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Kareena did not agree to do 3 Idiots for Aamir
Did you know why Kareena Kapoor agreed to do 3 Idiots without reading the script? No, it's not Aamir Khan. It was a decision to please her mother Babita, who is a Sindhi like film's director Rajkumar Hirani.Aamir to star opposite Kate Winslet?
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Aamir Khan is going from strength to strength.Aamir's blogging ways has SRK smiling
The shocking display of insolent humor has sent shock waves in the otherwise-insulated and unconcerned film industry. Says a very popular character-actor who has worked with both the actors, "I guess the freedom provided by a blog tends to loosen tongues. Amitji has never been known to be as undiplomatic as he's on his blog. Aamir must have thought it's time to increase the odds, what if Amitji's blog gets more eyeballs! Also, his nephew's film is around the corner. During the release of Taare Zameen Par, Aamir created a controversy by taking on Amitji and Black. Now for the nephew it's Shah Rukh being called a dog. All I can say is life's a bitch."
Shah Rukh remains characteristically unfazed and humorous in the face of his colleague's uncharitable and tasteless remarks. When this writer expressed shock and indignation at Aamir's remarks, SRK responded, "Earlier on, people used to name their children after famous people. Somebody naming a dog after a known person is a new beginning in that direction. I don't have a copyright over this name if used non-commercially." But a close friend of SRK on promise of anonymity reacted far more aggressively. "Aamir's megalomania has been brewing for a while. Earlier he declared himself No.1 as compared with SRK who took it smilingly. Now Aamir is down to street-level provocation. You know those neighbors who try to get your attention by breaking your windows, letting their dogs crap on your lawn or just dirtying your car. It's best for Shah Rukh to ignore these efforts to get his attention."
Aamir loves his dog Shahrukh
The perfectionist star is in Panchgani, with family and kids.
Aamir writes: "I’m sitting under a tree, on the edge of a valley, approximately 5000 feet above sea level. The river Krishna flows far below us snaking its way among the Sahyadri mountains.
A cool breeze is blowing, jannat ki hawa (breeze from the heavens), as my mother calls it. Ammi, Ira and Junaid are by my side and we are in the middle of one of our favourite board games ‘Settlers Of Catan’.
Shahrukh is licking my feet and I am feeding him biscuits every now and then. What more can I ask for?
Now, before you jump to any conclusions let me add that Shahrukh is the name of our dog. And before you jump to any further conclusions let me add that I had nothing to do with naming him.
In fact Shahrukh is the dog of the caretakers of our house. When I bought this house it came with the caretakers and their dog!
Apparently Shahrukh (the actor) was shooting for a commercial in this house a few years ago, and that very day the caretakers bought a pup…, and named him Shahrukh.
What are the chances of me buying a house which comes with a dog called Shahrukh!!!
Some of my friends claim that I bought the house just because of the dog. I would have to be a serious fan of Shahrukh’s to want to do that. Your guess…
All I can say is I’m waiting for him to come over.
Getting back to Settlers of Catan, it’s a wonderful game. You must try it if you are fond of board games.
All in all I am having a great time with my mom and kids here in my favorite place on earth, Panchgani. I think Kiran and I must have done something good in our life to be blessed with this great place to get away to.
My hamstring muscle seems to be healing, slowly but surely.
Catching up on films, saw Casino Royale last night which I liked.
Incidentally Panchgani is a favorite with para-gliders. Now that’s something I am going to learn as soon as I finish with the Ghajini shoot.
Well Shahrukh is once again begging for my attention, so let me get back to him. He is smelling too much, I think he needs a bath. “Heel boy, heel.”
Aamir Khan’s blog can be reached at www.aamirkhan.com.
Jiah joins Aamir does dangerous stunts in Ghajini
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Though thankfully, she hasn't had any mishaps yet. Jiah's lithe stunts in Murugadoss' Ghajini are every bit as heart-in-the-mouth as Aamir Khan's. The only reason Jiah's action scenes aren't being talked-about are because she isn't talking about it. "I can't! I'm not allowed to," she quakes with contractual terror. "But yes, I've done a lot of action scenes in Ghajini. They've been extremely unnerving."
The action sequences require Jiah to match Aamir kick for kick. "And they are one reason I had to lose so weight," she admits, having returned from Hyderabad where the Ghajini shooting was wrapped up earlier this week. "The schedules don't suffer because of Aamir's accident at all. We resume in the middle of May as per schedule."
On Tuesday Jiah started shooting in Mumbai for Ken Ghosh's film with Shahid Kapoor. "That's the film I'm not supposed to do," she jokes. "It's so cheap to send compromising messages in someone else's name," Jiah suggests that the sms messages that embarrassed Shahid Kapoor and almost had her out of the project were sent off by someone else in her name.
