Pakistan Information & News

It’s slowly being realized that the strong roots of the reality shows that went deeper and deeper invading the minds of the Indian television viewers till some months back have started to decay.The success rate of the different reality shows was enormously depended on the Bollywood star power to add glamour and attract viewers and is still the same and true emotional attachments to television programes is a thing of past when television was just meant for watching Doordarshan. With a wide menu of programes to choose, the impact of a single episode of a game show or quiz show is enough to divert a viewer’s allegiance to a new show. The culprit in the present situation is not any other reality show or quiz show but is the regaining king of sports in India, Cricket which has now become more than just the gentleman’s game and the coming of the Indian Premier League, the reinvented cricket in a capsule is playing havoc in the minds of the channel heads. Badshah of Bollywood Shah Rukh Khan was there cheering his team for almost all the matches of his team Kolkata Knight Riders, so were the other stars for some of the other teams. His presence not only encouraged his team, but in a way turned out to be a reason for a large number of people turning up to the venue and but the King Khan magic is not working in helping the much hyped show on Starplus to gain foothold. The old saying of ‘when you gain something, you loose something else’ can best define what is happening to the ‘Kya aap Paanchvi Pas se thez hain’ hosted by the Badshan of Bollywood himself. King Khan gained a new status of a team owner, a new business venture and new share of experiences. Then who is loosing? The new show of Shah Rukh was expected to surpass the triumph of his previous show. But the numbers say a different story. According to the media planners the opening ratings of the show is far less than what was expected and is not moving upwards from 3 and 4 points. The points are flying towards the IPL’s side which got 8 points in the opening match itself.

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With the success of Race, Saif Ali Khan has speedily increased his value. Offers are coming effortlessly his way and he too is freely discarding them. Money becomes first priority for him and beyond it he cannot see anything else. He even did not hesitate to say no to the dream project of director Farhan Akhtar. Farhan and Saif share a good relationship and it is Farhan’s Dil Chahata Hai that changed the Saif’s image and established him as a hit solo actor. Voice From The Sky is Farhan’s dream project and when he approached him to act in it, Saif without a second thought refused Farhan. He demanded a high price and Farhan is not willing to pay him what he is demanding and hence Saif opted out. Voice From The Sky speaks about the means of communication and primarily the story is about a little boy and people coming into his life. It is a bilingual film and devoid of any songs. He has decided to cast Priyanka Chopra and hunt for the little one is still on.

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Imran Khan has been feeling pangs of nervousness before his first promo of Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na, which hits the marquee on this Sunday. He called Aamir Khan to share his nervousness, during the conversation Aamir Khan realized that his nephew was nervous and asked him to take the next flight to Hyderabad on Tuesday. Aamir Khan is going through the most grueling schedule of Ghajini in Hyderabad. Even with a 14-hour day shift, he took time out to spend most of his time with his nephew Imran Khan between the shots. People, who know Aamir, would know how unusual this is, as when he is shooting he likes to be completely involved in his shooting and not meet lot of people. In fact, director AR Murgadoss was also seen talking and chatting with Imran Khan. During the conversation, Imran admitted to Aamir that he was worried and a bit nervous about his first photo shoot. So promptly, he called Avi (Avinash Gowarikar) to Hyderabad to have the photo shoot done in Hyderabad next day, where he could be around to give moral support. Source close to Aamir Khan says, “It was reminiscent of Aamir Khan’s launch himself, during the days of QSQT…he would be going through nervous phases and both Naseer Sahib and Mansoor Khan would sit with him and talk to him. Aamir has been through the earlier days of first promo going on air and knows how it feels.

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All through the year Shah Rukh Khan has one or the other reason to enjoy. This has been happening regularly for some time now. One after the other the reasons come and go giving the proclamation that Shah Rukh is here to stay in the top most  pedestal with the title –”King of Bollywood” for a long time to come. In quick succession Shah Rukh bagged the Filmfare Award for the best actor for the bold role of the hockey coach in ‘Chak De India’.  He also attracted the Zee Cine Awards 2008 best actor award for the same movie. The Badshah of Bollywood unveiled his own wax statue at the Grevin Wax Museum in Paris. Now wonder why he is called the global superstar of Bollywood. The admission for the ceremony inside the museum was strictly for the invitees. King Khan’s close friend Director Karan Johar and wife Gauri accompanied him. It is a certain exclusiveness and difference that always helps in keeping the title of the king intact. Madame Tussauds museum has Megastar Amitabh Bachchan and Salman Khan in its ranks as the faces of global Bollywood other than King Khan himself but The Grevin Wax Museum is adding to its exhibits a statue of a Bollywood star for the first time. Shah Rukh Khan is the second Indian after Mahtma Gandhi to have the honour to be one of the exhibits in the famous museum in Paris established in 1922. No wonder as events like these keeps on coming to the man giving him an edge proving again that this person was destined to be the king.

