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Tag: Shah Rukh

  • Fan….For Shah Rukh fans

    Fan….For Shah Rukh fans

    Fan is not a usual Shah Rukh Khan film in that it has no romance. While the banner, Yash Raj Films, is more known for their its for great musical scores, Fan has no scope for songs in its story.

    The film is about a superstar, Gaurav Khanna, played by Shah Rukh, and his devoted fan, also played by Shah Rukh.

    The fan is much younger and that look has been generated with the help of special effects. The fan’s life revolves around Shah Rukh and nature has been on his side in that his face bears similarity to that of the star. He is popular in his area as Junior (Shah Rukh), acts and behaves like the star and also imitates Shah Rukh in the local programmes to win prizes. There is not an inch left on the walls of his room which does not have pictures of various sizes and hues of his favourite star.

    The fan’s one ambition is to meet Shah Rukh in person. And, he manages to win a prize of 20k at his area’s festival where he performs. He is the only son and his parents let him indulge in his hero worship. They even help as aides during his performance.

    Having won the money, the fan is now ready to visit Mumbai and his star. The fan wants to follow in the footsteps of Shah Rukh and does whatever he has heard the star do on his first trip to Mumbai, that is to travel without ticket and stay in the same hotel and same room where Shah Rukh stayed. His parents also pack in a box of famous halwa for Shah Rukh.

    Having reached Mumbai and checked into the same hotel room where his idol stayed, he is now ready to visit the star. Once there, he realizes that he is only one of the thousands thronging the bungalow of the star. His attempts to sneak in with the media inside the bungalow fail. The fan has not given up yet. He watches an interview of some new hero who has had a problem with Shah Rukh and got slapped in return. The fan barges into his vanity and forces him to tender an apology to Shah Rukh on record.

    And the apology by the new star makes it to the media. But, in an unexplained way, the exploits of the fan are also recorded and somehow land up on Shah Rukh’s table. Worried that this may harm his image, Shah Rukh gets the fan arrested requesting the police to not put it on record, keep him for a couple of days and then dispatch him off back to Delhi. When they meet, the fan wants Shah Rukh to apologise to him for getting him beaten so badly by the cops which, the star refuses to do.

    The fan has now turned vengeful. He won’t let the star get away without apologising. He now stalks Shah Rukh who is on a show tour of UK to be followed by a dance appearance at a big shot wedding. The fan is one step ahead and does things that would ruin the hero and succeeds so much so that Shah Rukh gets arrested in UK and gets accused of molestation at the wedding tamasha.

    The police have no proof against the fan and it is now left to Shah Rukh to find the fan and put an end to his mischief which is costing him dearly. He tracks down the fan to his home in Delhi when, again, it is the time for the annual festival and for the fan to do his Shah Rukh act. Some gunshots, a chase and a hand to hand follow. Shah Rukh’s problem ends but not the way he wanted and not sure the viewers would want either.

    Fan is a dry film which does not quite manage to take a grip. With just Shah Rukh on the screen in either of his versions, and not much of a supporting cast, it provides no relief of any kind. The fight between two Shah Rukh is not convincing and looks lopsided with the fan looking like a kid being beaten up mercilessly by the star. The climax is not justified. The film needed some more trimming. There are some variations in the look of the Shah Rukh the fan.

    Performance wise, while the star Shah Rukh is his usual self, Shah Rukh the fan is excellent. Sayani Gupta, Yogendra Tiku and Deepika Amin are good in support.

    Fan has had a fair beginning, cashing in on a general holiday (Ram Navami) opening, and has appeal mainly for die hard Shah Rukh Khan fans.

    Producer: Aditya Chopra.

    Director: Maneesh Sharma.

    Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Amin, Yogendra Tiku,

    Sayani Gupta.

     

  • Fan….For Shah Rukh fans

    Fan….For Shah Rukh fans

    Fan is not a usual Shah Rukh Khan film in that it has no romance. While the banner, Yash Raj Films, is more known for their its for great musical scores, Fan has no scope for songs in its story.

