Shah Rukh's joke on Balmiki irates people

His dimpled smile and witty humour won hearts and made him the king of Bollywood.

But looks like it will take some time before Shah Rukh Khan earned the same status on the small screen.

SRK’s remarks on Maharishi Balmiki on TV show Kaun Banega Crorepati has landed him in a fresh controversy. Activists of a religious group — Bhartiya Balmiki Dharam Samaj — on Wednesday burnt effigies of Khan and the director of Star Plus to show their resentment against the derogatory remarks.

The community described his comments as “derogatory” and claims that they have “hurt their religious sentiments.” The activists have even demanded a written apology from Khan and the channel, its president Hans Raj said.

Going by the Television Audience Measurement (TAM) ratings, a lot of people haven't liked SRK as a replacement to the previous show anchor — Bollwood star Amitabh Bachchan.

The TAM ratings showed a dip in viewership for the popular quiz show, suggesting that Shah Rukh Khan is perhaps not doing a good job on KBC3.

Shah Rukh, on his part, feels fairly pleased with his small-screen performance. "I think I am doing good and the reason I know that I am doing good is because I get to hear it from a lot of people. There are also a lot of figures and analysis that speak only good things," he says.

Shah Rukh's thoughts behind Karle Karle tu ek sawaal video

The KBC3 promotional music video “Karle Karle tu ek sawaal" directed, conceptualized, choreographed and sung by Ganesh Hegde projects the very charismatic Shahrukh Khan in a cool hip way. King Khan is happy with the way Hedge has choreographed the video. The album is releasing on the 10th of Feb 2007 on T-series.

Says Shahrukh Khan, “The thought behind the song is really nice…it encourages query and questions in a fun way, not like an exam. It says knowledge can be fun. First time Ganesh has lent his voice for playback and I think I am thankful he has done it with me. The conceptualization to present me in a different way was completely Ganesh's idea. Vishal Shekhar came up with the tune in a minute when they heard what Ganesh was planning. “karle karle…” has turned out to be an interesting mix of foot tapping way of encouraging the quest for knowledge.”

SRK has amazingly taken everything in his stride. He now seems unperturbed and accustomed to all sort of comparisons to Big B. Like people say, he has incorporated his own wit and style on the show (KBC).

Hats off to the undisputed ‘badshah of Bollywood’!

Shah Rukh sinking with KBC- Part 5

KBC Slipping, Shah Rukh needs a lifeline.....

FINALLY, THE eyeball verdict on Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) is out and audiences have given Shah Rukh Khan the thumbs down.

Tam Media data for the first four days of KBC3, which opened on January 22, showed a television viewership rating (TVR) of 12.33. Amitabh Bachchan had a bigger opening on KBC2 on August 5, 2005, with a TVR of 19.75.

It gets worse. After the initial curiosity about SRK’s performance, many viewers seem to have tuned out. On January 23, KBC3 notched a TVR of 10.44 and 7.36 the next day. The show recovered to an extent on Janu ary 25, hitting 9.24.

Compared to the diminishing numbers for SRK, the Big B’s audience grew with each passing day KBC1 opened . with a TVR of 10.59 on July 3, 2000, rising to 10.79 on July 4, 13.64 on July 5 and 14.32 on July 6. It peaked on October 19, 2000, with a huge TVR of 26.55.

Star has a defence. Paritosh Joshi, the network’s president (ad sales and distribution), said the number of persons ‘reached’ on SRK’s first day was 23 million compared to Bachchan’s 18 million. ‘Reach’ is defined as all those who saw the show for at least a minute. TVR, on the other hand, incorporates the number of persons who tuned in for the duration.

Does that mean less ‘stickiness’ for SRK?

An audience study by Optimum Media Solutions supports the view that people were not sticking with SRK. Only 44 per cent of respondents watched all three episodes of KBC3, 25 per cent watched only the first episode and 30 per cent watched two episodes. HT/3Feb

I dont want to hug you, Mr. Khan

A mind boggling totally Shah Rukh inclined article from Shobori Ganguli on how Amithabh Bachchan falls from grace after making some not so kind remarks to Shah Rukh Khan.

