Salman Khan: SRK was like my brother

Salman Khan has opened his heart in an interview with NDTV news channel over his recent publicized spat with SRK.

Here are some excerpts from the interview:

NDTV: I know that you have spoken about this whole Shah Rukh Khan episode I tell what happens it’s one of those thinks that you dismissed as media gossip and it started going public that kind of made it snow ball.

Salman Khan: You know what happens usually people ask this question usually the fear is this he shouldn’t stop the interview here itself. I like this. I have spoken about this we are grown up people we are not warriors we come here to work but you grow up you are thinking he is good with his friends and family I am good with my friends and family there nothing more to it just there was a fight personal khatm ho gayi baat.

NDTV: What upset you so much that you want to talk about it?

Salman Khan: Because itna sources se aa raha tha ke iss source se ye aa raha hai uss source se wo aa raha hai (there was lot coming from some unconfirmed sources) the whole thing was coming on to me that he’s done it again. Suddenly I was looking like I was misfit in society as it is I don’t have like the most amazing reputation it varies from anger to bad boy to good hearted so it’s a huge confusion. So this is something I wanted to clear and there is no point in pretending I don’t feel the need to pretend his got his point of view he is right and whatever he feels so and I am right in my own way.

NDTV: The reports were coming that you started it.

Salman: Why would I start there was no reason for me to start.

NDTV: Were you ever friends?

Salman: Yeah yeah I took him as a brother. For me he was like Sohail and Arbaaz. That’s what hurt me.

NDTV: You used to stay together I’ve heard, in days of his struggle.

Salman: Yeah he used to hang out in the house all the time. That’s why.

Well what are your verdict guys after Salman’s tell-all interview?

Aamir Khan transforms into a Punjabi Girl

Aamir Khan is known to slip into various avatars with utmost ease and now he will be transforming into Punjabi Girl for Tata Sky advertisement.

First half of the 70 seconds commercial Aamir will be seen as a Punjabi girl and the second half as a man.

Sekhar Kammula’s next is in Hindi

Sekhar Kammula who had a hat-trick run at Telugu film box office with Anand, Godavari and Happy Days is currently producing Avakai Biryani in the direction of his associate Anish Kuruvilla. This film is slated for the release in the month of October. Sekhar Kammula is going to test the waters of Hindi film industry with his next directorial venture. This film will go to floors after the release of Avakai Biryani. Let’s hope that Sekhar Kammula would be successful in Hindi like our own Ram Gopal Varma.
courtesy:idlebrain.com

Abhinav Bindra: India's Goldfinger

BEIJING: The final shot from Abhinav Bindra's rifle may not have been heard outside the packed hall in the Beijing Shooting Range Complex on Monday morning. But its bang was loud enough to lift the spirit of a billion-plus Indians back home. No individual gold has mattered so much to so many people in the history of Olympics. It was a medal for Abhinav; it was redemption for India. Never again will anyone be able to point a smug, sardonic finger and say: "No Indian is good enough to win an individual Olympic gold."

Hockey's eight gold medals notwithstanding, the last coming 28 years ago, this is the first time that an Indian has won an individual gold since modern Olympics started in 1896. There is no greater joy than listening to the sound of the national anthem on the world's biggest stage.

The global media looked bemused as grown-up Indians danced like little children, shedding tears of joy. How can they understand?

The joy was also spurred by the improbable nature of the triumph. The script of the men's 10m air rifle final might have been penned by Alfred Hitchcock himself. Bindra, who qualified for the final in the morning with the fourth-best score of 596, looked calm and assured when the call for the first shot came.

The first shot - 10.7. He started with a bang and that set the tone for the 10-shot final. He followed it up with a 10.3. After the third shot, a 10.4, he had moved from No. 3 to No. 2. Then, Bindra slowly ate into the lead of Finland's Henri Hakkinen and went ahead after the seventh shot with 10.6.

Hakkinen caught up with him after the ninth shot, and with one shot to go, the Indian and the Finn were tied at 689.7 points.

There was a hushed silence inside the hall. The suspense was unbearable. It's in such situations that champions show their mettle. And Bindra showed nerves of steel. He fired first, an amazing 10.8 for a total of 700.5. Home favourite and defending champion Zhu Qinan shot a 10.5 and Hakkinen simply withered under pressure, managing only 9.7. Bindra finally smiled, but barely.

