'My Name is Khan' grosses $18 mn worldwide in opening weekend

Shah Rukh Khan starrer “My Name is Khan” has grossed an estimated $18 million at the worldwide box office in its first weekend.
A love story set against the backdrop of racial discrimination post 9/11, “My Name Is Khan” has struck a chord with audiences around the world.
“The most exciting part is that the worldwide collections jumped every day from Friday to Saturday to Sunday. This shows that the audience is absolutely loving Rizwan and Mandira (the lead characters),” Vijay Singh, CEO Fox Star Studios, the Indian distributor of the film, said in a statement.
The film features Shah Rukh as Rizwan Khan who embarks on a journey across America to win back the love of his life, Mandira, played by Kajol. It shows how, along the way, his personality touches the lives of many and inspires a nation.

Filmmaker Karan Johar is ecstatic at the reaction.
“I am overwhelmed by the unprecedented audience response for our film. The audience has the power, and more power to them,” Karan Johar said in a press release.
The movie is being marketed and distributed by Fox Star in India, in the US by its sister company Fox Searchlight, and in the rest of the world by parent group company 20th Century Fox International.
In India, despite the issues in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Indore and other centres on Friday and part of Saturday, the film has opened exceptionally well. In states where the film opened normally, including Delhi-Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, the collections have been the highest ever.

I want to say sorry to Shah Rukh, Karan – Priyadarshan

During a television appearance, filmmaker Priyadarshan called the conflict between the Shiv Sena and Shah Rukh Khan a publicity stunt, but he now says he has been quoted out of context and would like to apologise to the actor as well as director Karan Johar.
Following his comment, Priyadarshan has apparently been put on the ‘block’ list of many important cellphones in Mumbai.
But he says: “I was quoted out of context. I’d never speak like that about Shah Rukh Khan and Karan Johar.

My name is Khan

Director Karan Johar is in unfamiliar territory here. No candyfloss romance, no sweet nothings, nobody breaking into song. Just the super intelligent Rizwan, who has Asperger’s Syndrome, a form of autism, his halting voice with his inability to communicate, and his many relationships – with his mother, his brother, and yes, Mandira, and her son Sam.
Move over Rahul, Rizwan is here. Shah Rukh makes the transition from the eternal romantic to the intense Rizwan who finds love and loses it some years later when his Khan identity becomes all important in a tense, suspicious America. You sit through three hours waiting to get a glimpse of Shah Rukh through Rizwan Khan, but it doesn’t happen.
If Shah Rukh lives and breathes Rizwan in what is one of his finest roles, Kajol as Mandira, the vivacious single mother, is also good – as always. The chemistry between them if not always crackling, then heartwarming.
It’s an unlikely romance, not very easy to portray. But it’s dealt with a light touch. There they are sitting on either side of the bed after their wedding with Mandira telling Rizwan, who doesn’t like to be hugged, that this is something they can’t do without touching. It’s a scene that could quite easily have gone wrong, but it doesn’t.
All credit to Karan Johar for that.
Like a piece of music that gradually rises to grand crescendo, “My Name Is Khan” begins with Rizwan as a child with his mother – so good to see Zarina Wahab after such a long time – in a tenement in Mumbai and ends with cheers from the US’ first African American president in a crowded rally.
It’s from his mother that Rizwan learns his first lessons of humanity; as the 1983 Mumbai riots rage outside, she tells the young boy that the world is divided into good people and bad people.
It is this essential humanism that carries Rizwan through from Mumbai to San Francisco where his brother stays, then to the suburb of Banville where he moves in with Mandira and Sam, and even when he is taken to be a terror suspect.
Sam, his “only best friend”, is subjected to a vicious race attack because he takes on Rizwan’s surname. Mandira hits back, saying that the worst thing she could have done was marry a Khan and Rizwan is out on the roads – unable to articulate his feelings but backpacking his way across the US to meet “president sahib” so he can tell him: “My name is Khan and I am not a terrorist.”
It is a road journey through a troubled post 9/11 America towards humanism and the essential goodness of the human spirit.
This is a US where chanting the name of Allah gets you into trouble, where the word terrorist and Khan in conjunction can put you behind bars. Rizwan moves from being a terror suspect to a nationwide hero who exposes a terror mastermind. And then, the man with the mission who travels to Wilhelmina that is literally drowning in a hurricane to supervise a heroic rescue mission.
There’s Afghanistan and Iraq, Bush and Obama too. The US’ first African American president is voted in and, in that final feel good moment Rizwan meets him in front of thousands of people and his goodness is validated.
Plenty of great one liners. When he is refused entry into a presidential fundraiser for the poor in Africa that is only for Christians, he leaves behind $500 saying: “This if for those who are not Christians in Africa.”
The music by Shankar Ehsaan Loy is superb. This is not a film without flaws, it is at least 20 minutes too long for one and flags in the pre-interval period, but here is one straight from the heart. It has a message, in these days of tensions over language and religion, one which needs to be heard.
Go watch.

