Picture Abhi Baaki Hai Mere Dost!!!! :)

A great philosopher once said, “Dhinka Chika, Dhinka Chika, Dhinka Chika, Dhinka Chika, Dhinka Chika, Dhinka Chika, Ae, Ae Ae Ae..” J And a country of a billion dreams is doing “the pocket TT” a la Salman. Initial reviewers of the movie said that Salman followed his last year’s blockbuster with such a bad movie. Today, it’s India’s third highest grossing movie. So who’s laughing now?

Another colorful news: Shah Rukh Khan is mega pissed that his song for his much anticipated Diwali release, Ra-One, has been leaked online. The song called “Wanna be my Chammak Challo?” done by International singer Akon (yes, SRK paid him a bomb!) has already hit half a million views on You Tube at the time of writing this post. And btw, it’s an awesome song. J

Elsewhere, Bollywood Ka Baap is smarting as his home production is being released on the same day as the home production of Box Office ka Baap, the Perfectionist Khan. When the latter refused to accommodate the former’s request for a reschedule, the former’s official quote to the situation, “Buddha Hoga Tera Baap!!!” J

Again, Perfectionist Khan refuses to attend the award functions in India where he is always a winner and he takes the trouble to go to those award shows where he loses (remember ‘Lagaan’). But we still love you, Aamir. J

While the Hollywood’s highest paid actor looked like he made one long movie, cut them into three different ones based on scenery and named them “Departed“, “Shutter Island” and “Inception” (is it only me who thinks Leo looks the same in almost all his latest movies?), our highest paid actor Rajnikanth, well, is simply Rajnikanth. His last three movies, “Robot”, “Shivaji“ and “Chandramukhi” were as different as chalk, cheese and charcoal, same formula notwithstanding….no wait, he too looks like he made one long movie and cut it into three based on heroine…oh, well…. J

Catfights aside, man fights prevail too here – Vivek Oberoi called a press conference one fine day and then he realized that he doesn’t have any good movie worth talking about to the press; so he talks about his never ending love to his lady love and how much she suffered from the other man in their life, a certain Khan. Today, Vivek still apologizes whenever the press condescends to talk with him (Yup, he still doesn’t have any good movies to talk about inspite some real raw talent).

Rani Mukherjee is upset that she’s not getting as many roles as she once did cos well, she’s looking very “healthy“ nowadays. So she vows that she’ll work up a killer bod and hit the gym with a vengeance. Latest reports state she is not able to give her dates to the gym. J

Everytime a Hritik movie comes out, his liplock comes back to the news- remember the Dhoom2 one which cost him an invite to Ash-Abhi’s wedding (Abhishek, as expected, has no idea ;)), or the Barbara Mori one (where the audience just preferred to fly kites rather than watch the movie!). Well, the latest is that Hritik’s liplock with Katrina. Who cares what happens to the movie… at least he got to kiss Katrina… rascal!

After dating half the Indian Cricket team, ‘Shanthi’ has moved on to another sport – this time, it’s Formula One, or rather to the scion of the Indian formulaone team. Oh yes, his dad also owns a cricket team.

When a superstar was fatally hurt on set, a country of followers prayed for the Coolie’s well being. He came back to health and glory and thanked his countless fans for their prayers. This was some 3 decades back. Last month, history repeated again with the robot star.

The first Bollywood movie was in Black and White. Almost 25 years after that, the first color movie came out in India in 1937. Today, Bollywood had taken flight with color so much that Bollywood single handedly colors the lives of a billion souls.

Colorful personalities. Colorful people. Colorful films.

Where else can you find so much color?

But in Bollywood.

Big fan.

J

HP is a world leader in bringing color to life. See how the colors of Bollywood can take flight with HP Laserjet printers here.

