SRK’s Khantastic PR skills!

To,
Honorable Mr.P.Chidambaram,
Minister of Finance

Respected Sir,

Today as you are getting ready to put up the biggest show of the year... The nation’s annual budget, which is going to shape up the economy of our country in the coming year, we would like you to introduce you to a man, who we all lovingly call ‘King Khan’ and learn from him what it takes to become popular and win over your worst critics and detectors.

Agreed Badshah Khan has an acquired a six –pack, but there’s more to him than his physical glory. What makes SRK... the brand King Khan or Badshah Khan as he’s popularly called in Bollywood. Is he a media made, PR savvy or a marketing whiz kid? We try to analyze and unfold the brand called King Khan..

He once had a production company called ‘Dreamz Unlimited’! The company shut shop soon after its maiden venture Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani went bust at the box office, but he continued to dream big and paved his way to create the million dollar brand called ... King Khan! “It’s been 18 years in the industry and people say I’m the King of Bollywood and trust me I enjoy it. I’m not pompous, but I don’t know how it feels not to be successful, so I don’t know how it’s not to be the King of Bollywood. I feel it’s my birthday now,” says SRK.

Love him or hate him, but you simply can’t ignore him, that’s his power, charisma and skills. “He knows what he wants it and he gets it, courtesy his innovative marketing strategies and his cut sharp PR skills, which never fails him,” says a leading city based journalist.

What’s astonishing is that he doesn’t have any trappings of a conventional hero... in Bollywood’s lingo the ideal gora and chikna hero. “But the fact is that all his films sell like hot cake and media loves to write about him. He knows how to play the game and has played it to the gallery,” says filmmaker Sangeth Sivan.

A fact endorsed by SRK’s friend and colleague Salman Khan. “The way Shah Rukh saab promotes his films, he doesn’t give much scope to others, filmmakers won’t find a better marketing guy than him,” he feels. SRK’s PR skills and the way he pushes his products are widely known and recognized throughout B- Town. Says, ace Ad filmmaker Prahlad Kakkar. “SRK as a brand is much bigger than the actor and thanks to his media savvy and PR skills.”

A fact echoed equally by Akshaye Khanna “Hats off to Shah Rukh the producer. I’m amazed by the way he went blazing all guns for his home production ‘Om Shanti Om’, I don’t think any other guy in his position could have pulled this off.”

Bollywood is aware of SRK’s marketing and his expertise in PR skills, but it came into the limelight during the release of Janeman and Don .

It was the clash of the titans. Three of Bollywood’s biggest superstars, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar were tied up in a cat and mouse game of superiority on the big screen. On one side were Salman and Akshay, on the other Shah Rukh Khan. Bollywood’s two biggest films, but at the end it was SRK who walked away with the cake. “When you have Shah Rukh Khan as your competitors, you can’t do much about it. You either run away or face it; I decided to face it bravely,” reminisces Sajid Nadiadwala the producer of the film. A fact echoed by the hero of the film Salman “We were helpless, can’t beat him when it comes to promoting a film,” he says.

While Amrita Rao who acted with SRK in Main Hoon Na says “He thinks ten times ahead of us, his mind works like computer, marketing strategies, promotion, you name it and he has it everything in his head. And importantly media loves him, because he is a natural charmer.” The feeling is mutual for Showman Subhash Ghai, “Amazing PR skills, I don’t see any other Bollywood actor coming anywhere closer to him. He is a class apart. One day he should write a book on marketing, it will be a best seller,” he opines.

While SRK admits that media played an important role in his career, “I’m a media guy and the media have all the right to write about me, it good, bad or ugly,” he once told this writer.

- Indiatimes

SRK's win-win situation

Shah Rukh Khan's film, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi for Yash Raj promises to be a good listen judging by the musicans chosen for the task.The hot contenders include the duos Salim-Suleman and Vishal-Shekhar.

Although sources inform that Aditya Chopra, who is directing the film has agreed to give the baton to Salim-Sulema, who earlier composed for SRK's hit Chak De! India, it remains unclear whether the duo will compose only the background music (for which they're famous for) or if the baton for the rest of the film's music may go to the other musical duo, Vishal-Shekhar.

Vishal-Shekhar too have also worked with Shah Rukh Khan in the past. The duo bonded with King Khan during the making of Om Shanti Om.

But then brothers Salim and Suleman Merchant have an incredible track record as well. The brothers have composed the background music of many films including Chak De, Krrish, Dhoom 2 and Namastey London, to mention a few.

So it looks like a win-win situation for SRK, either way!

- Rediff.com

Shahrukh's Hunt For A Kid

All the children in India must be dieing to work in Shahrukh Khan’s film which is going to be dedicated to his son Aryan and the latest buzz is King Khan is on the look out for a talented child artist.

