Tag Archives: Shah Rukh Khan

Mumbai’s travel company sets example with influencers, sends them to Umrah for a spiritual connect

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Mumbai, MAHARASHTRA:

Mumbai’s travel company sets example with influencers, sends them to Umrah for a spiritual connect© Provided by Free Press Journal

While the world is fast moving forward with technology, how could search for spiritual journey lag behind. Sometimes you don’t aim to offer your services just to increase your clientele or followers, it’s just a way to open the door to a spiritual journey, especially when you are young.

Mumbai’s Cosmic Tours and a few social media influencers joined hands for this very reason. While Cosmic provided their expertise, the social media influencers dished out their  platforms as they embarked upon the journey to the Holy cities of Makkah & Madina.

“It was an attempt to help people connect with their spiritual side,” Baba Ebrahim of Cosmic Tours made their intentions clear.

Based out of Pydhonie, Cosmic has been operating Hajj, Umrah excursions since 1990.

The operator claims they have spread their wings not only in India, but even abroad with just word of mouth publicity.

“Besides India, pilgrims join us from America, UK, New Zealand, Barbados. Currently we have a couple pilgrims from Japan. We are slowly working on that region as well,” the operator said.

Cosmic Tours, however, is aiming to move with time. They feel social media influencers and actors are now paying attention to their spiritual side as well. “Even Shah Rukh Khan went for Umrah recently,” he said.

Check Instagram handle of Cosmic Tours

“They want to connect with the fans who seek spiritual motivation. They not only on Instagram, but are on YouTube as well. They are, in fact, on all over social media channels. They are present in the Metaverse. They are everywhere now, on TV soaps, dance shows and reality shows.”

Recently, Cosmic Tours had Faisal Shaikh aka Faisu (29.4 million Instagram followers), Faiz Baloch (9.6 million Instagram followers) and Shayan Siddiqui (7,80,000 Instagram followers) for Umrah.

Check pictures below

If Cosmic Tours is to be believed, there is no particular age group that goes for Umrah. Today, even children go for Umrah. “Earlier, only old people would go for Umrah, but now everyone goes,” he said. 

According to them, their only motive in taking social media influencers was not only to target youngsters for Hajj and Umrah, but every individual who is active on social media.

“We are not chasing results. We have already achieved the result. Those who have joined us bear testimony to our services. Apart from our achievements and awards received in this field, it is just that people are acknowledging our effort and services,” he said.

Most pilgrims for Cosmic are repeaters. “We wanted to target their followers, especially the young lot. We want to reach out to people in each and every corner of the world. And that is possible through this move and their own presence on social media,” he said.

source: http://www.freepressjournal.in / The Free Press Journal / Home> Lifestyle / by Mufeed Mahdi Rizvi / April 05th, 2023

The Hindu Lit for Life 2023 | In conversation with Shrayana Bhattacharya, author of Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh

Books (incl.Biographies - w.e.f.01 jan 2018 ), , , , ,

NEW DELHI:

Shrayana Bhattacharya will speak at The Hindu Lit for Life in Chennai on February 25, 2023.

Shrayana Bhattacharya’s Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh: India’s Lonely Young Women and the Search for Intimacy and Independence is one of those interdisciplinary books that defy easy categorisation. 

It is primarily a book about Indian women, their aspirations, their systemically undervalued labour, and the other socio-economic inequities they continue to be subjected to. The narrative just happens to be strung together by Shah Rukh Khan fandom. Like the projectionist of yore bounced images off a wall for our viewing pleasure, these women project their hopes and desires onto their favourite star’s movies.

As the author, who will be a part of  The Hindu Lit for Life in Chennai on February 25, says in the preface, “My primary interest is to shed light on the trajectories of a few Indian women as they travelled from the 1990s into the 2020s with a film star for companionship. These journeys are as far from feminist principles as Shah Rukh’s films are. Their politics may not live up to progressive ideals. But the messy beliefs on display serve as important guides to understand the lived experiences of Indian women without active Twitter handles, those considered too ordinary to find mention in the news.”

