Dada's my favourite: Shah Rukh Khan

Shah Rukh Khan has been zipping in and out of the city and practically jet setting across the country due to his IPL and Bollywood commitments, but whenever the actor comes to his "mother town", he goes on a "childhood" reminiscing mode.

But then, there were other things we just had to ask him and that is how he got talking about these things...


On Sourav Ganguly going to Pune Warriors
I would've loved Dada to play for us, but in the scheme of things that we wanted... I'd like to say something my father used to tell me – 'Sometimes, failure is just an opportunity to begin all over again with more hardness and more intelligence' - and we didn't have just one reason for failing in the last three years, we had lots of them. And what we decided was to start with a clean slate, give the reins of everything to the coaching side, to the team that's going to handle things. I am a sportsman by nature and very sporty about things. I think the choices that were made were wonderful and the team is playing well. As far as Dada is concerned, he's my favourite player, I wish him all the best wherever he goes. One keeps asking about just a player, when I wonder sometimes that Rahul is playing for Rajasthan, Laxman is playing for Kochi, Dhoni is playing for Chennai and players do get sorted. As a matter of fact, players we left have come back to haunt us, like Chris Gayle ... but it's sports and we just need to move forward. Personally, I'd just wish Dada all the best and hope he really, really does very well with whichever team he plays. Hopefully he doesn't play against us and we'll try and make sure that he doesn't score too many runs against us. But if he does, we'll only be too happy. I was the first one to call Ishant and wish him when he got those five wickets. We have a lot of warmth and share everything together... I think as things stand now, we should move on as KKR has moved on, as Dada has moved on...

On Shane Warne's retirement
I have known him for years –before he even started playing for the IPL. He was very friendly with a friend of mine, so we'd met couple of times and sat down together... he has wonderful energy and I wish him all the best. Sourav Ganguly, Shane Warne, Sachin Tendulkar – these are all greats of sports and you miss them when they stop playing. He plays hard handed poker, I've heard. So, I wish him all the best at poker and I look forward to spending some time with him – hopefully when we all get together at the closing ceremony of the series.

About looking at the option of a new coach
I don't want to sound rude or strange or be misconstrued for what I am saying, but actually, I don't even think about other players and other teams. At this point of time, it's very important for me to concentrate on the team that we have set up together. So, I really don't think about which player, what player, good player, bad player.... At this point, I don't think we need a new coach. Our coach is doing a brilliant job... really working hard with the kids. The start has been fantastic... so, I really don't think about anyone else... fortunately, we have a very young side and that's important because this is not for the next one year, but for the next 4-5 years. I don't really think we need anyone at this time.

On his closeness to Karim Morani, one of the 2G accused
Karim is a very good friend and it's unfortunate... I hope it pans out well for him. As far as friendship is concerned, we only wish him the best and hope things fall into place for him. And it's not embarrassing to talk about your friends.

On the number of watches he has
I have a special cupboard for watches. I always feel... when I was growing older, my dad had this old watch, which I still have and fathers in our times were someone who gave you intelligence, warmth, goodness and their watch. I feel very proud that I have lots of watches to give to my son and my daughter... If I dressed up in watches, I wouldn't need any clothes to cover me!

On Delhi and the sports he played
Main Dilli ki galiyon ka hoon toh mujhe kanche khelne aate hain, mujhe gulli danda khelna aata hai, toote bat ke saath cricket khelna aata hai, football aur hockey khel leta hoon, polo...

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) is doing great: Priyanka

The Indian Premier League (IPL), in all its four editions, has turned out to be a marriage of cricket and glamour. On Saturday, Bollywood heartthrob Priyanka Chopra was at the Eden Gardens here to watch the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)- Kings XI Punjab match.

Priyanka was seen enjoying every moment of the action, sitting beside KKR co-owner and megastar Shah Rukh Khan.