After Aamir’s tedious process of auditioning over 300 kids for 'Taare Zameen Par' , it’s now Shahrukh Khan who is on the hunt for a talented 12 year old child artist. The film apparently will be Shahrukh’s tribute to his son Aryan. The film which is to be directed by Anubhav Sinha is high on FX and is supposed to be the most expensive film ever produced in India.

The film will have Shahrukh share screen space with a 12 year old and will be produced by Red Chillies Entertainment. It has also been reported that that Shahrukh has been actively involved in the scripting process. Anubhav has been in talks with Shahrukh for over a year now, courtesy Mustaq Sheikh. Let’s hope Shahrukh Khan too finds a kid who leaves behind an impact a la 'Taare Zameen Par'.

Shahrukh says no to Sushmita

King Khan usually does not show his back to anyone who approaches him for doing any cameo. But this time the case is exceptional, gossip mill churn that he has turned down an offer from his Main Hoon Na lady Sushmita Sen. Apparently, Sush had requested SRK to do an item number in her upcoming home production but Shahrukh straightway rejected her.

Actually, it was Sushmita who was first to let down Shahrukh’s offer. SRK had once requested Sush to jive with him in his multi starred song “Deewangi” in Om Shanti Om. But she snubs the offer due to dates problem. And now, Shahrukh has given her a similar sort of reply to her request.

Shahrukh has done cameos in many films. His item number in Kaal and Heyy Babyy was a super hit and now he is going to tap his feet with Rakhi Sawant and Hrithik Roshan in Rakesh Roshan’s Krrazy 4. Shahrukh’s little appearance in a film proves to be a miracle. His magic is capable of dragging audience to the theatre. But poor Sushmita who is working hard for her first home production Jhansi Ki Rani seems to have lost her chance of having SRK’s item number in her film.

I want to cater to kids: Shah Rukh Khan

Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan, who is all set to make a children's film in the VFX medium, using computer-generated special effects, says he is overwhelmed by the response he gets from children and wants to cater to them.

"I love kids and I am overwhelmed by the response I get from children. Adults like me by chance," Shah Rukh Khan told IANS.

"I have maintained my love for kids since long and want to cater to them because they have the shortest attention span. I want to make a place in the hearts of the little ones and then I will automatically reach the families. As children handle the remote control these days, everyone has to watch what they like.

"Theatre director Barry John, my acting teacher at Delhi Theatre, used to say: 'if you can capture the interest of kids, you will be always successful' and I stick to that," he added.

Shah Rukh was recently in Berlin to promote Om Shanti Om and was interviewed by Hollywood trade magazine Variety. The magazine reported that the proposed children's film would be made at a budget of $25 million (Rs.1 billion), the highest budget in India.

But commenting here about the money to be spent on making the film, Shah Rukh said: "Media is speculating about the budget. We are still working on the script."

"I have maintained my love for kids since long and want to cater to them because they have the shortest attention span. I want to make a place in the hearts of the little ones."The actor, also the owner of the Kolkata team franchisee Red Chillies Entertainment, said through all these initiatives - investment in sports and VFX film - he wants to do something for the country which has given him so much.

"My dream is to invest money and bring better technology in our country that has given me money, love, respect... everything one can ask for! Not only cricket, we want to invest in all kind of games.

"I think if children are allowed to play all the time along with little bit of studies, 'creative' aggression would develop in them. It would prevent them from indulging in vices like smoking, drinking or drugs."

And when is the superstar planning to kick the butt!


"I have been trying to kick the butt since long. But it is very difficult to give up bad habits. And I can't be dishonest in saying I will quit smoking and then don't do it."

"However, I would appeal to children that they must not pick up this habit from me, as fans have a tendency to imitate their favourite stars. This is a bad habit and is injurious to health. They must never do it," he stressed.

King Khan is now set to host a television quiz show Kya Aap Paanchvi Paas Se Tez Hain and says the medium doesn't matter because he is an entertainer.

"I started my career with television and with time the small screen is becoming better. However, being a jester, my idea is to entertain by films, by stage shows... by all possible formats."

Back from the Dead

For some dreams, one lifetime is not enough. So says Shah Rukh Khan in the movie, Om Shanti Om, in which he dies as a struggling junior artiste but reincarnates as a successful Bollywood superstar. In real life too, it may be a similar story, if an American doctor, who specialises in reincarnation research is to be believed.

Walter Semkiw, an occupational medicine physician practising in San Francisco, believes that Shah Rukh Khan is the reincarnation of a dancer and actress called Sadhona Bose - who starred in a few films of the 1930s and ’40s. Bose’s most successful film was Raj Nartaki, released in 1941.

But after that, her career flagged and she was eventually reduced to begging. Sounds bizarre? There’s more. Semkiw’s book, ‘Born Again’ features reincarnation case studies of a number of international celebrities, including numerous Indian personalities, ranging from Amitabh Bachchan to Jawaharlal Nehru.