Dharmendra, Bobby to play conmen in ‘Yamla Pagla Deewana’

Samir Karnik’s “Yamla Pagla Deewana” will see Dharmendra and Bobby Deol as a conmen duo. The directors says preparations for the film have brought the father and son closer.
Earlier Bobby used to be intimidated by his father in real life, Karnik said.
“Not so any longer. Thanks to the preparation for my film, both Bobby and Sunny have loosened up with their dad,” Karnik, who will shoot in Varanasi in April, told IANS.
The film also stars Sunny as an upright man married to a Canadian living in Canada. He gets to know after two decades that he has a father and brother in Varanasi. The film is about Sunny’s journey into his past and into a culture that he had left behind.
While Bobby is paired with television actress Kulraj Randhawa, the Canadian leading lady for Sunny is yet to be finalised.
The film went on floors this week.
“We release ‘Yamala Pagla Deewana’ on December 24, Aamir Khan’s slot. This year he won’t have any release in the last week of December. So we’ve decided to release our film in that slot,” said Karnik.
Incidentally Karnik’s lucky mascot, little Dwij Yadav of “Nanhe Jaisalmer” fame, won’t be part of “Yamla Pagla Deewana”.
“Let him grow up off camera now. He’s my insurance for the future, just like Rakesh Roshan has Hrithik,” said the director emotionally.
The film’s title is obviously inspired by the chartbuster song “Main jat yamla pagla deewana” from Dharmendra’s 1975 blockbuster “Pratiggya”.
Karnik, who intends to record a remix version of the Mohammad Rafi hit, has introduced a new composing duo Nouman Javed (from Pakistan) and Rahul Seth.
“I heard Nouman’s music on the Internet and asked him to send me his songs on the MP3 format. Then I took another new composer Rahul Seth to Dubai and we recorded the songs.”
While doing a re-mix of the old hit may be considered a stroke of clever marketing, bringing the father and his two sons together hardly qualifies as a novel strategy.
“I know Dharamji, Sunny and Bobby have been brought together earlier in ‘Apne’. But that was a very emotional drama. ‘Yamala Pagla Deewana’ is an out-and-out comedy,” said Karnik.

Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh ‘2 Idiots’ – Shiv Sena

After targeting Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan for his remarks supporting the inclusion of Pakistani cricketers in the IPL, the Shiv Sena Saturday dragged in Aamir Khan, calling the duo “2 Idiots”.
“In real life, Aamir and Shah Rukh have been proved as ‘2 Idiots’ as both are making stupid statements supporting the cause of Pakistani cricketers,” said a statement in the party’s Hindi mouthpiece Dopahar Ka Saamna.
“On the one hand, while SRK is openly displaying his love for Pakistani players, Aamir has even put nationalistic sentiments in his utterances on this issue,” said the statement in the tabloid, which hit the stands this afternoon.
“According to Aamir, if any cricketer is good, he would like to have him in his team, it makes no difference to him which country he belongs to,” said the statement.
The statement is accompanied by a digitally altered picture of the recent record blockbuster “3 Idiots”. It shows the head of Aamir (the star and promoter of the movie) popping out of a drum and SRK sticking his tongue from another drum – signifying the accompanying heading of “2 Idiots”.

Dharmendra, Bobby to play conmen in ‘Yamla Pagla Deewana’

Katrina Kaif, who has bagged a nomination at the upcoming 55th Filmfare Awards in best actor category for her role in “New York”, says she is happy with the nomination and won’t mind if someone else wins the trophy.

“Everyone wants to win, everyone wants to be successful. When you make a movie, you want it to be a hit and successful. When you are nominated of course you want to win. But honestly I am so used to not winning that just the nomination is enough,” she said.

“I cannot complain as my awards have been so great from the audiences. I am happy just to be nominated. I would have a great time performing at the show,” the actress told reporters at a press conference of 55th Filmfare Awards here Wednesday.

“At the end of the day the jury gives these awards. Everyone’s opinion is going to be different. You know more than the performances, for example, the best actress category, I always want the film to win… a film that I am in,” she added.

Katrina will perform at the the award function to be held Feb 27 at the Yash Raj Studios and she has teamed up with her favourite choreographer Ganesh Hegde to prepare for her performance.

“We haven’t confirmed on which songs I am going to perform. We have only confirmed the choreographer and he is Ganesh Hegde. He is one of my favourites so I think it’s going to be a phenomenal act this time. I am really excited and we are going to start practice this Thursday,” said Katrina.

Sanjay Dutt to star in political thriller?

“Yes, it (the cast) is more or less finalised. While R. Madhavan is already on board, talks with Sanjay Dutt are in the final stages as well,” Agnihotri told IANS.
The film would begin from the 1975-77 Emergency and the sterilisation campaign by Sanjay Gandhi during that period. Some of the other major episodes which would be brought alive on screen are the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, the Bofors scam, and other prominent scams in the last three decades.
Given the fact that the director is exploring more than half a dozen ugly episodes from the history of modern India, doesn’t he fear protests and confrontation from political parties as well as others?
“What can one do, the truth can’t be erased, right?” Agnihtri asked. “And then courtesy the kind of politicians that we have been having in the country, both in the past as well as the current times, you can’t deny the relevance and topicality of the issues.
“Perhaps people have changed but not the thought process. ‘Freedom’ will be told in the format of a political thriller and I can promise to be truly honest and unbiased in my job.”
Would the story be told in a chronological manner or would there be overlaps and going back and forth, as seen last in “Love Aaj Kal”?
“No, ‘Freedom’ will have a linear narrative”, said Agnihotri, who had earlier attempted a non-linear narrative in his debut effort “Chocolate”. “The beauty of the subject is that it stays as topical as ever as it starts in the 70s and takes us to the current times. Even if I had to make ‘Freedom’ in 2020, it will still retain its charm.”
Agnihotri’s wish list includes Malayalam superstar Mohan Lal while the hunt for the leading lady is still on.
“Freedom” is all set to go on floors in April.