    The film is about a superstar, Gaurav Khanna, played by Shah Rukh, and his devoted fan, also played by Shah Rukh.

    The fan is much younger and that look has been generated with the help of special effects. The fan’s life revolves around Shah Rukh and nature has been on his side in that his face bears similarity to that of the star. He is popular in his area as Junior (Shah Rukh), acts and behaves like the star and also imitates Shah Rukh in the local programmes to win prizes. There is not an inch left on the walls of his room which does not have pictures of various sizes and hues of his favourite star.

    The fan’s one ambition is to meet Shah Rukh in person. And, he manages to win a prize of 20k at his area’s festival where he performs. He is the only son and his parents let him indulge in his hero worship. They even help as aides during his performance.

    Having won the money, the fan is now ready to visit Mumbai and his star. The fan wants to follow in the footsteps of Shah Rukh and does whatever he has heard the star do on his first trip to Mumbai, that is to travel without ticket and stay in the same hotel and same room where Shah Rukh stayed. His parents also pack in a box of famous halwa for Shah Rukh.

    Having reached Mumbai and checked into the same hotel room where his idol stayed, he is now ready to visit the star. Once there, he realizes that he is only one of the thousands thronging the bungalow of the star. His attempts to sneak in with the media inside the bungalow fail. The fan has not given up yet. He watches an interview of some new hero who has had a problem with Shah Rukh and got slapped in return. The fan barges into his vanity and forces him to tender an apology to Shah Rukh on record.

    And the apology by the new star makes it to the media. But, in an unexplained way, the exploits of the fan are also recorded and somehow land up on Shah Rukh’s table. Worried that this may harm his image, Shah Rukh gets the fan arrested requesting the police to not put it on record, keep him for a couple of days and then dispatch him off back to Delhi. When they meet, the fan wants Shah Rukh to apologise to him for getting him beaten so badly by the cops which, the star refuses to do.

    The fan has now turned vengeful. He won’t let the star get away without apologising. He now stalks Shah Rukh who is on a show tour of UK to be followed by a dance appearance at a big shot wedding. The fan is one step ahead and does things that would ruin the hero and succeeds so much so that Shah Rukh gets arrested in UK and gets accused of molestation at the wedding tamasha.

    The police have no proof against the fan and it is now left to Shah Rukh to find the fan and put an end to his mischief which is costing him dearly. He tracks down the fan to his home in Delhi when, again, it is the time for the annual festival and for the fan to do his Shah Rukh act. Some gunshots, a chase and a hand to hand follow. Shah Rukh’s problem ends but not the way he wanted and not sure the viewers would want either.

    Fan is a dry film which does not quite manage to take a grip. With just Shah Rukh on the screen in either of his versions, and not much of a supporting cast, it provides no relief of any kind. The fight between two Shah Rukh is not convincing and looks lopsided with the fan looking like a kid being beaten up mercilessly by the star. The climax is not justified. The film needed some more trimming. There are some variations in the look of the Shah Rukh the fan.

    Performance wise, while the star Shah Rukh is his usual self, Shah Rukh the fan is excellent. Sayani Gupta, Yogendra Tiku and Deepika Amin are good in support.

    Fan has had a fair beginning, cashing in on a general holiday (Ram Navami) opening, and has appeal mainly for die hard Shah Rukh Khan fans.

    Producer: Aditya Chopra.

    Director: Maneesh Sharma.

    Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Amin, Yogendra Tiku,

    Sayani Gupta.

     

  • Zoom lines up New Year specials

    Zoom lines up New Year specials

    MUMBAI: Zoom has lined up a series of specials this New Year with the best of the past. It is offering a complete bonanza of sorts with shows like Maximum Style, Popkorn Newz, Page 3, Santa and Banta Unlimited and more.

    Maximum Style, will take a tour of the trends that ruled the ramp in 2006 in the New year special episode on 29 December at 8:30 pm.

    The New Year special episode will give an insight into the trends that the fashion guru’s predict for the coming season.

