If Salman Khan was the sort of a person to worry too much about his career then he should be heaving a sigh of relief. Because Kick, his latest release, has done exactly what everyone thought it would: it has sent the box office ringing and continues to rake in money. Altogether including Kick, seven movies of his have crossed the Rs 100 crore mark (around $16mn). That is a lot more than what Aamir’s or Shah Rukh’s movies have done. It helped that Kick was released around Eid, when Salman has traditionally delivered a huge hit. Last year, his movie Jai Ho couldn’t make it for that slot and when it released was only a tepid success.
But when it comes to critical acclaim, Salman’s movies are still way behind the other Khans and with good reason. While Kick itself got average ratings, some critics said that it was only a better movie as compared to his other movies but not beyond that. To share the success of the movie perhaps, Salman also announced on Twitter on Eid that his charity organisation Being Human would bear the costs of 100 children with heart ailments who can’t afford treatment.
What no one has been able to really figure out is why Salman’s movies started becoming so successful in the last five years or so. Before that he regularly used to have flops. He was asked about this in an interaction with the media and said that there is no guarantee of any movie becoming a hit; good movies often flop and bad movies do well. And that it didn’t make any sense to him too.
The extraordinary non alimony
The break up between Hrithik Roshan and his wife Susanne had been surprisingly cordial. Soon after Susanne decided to split, he had put up a Facebook post about her being the only person in his life. And in the media they had been careful to make no nasty remarks about each other.
It has been speculated in the gossip mill that the reason for why they separated had something to do with Hrithik not being faithful. Earlier too there had been reports of Susanne walking out of home but this time, she had not returned despite the best efforts by both families to keep the relationship going.
But recently an odd rumour about the two found its way into the media. A report said that Susanne had demanded Rs 400 crore or a whopping over $60mn as alimony from Hrithik. Unlike divorce settlements in Western countries, such numbers have never been heard in India. But Hrithik soon got onto twitter to say that the news is false. He tweeted: ‘Fabricated news articles. Demeaning my loved ones. Testing my patience’.
Courting other Khans
It has come to such a pass that Karan Johar has to repeatedly say that there are no issues between him and Shah Rukh Khan. And you have to blame Shah Rukh not coming in his last season of Koffee With Karan for that. Recently, when Karan was celebrating his birthday with a party, the gossip mill went overboard stating that Shah Rukh had missed it.
But it turned out that he had come through a back entrance. In one interview last week Karan was again asked about his relationship with Shah Rukh and said that they were constantly in touch. And whenever he has any crisis it is to Shah Rukh that he turns to for advice. But what cannot be ignored is that it has been a long while since the two have worked together.
There was a time when Shah Rukh was in every Karan movie either as the main hero or in a special appearance or dance number. But now he seems have maintained a distance. There is also the intriguing fact that Karan meanwhile is courting the other Khans. He recently signed on Salman Khan for Shuddhi, the ambitious venture that he is producing. It was a movie that Hrithik Roshan was going to do but then backed out.
Karan had last worked with Salman in his first movie Kuch Kuch Hota Hai where the former had a cameo. And then just as the news of this new partnership was being absorbed, now comes another unconfirmed news that Karan has signed Aamir Khan also for a movie. Both have never worked together and while Karan has often in the past gone to Aamir he had turned the offers down. It was rumoured that he was paying Aamir and Salman Rs 150 crore each, a bizarre almost impossible sum. But Karan made a denial on twitter stating: ‘Apparently I have paid 300 crores to 2 major super stars...yes!! If this is true then I am also looking for a job, a house,and a LIFE!!’
The TV puzzle
Amitabh Bachchan’s television thriller Yudh has turned out to be somewhat of a disappointment for him. It had a good cast, a good producer in Anurag Kashyap, a great superstar in Amitabh, an intelligent plot and all around was a well-crafted product. And yet, despite all that it had going for it, Yudh got really tepid ratings. Incidentally, this replicates the fate of Anil Kapoor’s show 24, which was an adaptation of the superhit US series but its Indian avatar fared miserably. Amitabh was recently asked about Yudh and he said he had no understanding of how television worked.
In movies, the collections start coming in at the ticket counters and it soon becomes clear how they did. But television he said was a puzzle. He then asked the journalists present to let him know when they come know how Yudh has fared. Meanwhile, he is back again on television with another venture. Kaun Banega Crorepati, the quiz show that gave a new lease to his career, is back again in its eighth edition. Now this is something that everyone agrees will not be a let down to Amitabh if you go by past performance.