The article is piercing enough but however revolves around the premise of ‘what-would-happen-to-Big-B-without-KBC’ through out.

Jodir kotha nodi tey felun madam…now all must have realized how different the two actors are…can anyone dare to say to Amithabh ‘No…I own hug you, rather I will quit.’ That’s what the Haryanvi lady actually said to Shah Rukh on episode 8.

Shah Rukh’s strategically whitewashing people’s mind with ‘Jadu ka Jhappi’ syndrome actually losses its sheen there. Actually SRK wants to hijack the idea of hugging all and sundry from the original Jadu ka Jhappi dude Sanjay Dutt. He is certainly not copying Big B there….he is copying Sanju Baba. The way he tried to copy Aamir Khan by making Asoka after Lagaan and wants to sell deshprem in Swades...a original copycat..sheep...mehmehmehmeh

Why the Haryanvi lady, even Leeladhar from Rajasthan (episode 7) also was not comfortable hugging Shah Rukh. He also wished to quit when Shah Rukh asked him “wont you hug me?” Embarrassed Leeladhar then murmured, ‘Hug me Shah Rukh Bhai.’

Shobori Ganguly's article here:

Amitabh's fall from grace


The most thankless comment of the year: "KBC was becoming monotonous. I felt I was becoming mechanical. As an artiste, I needed to have the butterflies in my stomach - that had stopped." The most pompous comment of the year: "That's too little" (on Brand Bachchan being worth Rs 700 crore). Finally, the most graceless comment of the year: "I would like to see Shah Rukh Khan as an inspiration. I want to do better, make better films, so he can copy me." Coming from a man seen as the millennium's most humble living legend, these remarks betray a curious pomposity in Amitabh Bachchan, an unbecoming fall from grace. This is certainly not the man who once said, "I have never really been confident about my career at any stage."

Memory, they say, plays strange tricks with the human mind, but surely Bachchan's cannot be such a traitor. Time perhaps for a recap. In the year 2000, satellite television witnessed a phenomenal revolution when Star TV unleashed the Indian version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? on an audience whose entertainment bouquet had hitherto contained intellectually indifferent yet hugely popular family soaps. The step was bold but Star had little option. India's first celebrity game show Kaun Banega Crorepati went on air amid grave doubts. The odds were firmly stacked against the channel. A beleaguered Star TV was desperate to arrest its sagging fortunes. Since the Indian audience had never tasted a gameshow before, its reaction was completely unknown. With the risks enormous, no contemporary movie idol was willing to wager his or her fortunes on the small screen.

Treading uncertainly Star homed in on a jaded Amitabh Bachchan who could be occasionally seen frolicking around women half his age in films like Bade Miyan Chhote Miyan, essaying roles which served his age and image ill. Although a star of yesteryears, Amitabh in 2000 stood as a failed actor and businessman. The box office had clearly abandoned its one-time darling with Amitabh posting four flops in 1999. His fledgling company faced imminent death - ABCL was running a stupendous debt of over Rs 90 crore. With no big banners coming his way, Amitabh was desperately clutching at opportunities, not all of them very savoury. KBC was just one of those opportunities.

The show was first aired on July 3, 2000. That day marked a unique concert on Indian television. Star TV needed a break, Amitabh needed a lifeline and the Indian audience needed some novel excitement. With KBC television entertainment finally shed its mindlessness. The show was a smashing success and as the Big B returned night after night to millions of homes across the country, one knew that Indian television's, also cinema's, history was being rewritten. While Star Plus saw its TRP ratings soar to unexpected heights, the show also initiated the process of Amitabh's reinvention in Hindi cinema. The legend of Big B returned to the silver screen and the actor went on to bag some of the finest roles of his career in the next few years.

