On Wednesday, the internet was blown away when Excel Entertainment announced that the next actor to play the iconic villain ‘Don’ jis ko 11 mulkoon ki police dhoond rahi hai will be Ranveer Singh.
The thriller icon was previously played by Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan- leading to incredibly high expectations about who would be the next person to fill in such big shoes.
Taking to his Instagram account, Ranveer celebrated the announcement by sharing some throwback pictures of his childhood when he used to pretend to play the villain, calling this something he had been dreaming about for a long time:
“As a child I fell in love with the movies, and like the rest of us,” gushed the ‘Rocky and Rani ki prem kahani actor. “Watching and worshipping Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan – the two G.O.A.Ts of Hindi Cinema . I dreamed of growing up to be like them. They are the very reason I wanted to become an actor and a ‘hindi film hero’. Their impact and influence on my life cannot be overstated. They’ve shaped the person and actor that I am. Taking their legacy forward is a manifestation of my childhood dream “
Addressing some of the critics who were aghast by the announcement, Singh went on to say:
“I understand what a great responsibility it is to be a part of the ‘Don’ dynasty. I hope the audience gives me a chance and showers me with love, the way they have for numerous characters over the past so many years. “
Don ka intezar sirf gyaaran mulkon ki police nahi, balkay poori dunya kar rahi thi.
There was a lot of anticipation in the air when it was announced that the iconic thriller film ‘Don’ is going to be revamped for a third film. While rumors suggested that Bollywood Badshah Shah Rukh Khan will reprise his iconic performance in Don and Don 2, many were heart broken when SRK reportedly walked away from the project. At the time, sources revealed to media outlets that the superstar was not sure that this was the kind of cinema he wanted to support.
There was all kinds of suggestion about who would embrace the staple black jacket and say ‘Don ko pakarna mushkil nahi, namomkin hai” which had begun with the veteran actor Amitabh Bachchan.
But now, it has been revealed that the next Don is…Ranveer Singh.
A teaser released by Excel Movies yesterday has confirmed the casting.
Lollywood superstar Meera was recently a guest on the celebrity talk show ‘Hasna Mana Hai’. While speaking about her career and the challenges she faced, the ‘Baji’ actress revealed that not one, but two A-list actors had wanted to star her in their movies! It was Shah Rukh Khan, the actress claimed, who wanted to cast her in the film ‘Jab tak Hai Jaan’ before he eventually went with Katrina Kaif. However, the offer couldn’t work out because Meera wasn’t able to secure a visa to London.
Then the other A-lister was the ‘365 days’ Italian actor Michele Morrone, who had reached out to Meera to do a film together.She confirmed on the show that the two are planning to do a film together once his current projects finish:
“Yes, for work…He said, ‘Let’s work together.’ Once his current projects finish, we will work together professionally, God willing.”
Meera has been the butt of misogynist and elitist jokes in the past because of her limited English speaking skills, among other absurd reasons, but the actress revealed she doesn’t let this backlash shatter her self-confidence or her resilience:
“If you wish to be successful or live a peaceful life, you must forget about what people will say…If you love me, what does my age, personal life, or past have to do with it?” she declared.
However, the actress said after living a public life, she now prefers to remain out of the news, humorously answering a question from an audience member:
“When I was in the news, people had objections that I’m constantly in the news, always on television. Now that I’m not in the news, how do you feel now?” She continued, “Those in print media would write, ‘Learn the talent of staying in the news from Meera Jee.’”
Forget about Avengers Endgame or Barbie, the biggest movie ever….never got made. Two of the greatest actors this generation has seen, Shah Rukh Khan and Leonardo DiCaprio, were once about to come together to give us the most incredible thriller film of our lives.
Back in 2011, the Bollywood Badshah had signed on the film ‘Xtreme City’. A picture, purportedly a fan-made poster, broke the internet. Featuring Khan, DiCaprio, Karan Johar, the film was supposed to be produced by the legendary Martin Scorsese with Paul Schrader directing, and Mushtaq Sheikh writing. The film was suppose to pit Khan and DiCaprio against each other.
Sheikh gushed about the once-in-a-lifetime powerful collaboration with NDTV, calling it “the best news I’ve heard in a long time”.
“We are all elated. This is the best news I have heard in a long time. Martin loved the script and it meant the world to me as the writer of the film along with Paul Schrader. But when he comes in as the producer of the project, then I am thrilled as it takes the film to another level completely. Inshaallah, all goes well from here onwards. Fingers and all parts of the body crossed.”
