Guess what SRK and Salman have in common?

Bollywood badshah Shah Rukh Khan has done it yet again as he replaces the Khiladi Akshay Kumar as the number one tax payer from Bollywood for the financial year ending 31 March 2012.

But hold on. He’s not alone at the top. Rival Salman Khan is has also shelled out as much. The duo has paid Rs 15 crore each as taxes for FY12, said an Economic Times report today.

The duo has paid Rs 15 crore each as tax for FY12

Even though both the Khans had two big hits last year, what’s interesting is the tax outgo. While Shah Rukh’s tax outgo was 20 percent less than last year’s, Salman’s was 20 percent higher in 2011-12, said the report.

Also it seems like Salman Khan has a marginally higher brand value than SRK as the former charges Rs 40 crore per movie and Rs 1.5 crore per day for endorsements, while the latter charges around Rs 35 crore for a movie and Rs six to seven crore for endorsements.

Meanwhile Saif Ali Khan Pataudi, Amitabh Bachchan and Ranbir Kapoor paid Rs 7 crore each as tax.

Does Katrina Kaif talks about Salman Khan with Shahrukh?

Mumbai: Katrina Kaif has all the luck because she gets 'protection' from not one but two Khans even though her protectors are themselves rivals.

According to reports, while shooting for their film in London, Shahrukh Khan was so caring about Katrina that he assigned his own bodyguards to keep her away from overzealous fans. Katrina is believed to have not employed her own bodyguards while shooting for an untitled romantic film under Yash Raj productions.

London being her home, Katrina loves travelling without security but due to her immense popularity among the sizeable number of Indian community, she needed some protection. That was when the 'large hearted' SRK decided to provide his own bodyguards for her safety.

Not only this, reports say that Shahrukh also asked his team to get some warm clothing for Katrina to beat the chilly London weather.

Buzz is that Katrina has grown close to SRK to the extent that she discusses her personal life with him. We wonder if she mentions her other 'protector', Salman Khan, in her conversations with Shahrukh.

Mr India 2 will be made in 3D

The sequel to Boney Kapoor's 1987's super hit film Mr. India will be made in 3D. The film will star Anil Kapoor, Sridevi, and Arjun Kapoor in the lead roles. Reportedly, Boney has roped in foreign technicians to do the special effects for the sequel to this science fiction film which has been tentatively titled Mr India 2. 

The film however, will go on floors in 2012 after the release of No Entry 2. It is expected to hit the theatres in November 2014. The script and the director of the film has not yet been finalized, however the original director of the film Shekhar Kapoor will surely be an intricate part of Mr India 2.

  Read:  ಕನ್ನಡದಲ್ಲಿ 

Mr. India 2 will mark as a come back of the superhit jodi of actor Anil Kapoor and Sridevi after Judaai in 1997. Anil will continue to play Arun Verma and Sridevi will feature as Seema Sohni. Boney Kapoor is keen on roping in Salman Khan for the villains part, which in original was earlier played by Amrish Puri as 'Mogambo'. Reportedly, he has planned to rope in international experts to create a very menacing look for Salman. 

If the superstar agrees to do the project, this will the first time that Salman will play a negative role on-screen. Boney Kapoor's son Arjun Kapoor will also feature in this film and a newcomer star opposite him. Like Mr India the sequel will also be a musical genius. Oscar winner composer AR Rahman has been roped in for composing the music for the film. 

The film will be produced by Boney Kapoor in association Sahara Motion Pictures.

The man behind Arjun Kapoor's Bollywood career

One just needs the Bollywood gold mine Salman Khan's midas touch to receive a successful filmy break. After Katrina Kaif, Sonakshi Sinha, Zarine Khan, here's the golden chance for producer Boney Kapoor's son Arjun Kapoor to bloom under Sallu's shelter.

Though Salman is not launching Arjun, it is said that the young actor has chosen an acting career on Salman's insistence. A source informed a leading daily, Arjun wanted to become a director, but life took a sharp turn when Arjun was assisting Prabhu Deva onWanted.

Salman, the lead actor of Wanted insisted Arjun to lose weight and go-ahead for an acting career. Salman's ex-girlfriend Katrina Kaif too is very fond of Arjun and supports him immensely. Arjun will be soon seen inIshaqzaade, opposite to Parineeti Chopra.

Why Salman Khan’s rooting for Arjun Kapoor

Newbie Arjun Kapoor who will be seen making his debut in Ishaqzaade seems to be garnering a lot of support already, more so from actor SalmanKhan. In fact, the Internet's abuzz withSalman and his family and friends all rooting for the newcomer.

