FRIENDLY: Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan seem to have buried the hatchet.
Salman Khan has been hosting the very popular reality show Bigg Boss for a number of years now. One of the things that the show does is on its weekend episodes it brings in stars of movies that are slated for release. Practically all of the heroes and heroines of Bollywood have shared the stage with Salman over there because of this.
The man who has not ever turned up is Shah Rukh Khan. This has always been a bit of a surprise because Shah Rukh is no holds barred when it comes to promoting his movies. The reason for his absence was due to his cold war with Salman following a drunken brawl during a party that the latter was hosting for his then girlfriend Katrina Kaif.
A couple of years ago the two made peace at an Iftar event organised by a common friend. But Shah Rukh still didn’t come to Bigg Boss in subsequent shows. This year that has changed.
With Dilwale releasing, Shah Rukh finally made it to Bigg Boss and promos for it ran much ahead so that the show could milk this ‘reunion’ for whatever it was worth. The teasers for Shah Rukh’s arrival actually alluded to the cooling off period that the two Khans had had.
Such publicity helps considering that Dilwale has gone against Bajirao Mastani that released on the same date and is expected to eat into some of the ticketing revenues.
Both the movies, despite being big budget fares, insisted on a December 18 release. They chose the date because Aamir Khan traditionally reserves this period but had no release this year. The other reason for neither postponing their release by a week was so that they would get the revenues from the first weekend that usually makes or breaks a movie and then the next weekend would see the Christmas-New Year holidays starting which would be another shot of adrenaline to the box office collections.
There is of course one more spanner in the works because Star Wars releases in India on December 25 and even if it is an English movie it will also compete for the audience.
If both Dilwale and Bajirao Mastani are big hits then Bollywood will be ecstatic. The year had begun with a long string of movies that didn’t do very well, but at least it would be a happy ending.
Sleaze sells
There is a new winning formula in town and it is to movies that revolve on slick sleaze. Sex has always sold but the success of Hate Story 3 has caught everyone by surprise.
Its cast had nobodies like Zarine Khan and Sharman Joshi but it has managed to make over Rs50 crore. Contrast that with Tamasha, starring Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone, which made about 15 crores more. The difference is that Hate Story 3 was made at a fraction of Tamasha’s budget.
And the profit it made is more double of the investment that was put in while Tamasha barely managed to recover its capital.
And now there will soon be another such movie releasing, the third edition of Kya Kool Hain Hum. It is a sex comedy whose trailer has just been launched and it promises to be a little bit of cheap comedy, lots of double meanings and skin show.
It is made by Ekta Kapoor’s Balaji Films and the original Kya Kool Hain Hum was among the few hits of her brother Tushar Kapoor.
Parting whispers
It was always something in the back of people’s minds that Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone seemed extraordinarily comfortable in each other’s presence. It was chemistry that shouted loud and while the parties themselves might have evolved their relationship from lovers to friendship, it would have been somewhat disconcerting to Katrina Kaif, Ranbir’s present girlfriend.
And apparently it seems to have taken its toll if some rumours are to go by. Sometime back, Katrina had been asked what she thought of Ranbir acting with Deepika and her reply had been cryptic. She had said that it was for Ranbir to decide no matter what she felt and that she could only hope that sense would prevail in future.
Now comes a snippet from an entertainment website that there might even be a break up on the cards, the trigger for it being the publicity drive for Tamasha when Ranbir and Deepika spent a large amount of time together. If a break up does happen then there will be the problem of them having to shoot together for Jagga Jasoos that goes on the floors next year.
It took some time for Deepika and Ranbir to come back together on screen after their break up but Ranbir won’t have so much leeway with Katrina.
Ancient copy?
Plagiarism has once again raised its ugly head in Bollywood but this time it comes attached to an unexpected name.
Ashutosh Gowariker, who has a reputation for making meaningful movies from his Lagaan days onwards, in now in the midst of Mohenjo Daro, a period drama which has Hrithik Roshan starring in it.
A filmmaker called Akashaditya Lama, who has made one anonymous movie besides writing for some television serials, has gone to court saying that the movie’s script was stolen from him. A news report quoted Lama saying that he had actually got the idea for the story some 20 years back and in 2003 he had given it to a friend, a film technician, who had then passed it on to Gowariker.
It was returned in a few days with Gowariker conveying that he wouldn’t be interested in making it. Lama says that he had then managed to make a successful theatre play out of the story and later had got the script registered in several places.
When he got to know that Gowariker’s story was similar to his, he had tried to get in touch with him without any success. The matter is in court now with Gowariker’s lawyers arguing that there is no connection between the two stories.
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