    Popkorn Newz will focus on the the top ten Bollywood controversies of the year: from Ash-Abhishek marriage rumours to Aamir’s Fanaa controversy. Popkorn Newz New Year special will also bring to light the trivia of Rakhi- Mika fight.

    The Best of Popkorn Newz, the new year special episode, will be aired on 30 December at 8 pm and will also showcase the controversy of Ekta kapoor boycotting Indian Television Awards.

    Page 3 New Year special will be a recollection of the exclusive news and controversies of the year 2006. The Best of Page 3 will air on 30 December at 7 pm and will bring minute by minute account of the the biggest of superstar wars from Salman- John’s rift to Amitabh- Shah Rukh’s stand-off.

    Santa and Banta Unlimited, Zoom’s foray into comedy, will bring the top five interviews of 2006 on the show. The special interviews of Bappi Lahiri, Shaan, Chunkey Pandey, Arjun Rampal and Riya Sen with Siddharth Kannan and Baba Saigal will be aired on 1 January at 8:30 pm.

  • Shah Rukh, Rani triumph at Savlon Sabsey Favourite Kaun International 2006

    Shah Rukh, Rani triumph at Savlon Sabsey Favourite Kaun International 2006

    MUMBAI: Shah Rukh Khan’s brand equity in Bollywood just gets bigger! The star was voted as the favourite hero by fans at the Savlon Sabsey Favourite Kaun 2006 awards.

    Rani Mukherji picked up the award in the heroine category. Lage Raho Munnabhai was voted as the favourite film.

    At the event Akshay Kumar performed a parody based on his forthcoming movie Bhaagam Bhaag and a spoof on his director Priyadarshan. Bipasha Basu performed on the chartbusters Bidi and Namak from her movie Omkara. Koena Mitra and Shreyas Talpade entertained the audience with the latest songs from their movie Apna Sapna Money Money. Shiney Ahuja performed on a medley of songs from his movies.

    Speaking at the awards ceremony Star Entertainment India CEO Sameer Nair said, “Savlon Sabsey Favorite Kaun International 2006 – the only opinion poll for the fans of Bollywood, is a true reflection of a star’s popularity as the winners are chosen by the fans themselves. The impact of Indian Cinema on the audiences is evident by the overwhelming response that we have received year after year. This year we were not only able to capture the frenzy and fervor that our Bollywood actors command on a national level but also on an international scale.”

    The Savlon Sabsey Favorite Kaun International 2006 Grand Finale was hosted by Ayesha Takia along with comic trio of Ranvir Shorey, Vinay Pathak and Suresh Menon.

    Viewers can watch the telecast of Savlon Sabsey Favorite Kaun International 2006 Grand Finale on 30 December at 8 pm on Star Gold.

    Fans voted for their stars across seven categories. The winners are as follows:

    – Sabsey Favorite Hero – Shah Rukh Khan

    – Sabsey Favourite Heroine – Rani Mukherji

    – Sabsey Favourite Comic Hero – Paresh Rawal

    – Sabsey Favourite Nayi Heroine – Soha Ali Khan

    – Sabsey Favourite Naya Hero – Kunal Khemu

    – Sabsey Tez Sitara – Priyanka Chopra

    – Sabsey Favourite Film – Lage Raho Munnabhai

  • Shah Rukh in KBC: Wit and wisdom

    Shah Rukh in KBC: Wit and wisdom

    NEW DELHI: “Main is desh ka laal hun is liye is baar KBC ka background laal hai, (I am a son of this soil (laal), that is why the background of KBC is in red),” said Shah Rukh Khan in his signature wit. That is likely to be the most significant change in the third avatar of India’s most successful game show, Sameer Nair, Star Plus CEO told a packed press conference here.

    Witty, jovial, charming and very GenNext. All attributes that had been at the core of the choice for a successor to Big B as the host of the show that had become a national addiction when it first hit the small screen in 2000. And which Shah Rukh exuded in overdoses. However, indicating the change in tenor that is likely to take place with his taking over, Khan said: “I shall be a dost (friend), rather than a host. I am friendly and I like to be friends, so that is what I shall try to do.”