But for all those who thought that the reason behind it is the Khan’s kid sister Arpita, who was apparently dating Arjun some time back, well there’s more.According to sources, the actor is being heavily backed and supported by Salman, because it was the star who, apparently got Arjun to become an actor in the first place. Very much like actor Sonakshi Sinha, who left designing and turned actor on Salman’s insistence. Though Salman’s not launching Arjun, it was on his insistence that Boney Kapoor’s son actually considered acting.

A source close to the newbie reveals that Arjun was actually keen to become a director and was actively assisting several filmmakers as the assistant director on films including Kal Ho Na Ho. “Back then, he weighed more than 140 kgsand had no inclination of turning an actor at all. But while he was assistingPrabhudeva on Wanted, Salman told him that he had the potential to become an actor and it was on his insistence that he decided to lose weight and give it a shot,” says the source. “On the sets of Wanted, Salman kept observingArjun minutely. And while Arjun was very good at what he was doing, Salmanstrongly felt that he saw an actor in him. Salman sat Arjun down and said he shouldn’t waste more time learning direction and production and should work towards becoming an actor,” confirms a source close to the star.

“Salman totally took him under his wing, keeping a close tab on the actor’s progress and guided him through the transformation, right from losing weight to grooming as an actor,” adds the source.

Incidentally, both the mentor and the protégée will be seen in Yash Chopra films this year. While Arjun’s making a debut in their film Ishaqzaade, Salmantoo is working with the Chopras in Kabir Khan’s Ek Tha Tiger.

In Conversation with Shahrukh Khan

He was born a Muslim, went to a Christian school and has a Hindu wife and two secular kids and did I forget to mention he also happens to be the most famous Indian. Shahrukh Khan is the true son of India and his story from the humble beginnings to super mega stardom is one full of will, determination, and sheer belief in oneself.

Paras Sharma at FilmiTadka had the opportunity to interview the super mega star of Bollywood, none other than Shahrukh Khan, the king of bollywood; following are the excerpts:

Shahrukh you are looking fabulous and thanks for coming to FilmiTadka office for this interview.

Shahrukh: Thank you very much for inviting me Paras.

Well although you are looking fabulous, but we hear that you aren’t in well shape, and also I can see you aren’t feeling well at the moment.

Shahrukh: Yeah I have hurt myself I keep hurting myself I need to understand that I am cut off only for romantic films and not meant for action films (also interesting is that this the man who has the ultimate six pack abs), well this six pack is only exterior but inside I am hurt, there used to be a movie of Eddie Murphy, where used to say, you know I am a Karate man I bleed from the inside.

Shahrukh you worked really hard to get that six pack thing, and which is no easy thing at the age of 42, so doesn’t it feels bad when people often say mean things like it is not real it is Photoshop, silicon, camera work, etc?

Shahrukh: People can say what they wish to, and I respect that. My advice to people would be to go ahead with Photoshop, with liposuction, and if they get six packs like mine, god bless them, and tell me also how achieved that, write to me, enlighten me; I will also love to follow an easier regimen to get six pack abs.

You have got everything Shahrukh; you have all the money, a great family, huge fan following, what still drives? Because you seem driven today than ever before?

Shahrukh: No I really do not have anything, I often tell this to people who are young or who as old me also, see success is very subjective, when I decided to become an actor, my logic was that I am going to give it the best shot, make lot of people smile along the way what started happening was that I made too many people smile, and I don’t deserve this, so I don’t know how long am I going to last, but at the end of it all I want to say is that I don’t owe it to anyone, including audience, because I am going to say listen I deserve it because I gave you back enough. People say I am King Khan, which I think is a clever journalist eclectic, I truly believe a king is not how much he earns, how much he takes, a king is how much he gives, I don’t think success as the finishing line, so I don’t think I have anything.

People often say that as high as you go that is how low you have to fall in the way and all stars eventually decline, have you prepared yourself for that?

Shahrukh: Yeah about 72 years from now, when I am 117 years old, I am very disturbed by the thought that at the age of 117 I’ll be a failure star, I feel really sad thinking that.
All your life you have worked towards being recognized and then spend the rest of your life wearing the dark glasses to hide yourself, I love being recognized, I love the fact that people love me, I love the fact that people think that I am a star, I love the fact that on Fridays I make people smile, when it is taken away from me for whatever reason, lack of my talent, lack of my hard work, or just the fact that nobody is interested in me anymore which will happen, I am not preparing myself for it, but I can tell you that I will be shattered, I will feel very sorry, but then I’ll start directing the films.

