The world is well aware of Shah Rukh Khan the superstar, but how is he as a father? A hint of it came this week following an interview of him with a popular women’s magazine in which he spoke of how he related to his kids.
It included a tongue-in-cheek bit on how he would deal with someone who was dating his 16-year-old daughter. He came up with a set of rules which included asking the imaginary dater to get both a job and a lawyer. Plus, how he should not expect to be liked by Shah Rukh who would be everywhere which meant he could not hide. And then there was the ominous part about Shah Rukh not being afraid to go back to jail if it was necessary to protect his daughter.
Some years back one saw Shah Rukh in one of his rare angry avatar when a cricket stadium security guard had prevented his daughter and her friends from coming on the ground after a match went in favour of Shah Rukh’s club cricket team. He might be a very busy man but clearly his children are always at the top of his priorities.
On the work front and the reason why he is giving so many such interviews to disparate publications, Shah Rukh is eagerly anticipating the release of his movie Raees later this month. Hopefully, it will be the one that puts him back in the reckoning at the top after a very tepid last few years.
There was also another interesting rumour that he is going to be part of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s biopic on the poet and lyricist Sahir Ludhianvi. What is however making waves is the fact that the heroine acting opposite him might be Aishwarya Rai.
The two had last come together also for a Bhansali movie, Devdas. And there had been a nasty falling out later when Aishwarya had been dropped from his home production Chalte Chalte. This was after Salman Khan, who was in a relationship with Aishwarya, had come onto the sets and created a ruckus.
Aishwarya had not forgiven Shah Rukh for many years and the two had not been on talking terms. If they are coming back on screen again, then it might mean that the hatchet has now been well and truly buried.

Sultan overtaken
There is little debate about it now – Salman Khan might be getting more blockbusters but Aamir Khan is the bigger draw. And if it doesn’t look like that it is only because Aamir does a movie once in a year or two.
Consider that Dangal, a movie on wrestling, had appeared after Sultan, another super-blockbuster themed around wrestling. One would assume that would lead to audience fatigue. Then there was demonetisation which would ordinarily lead to people not flocking to single screen theatres.
But Dangal has been unaffected by anything and has easily overtaken Sultan’s revenues. It should also beat Bajrangi Bhaijaan’s total collections this week and after that the only movie left to beat is Aamir’s own PK. There is some distance for that but if Dangal does it then it will be the biggest blockbuster of all times in revenue terms. It is extraordinary that most of the movies in modern times that have set new records have been by Aamir.
There is something more at work here than just the selection of good scripts. It is as if Aamir has an uncanny knack of knowing which movie will hit the exact pulse of the audience to make it a record breaker. Dangal has still not lost steam, so there is plenty of more raking in to do.

Sequel timing
One of the last hits of Arshad Warsi was Jolly LLB in 2013. It was a movie that had been made at a very low budget of a little under Rs15 crore but managed to rake in about three times in profits. It was also critically appreciated.
Ironically the popularity of the movie turned out to be a bugbear for Arshad when a sequel was planned. Usually the same actor who had delivered the initial hit would have been cast and that was how its director too wanted it to be. But the studio that was producing the movie decided that they wanted a bigger star and zoomed in on Akshay Kumar.
Probably, poor showing of Arshad’s subsequent movies led them to this decision. Arshad backed out gracefully and also encouraged the director to work with Akshay. Jolly LLB 2 is supposedly slated for release on February 10 but there is an odd happening around it. Apparently an Arshad movie called Irada will also release on the same date. It is being speculated whether this is deliberate move in retaliation for being dropped from the sequel. Though Irada’s producers claim it is only a coincidence.

Bollywood shocked
A horrible incident in Bengaluru where during the New Year revelries a large drunken crowd indulged in mass molestation of women has aroused the social conscience of Bollywood actors.
There was Akshay Kumar who uploaded a video on Twitter in which he spoke of how he had just returned after spending the New Year in Cape Town to hear about the incident. And that any society that allowed such a thing to happen loses its right to call itself human. He also tweeted, ‘The Bangalore incident makes me feel we r evolving backwards, from humans to animals, rather beasts coz even animals are better! Truly shameful’.
John Abraham, who was addressing a press conference about the Mumbai marathon, also used the occasion to speak about how appalled he was and that this was a sign of the moral fabric breaking down. He added that the molesters were vermin who needed to be exterminated.
Hrithik Roshan said that he was deeply affected by what had happened while Aamir Khan said that it was saddening and shameful.
Farhan Akhtar tweeted, ‘Women should not dress like westerners b’coz men dressed like westerners are molesters, says the man in the shirt.#oxy (deprived)morons’.
Varun Dhawan too wrote on Twitter, ‘Argggh how this angers me. Sir punish the criminals not the victims. Women can wear what they want it’s their choice.’

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