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I want a girl this time: Hrithik Roshan
Hrithik Roshan and his wife Sussanne are expecting their second child in May and the actor says he would like to have a daughter this time.
'I don't want to say much about this. But, yes, we're very excited. I thought my excitement level would be lower the second time around, but it's as high,' Hrithik told IANS.
Would Hrithik like his second child to be a baby brother for Hrehaan? 'No,' he says firmly. 'I want a girl this time.'
Hrithik, who will be seen in the periodical Jodhaa-Akbar, set to hit the marquee Feb 15. He has gone straight to the pop art of advertising biscuits.
Last week, he was in Goa shooting for an ad with the gifted Navdeep Singh, who last year directed the talked-about noir film Manorama Six Feet Under.
It's one more ad for a biscuit company. The last time Hrithik shot an ad for the same guys, it showed him waltzing ethereally with Isha Sharvani. This time, Hrithik's partner in the ad format is upcoming model Gunjan Bakshi, who has so far mainly done ads for the print medium.
But sad luck, Gunjan! This time Hrithik doesn't dance in the ad. And that's quite a change for the actor.
'I'm aware a majority of the ads expect me to put on my dancing shoes. I can't say I've consciously avoided dancing for this one. But yes, when you sit down to create something with likeminded people, ideas do tend to be tossed freely and feelingly. I did feel the dancing bit in the ads was becoming tedious.'
Hrithik doesn't do much dancing in his next release Jodhaa-Akbar. And that isn't because he injured his knee during the shooting.
'That's completely untrue. I didn't get injured during Jodhaa Akbar. My knee had been suffering for a long time. I just let it be until it came to a point where it could take no more.'
The plus side of the injury is that Hrithik got to spend more time with his wife and son Hrehaan.
The downside? 'Well, here I am in Goa surrounded by the sun and sand. I'm staring at this inviting expanse of beach leading into a stretch of the bluest sea I've ever seen.
'And all I want to do is run with the sand and sea flapping on my feet and face. But I can't do that. Thanks to my knee. I've to behave myself if I want to again do what I love doing the most, namely action and dance.'
Original Post: http://mydiddle.co.cc/forum/i-want-a-girl-this-time-hrithik-roshan-dt841.html
Shah Rukh earns more from ads than movies
Shah Rukh Khan, the Badshah of Bollywood, is an even bigger king of the advertising world, according to his tax figures.
The superstar has paid an advance tax of Rs.270 million ($6.8 million) on his estimated income during the current financial year of 2007-08, but a major share of it has gone into paying for his income from endorsing a slew of products and other sources.
Sources in the advertising agency for which the superstar has worked reveal that his income from endorsements fetches him Rs.1.5 billion ($38 million) a year, the highest for any Indian advertising 'model'.
In comparison, though Amitabh Bachchan endorses more products than Khan, earnings from his annual endorsements do not cross Rs.1.2 billion.
Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, two other Bollywood stars who source a good part of their incomes from endorsements, earn a little less than Rs.1 billion each from advertising assignments annually. The rest of the Bollywood 'models' are all in the Rs.50- million income bracket.
Industry observers believe that apart from the top chair he occupies in Bollywood, Shah Rukh is going to maintain his prominent position in the advertising world as well for some more years as there is no one yet who can rival his charisma.
In the current fiscal, his earnings from this source may go a little above Rs.1.5 billion as he has been made brand ambassador of more products - and more are waiting, the sources added.
King Khan's earnings from endorsements stand at a notch much above the emoluments that he gets for starring in movies, which, according to his own admission, never goes beyond Rs.50-60 million per assignment.
A big chunk of his income from outside Bollywood in the current fiscal also came from hosting STAR Plus' Kaun Banega Crorepati quiz series for which he received Rs.10 million per episode.
Additionally, he also made a quick profit of Rs.400 million across the table by selling the world distribution rights of his home production Om Shanti Om to Eros International for Rs.750 million as against the production cost of Rs.350 million.
The profit that he earned from the deal was apart from the remuneration of Rs.50 million that he gave to himself for leading the cast in the movie.
Barring this, the actual figure of his earnings from starring in movies was only Rs.200 million, as he featured in four movies last year. Considering his current star-price, his income from movies in the current fiscal may not go beyond Rs.300 million, which is way below his average earnings from endorsements.
If Shah Rukh earns less from movies, it is because he is seen as the least greedy among the Bollywood stars. Any producer would vouch for it. While other stars generally hike their prices after each successful movie, Shah Rukh never increases his price as others do without thinking. Even after Om Shanti Om became a super-hit, he has decided against hiking his price.
'Shah Rukh chooses his movies carefully. First, the subject matter must appeal to him and, if it does, his opting to star in the movie would largely depend on the credibility and antecedents of the producer and the director,' said an executive of the star's production banner, Red Chillies Production.