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Shah Rukh admits, “Billoo Barber was offered to Akshay Kumar but he turned it down. Priyan was doing another film with me. Then he spoke to me about Billoo Barber and asked me if I would do the 10-day role in the film. I asked him to narrate the story. I told him that I would not only act in it but even produce it. The actor says he simply loved the script. “It’s a story based on Krishna and his friend Sudama. It’s a very sweet story. The thought is nice. But it’s not fair to call it a Shah Rukh Khan film. It is about Irrfan Khan, his wife and two kids. Billoo Barber is a remake of a Malayalam film (Kadha Parayaumbol) and has been rewritten by the same writer. The Hindi rights are with us while the Tamil rights are with Rajnikanth. In Malayalam it was made with Mammooty. About the film’s cast and credits, SRK says, “The film has Irrfan Khan, Lara Dutta, Om Puri, Rajpal Yadav and Asrani Sir besides myself. Kareena has done a guest appearance. Deepika will also do a guest appearance and there might be another heroine. Music is by Pritam and lyrics by Gulzar. When asked about Ameesha Patel and Tabu turning down the film, Shah Rukh points out, “I have been reading about all the actresses refusing the project but I would never lie to an actor to get them to do the role. I told Priyan Sir to tell them that it is not the greatest role in the world; but it is not a role that will go unnoticed. I told this to Urmila, Manisha, Juhi… Amisha didn’t do the role because we thought she looks too young to play a mother with Irrfan. It wasn’t like she left it or we threw her out. Tabu refused because she didn’t like the role. Vidya (Balan) said no because she did not want to play a mother to two grown-up children. But the kids are 10 and 12 year olds they are not my age. Continues Shah Rukh, “When I sat down with Lara, I told her that you do certain roles because of the film and she agreed. Juhi and Rani have often told me ‘I don’t have a great role in the film, I am just doing the film because it’s a very sweet film.’ I believe in that… if the product is really good, everybody shines. I could be great in a film, but if it is not good, then it doesn’t work. I really wanted to make Billoo Barber and Insha Allah we will release it by September. However a source close to Akshay denies that he was offered Billoo Barber. “Priyan might have thought of approaching Akshay but he definitely did not offer it to him. With his hands already full handling Star’s big show Paanchvi Pass and his IPL team,Shah Rukh Khan has begun filming for his home production Billo Barbar. “I began my schedule for the film on May 9. I have not worked out a look or anything for it as yet but I am doing all at the same time - this film, Paanchvi Paas and IPL. I believe in hard work, I love to work round the clock. I give six hours for the show, four for IPL and rest for the films. I will soon start work for my Yashraj film next month,” reveals the Khan. The storyline of the film is based of the famous epic story of Krishna and Sudama’s freindship. Shah Rukh plays a filmstar and Irrfan Khan the barbar (Billo). They are childhood friends but after growing up one becomes a star living in a city while his barbar friend lives in a small village. His financial condition is very poor so his wife played by Juhi Chawla suggests him to take help his film star friend. But the barber who is prides himself for his self-respect doesn’t do so. Somehow the villagers come to know that he is a friend of film star and they start giving him special treatment. Co-incidentally one day the film star comes to shoot in the village and Billo is in two minds whether must reveal his identity to the film star. What happens next forms the crux of the story. On venturing into diverse areas like hosting game shows on TV and buying cricket teams, SRK said, “I always wanted to be in a position to give back to society, and I will do it through two things only sports and education.” The educational aspect attached to Kya Aap Paanchvi Pass Se Tez Hain? Caught his excitement. “I am sure that after watching the show, children of my son’s age would also want to participate, which in turn will generate in them a curiosity to increase their general awareness,” he said hopefully. Which was the most special year in your life? “ I got my son.. My daughter.. Were those the most special years? The most special year is the next one. When I was young, I remember a saying outside my principal’s office, “Count your time by friends not years, and count your life by smiles. Not tears.” I believe there are many more smiles to go. It’s not just raining Shah Rukh Khan on television, there’s more like a thunderstorm of the Bollywood Badshah in coming months with his films lets hope there is million more similes for King Khan and many more years he continues to entrain us.

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Ever since the release of Heyy Babyy, there have been speculations abound about Sajid Khan’s next film. Some media reports indicated a sequel in the offering while a section announced Sajid to be coming up with an action thriller. Contrary to all the stories making the rounds, reality is something else. The fact is that Sajid has already started working on the script of his next film which is going to be yet another family entertainer with comedy as its base. The film will have Sajid and Milap Zaveri writing the script with Sajid Nadiadwala as the producer. “Deep inside my heart, it was always a thriller that I wanted to make next. But around a week back, Milap came to me with a script idea which I couldn’t resist translating on screen. It has a kind of subject to which you cannot say no. Hence, I have kept my action thriller on the backburner for the moment and rather concentrating on developing this script which is going to be light hearted yet again”, explains Sajid. What makes him rope in another writer for his new film? “I have always believed that writing is a team work. Also, you cannot be a sole writer of a film as well as its director. Collaboration is a key word when it comes to getting the ideas flowing,” elaborates Sajid about his sense of film making. Drawing parallels with Hollywood, he further informs, “I am not comparing myself to these great directors but even Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese or Alfred Hitchcock have directed films on the stories written by a different writer. Directing is a focused activity and I better be very good in that. Also, I have to leave the baggage of being a director who has delivered a superhit with his very first film. Isn’t that difficult? “No point basking in your glory. Also, I shouldn’t be acting smart or believing in myself to be a different person after a success. If that was the case, I wouldn’t have gone back to television and host shows. I am happy to be grounded and be the same old Sajid”, he says modestly. By making yet another family oriented film, isn’t he restricting his genres? “That’s not something which I am thinking of at the moment. People want to watch a good film and this is what I promise to them. I am not even claiming that I am embarking on making a great film.

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After the stupendous success of the MUNNABHAI series, Rajkumar Hirani is now busy with his next. As is by now well known, this time Hirani has opted for Shah Rukh Khan, who was the original choice for MUNNABHAI MBBS, but it did not work out, and in walked Sanjay Dutt. And the rest, as they say, is history! Coming back to the SRK-Hirani project, apparently it is based on Chetan Bhagat’s book on the IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) culture, ‘Five Point Someone’. The paperback is about three friends, who are unable to cope with the pressures of being in the premier institution. As per sources, the script is being reworked, keeping SRK’s age and image into consideration. While on Hirani’s next in the MUNNABHAI series, MUNNABHAI CHALE AMERIKA, he will take it up after completing the Shah Rukh Khan project.

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