He turned back and went up to hug his Swiss coach Gaby Buehlmann, with whom he trained for months in Germany, away from the intrusive home media. After the medals' ceremony, Bindra was mobbed by journalists, several of them from Finland and China.

"How does it feel Mr Bindra?" "Hard to describe it... it's the thrill of my life," he said, still looking calm as a monk. "The final shot was perfect. I just went for it. I was aggressive. It went my way. I'm lucky," he added in a matter-of-fact tone.

Will this not change his life? "My life will go on. I hope it changes the face of Olympic sports in the country," he said.

This is the fifth individual Olympic medal for India. Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav won the first, a bronze in wrestling at the Helsinki Games in 1952. After a long gap, Leander Paes won the tennis bronze in Atlanta Games in 1996. Then, Karnam Malleswari won a weightlifting bronze in 2000 in Sydney and Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore raised the bar, winning a silver in Athens in 2004.

Rathore, who was practising for his event that is scheduled for Tuesday, watched it on TV in the players' lounge in the trap section. "My congratulations to Abhinav. He has raised the bar further. I always maintained that this is a world-class shooting team. There will be some hits and some misses."

jannat review

Jannat is the story of a man caught in a quagmire of crime and consumerism as he struggles to find heaven on earth. Arjun is a reckless young man with an obsession for making money at card games. A chance meeting with a girl in a mall, Zoya gives him the reasons he was looking for to move out of his ordinary life. He steps up from playing small-time card games to becoming a bookie. Stuck in a triangle of sorts between the woman he loves and his addiction to make a quick buck, Arjun moves on from being a bookie to a runner for the mafia. He steps into the world of match fixing. Arjun switches on the limelight to bigger, better, faster, more, until his dizzying rise attracts the attention of the police. Arjun has to now choose between the love of his life, Zoya, and this new found success and power. As Arjun struggles to choose between the two, the Don offers the forbidden apple of limitless wealth in exchange of his soul and draws him into his core entourage of money spinners. How far will the horizon of reality stretch as Arjun and Zoya tread a fine, fast-blurring line between right and wrong to find the heaven they have been looking for?

I don't want to be No.1 or No.2: Akshay Kumar (Interview)

Mumbai, Aug 23 (IANS) Akshay Kumar has given the maximum number of hits in the last one year and now the box office collections of his new release "Singh Is Kinng" has cemented his position as the number one star.

"But I don't want that. I'm not a superstar. I'm not saying this for effect. I'm only here to entertain people. I keep telling my wife I don't want to be either No.1 or No.2. I just want to be alive and kicking in the film industry," Akshay told IANS.

Akshay describes "Singh Is Kinng" as an entertainer.

"It is not a great film. It's an entertaining film. That's the kind of cinema I believe in," said Akshay who has dedicated the film to his father and secretary, both whom have died.

"It's my first home production and I've dedicated the film to my late secretary, Mr. Vikas Bali, and to my father. They'd be so proud of 'Singh Is Kinng'."

Do you think "Chandni Chowk To China" will be as big a hit as "Singh Is Kinng"?

"That's a scary thought. And I don't want to think about it."

Excerpts:

Q: Another hit, I guess. Katrina Kaif tells me she just follows you into projects?

A: Thank you very much, Katrina. But please don't trust me blindly. I still have a lot to learn about scripts and cinema. I make a lot of mistakes. I hope when I make a mistake in selecting a script, you (Katrina) are not in that film.

Q: Why a film on Sardarji?

A: When I was younger my dad and I would have endless discussions on movies. One of the things that bothered him was why Sardarjis were ridiculed in our films. My father's concern remained somewhere in my subconscious. That's how "Singh Is Kinng" was born. If I produce any more films, it would be about issues that I've grown up with and believe in. "Singh Is Kinng" is a tribute to my Punjabi community.

Q: Akshay, you're living life king size.

A: Ha ha, you can say that again. But like I keep saying these days the real king is Mr. (Amitabh) Bachchan, and no one else. Some people don't like my saying this. But it's the truth. Whatever I'm today is because of the love and support of my fans. Beyond that I don't want to be the king.