Now, for my box office, "Vote for me here"

J

King Khan Salman

And in other news, the whole nation thinks it’s a great idea to go “Dhinka Chika, Dhinka Chika, Dhinka Chika, Dhinka Chika, Dhinka Chika, Dhinka Chika, Ae, Ae Ae Ae..” J

I can’t think of anyone but Salman who can do the “Dhinka Chika”- I mean, Shah Rukh would probably make it way too stylish, while Aamir would make it perfect in every respect while Hritik would’ve made it a dancing phenomenon or Farhan would have probably sung it in his voice too. But it is Salman and only Salman who can turn street class lunacy into a national anthem for celebrating tomfoolery and still be proud of it. It borders on vulgarity but is not; it borders on taporigiri but is not and it borders on cheapness but hell, it is not.

I can’t believe that there was a time when people actually thought of writing him off. There was a time when Salman Khan was hated by the press once upon a time. And he was known more for his exploits on the wrong side of law and love. As for today, this guy consistently comes up with not just hits but blockbusters when the going is tough- the stupendous success of the movie Ready has shown his detractors that even a critically panned movie can become the third biggest grosser in history with the right choice of Khan. And movies are not only the space where he’s touched – even in the small screen, he has made his mark for himself. Bigg Boss and Dus Ka Dham are just Salman vehicles, where he’s just being himself. He’s known to help friends when they’re down, he’s known to think through his heart and he’s known for just being himself in front of a rolling camera. And if that aint enough, today he also shows the world what ‘Being Human’ is all about. Like he always said, “Ek Baar Se Dil Nahi Bharata Mudke Dekh Mujhe Dobaara.. Tan Tana Tan Tan Tan Taara” - Give him another chance n he usually delivers.

I have an ongoing argument with my friend who’s a huge Aamir fan. She says that a Salman can never be an Aamir. I highlight that the opposite is equally true. We have this discussion where I keep telling her that while 3Idiots boasts of a great script, some great performances and a great director which helped it claim the title of the biggest Indian grosser to date, the second grosser, Dabangg, has only Salman Khan as its selling point. And what a selling it has been!

As a kid, I had this rudimentary ‘CutnPaste’ method to determine a great actor: if you can cut an actor from one of his movies and paste it in another of his movies and if you see a difference, then he’s a great actor. Think Kamal Haasan – you simply cannot cut and paste him between any of his movies. His role in Chaachi 420 is so different from what he did in Hey Ram or even Hindustani/Indian – so he truly is a great actor (yes, very juvenile I know J). So from that count, is Salman a great actor? Well, Prem’s (his most popular screen name) versatility seem to span the action genre, the comedy crowd and romance, which in Bollywood parlance, is the entire span of emotions (J). But he did deliver some awesome roles in Tere Naam or as the brooding Radhe in Wanted and Chedhi Singh has no ‘conpyujen’ that only Salman could play Robinhood Pandey with such rustic finesse n glee . So Salman may or may not be the greatest actor in town but is he a great entertainer? Oh Bloody Hell Yeah!!

If you see the evolution of the man, he’s always been doing nonsensical but fun riots like ‘Dhinka Chika’ in ‘Oonchi hai building..’, ‘Janam Samjha Karo’ and a whole lotta other such numbers, but what has changed now is the absolute confidence he has in his moves – like Farah Khan said on choreographing him in Dabangg, ”U don’t choreograph Salman, he choreographs u” - Salman feels the beat of the music, evolves it into his own way and then brings out something that is distinctly his own making. In a way, Salman has always represented what Bollywood always stood for – while the other stars carved names for themselves as the thinking man’s actors, Salman represented the jatkas and the matkas of Bollywood and today his confidence in himself is a showing of Bollywood’s new found confidence in itself.

Munni’s basically family, he was dating Shiela and his character isn’t as Dheela as it is was once made of to be. He doesn’t have an IPL team yet, he doesn’t market his movies as innovatively as Aamir and yes, he is the son of a yesteryear bollywood big daddy. But he has his name stamped on four of Bollywood’s biggest all time blockbusters, has got oodles of star power and is the guy who first showed everybody else that taking ur shirt off to show off ur six pack is really the way to go.

While Shah Rukh is the King, and Aamir is beyond superlatives , Salman is just well, just Salman.

And yes, Prem.

And yes, a bloody safe bet.

J