Sometime back, following terrorist attacks on an Indian army camp at the border, when relationship between India and Pakistan were at boiling point, a regional party, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), known for its violent antics, had threatened to disrupt screenings of Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, because it starred the Pakistani actor Fawad Khan. 
They also said that Shah Rukh Khan’s movie Raees would also be targeted when it released because it starred a Pakistani actress, Mahira. Things had been sorted out for Ae Dil Hai Mushkil with the intervention of the chief minister and Karan Johar, its producer and director, had in return promised to donate a certain amount a fund for soldiers. Even then there had been huge criticism at what many saw as a form of extortion with tacit government support. 
With preparations on for the imminent release of Raees, Shah Rukh has decided to pre-empt any such issues from cropping up. He was spotted going to meet the leader of the MNS, Raj Thackeray, to ensure that he didn’t create any problems at release time. Reportedly, Shah Rukh gave an assurance that Mahira would not be part of the promotion of the movie and in return Thackeray gave an assurance that there would be no disruptions from his side. 
While this might have pleased Shah Rukh, he has come in for flak at this abject submission to goondaism. Commentators in social and mainstream media said that this would in fact encourage such extra-legal diktats by self-certified protectors of culture.  On the other hand, when there is so much money on the line and no faith in the government to protect the movie, it is wise to do what Shah Rukh did. 
He also found himself in the midst of another controversy when the date of Raees’s release was a preponed by a day. This was obviously to beat the competition from the Hrithik Roshan movie Kaabil which is also releasing on that date. His father, Rakesh Roshan, who is also the producer of Kaabil, has come out openly saying that it was wrong of the Raees team to do something like this because both their movies would suffer. 
He said he had met Shah Rukh twice to request him to change the dates but with no luck. Interestingly, Roshan said that the overall revenues of both movies together will be Rs300 crore and if they clashed then this number would have to be split.  But, apparently, the logic didn’t hit home.

51 and counting

On December 27, Salman Khan will become 51 years old. One wouldn’t think it looking at him or the roles he assays but there is no turning back time and he is on the wrong side of middle age now. 
But life has never been better for him. His career is at a stratospheric high and no new legal demons chase him and the old ones are being managed with subtlety. He has considerably mellowed down and even, with great effort, measures his words before speaking in order to not land into fresh soups. 
So it is going to be a happy day and he is bringing the date in with a grand birthday party where all the bigwigs of the industry will no doubt be present. The only man who will be missing is said to be Aamir Khan. 
Two reasons are speculated for this. One is that there is bad blood between them ever since Salman played a wrestler in Sultan, even though Aamir had announced his movie, Dangal, much earlier. While he has only good things to say about Salman in public, both have really not been as close as they once used to be. 
The other reason is more pleasant, and it is said that Aamir is going to genuinely unavailable on the day because he will be out of town privately celebrating his marriage anniversary with his wife. 


No excuse


Filmmaker Anurag Basu found himself in something of an embarrassing situation recently. About a decade back he had been diagnosed with a form of blood cancer. Though his chances to beat the disease had not been very good, he had managed to do so and in the process become a poster person for cancer survivors. 
His story is often quoted when articles on cancer and celebrities appear in the media. Recently he had been invited for an event to create awareness about cancer. Basu however did not make it there and later said that he had been tied down in a meeting with the Censor Board. 
There the matter should have ended except the Censor Board chairman later, when asked by a reporter, said that Basu had not been in any meeting with them. He was angry that the Board was being blamed for everything including something like this. It is of course Basu’s prerogative to choose which event he should attend but to use a false excuse over something as sensitive as a disease that he himself had suffered must not go down too well with people. 


Medium fare


Befikre released to much anticipation, given that Ranveer Singh has been on a roll for a long time with back to back superhits. And also the movie was being directed by Aditya Chopra, which meant that the entire might of Yash Raj Films would be behind to ensure that it does well. 
But alas there is many a slip between the cup and the lip. For starters it got panned by the critics, who said that this was just old wine in a new bottle, the same hackneyed formula of a young couple in a modern relationship amidst foreign locales. 
Even so, the movie had a decent opening at the box office but then soon plateaued off and it is a toss-up whether it will touch 100 crores, which is the minimum benchmark for a movie with Ranveer and directed by Aditya. Anything below, even if it recovers the cost of the movie, will still be counted in the fail zone. It will be the first in Aditya Chopra’s career and he will probably scamper back to casting Shah Rukh in his next venture, since their combination has always delivered big hits. 


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