The book has recently been translated to Hindi as well. “I remember when the book was first released in November 2022, the way it was discussed was quite funny,” says Bhattacharya, an economist with the World Bank. “The people who’ve blurbed the book are well-known economists. Despite that, some people thought the book was erotic fan fiction. Perhaps because they saw Shah Rukh’s name on the cover? It took them a while to register that the book is actually about gender and economics, and that the actor is an entry point, a research method.”

Channelling SRK’s fandom

The ‘research method’ bit was especially important because it became a way for Bhattacharya to connect with the young women (especially those belonging to villages or really small towns) she was interviewing. Also, the author feels, her own status as a single woman, living alone and earning her own money, became a point of connection for some. But the one thing that was a constant was the instant likeability of the Shah Rukh fandom. With time and patience and slow, unhurried engagement, she began to win them over.

Shahrukh Khan fan club members at a theatre in Guwahati on the day of the release of ‘Pathaan’, January 25, 2023. | Photo Credit: PTI

“These women connected with me because I could speak the language of Shah Rukh Khan,” Bhattacharya says. “I am a believer in slow, laboured, gradual engagement. And I’m very clear about the fact that this is how I want to write my next book as well. I want it to be longitudinal. When I met these women, it was for a research project but I wasn’t tied to a deadline and that difference in approach is significant.”

What of the man himself, then? With Pathaan, Khan has just scored the biggest hit of his career. His fan clubs have never been more vocal and there’s every chance that his next film,  Jawan, which sees him teaming up with Tamil stalwarts Vijay Sethupathi and Nayanthara, will be an even bigger success. According to Bhattacharya, most of the fan videos shot around  Pathaan feature mostly men, and when she watched the movie herself at a 7 a.m. show in Saket, the hall had “maybe five or six women”.

The matinee idol

“I just want to clarify that there’s a large — though not as vocal — Shah Rukh fan base among women and while they’re happy at his success, they also hope he will do a romantic film again soon. Someone recently told me that Shah Rukh’s scenes with Dimple Kapadia are how you know he’s an irrepressible matinee idol — no man in the Indian defence establishment would have been okay with a woman wielding that much power!”

Significantly,  Pathaan also shows the superstar acknowledging his age and the fact that younger, perhaps hungrier competitors are circling the throne. However, as the post-credits scene with Salman Khan makes it clear, the King is in no mood to slow down just yet.

“I particularly enjoyed the little hat-tips to middle age in  Pathaan,” Bhattacharya says. “The coffees and the back pain and the painkillers. I’ve always said that Shah Rukh Khan exists to make South Asian men feel bad about themselves and even at 58 or 60, he will continue to do that.”

The writer and journalist is working on his first book of non-fiction.

The Hindu Lit for Life 2023 is, Powered by Life Insurance Corporation of India, Jewellery Partner: joyalukkas, Banking Partner : Indian Bank Associate Partners: Nitte Meenakshi Institute of technology, Hindustan Group of Institutions , State Bank of India & VFS Global Realty Partner: Casagrand, Knowledge Partner: SSVM Institutions Bookstore Partner: Higginbothams & Gift Partner : Anand Prakash

Registration link : bit.ly/THLFL23

Click here to register for The Hindu Lit For Life.

source: http://thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Books / by Aditya Mani Jha / February 17th, 2023

Khancompletion of the nation

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INDIA :

Ours is the only nation in the world to have three major film stars with the surname Khan who can proudly boast of having another famous person with the exact same name

The arrival of Tamil Nadu cricketer Shahrukh Khan, whose ₹9 crore IPL deal catapulted him into mainstream attention, marks another proud moment in the rise of India as a nation of unique global status and importance. 

This makes us the only nation in the world to have three major film stars with the surname Khan who can proudly boast of having another famous person with the exact same name. A world record. 

Until the advent of Shahrukh Khan (the cricketer, not the actor), Shah Rukh Khan (the actor, not the cricketer) must undoubtedly have been at least mildly jealous of Salman Khan (the actor, not the…er…you get the drift) for having another Salman Khan (the Khan academy guy) and of Aamir Khan (the actor) for possessing an equivalent Amir Khan (the boxing champ). It cannot possibly be easy being the only superstar named Khan without a 1:1 mapping to another celebrity from a completely different walk of life. It must have been keeping him up at night. He might have been scouring social media to find at least one other Shahrukh Khan with some potential for global fame. Thankfully, his heart will now be at peace. 