    And while Shah Rukh kept the media enthralled, Star Entertainment India CEO Sameer Nair, answering a tricky financial question on the cricket World Cup 2007 stealing the major advertisers away from KBC, said: “I have spoken to the major advertisers and our old clients and the response has been tremendous. It is the World Cup that has a problem, not Star.”

    It was an obvious thing to say on the face of today’s reports in some papers that KBC III would face a revenue problem because most top agencies and advertisers have put in all the big bucks into World Cup coverage, but Nair was not entirely convincing.

    Puns and ripostes apart, Shah Rukh painstakingly dispelled the inevitable and repeated comparisons drawn between him and Amitabh Bacchan. “His boots are too big for me to fit in,” he said.Siddharth Basu of Synergy Communications, producer of KBC had said, “Television today has a much younger audience and a hugely larger veiwership and this called for a rebirth of the show. So when Amitabh Bacchan decided not to be the host, the natural choice was Shah Rukh Khan, who is the best person for the generation ahead.”

    Interestingly, Basu revealed that Shah Rukh’s name had been discussed long ago, as a “what if KBC needs a change of host”.

    Responding to the incessant comparisons with Big B, Shah Rukh said first, that he was not ‘replacing’ anyone. “The word replacement would come had Amitji still wanted to do the show and yet, I would be called in. That is not the case here, because he had himself decided not to host the show.”

    Secondly, he said, “It is a humbling thought that I am participating in a piece of history in the world of entertainment. So, I pray and hope that I am able to just keep up the great standards that Amitji had taken the show to.”

    Interestingly, responding to a question of the ‘shift’ from the ‘big screen’ to the small one, Shah Rukh said that it is a mistake to talk of television as the small screen only because of its size. “It is actually much bigger than cinema, with its over all reach and the size of the industry in terms if money is also much larger. The small screen is so big that we are now scared of it,” he added for good measure.

    Shah Rukh added that he was not, in fact, ‘shifting’ to TV. “In television, I have just one commitment and that is with KBC, and otherwise I shall be doing the three or four films that I do every year.”

    Asked about his personal incentive behind deciding to host KBC, Shah Rukh said that money and other things apart, “It is the great chance to be with the people that has been the greatest lure for me.”

    “I am paid for by the people of this country, but due the nature of my job, I seldom get to meet them one to one. KBC will give me that chance for the next 52 episodes.” Shah Rukh, referring to his old and keen interest in quizzes and knowledge-based programmes said that for the next one month or so, he would devote as much time as possible to studies, so that he handles the show better.

    The other question that was bound to be repeated was what would be new to the third avatar of KBC.

    Nair said that much has changed in technology, including telephony, SMS and other aspects, so there will be many technological innovations, “but in the end it will be the content, the creativity that will matter”.

  • Aamir Vs Aamir

    Aamir Vs Aamir

    Let me begin with a disclaimer. This is not a piece about how celebrities should conduct themselves in public or in media. It is not about whether or not they should get involved with or voice their opinions on politically or socially sensitive matters. It is not about whether they should do research on a controversial subject, acquaint themselves with ‘facts’ from both sides, and only then form an opinion instead of forming lazy opinions.

    Enough and more has been written or spoken on these subjects. We have heard Aamir and his supporters from the ‘industry’ and elsewhere. We have seen other celebrities such as Arundhati Roy and Rahul Bose share their opinion with us on several news TV stations. In fact, only recently, I read a beautifully written piece by Rahul Bose on intentblog, one of the best open blogs I have seen.

    It’s Aamir the actor who acts for a living versus Aamir the brand whose equity must be protected, grown and leveraged
    _____****_____

    My goal here is a little different. A little less selfless and more commercial, if you may. As a practitioner of marketing and communication, I am intrigued by the issues the Aamir-Narmada-Fanaa episode raises, even after the episode itself seems to have blown over.