"I've never sent sms to people in the industry beyond work. I'm so new to all this manipulation scheming and negativity. I'm just so happy to be doing two films like Ghajini and Ken Ghosh's film where I've completely different roles.
Shooting of 'Ghajini' is temporarily halted after its leading man Aamir Khan injured his hamstring muscle yet again while shooting for the mystery thriller in Hyderabad. He is advised three weeks bed rest.The accident happened Sunday afternoon.
'It happened when we were shooting some crucial sequences with Aamir. Although he had supported his leg, he got into an awkward position while shooting and he seriously injured himself again. Shooting can wait. Right now we are worried about his well being,' said director A.R. Murgadoss in a press statement.
The star has been asked to take complete bed rest for three weeks and the shooting of the film, which is a Hindi remake of a Tamil blockbuster of the same name, has been delayed till then.
'He will be coming to Mumbai in a day or two once doctors allow him to travel after which he will rest at his Bandra residence,' said a source.
Just last week, Aamir had injured his hamstring while performing an action sequence following which he took rest for a couple of days before getting back to work.
'Aamir did not want the shooting of 'Ghajini' to suffer because of his injury. Everyone on the sets was against him pushing himself, but Aamir was insistent that we should shoot close ups. He spoke to the director and decided to shoot the close up sequences, which wouldn't aggravate his injury,' said a source from the sets.
However, it was a bad idea as his muscle got further strained.
'He was chasing the bad guy and his leg was in an awkward position and now his hamstring muscle is torn. After the shot was canned, Aamir couldn't get up for almost 40 minutes.
'Initially, everyone on the sets thought that Aamir was pulling a fast one, but only when he screamed in pain, everyone got into action.'
A physiotherapist was present on the set and he requested for a specialist to be called in. Aamir had to be carried and was taken to a local hospital.
Aamir Khan hurt, hospitalised
Aamir Khan was badly hurt while performing a stunt for the remake of the Tamil thriller ‘Ghajini’ on Wednesday at Ramuji Rao Studios, Hyderabad.He has been admitted to a city hospital and his wife Kiran has rached Hyderabad.
Shooting for the film has been postponed, which means that the release of the film would be delayed.
According to sources, Aamir Khan was shooting since 7 am in the morning. As he had to shoot intense action scenes, he wanted to finish the tougher sequences in the morning.
Around 11 am Aamir was shooting for a scene where he had to pick up a very bulky man and throw him against the wall. Unfortunately, Aamir pulled his hamstring muscle while he was enacting the action scene. Aamir just sat down and was unable to get up as he was in severe pain.
Immediately, a physiotherapist was called and he has been taking care of Aamir's injury since yesterday.
Aamir Khan once again changes the Director of his film
While the directorial responsibility in TZP changed when the film was almost complete, Delhi Belly has changed directors even before the shooting has started. The original choice to direct Aamir Khan's quirky and crisp sex comedy was the Swedish director Robert Nylund. No more so. The film has a new director and probably a new language as well.
Says a source close to the project, "Robert Nylund has been replaced by Abinay Deo who is veteran actors Ramesh and Seema Deo's younger son(the elder one, Ajinkya Deo, is a recognizable Marathi and Hindi actor) and the film was originally going to be in Hindi. It's now in English."
This is a big bright bustling break for the young ad-filmmaker who has already directed high-budgeted star-studded Pepsi and Cinthol ads. Shah Rukh Khan, Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone starred in his Pepsi ad while Hrithik was the lead in the Cinthol ad.
Says the source, "In an instant replay of what happened between Aamir and Amole Gupte during TZP. Aamir couldn't see eye to eye with the Swedish director. After Delhi Belly was without a director, Aamir was very impressed by Abhinay's ads. When they met, he found Abhinay to be bright and full of do-able ideas."
Apparently, Abhinay has been asked to direct Delhi Belly on the lines of Guy Ritchie's heist-caper Snatch. Says the source, "It would be a very naughty and sexy comedy unlike anything one would expect from Aamir. And yes, he's likely to play a part in it."
An open letter to Aamir Khan!
The Indian national football team captain, Bhaichung Bhutia, barely squeezed in 11 minutes of the mandatory 15 minutes of fame for his principled decision not to carry the Beijing bound Olympic torch in Delhi on April 17.Reason: somewhere between the 10th and the 11th minute his thunder was stolen by actor/director Aamir Khan who stated that he had a different way of wearing his conscience on his sleeve.
He would carry the torch but with a prayer in his heart for the people of Tibet. He said, "The Games did not belong to China but to the human race".