She applauded every stroke but seen most happy when KKR got wickets. "Oh, I am really enjoying the game. KKR is doing great," she said.

On a high after KKR got success in previous game, Shah Rukh said, "We have regained the momentum. We are performing much better this year. We will surely do well."

The sue game!

He said, she said, they all said. Until, someone said: "I'll sue you." Perhaps the second most impactful set of three words after 'I love you', 'I'll sue you' is losing its edge somewhat.

Heck, everyone's saying it these days. For everything, from a tempest in a teacup to a gentle gust. Naturally, those at the receiving end are far from trembling leaves. Like Ishq Bector, who is probably humming his Hiphopper tune in the face of a similar threat: from none other than Rakhi Sawant. Yes, the shoot-from-the-lips lady has vowed, "I will sue Ishq Bector. He will have to pay for it". So will she, actually, what with the lawyer's fees and all. So while she works out the logistics, here's a look at others who pulled defamation suits out of their sleeves. Or maybe just threatened to.

Satish Sharma VS detractors
In a bid to prove his innocence when allegations flew thick and fast about how he had bribed MPs to vote for the UPA during 2008's confidence vote (through his aide Nachiketa Kapur), Congress leader Satish Sharma threatened to sue those behind this 'expose'. The defamation case was never filed. Smart move, we say.

Dheeraj Dixit VS Veena Malik
Veena Malik tossed her lustrous mane and pouted out freelance photographer Dheeraj Dixit's name as a co-matchfixer along with her ex-boyfriend, Mohammed Asif. Dheeraj hadn't gambled for this, and threatened to sue Veena. "I am going to sue Veena Malik for tarnishing my image. I am talking to my lawyers as to how much damages can be claimed," he thundered. Still calculating, are you Dheeraj?

Yuvraaj VS Onir
One fine day, newcomer Yuvraaj Parashar smarted and seethed over how director Onir had outraged his delicate modesty. The gobsmacked Onir then threatened to sue the aspiring actor, which he promptly did, but only for a token sum of `1. Onir, after all, simply had a point to prove. Yuvraaj, determined to play his part till the end, lobbed a counter-threat: that he would sue Onir instead. And then, just as suddenly, came the apology, from Yuvraaj of course. Don't ask us how the tables turned, Dunno y... na jaane kyun...

Mohammed Siddiqui VS Shoaib Malik
After the letters, photographs and nikaah namas failed to do it, Mohammed Siddiqui, father of Ayesha Siddiqui, who claimed to be Shoaib Malik's first wife, threatened to sue Shoaib if he didn't divorce his daughter before marrying Sania Mirza. Surprisingly, the defamation suit disappeared just as quickly as Shoaib's name did from the Pakistan cricket team list.

Bappi Lahiri VS Abhijeet
When singer Abhijeet took potshots at Bappida on a television show, calling him a "besharam sangeetkar", a tearful Bappi told the press, "Bardasht ki bhi ek hadh hoti hai!" And then he decided to make Abhijeet face the music. "I'm definitely suing Abhijeet for defamation. He has to prove in court that I'm besharam!" he announced. Tall order, that. And Bappida, who is as generous as his proportions show, is giving Abhijeet all the time he needs to prove the alleged "besharmi".

Shilpa Shetty VS Kavita Kundra
Raj Kundra's fuming ex-wife Kavita declared to the media that Shilpa didn't just loot UP and Bihar, but her home too: she had stolen her husband. Shilpa did not take too kindly to the home-wrecker tag and threatened to sue the now ex-Mrs Kundra if she continued to tarnish her image. Kavita had said, "Our marriage was in a rough patch but I was certain we could make it work for the sake of our new baby daughter. But then along came Shilpa. Suddenly Raj changed and now he wants a divorce." It seems the accusations weren't reprehensible enough to drag her to court for, after all.