'But once he has agreed to a movie, he would devote himself to it wholeheartedly and ensure that the producer never faces any problem in successfully completing it,' the executive, not wishing to be named, told IANS.
It is therefore no wonder that Shah Rukh has been seen to be working only for certain known banners in the last decade. It may even be said if any lesser-known production house rather than Yash Raj Films had approached him for a film like Chak De! India, he would have perhaps refused it.
'I have not seen him throwing star tantrums ever, like nitpicking on small things as most stars do. He comes to the sets and gets involved in shooting right away. As a matter of fact, on the sets, he never behaves like a star,' said a production controller, the professional who on behalf of the producer takes care of the needs of the stars during shoots.
In contrast, Shah Rukh behaves like a 'star' when he shoots for TV commercials. There he refuses to compromise on anything, particularly on his price.
Says he: 'Why should I compromise? TV commercials are what they are - commercials.
'The companies that manufacture the brands pay the advertising agencies to make the commercials and the companies do so in order to boost their sales. The agencies, on their part, use me as a prop to meet the demands of the companies. So there! If you use me as a prop to climb up, pay me. Unlike my price for movies, I have no fixed price for my appearance in commercials.'
But don't the producers sign him up essentially to boost box-office performance of their movies?
The superstar counters this question, saying he is beholden to Bollywood because it made him the superstar that he is today. He says his charging less for movie appearances is his little gesture of gratitude towards the industry.
'Had the industry not put me in a position where I am today, would the companies have chosen me to be their brand ambassadors?' he asks.
Is King Khan, then, robbing Peter to pay Paul? As one advertising agency executive put it: 'He is, but he has made his 'larceny' seem like a social service.'
Original Post: http://mydiddle.co.cc/forum/shah-rukh-earns-more-from-ads-than-movies-dt839.html
Let us smoke on screen, says Shah Rukh Khan
Actor and smoker Shah Rukh Khan has declined a request by the health minister that he quit cigarettes, at least on screen.
Anbumani Ramadoss, the health minister, says the habits of celebrities such as Khan are an enormous influence on young people. But Khan, Hindi cinema's most bankable star, sees no grounds for censorship.
"I think there is a huge amount of creative freedom that should be allowed in cinema," he told a press conference broadcast on the Times Now news channel on Monday. "It is make-believe ... We should not have huge censorship."
Khan recently played a glamorous Mumbai gangster in the film Don, which was advertised with a lingering shot of him exhaling slow-motion billows of cigarette smoke at the screen, cut with shots of him in sharp clothes and dancing with beautiful women.
But even if film heroines are not repelled by the habit, Ramadoss is.
"Please don't smoke in your movies, Mr Shah Rukh Khan," the health minister said in an interview with CNN-IBN broadcast on Sunday. "Children are being affected. Fourteen-year-olds are taking to tobacco."
More than half of Indian men and about one in 10 Indian women smoke or chew tobacco, according to government figures.
Ramadoss has been pushing for restrictive laws to put people off the addictive habit, which can cause cancers and other diseases.
He proposed an outright ban on smoking onscreen in 2006 and that tobacco packets be emblazoned with grisly photographs of smoking-related diseases, but neither suggestion has yet made it into law.
However, Khan stressed that he was no advocate for smoking, even if his art requires him to light up occasionally.
"Every time I'm in front of a television channel I always say, 'children, don't smoke, it kills you.'" He told reporters. "It's the worst habit and I want to give it up as soon as possible."
Original post: http://mydiddle.co.cc/forum/let-us-smoke-on-screen-says-shah-rukh-khan-dt838.html
Saif Slits His Hand For Kareena
After going to the extent of tatooing Kareena’s name on his hand, Saif Ali Khan dares to be the Arm in Shining Armour once again, for his damsel Kareena Kapoor who doesn’t seem to be in any distress.
Whilst on the shooting of “Tashaan “ in Greece, some of Bebo’s Pals asked him as to what extent he could go for his love- Kareena.
Much to the shock of her friends and an amused Kareena who was awaiting his reply, Saif did a dare devil stunt of slitting his palm with a knife which was lying nearby.
Now that his act wasn’t irreversible, he went around telling everyone that the injury was caused due to meddling with a broken pane of glass.
All this love fizzled out when the couple had an argument on the last day of the schedule.
Says the source, “On the last day of the schedule, Bebo and Saif had a tiff, after which Saif repeatedly tried calling Bebo who was in her van. But she didn’t answer his calls. Finally Saif tried calling the make-up artist and hair dresser, in order to get in touch with Bebo. But Bebo had given strict instructions to them too not to answer his calls.”
All indeed is not fair in Love and War!!!!!!!!
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