On screen, it would be called a nuanced piece of method acting. Off-screen it is called positioning.
Or is it just a coincidence that among the human race that owns the Games are official sponsors Coca-Cola, a brand Khan carries a torch for through endorsements?
Poor man, he will be running multiple overlaps - carrying the Olympic torch as a Coke team member, for humanity's claim to the Games and for the Tibetan cause against China's oppression. That's a lot of running of the treadmill kind.
It is a measure of Khan's reputation as a thinking individual that his recent sniper attempts to voice issues have not met with the usual disdain reserved for motor-mouth celebrities.
Largely, Khan's stance as explained on his blog - sans any mention of the Coke factor - has been hailed as a 'mature' decision, preserving India's diplomatic face while expressing support for Tibet.
Khan comes across as someone who is not afraid to take a position even if he stands to lose, who thinks through an issue carefully.
There's a catch. We are used to Aamir the perfectionist who can go to ridiculous lengths for the right tone to his role and has been content to let his films talk, who extended himself during the Mumbai riots (1992-93) and after the earthquake (2001) and violence (2002) in Gujarat without craving the public persona of a conscientious moral and intellectual force.
But his recent postures hint at a Khan driven to craft a second coming 'Rang De Basanti' style, by becoming a public figure of conscience -- taking off from roles dealing with issues of nationhood, fundamentalism and youth awakening to socio-political realities.
Except the perfectionism of Khan's reel life is somewhat missing in this real life role. It's not quite Aamir.Take his directorial debut 'Taare Zameen Par', released end-December 2007 and screened exclusively for L.K Advani in January 2008 on request. The bonhomie must have helped Khan in Gujarat, where violent protests had stalled his previous film 'Fanaa's release.
He had refused to apologise to Chief Minister Narendra Modi for expressing solidarity towards the Sardar Sarovar Dam oustees -- a stand worthy of admiration.
At a press conference Khan had said, "I want the people of India to see that here is a political party (BJP) that does not believe in democracy. Here is a party that does not believe in the rights of poor people..."
It was to a stalwart of the same party that Khan showed 'Taare'. Remember that 'Taare' had already seen a delayed release in Vadodara following protests. Besides, the chief minister Khan had defied was back a second time.
Khan says he is not a social activist. His primary responsibility is to entertain. If there is an issue he feels about, he can use his public personality to educate people. A completely valid viewpoint but educate is a big word, presupposing a certain organic attempt at understanding issues.
To react to the pain of the Sardar Sarovar Dam oustees by sitting in at an NBA (Narmada Bachao Andolan) dharna in Delhi is also a response.
But the only measure of such attempts is to see who benefits more by that action -- even if propelled by good motives. In an age of information glut, solidarity floating on naiveté soon starts looking flimsy.
A comparison may prove useful. As Coke's brand ambassador, Khan sought time to study the allegations of pesticide content in the aerated drink, and of river waters being polluted by Coke plants in several states.
He wanted to satisfy himself on certain points before choosing his path of action.
Huge endorsement fees may have been a factor, but Khan was conscious of being in the public domain where his actions could be read by everyone.
Similarly, on socio-political issues Khan can either indulge in impromptu behalf-ism or get his method right. At stake is credibility and moral capital, apart from the danger of getting caught in the crossfire by being an apolitical bleeding heart in layered political causes.
Khan can learn from reel life alter egos. Immature Sanju ('Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar') is transformed when he finally sees himself for who he is. Bhuvan's ('Lagaan') strength flows from knowing his context; catch him straying from it, no matter the number of mikes thrust aggressively at him.Carrying a torch with a heartfelt prayer must sound somewhat precious to those engaged in a do or die struggle, considering the Olympic movement has had an iconic history of political protest, by individuals and nations. Clubbing the Tibetan struggle with movements halfway across the globe, without seeing its context, is counterproductive.
Being generic has its limitations. In the public domain, a posture springing from honesty, however tentative, has its own rewards.
Under the harsh arc lights, an unfleshed role is so easy to catch. It is time to recognise your core and strengths, Aamir -- a la Sanju and Bhuvan.
Aamir Khan starrer Ghajini remake is titled Ghajini
Says the Ghajini director, A R Murugadoss, "Yes, we have decided to call it as Ghajini, same as the original film, as it has already got very popular and immediately gets identified with Aamir Khan among the Hindi film audiences. If you read Aamir Khan's blog; most of his blogs refer to the film or talk about the film as Ghajini … so after a lot of deliberation we have decided to go with the original title itself".
Now that the title is finalised and Aamir's new look revealed, we are just cant wait for the release day of Ghajini.