With inputs from Kritika Kapoor

Cricket, exams make Bollywood postpone big releases

New Delhi, March 1 – No more big Bollywood releases for a while. With Class 10 and 12 board exams on and cricket hogging audience attention, most cinema theatres will be screening old films, Oscar-winning productions and even matches for a month.

The board exams in March-April keep students and their families away. The Cricket World Cup that began Feb 19 will be on till April 2.

As a result, filmmakers and distributors have decided to halt big releases, lowering the competition for “Tanu Weds Manu” and “7 Khoon Maaf” which are already running in the halls.

“It’s usually the case that in exam time there are no major releases and this time it is accompanied by the World Cup, so occupancy of theatres is likely to be hit. Sometimes occupancy goes down to 10 percent,” said Yogesh Raizada, corporate head (Cinemas) of Wave Cinemas.

“We are planning to organise some promotional activities for the public.”

Big Cinemas in Mumbai plans to fill the gap by showcasing Oscar-winning movies. “We have planned to screen various Oscar-winning films during this time. A Punjabi film is also releasing and so that would help fill in the gap in Punjab,” said Tusshar Dhingra, chief operating officer, Big Cinemas.

In Delhi, single-screen cinema Delight plans to target youth by showing Hollywood movies.

“March is a lean period. Since it is exam time, families don’t naturally come to the theatres. We will go for quick changes. We plan to target youth through English movies,” said R.K. Mehrotra, general manager, Delight.

Some are tapping the cricket fever by screening live matches on the big screen. DT Cinema is one of them.

“We are planning to showcase the semi-finals and final of World Cup matches. As far as movies are concerned, we plan to screen 3D movies,” said Amit Shah of DT cinema. “Also, recent releases ‘7 Khoon Maaf’ and ‘Tanu Weds Manu’ are likely to perform well.”

Girish Wankhede of Cinemax in Mumbai has blocked every week of March for different genres.

“In the first week, we will be showcasing sci-fi films, the second week we have Rajnikanth films, the third week will be for regional cinema and the fourth and last week will be for multilingual films,” Wankhede said.

Patna-based Ranjan Sinha, spokesperson of the Bihar-Jharkhand Motion Pictures Association, told IANS the association has no plans to combat exam and cricket fever.

“We are not doing anything special. The cinema halls here will continue showing old films like “Patiala House’ and ‘7 Khoon Maaf’. In many movie halls, dubbed films from the south are also running. And we will continue releasing Bhojpuri films,” he said.

“We have two films of Manoj Tiwari releasing during this period – ‘Mard No. 1′ and ‘Internatioonal Daroga’, both Bhojpuri,” he added.

T.N. Kapoor, who is a partner in the Indore-based Bharti Film Distributors, a firm which has been distributing movies since 1948, said: “We are planning to show old movies like Raj Kapoor’s ‘Aag’ and some recent hits like ‘Dabangg’, ‘Wanted’ and “Yamla Pagla Deewana’. We will also screen a few dubbed English movies.

“People in small towns enjoy action movies, that’s why we chose Salman Khan and Dharmendra films.”

Suhel Warsi, a Lucknow-based producer, said: “Some theatres are running films like ‘Ziddi’ and ‘Yalgaar’. Usually we show whatever we have. As such there is no special planning.”

The turn of events is a blessing in disguise for “Tanu Weds Manu”. Thanks to the promos, the film got a good opening, earning Rs.96 million in the opening week. The romantic comedy, starring Kangana Ranaut and Madhavan, shows how an NRI falls in love with a rebel.

Made at a budget of Rs.160 million, which includes print and publicity expenses, the film was released with 400 prints. It has broken even, selling the satellite rights at Rs.90 million and music rights at Rs.20 million.

Word of mouth publicity has helped improve footfalls.

“Average occupancy has been 50 percent. The songs of the film are good and people are liking the second half of the film, so it is a profitable equation,” Wankhede told IANS.

(Priyanka Sharma can be contacted at priyanka.s@ians.in)