Mittal’s daughter’s wedding resembled the shooting of a song sequence for any big banner film.Shah Rukh Khan also makes no bones of the fact that he has a list of do’s and don’ts when he agrees to perform at a wedding. As per his rulebook, the show should begin as per the schedule and none are allowed to enter the hall after the show starts. He does not wait for anyone except for the bride and the bridegroom. Moreover once the show has begun Shah Rukh expects everyone to be seated and does not like drinks and food being served during his performances.Now this wouldn’t sound much different from a performance at an award function night or during a world tour, which is more than acceptable for his fans across the globe.So then why should anyone have problems with him performing at weddings? Does it still sound that cheap?
November 24, 200717 yr 'm A National Obsession : SRKShah Rukh Khan inhabits a universe that revolves solely around himself, says C.P. Surendran, an author and novelist, expressing an opinion that reeks of envy.Last week, a company sent its private jet for Shahrukh Khan, so he could grace its function. In the unlikely event of Khan needing confirmation of his regal status in the Indian Mindspace, the jet provides it at his doorstep. The upgradation in the mode of transport is a happy fallout of the success of his latest movie, Om Shanti Om. A success which made SRK exclaim to the world, "I'm priceless." The trouble is, though his recent statements make Khan sound like a case of acute megalomania, they are true.It's doubtful if there is any other Indian actor who is so obsessed with pleasuring his viewers into submission—a unique relationship for a male star to cultivate with his audiences and not very unlike the one a prostitute with a reputation might have with her select clientele. Khan, more than any other male star in India, sees himself as an object, an image.He was recently quoted saying, "I see myself as an employee of an image that's being created on screen. Shahrukh the celebrity is my boss. I would say that I am Shahrukh Khan's agent, secretary, celebrity manager. I work very hard to ensure he stays at the top." Clearly, Khan's is a world that begins and ends with himself. A hermetically sealed universe of one. As he said recently, "Love me or leave me." Why is no other kind of relationship possible with him? Because he is successful. So love him if you are smart. There are many who do in Bollywood and profit by it.Khan himself is a smart cookie. It's not just the kind of the movies he masterminds, which are in themselves sentimental exercises in affected goodness and melodramatic self-sacrifice at the altar of friendship, love or hockey. They are meant to milk the tear glands and bring out the saint in the average upwardly mobile Indian, who in actual life, in all probability, does not care a hoot about such emotions, so long as he finishes first.Khan is smart outside the studio floor as well. He is by far the most savvy media strategist in Bollywood. For the kind of omnipotent success Khan aims at, he knows that it's not enough that he sell his products. He needs to dominate the mindspace of the audience. It's a bit like wanting to be, well, God. Khan's efforts have paid off. As he observed last week, "I am a national obsession."Bollywood is a fantasy factory. Its products do not seek to explain the world around you. Even in this age of high jinks and disintegrating distractions, art is still generally associated the world over with the need for the human being to have his life explained to him. Bollywood has gaily abdicated that function. The result is a freedom of sorts. Khan is aware of it: "Intellect and logic," he says in an interview, "should be left at the doorstep of filmmaking". And no movie in recent times has done it with more chutzpah than Om Shanti Om, which is a catch bag of all formulaic Bollywood themes, romance, revenge, jaw-dropping item numbers, dowry death, rebirth and happy ending.Much of the movie's magic flies out like butterflies from the great floral eyes of the debutant heroine Deepika Padukone, whose incandescent retro-looks are a challenge to the forced, sexed-up mask that, say, a Sushmita Sen wears to pitch herself into the audience's libidinous affections.Yet in scale and conception, the film is all Khan. His overreaching ambition, though, is disproportionate to his severe limitations as an actor. In a rare moment of humility, he once said he had only "three to five emotions" in his repertoire—and these rely entirely on the muscles around his mouth. The eyes express nearly nothing. This is a man who loves to talk, talk, talk. And he is ready to back it with his abs. The incredible thing is that whether curling his lips or crunching his abs, Khan has pulled it off.And so we keep talking about him. And so does he.
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