For instance, according to Semkiw, Bachchan is the reincarnation of American actor Edwin Booth, who was considered one of the finest Shakespearean actors of Victorian times, while Bahadurshah Zafar, the last Mughal king, was reincarnated as Jawaharlal Nehru. Semkiw’s book, which was released last year, has evinced considerable interest, with even Shah Rukh reportedly saying that while his religion did not permit him to believe in a past or future life, he still wanted to see Sadhona Bose’s pictures.

But how did Semkiw come to his conclusions about the past lives of so many people? He says that it was through a combination of psychic sessions as well as a lot of background research. “It all started when I consulted Kevin Ryerson, a famous trance medium. I found that Kevin was able to channel an Egyptian spirit guide named Athun Re, who, I realised over the course of multiple sessions, had the ability to make accurate past life identifications. However, since my background is in science, I needed evidence to be convinced that whatever matches were being told to me were 100% correct,” he says.

One does wonder, however, if the good doctor, though well-intentioned, might have been led on by say, the medium that he was consulting?

“Such skepticism is understandable,” says Semkiw, “since I also started out as a hard-core skeptic. But during the course of the sessions, the matches involved individuals in history that were so obscure and so hard to get information on, that there was no way that the spirit guide or the medium, for that matter, could have made the matches without accessing some spiritual source,” he says.

What finally convinced him, says Semkiw was when the name he received as an answer was researched and facial features, personality traits, talents etc matched, there were invariably striking similarities.

Amitabh Bachchan, for example, says Semkiw, not only shares a love for acting with his supposed past life persona of Edwin Booth, but also has similar personality traits, which have been passed on from one lifetime to another. Incidentally, Edwin Booth was the brother of John Wilkins Booth, who is infamous in history as the man who shot Lincoln, although Edwin himself, was determinedly apolitical, saying that politics simply did not suit him - a feeling Bachchan might sympathise with.

Not just that, Edwin Booth’s family has also been reincarnated as people who are close to Bachchan in this lifetime, claims Semkiw. Jaya Bachchan, for instance, has been identified as Mary Mc Vickers, Edwin Booth’s second wife, while Rekha is believed to be Edwin Booth’s first wife, Mary Devlin.

In researching cases, says Semkiw, he found many instances where ambitions that were not fulfilled in a previous lifetime were being completed in the next. “The best example is that of Hollywood actress Halle Berry, who has been identified as the reincarnation of 1950s actress Dorothy Dandridge,” he says.

Besides having a strong facial resemblance, the two had other similarities too. Both were born to black parents in Ohio - Dorothy died in 1965, while Berry was born in 1968. Berry, in fact, also went on to make a movie on Dorothy. During the course of the movie, she became best friends with Geri Branton, who was also Dorothy’s close friend and who claimed that she was taken aback when she first saw Berry, “because she was so much like Dorothy..

One of Dorothy’s dearest wishes was to win an Oscar, which she never did, because a certain amount of prejudice existed against blacks in Hollywood at that time. However, years later, in 2002, Halle Berry became the first black woman to win an Oscar. “Finally, as Halle Berry in this lifetime, Dorothy Dandridge fulfilled her goal,” says Semkiw. Having researched these cases, what does he now feel reincarnation is all about? “I believe that the knowledge of reincarnation is necessary for all of us,” says Semkiw. “Knowing that we will reincarnate will help people realise that they can be Christian in one lifetime or Muslim in another.

Once that happens, then hatred and warfare will cease to exist and we can come to understand that from lifetime to lifetime, our purpose is mainly to experience various life situations that keep on evolving our souls.” Rationalists will, no doubt, scoff. But believers will probably take comfort from Semkiw’s contention that an unfulfilled life needn’t be a tragic waste. As the line goes, picture abhi baaki hai.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Open_Space/Back_from_the_Dead/articleshow/2568221.cms

Om Shanti Om´ Versus ´Saawariya´ , Battle Royal Commences In India´s Capital

It is almost certain now ( barring a miracle) that Shah Rukh Khan’s ‘Om Shanti Om’ and Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Saawariya’ will come together on ‘Diwali’. And the confidence-of the dual ‘Diwali’ releases comes from the fact that the cinema bookings for both the big-budgeted extravaganzas have begun in Delhi in right earnest. There is not much clamour for the multiplexes of the capital city of India because all the multiplexes have multiple screens and are equipped to release both the films on the festive occasion. But the scramble is for single screen cinemas because there are hardly any areas in Delhi with more than one single-screen cinema.

With Shah Rukh Khan not having conceded Bhansali’s request to postpone his ‘Om Shanti Om’ it will now be a clash of two big-budget movies on Diwali. ‘Om Shanti Om’ has reportedly cost Rs.35 crores to make. The budget of ‘Saawariya’ is also said to be in the region of Rs. 40-crores.