In a 2011 interview with Press Trust of India, Sheikh described the plot of the film as one where “both Indian and American protagonists are balanced human beings”:
“It’s a different kind of film, one where both Indian and American protagonists are balanced human beings and the story treats them in their full complexity without either culture being diminished or taken for granted. It’s a cross-cultural thriller designed for both Bollywood and Hollywood. And if we get it right, this will be an attempt at true global entertainment.”
However the project couldnt take off because both actors weren’t as committed to the project to continue it, and in an interview with Open Magazine, Schrader revealed that Shah Rukh wasn’t comfortable with doing a film he couldn’t control:
“Well, in the end, I don’t think Shah Rukh wanted to make it. It was really up to him, and I just got the feeling that he was never going to be comfortable doing an international film that he didn’t control. You know that everything SRK does, he has total control over? So if he did something like this at an international level, he wouldn’t have that control.”
“I think in the end he wasn’t that comfortable not being a hundred per cent in control. We did have a script, which was a hundred per cent paid for. We also had a meeting with SRK and Leo in Berlin, but neither of them actually ever committed. There was a lot of waiting—maybe they were waiting for each other to commit, but it never quite happened.”
Shah Rukh Khan has also candidly discussed why he chose not to follow the path of other actors like Irrfan Khan, Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone, to star in a Hollywood movie, while speaking in 2008 at the Berlin Film Festival.
“My English is not good, if they give me a role of a dumb person who doesn’t speak, maybe then there’s a possibility. I am not trying to be modest, I am 42 years old. I am a little brown. I don’t have any USP as an actor, I don’t have any specialty. I don’t know Kung Fu, I don’t dance salsa, and I am not tall enough…I have seen the recent European films, there is no place for me there, no space for me. I don’t think am talented enough. Instead, I would like to continue working in India and take Indian cinema to the world.”
To masterfully execute romantic lip-syncing song for the first time in her career, actress Alia Bhatt sought tuitions from the King of Romance himself, Shah Rukh Khan.
At a special event held for the release of ‘Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani’, the actress said director Karan Johar encouraged her to reach out to Shah Rukh Khan, because she was nervous about shooting the song ‘Tum Kya Millay’.
When she called up the Bollywood Badshah, the actor decided to give her and his daughter, Suhana, tuitions on the complicated art of lip-syncing.
“I was going back to shoot after a couple of months. First time I was doing a full lip-sync song after Ishq Wala Love. There was nervousness in me. I was discussing with Karan and he said, ‘Why don’t you call Shah Rukh up, maybe he will give you some tips.’ So I called him up to talk on the phone. I just wanted to understand because nobody lip-syncs like him.
“He said, ‘Tu ghar aaja.’ Suhana also was wanting to learn this toh dono saath mein tution kareinge. I went and I was there for 2-3 hours,” the actor said.
The ‘Gangubai’ actress hilariously recalled how at the actor’s Mannat house, the trio kept going over the song over and over again to get the lip-sync right. By the end, even Shah Rukh himself knew the lyrics to ‘Tum Kya Millay’.
“There’s this whole lip sync portion which Shreya Ghoshal has sung beautifully. The video of that extended version we will release shortly. It was quite fast and I was getting quite hyper. But the way he (Shah Rukh Khan) broke it down. He made me download some app. He said, ‘Baar baar karo.’ He had also learnt the song by the end of it. It just shows how generous and large-hearted a man he is. He is so wonderful, always willing to help.”
Humayun Saeed spoke with Indian publication Bollywood Hungama where he talked about his hit drama ‘Mere Pass Tum Ho’ which is set to release on Zindagi across India. The actor also opened up about his memory of working next to Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan back in 2005, when the two performed together for the Zee Cine Awards.
Saeed revealed that the Bollywood Badshah was incredibly sweet, treating the actor with a lot of respect because Humayun was not sure about how the performance should take place. Khan also told Humayun that he felt Pakistani dramas should be released in India:
“There was a lot of excitement when I met Shah Rukh. He was very sweet to me. We were in his room and he made me sit with him and discussed Indian and Pakistan films with me. That time there was a Mehreen Jabbar and a Shaan film in the theatres and SRK was talking about them. He said that Pakistani films should be released in India and vice versa. He made me comfortable. Since I had just come the previous day to the sets, I did not know exactly what to do. Shah Rukh said ‘main sambhal lunga.’ The overall moment was very special.”