Surely, this landmark that India has achieved will trigger the envy of other so-called world powers like the United States and China, who have always been resentful of our glorious ancient past and our recent rise as a modern economic and cultural force. It is possible that, even as you read this, foreign powers are conspiring to unearth some pastry chef named Tom Cruise or cryptocurrency baron named Jackie Chan, just to discredit and defame India. 

There are already negative-minded people who are pointing out discrepancies in the corresponding Khan names, just in order to take the sheen off India’s record. “You will notice that the cricketer goes by Shahrukh as a single name, unlike the actor who has carelessly inserted a space between the Shah and the Rukh. So it doesn’t really count” they might argue. “There’s an extra A in Aamir Khan’s name, which the boxing dude is clearly lacking” they may complain. But, to quote Inigo Montoya (and you should always quote Inigo Montoya when you get the chance), I reply with “Don’t bother me with trifles”. Only a cynic or an anti-national would allow such bothersome technicalities to detract from the collective joy that always springs forth from national triumph. 

But the statistics don’t lie, as clearly demonstrated by official numbers on unemployment, GDP and COVID-19 cases in Uttar Pradesh, and they present irrefutable evidence that no other country even comes close to us. Some desperate people will point to the UK radio host named Chris Evans, or to the fact that Katy Perry and Michael Keaton were originally named Katy Hudson and Michael Douglas respectively, or to how Michael B. Jordan can be Michael Jordan — but they’re missing the point entirely. Anyone with a keen understanding of maths, such as Salman Khan (the Khan academy guy, not the actor), Nirmala Sitharaman, or Byju Raveendran can point out the critical feature in India’s Khan collection — all six celebrities in the set share the same surname. Like Don Bradman’s batting average, or the number of hero roles played by Prem Nazir, it’s a record that’s probably never going to be broken. 

If T. Rajender were to sum up the whole thing, he might say, “All the other countries are incomplete, but India is the only country that is khancomplete.” 

Anand Ramachandran is a Chennai-based writer and game designer who likes playing games with his writing. 

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Opinion> The Portzebie Papers / by Anand Ramachandran / March 12th, 2022

Jannat Mari is Shah Rukh Khan’s brainchild: Bilal Siddiqi on ‘Bard of Blood’

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Books (incl.Biographies - w.e.f.01 jan 2018 ), , , , , , , , ,

Mumbai, MAHARASHTRA :

EmraanHashimiMPOs25sept2019

Ahead of its release this Friday, Bard of Blood writers Bilal Siddiqi and Mayank Tewari discuss the challenges involved in adapting a book into a seven-episode TV format

In 2015, at the book launch of The Bard of Blood, author Bilal Siddiqi and novelist, Hussain Zaidi, made jokes on Emraan Hashmi as to how he is the right candidate to essay RAW agent Kabir Anand, without considering the eventuality that would transpire four years later. Bilal agrees that he did not put an image to the character while writing, and that the casting of Emraan Hashmi happened organically. “When you have a star like Emraan on board, it will obviously elevate the viewership of the show. He embodied the character and brought in lots of nuances to Kabir Anand,” says Bilal Siddiqi, who has written the screenplay of Bard of Blood along with writer Mayank Tewari, known for writing Newton and The Accidental Prime Minister.

Inside the writer’s world

The biggest selling point of The Bard of Blood was Bilal’s age (he was 20) — too young to be dealing with guns, agents and weapons of mass destruction (read: third world politics). But his fascination for the espionage genre stems from his mentor Hussain Zaidi, with whom he assisted in books like Byculla to Bangkok, Mumbai Avengers and My Name Is Abu Salem. Bilal wrote a brief outline of Kabir Singh, the protagonist of The Bard of Blood, and says he never had the intention to make it into a novel. “He [Zaidi] liked whatever I had written and sent it to my publisher. They called me one day, asking to finish the book so that they can take a call. I somehow managed to fulfil my dream of writing,” he says.

He was “subconsciously influenced” by Zaidi, who had one advice for him: ‘Make it visceral and graphic’. That he did when he sat with Mayank Tewari in the writer’s room, having discussions back and forth on how to better the book. “Bilal was very proactive in saying, ‘let us use this material as a springboard to take it to the next level’. Since it was written five years back, we had to spend more time on the screenplay to make it relevant and real,” says Mayank Tewari, adding that the duo has taken the “best chunk from the book”.