    If you try to simplify an otherwise multi-textural issue, it’s Aamir the celebrity that endorses half a dozen high profile brands versus Aamir the concerned citizen who is compelled to raise his voice against seeming injustice. In fact, even more importantly, it’s Aamir the actor who acts for a living versus Aamir the brand whose equity must be protected, grown and leveraged.

    Now look at what the brand did. It [doesn’t sound right to refer to Aamir, as ‘it’, does it?] jumped out of its popularly accepted, rather linear domain of acting-to-entertain, into uncharted territory. Out of the larger-than-life fantasy world of the big screen, Dolby sound, and carefully directed retakes, into the grimy and sweaty world that millions live in every day. It could not have been an easy choice. Particularly when a brand extension [Fanaa] was weeks away from its launch. I know there are people out there who believe Aamir’s Narmada outburst and rather ‘suddenly’ found social conscience were part of a carefully orchestrated bridge strategy between Rang De Basanti and Fanaa. If that is true, I wonder how many product or service marketing managers would take such a risk before a launch. In fact, whether Aamir’s Narmada voice was a marketing tactic is not the real issue here.

    To me, the issue is whether brands need to learn a new lesson on how to communicate with their customers. Ever since brand management started as a discipline, most brands have tried to create and maintain a squeaky clean image, polished regularly by advertising. They have lived in a fantasy world where problems always disappear at the end of 30 seconds, ‘ordinary’ names always fail, rivals draw blood on an imaginary street. They have stood on pedestals and delivered sermons about the good and the evil, while obedient disciples listened with patience. Not unlike how Aamir and others in his profession talk to us in a theatre, if you think about it.

    But the truth is, brands live in our minds and hearts and we live in a society. The society isn’t a fantasy world; it’s where we return when the three hours of fantasy are over. It’s where parents take interviews, so that kids can get admission into a school, where neighbors fight over relatively trivial issues, where corruption is something we practice in day time and watch on TV at night.

    Do brands live in our society? With us? Should they?

    If we want to move from an era where consumers move from just knowing our brand to liking it, a thought that is finding increasing acceptance amongst seasoned brand marketers, we should perhaps think of brands as social beings.

    Should brands take a social stance? Or should they avoid any kind of controversy and stay sanitized and clean?
    _____****_____

    Not everyone in our society is our friend. Some people whose ideas and opinions are similar to ours, who have interests and hobbies common to ours, who help us face a challenge or leverage an opportunity, become our friends. Others become someone else’s friends. People fight normal fights, but we are most often loyal to our friends regardless of who is fighting against them. And while we might have many types of friends and sometimes we lose touch with some of them, we don’t change with friends very frequently.

    Do we see our brand as a friend like this?

    Here comes the provocation. In a world where people [consumers?] are getting increasingly cynical of marketing, advertising and brands, should we start breaking down some of the practices that built our powerful brands yesterday? Should we attempt to make the simple principles of friendship and social relationship work to create a relationship between our brand and attention challenged consumers?

    Should our brands step down from the hallowed pedestal and mingle with the masses? Should they take stances on issues of social importance and urgency, even if some of them might be controversial and ‘politically’ sensitive?

    Net, should brands take a social stance? Or should they avoid any kind of controversy and stay sanitized and clean?

    How come Aamir thought of doing something that Shah Rukh, Amitabh, Aishwarya, Lataji and Hritik haven’t done? Is Aamir the only one? How about Shabana? How about Gere?

    How come we regard Benetton, Bullet, MTV, Diesel, Harley, Zippo, Apple, Red Bull differently from countless others?

    If we think of brands broadly as mainstream and leading-edge, how they have built themselves, what chances they have taken, who owns them and how they behave, we might find some directions and explanations. But, then, that’s a broader subject, isn’t it?

    Do you have an opinion on brands taking a social stance. Help Ravi Kiran write the next chapter. Post your thoughts to editor@indiantelevision.com

    (The author is South Asia CEO Starcom MediaVest Group)