Clearly, another time, another channel, another actor, another audience may not have been able to create the magic KBC did then. Without Amitabh, KBC could have been an also-ran. Without Star TV, the Big B would not have found an opportunity to resuscitate his terminally ailing film career and business. And without an entertainment-starved audience neither the channel nor the host could have dreamt of raking in the moolah they subsequently did.

Seven years since, times and indeed Amitabh Bachchan have changed. Entertainment has undergone a dramatic makeover. Satellite television has become a gigantic entity, the competition for TRPs acute. As for Amitabh, things have never looked better in his career. He is once again a top draw in Hindi cinema. Having regained a firm foothold in Bollywood, he is giving his younger counterparts a serious run for their money. His son Abhishek too has overcome his jinx at the box office and tasted stardom. As for the Big B's wife Jaya, she is today an articulate Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha.

Given the umbilical link between KBC and the Big B's new avatar, Bachchan's comments on the show, Shah Rukh Khan and his own net worth at the box office seem to lack the pleasing elegance that has hitherto defined the star. For one, had Star never approached the Big B for KBC, Amitabh would have been relegated to the annals of Bollywood, remembered as the "angry young man" who once set the screen on fire with his social messages but who was now prancing around with women as young as Shilpa Shetty in eminently tasteless films like Lal Baadshah. Pre-KBC, it was clear that the once cult figure was refusing to age with grace, caught as he was in the vicious trap of his yesteryear image that ill-matched his advancing years. Saddened by the trajectory, Big B's die-hard fans mourned the decline of an actor who once moved the masses and classes. Bachchan, it seemed, was unable to follow his own advice that, "we will age and age is not always flattering."

Then came KBC and Amitabh's immensely successful image makeover. Here, the Big B played his age, wore classic jackets, sported the now-trademark graying beard, looked comfortable in it, and created for the first time in Hindi cinema a niche for an older actor who could carry an entire film on his shoulder. Cinegoers simply fell in love with this reinvented Amitabh. Don was forgotten and Sexy Sam was warmly welcomed into the hearts of a whole new generation. Indeed, it was through KBC that Amitabh discovered the image that makes him one of the sexiest and most talented 60-plus actors in the world. Today, when he does a 'Kajra re' or a 'Rock 'n' Roll Soniye', the audience's eyes seldom travel to his co-stars. No more jeers about dancing with women his daughter's age.

Had Amitabh not touched the lives of millions of Indians through that television show seven years ago, where would Brand Bachchan be today? Unfortunately, Bachchan has chosen to write away the most successful chapter of his career as monotony. Despite a fan-following that far outpaces that of any other actor, he has chosen to speak about Shah Rukh Khan as "competition". Finally, despite knowing the emotional hold Hindi cinema has over the masses, he has chosen to tastelessly dwell on the "commercial" value of his star family. Indeed a sad commentary.

Valentine’s Day special: SRK & Karan Johar together

They are deepest of buddy and if one wonders why the duo not coming up with Indian version of Brokeback Mountain, let me tell you some stuff are not widely accepted in India. However, what Karan Johar will accept (or vice versa) is Shah Rukh Khan's invitation to....errr...KBC that is. Read on...

We all know that Shah Rukh Khan and Karan Johar are good friends and when Karan invited Shah Rukh to be the guest on his show Koffee with Karan, Shah Rukh decided to return the favor by inviting Karan to be the first celebrity contestant on Kaun Banega Crorepati.

Karan Johar will be playing the game along with their common friend, Farah Khan. This episode will be shot today and it is reportedly going to be telecasted on February 11 as a Friendship special episode.

Karan Johar says that he is not prepared for it and will just go on the sets and play. This will be the first time that Karan will appear onKBC as participant. Last time he was seen among the audience supporting his friend Shah Rukh when King Khan participated as a contestant on the same show which was then hosted by Mr. Amitabh Bachchan.

Besides, Karan and Farah, the other celebs who will be appearing on KBC include Farhan Akhtar and Zoya Akhtar for Brother-Sister special and Arbaaz Khan and Malaika Arora Khan for Valentine’s Day special.