Actor Adnan Siddiqui also gave an interview to Indian Express where he said that there should be no boundaries when it comes to art, and also felt that Pakistani audiences were much more tolerant compared to Indian ones.
“Art has no boundaries, but artistes have a certain boundary, which shouldn’t be there. There should be healthy cultural exchange. I believe that the kind of tolerance–pardon me for being so blunt–but our tolerance, in comparison to Indian audience is much higher. We accept Indian artistes, Indian cricketers, we accept everything good about India. But when this thing goes across the border, it becomes very political. I don’t know why.”
Bollywood actors Kajol and Shah Rukh Khan are the filmi duo that keep entertaining our millenial hearts, whether on film or as hilarious buddies. Now speaking to Mashable India, Kajol reflected on her long friendship with the Bollywood actor, revealing that there is after all one thing she doesn’t like about the actor: his ability to memorise the entire script, even everyone else’s lines on set!
“What I don’t like and I also find is most endearing about him, is the fact that when he comes on the set, he knows all the dialogues of everybody on the set,” said the ‘Baazigar’ actress.
“It doesn’t matter if we are doing a three-page scene, he would have memorized all the three pages. He knows my dialogues, his dialogues, and third person’s dialogues as well.
Kajol went on to gush about her bond with the ‘Pathaan’ superstar whom she can call any time of the day, stating that she doesn’t text him everyday or Khan would have stabbed her.
“I know for a fact that if I ever had to call him up at 3 o’clock in the morning, he would pick up my phone and he knows vice versa..(but) No, I do not message him every day ‘Good morning there’ and send him a flower photograph. I think he’d stab me with a nice fork if I ever tried it.” the ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Ghum’ actress joked.
Among many of Shah Rukh Khan’s most memorable films, ‘Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa’ is the one that is a firm fan favourite.
Suchitra Krishnamoorthi, who played Anna in the film, recently opened up about her experience in working with the actor, revealing that there was a scene where she had to slap him multiple times because they couldn’t get the shot right. Things reached the point that she burst into tears but Khan stood there without saying a word, as reported by Bollywood Hungama.
The scene takes place after the song ‘Ae Kaash Ke Hum’ when Anna slaps Sunil.
The actress said that she didn’t get the slap right the first time, and had to slap Khan multiple times to get the right shot. Krishnamoorthi confessed that she began crying because she didn’t want to do it anymore, but Shah Rukh remained professional and kept standing there until the shot was perfected.
“It took a lot of takes and I started crying because I had to slap Shah Rukh and it was going take after take and finally I started crying because I couldn’t do it any more. Kundan was particular that it should be real, we didn’t use to do play-acting. And Shah Rukh, being the gentleman that he is, didn’t say anything. But I could see he was going backwards,” Krishnamoorthi told Bollywood Hungama.
Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan has reportedly suffered an injury that left his nose bleeding, according to E Times.
Sources revealed to the news outlet that the Badshah of Bollywood was in Los Angeles in the US shooting a scene for a film when he suffered an injury and was immediately taken to a hospital.
Reports have revealed that the injury was minor, requiring Khan to undergo a small surgery after which he was back at his home resting:
“Post the operation, SRK was spotted with a bandage on his nose and is now back in the country, recuperating at home,” the source revealed to E Times.
The Bollywood Badshah is set to make share space on the big screen with his daughter Suhana next year in a film that he is also co-producing.
Every 90s kid went through a phase in their lives when they thought that Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol were married. Though they are not, the perception is on point. After all, their chemistry is still undefeatable, even if you are Ranveer Singh and Alia.
Speaking about her upcoming show ‘The Trial-Pyaar, Kanoon, Dhoka’ on Netflix, actress Kajol gave an interview to Bollywood Bubble where she was asked which actor could play her lawyer in a film. She immediately replied that no one but Shah Rukh would succeed at the job:
“Shah Rukh. Hands down I will choose Shah Rukh. He is the smoothest talker ever.”
“And he will be standing over there and be like ‘lines ki jaroorat nahi hai, mein bol sakta hu’ (laughs). He will stand there and he will talk me out of anything that I’ve gotten myself into. So, definitely hands-down Shah Rukh.”
Someone convince Karan Johar to get these two back in a film again, we’re still not over DDLJ.