Q: Superstardom is a slippery status.

A: And I don't want it. I'm not a superstar. I'm not saying this for effect. I'm only here to entertain people. I keep telling my wife I don't want to be either No.1 or No.2. I just want to be alive and kicking in the film industry. By the grace of god, this industry has given me immense love and affection. I've got much more than I deserve.

Q: But you've worked hard for it.

A: Yes, it's not easy. When you reach a certain position, it isn't easy to hold on to that position. It's the crab mentality at work. When I'm told "Singh Is Kinng" has got the biggest opening ever, I can only thank my audience, my fans and my community. Also, the media has been very kind to my film and me.

"Singh Is Kinng" is not a great film. It's an entertaining film. That's the kind of cinema I believe in. I come from the grassroots and that's the majority section I want to pay off my debts to. I don't think ordinary people want to pay Rs.150 to watch a film that preaches and sermonises. There's so much stress in real life. I want my films to be stress-busters. "Singh Is Kinng" has a message, but not done in any loud way.

Q: All your recent films have been hits, except "Tashan", which we won't mention.

A: Oh you can mention it. I'm not the least ashamed of "Tashan". I loved my role of Bachchan Pandey. I want to thank Aditya Chopra for giving me that film. Why should I disown a film just because it hasn't done well? If I'm getting the credit for "Singh Is Kinng" then I also want to stand by "Tashan", which may not have done that well. But it got me a lot of appreciation.

Q: Do you feel a whole lot of pressure trying to sustain the box office success that has come your way?

Q: It is a large responsibility on my head and shoulders.

A: Until the day before the release of "Singh Is Kinng" I was so tense I had stopped talking to my wife. I become edgy before every release. But this time it was worse. So many factors are linked to "Singh Is Kinng". It's the first controversial film of my career. Most important of all, it's my first home production. I've dedicated the film to my late secretary, Mr. Vikas Bali, and to my father. They'd be so proud of "Singh Is Kinng".

Q: It was very gracious of you to dedicate your film to your secretary.

A: I did what I felt to be instinctively right. Mr. Bali was not just my secretary. He was a father figure after my father. His wife didn't know about the dedication. She called and got very emotional when she saw the film. Today, Mr Bali's brother looks after my work.

Q: You always told me you'd never get into production. What made you change your mind?

A: There's a time and place for everything. I've been in this film industry for 18 years. When I got the title "Singh Is Kinng", I wanted to make the film in partnership with my friend Vipul Shah. I identify very closely with the North-Indian family values.

There was a time when my parents, sister and I wouldn't miss a single Hindi film. That habit continues. I don't miss a single film even today.

Q: How do you find the time now?

A: I don't know how I do it. But I've to find the opportunity to watch every film. If I miss one, I make a note of in my diary and then catch up with the film later. I had missed "Cash" and "Race". I watched them recently.

Q: Will you be producing more films?

A: If I like a script as much as "Singh Is Kinng" why not? If I don't I won't. It's not as if I've tasted blood and want more.

Q: Now do you think "Chandni Chowk To China" will be as big a hit as "Singh Is Kinng"?

A: That's a scary thought. And I don't want to think about it. That's my autobiographical film. It's the story of my life. I always wanted to put my own journey from Delhi to Bangkok into a film.

Q: Are you taking credit for the story?

A: Not at all! I've no fascination for taking credit for anything apart from acting. Full credit for the story of "Chandni Chowk To China" goes to Sridhar Raghavan. I told him my own story of a waiter from Chandni Chowk, who goes abroad and learns martial arts. Sridhar added about 80 percent of his own ideas to my story.

SRK refuses to shoot for Farah, if BIG B is onboard

Farah Khan owes her success to superstar Shahrukh Khan and will cater to his demands and liking even if he demands a change in script or throwing out another actor.

Farah Khan recently faced some problems for his next flick, Happy New Year, as her main hero SRK refused to shoot the film with Amitabh Bachchan - the other hero of the film. The cold war between AB and SRK has been going on for quite awhile now. So Farah Khan who considers SRK as her best buddy rescripted Amitabh Bachchan’s character finally removing him from the movie