Shahrukh we just now talked about being a super star and then hiding the rest of your life wearing dark glasses and all, don’t you think it is hard to play your own big brother, you get a minute for yourself, even you are free or having rest, media comes up and says – SRK is having rest, etc.

Shahrukh: The line is blurring between real me and the actor me, but I am always acting, whenever there is a camera I start acting, whenever there are more than two people in front of me I start acting, so my friends also ask how do you rest, every second of yours is being scrutinized, so people from the outside is only seeing the actor side of me and never the real side of me, so I can give a lot, as an actor I can give my 100%, but the real self of me is never out in the media so people are not taking a single second of my life out of me.

People think that you are one of the luckiest and most liberal thinking Muslim in India and normally Muslims are unhappy and that is why all these communal things happen, what is your take on this?
Shahrukh: Most of the Indians are liberal thinking; we have only four agendas – security, education, economic development, removal of poverty, there is no fifth agenda.But people who throw bombs or all of these things they don’t even know what they are doing and why they are doing it.
I mean look at this guy, what is his name, Ajmal Kasab, just hear him, where is ideology, where is any logic, where is any sensibility, where is any education, where is the one sentence which he said so that one can at least say – Oh! Ok so this was the reason why he did that, but why killing, is it because you are poor, so? every poor person should start killing, or is it because you are uneducated, so? Should every uneducated should start killing? There is no logic with these people, you connect this with the unhappy Muslim of India.

Shahrukh your love affair with Gauri Khan, which is a childhood love affair, is a Yash Raj Film in itself, can you please share something with us about how it started?
Shahrukh: Actually I am in awe of women, when I am in awe that means I am a little shy of women, yes I do a lot of romantic films, but in actual I am shy of women, so earlier I used to go to these parties, in our parties boys used to sit on one side and girls used to sit on the other side, when some George Michaels song comes in we used to go over and ask them can I have this dance with you? But I never could do this in my whole life. So in one party Gauri was there and I sent a friend of mine to ask her that will she dance with a friend of his? And in which she got confused and said no, she said that she is waiting for her boyfriend to come and she will dance with him, which later turned on that the guy who came was her brother, she lied because just didn’t want to dance with any of the boys, so I went over to her and asked can I be your brother, to which she said no I’ll marry you.

Shahrukh you are a unique actor who has been linked with men and women, so how do you deal with all of it? Or have you ever crossed the line in terms of really having a relation with the stars or directors?
Shahrukh: I am not only metro sexual, bi sexual or tri sexual, I am all sexual, and Yes I have relations with all of them, I had sex with all the directors, actresses, actors, I have been linked with, see I really find it strange that people reduce the relations to just sex, I am not linked with all of them but Karan Johar, and I love him, but that doesn’t mean that I have hot and sweaty sex with him, actually when at home we laugh at it, I mean I remember once I was at home Gauri and Karan were lying in the bed, they were chatting, and there was a lady who used to work in the house, so when I came home, she came to me and told me – “sahib aap jab ghar mein nahin hote ............................” so I told her that yes I am really jealous because Karan is really supposed to be lying in bed with me.


Do you worry that your kids might not grow up in an atmosphere which is real, will they have a sort of upbringing you had?

Shahrukh: The biggest fear I have is that whatever my kids (Aryan and Suhana) do in their lives in terms of work, they should just over come this image of being the kids of this big movie star, and for which I try to never tell them that their father is this super star, I attend their school functions, I teach them, I play with them.
I am also happy about them because I got to travel out of India at the age of 26 or 27 for the first time, but for them I think it is a gift that they are seeing the world first hand at such an early stage, and when they arrive they will be well informed and confident.

In Candid conversation with Sonu Sood

You studied engineering so how did acting happen? 

I started out in the fashion industry, which culminated in with a few shows in Nagpur. Then I thought why not acting? As it turned out, as it turned out it wasn’t a bad idea after all. Although I must say it wasn’t easy. Screen success happened slowly over time. Guess it boils down to how well you can convince people that you can deliver. Also, it’s about getting in touch with the right people for the rest of the pieces to fall in place.

Did you always want to be an actor? 

Well I come from Moga, a small town in Punjab, my mother was a college professor and a businessman. Growing up in a small town, I’ve always wanted to move out and make something out of myself. Let’s put it that way.