Unlike The Accidental Prime Minister, which was non-fiction, the challenge for Mayank was to construct scenes that drives the characters throughout the season, in a satisfying way for the audience. “The one good advantage is that, all characters were sharply etched out. There were some really good lines in the book, which we have retained,” he adds. Mayank did have heated exchanges with Bilal on how to interpret Balochistan. He quips, “But that’s what makes the collaboration rewarding, right? Disagreements lead to fruitful agreements. And everything was in the spirit of making a good show.”

Writing a novel has its own perks. For instance, Bilal had the luxury to use The Bard of Blood as a device to get into the character’s psyche, exploring his inner voice and go overboard with the descriptions — a counter to the film format, where you need to show these things on screen rather than tell. He admits that they had to tone down the details, adding, “Screenplay is like a manual for filmmakers to shoot. So, it is a different ball game and Mayank has given some valuable inputs.”

Bilal acknowledges the timely suggestions of Shah Rukh Khan, who has produced it along with Netflix. In fact, Jannat Mari, the character played by Kirti Kulhari, is Shah Rukh Khan’s brainchild and was not there in the book. “He [SRK] saw the pitch before it went to Netflix. The series has several characters that were not part of the book. In that sense, you can say that Bard of Blood is the best version of my book.”

(The writer was in Mandawa at the invitation of Netflix)

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Entertainment> Movies / by Srivatsan S / September 24th, 2019

Shah Rukh Khan meets former Mexican President

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, World Opinion, ,

Shah Rukh Khan with Vicente Fox and Martha Fox.
Shah Rukh Khan with Vicente Fox and Martha Fox.

Shah Rukh Khan and former Mexican President Vicente Fox met on the sets of Red Chillies Entertainment Pvt Ltd’s film ‘Happy New Year’ on Feb 11, which is currently being shot in RK Studios in Mumbai. Fox was accompanied by his wife, Martha Fox, and the current Mexican ambassador to India Jamie Nualart. They discussed everything from Bollywood films, to things about Mexico and the importance of education. 

About the meeting, Fox said, “We have been visiting many places, but meeting SRK and talking to him we feel he is a great person. The set is fabulous and the activity is just amazing. We hope that Mr Shah Rukh Khan would visit us at Mexico some day.” Well, no-one ever doubted SRK’s diplomatic skills!

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> Entertainment> Hindi> Bollywood / by Reza Noorani, TNN / February 13th, 2014

Shah Rukh Khan tops Forbes Celebrity List for the second time

Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment,

ShahrukhMPos04jan2014

Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan has been named the most powerful celebrity of 2013 by Forbes India for the second time in a row.

The 48-year-old actor has conquered the Top 100 celebrity list with the help of his popularity and earnings from his mega hit film ‘Chennai Express’ this year.

Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni moved up from the third spot last year and has come in at the number two spot with his immense popularity and endorsement deals.

Bollywood star Salman Khan slipped from his second position last year and earned the third spot in the list. They are followed by Sachin Tendulkar at number 4, and megastar Amitabh Bachchan, who retained his position, completing the top five on the list.

Bachchan is followed by Bollywood action star Akshay Kumar, who has come in at number 6.

There have been two exits from the top 10 this time. Actress Kareena Kapoor and swashbuckling cricketer Virendra Sehwag have made way for actors Ranbir Kapoor at number 8 and Hrithik Roshan at number 10.

Cricketer Virat Kohli is the youngest celebrity to make it to the top 10 this year.

Katrina Kaif is the only woman who has made it to the Top 10.

Nearly a fourth of the list in 2013 comprises newcomers. The notable ones include Ravindra Jadeja (28), Shikhar Dhawan (39), Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy (52), Ranveer Singh (66), Prakash Jha (67).

Superstar Kamal Haasan didn’t make it to list the last year, but the controversy and success of his film ‘Vishwaroopam’ ensured he was in at number 47. Sridevi has also made it to the list at 73rd spot.

source: http://www.dnaindia.com / DNA / Home> Entertainment> Report / Agency: PTI / Friday – December 13th,  2013