How did you deal with stardom? 

Ask anybody who has grown up with me and they’ll tell you that I am still the same guy they grew up with. In fact I still write letters to my relatives back at Moga and meet up with old pals whenever I go there. I guess you can call the story of my life one of those familiar Indian narratives. Small town guy goes out and tries his luck in the big bad world. In a sense, I am still that small town guy.

How has life changed after you took up acting? 

Speaking of change, you could say that I have become more of an open person. Every day I come across new people. It enriches me more and more. I love to learn from each new day. I am fortunate to have great friends who have been supportive of my endeavours, and anyway nothing is changed between me, my family or friends.

Anyone you emulate or draw inspiration from? 

My mother, she has always been a great source of inspiration for me. She passed away a few years ago. I still miss her a lot. Another person I admire is Amitabh Bachchan; I have always looked up to his sense of discipline as an actor and humility as a person.

Besides acting, what else are you passionate about? 

A few years ago, I started a trust in my mother’s memory for children with no access to education. I wanted to carry my mother’s zeal for teaching through the initiative, for the time being it is doing pretty well.

Coming from a pukka Punjabi family, did you ever envision making a name for yourself in south cinema? 

South cinema has been a definite stepping stone in my acting career. I started off with Tamil cinema and have never looked back since then. With every film I have grown as a person and learned a great deal from the people I’ve worked with.

You are now a household name playing villains in Telugu Films. How has it been working here?

Honestly I have found that the industry can be quite a stimulating place to learn and grow. Every actor has an appetite for creative projects. You can say that mu hunger as an actor has been satiated after working in south films.


What makes a script interesting for you? 

The decision to select a role depends on a mix of intuition and experience. Five months into the industry and then you just know it. It is as simple as that. As you are reading the script, you just know if you are a cut for the film or not. After that, it is just a matter of taking or leaving it.


If there has been one driving force in your career, what would that be? 

You have to be absolutely convinced that you were born to do this. Call it determination, call it insistence, I have found that it’s always worked for me. Somewhere, that remains one of the driving factors in my life, a sort of curiosity that keeps me going and ensures that I do my best in every role I do.

What is it that you like best about playing a southern film villain? 

When I started in south cinema, it wasn’t all smooth and easy. The acting style is a touch overplayed here when compared to Bollywood. But yeah, sure, it is fun! But what matters most is your performance and not so much whether it is a southern film or a film in any other language.


Did playing the villain is Arundhati require any special preparation? 

Arundhati required five hours of preparation a day across the 50 odd days we shot for. That kind of routine helped me get into my character’s skin.

What is your life Mantra? 

That’s easy. As an actor and as a person, one has to keep doing what comes naturally. No more, no less.

How do you unwind? 

I love strumming the guitar when I can. I absolutely love listening to Bollywood music down the ages. Sometimes I still play to my friends whenever there is a get together (smiles), I am no party animal, Of course, I love my dose of Punjabi folk music too.

Are you a foodie? 

I still find comfort in home cooked food, Daal Chawal and Rajma always works.

How do you feel playing the baddie people love to hate on the screen? 

You know playing the good guy or the baddie doesn’t really matter for an actor. So long as you know you are putting in your hundred percent in the role.

Do you think villains are somehow sexier that the good guys? Did your negative roles affect your female fan following? 

Personally there have been no clear lines between the good guys and the bad guys on the screen. Being actors, our job is to simply live the role. I don’t think women fall for villains any more that the nice guys. We can’t generalise, can we?

Have people said that they have hated you since you do negative roles and most often the reel morphs into the real. This has happened to many famous villains like Amrish Puri, Prem Chopra, etc. How do you react to such feedback? 

When you are doing a certain kind of roles, you tend to get labelled in to a category. I believe I’ve given a distinct shape to the characters in say Jodha Akbar, Arundhati or Ek Niranjan. When the actor faces the camera, the only defining factor is the performance. Not the character’s inherent goodness (or lack of it).


What is the craziest thing a fan did for you or to you? 

While shooting in Vizag a few years ago, I was bombarded with a bunch of messages from this young lady who claimed to be huge fan. I often receive gifts and letters from her, and this went on for a year and half. Naturally it was getting a bit freaky, and guess what? There was even a marriage proposal!

You are generally accessible on phone to anyone, how come? 

It is one of those things that keep me grounded. And anyway, getting into a shell never helps, so no starry airs for me. Fate brought me to southern cinema and it all started with that single call, years ago. Glad I took it!