Shah Rukh to skip IIFA

Navdeep Kaur Marwah, Hindustan Times

Actor Shah Rukh Khan, who was supposed to be the star attraction at this year’s IIFA awards in Colombo from June 3-5, has decided to give the event a miss.

“I don’t think I will be able to come for IIFA…too much work here, will miss Colombo,” SRK tweeted. Apart from upping the function’s star power, SRK was also supposed to captain the Bollywood team in a friendly cricket match against the Sri Lankan team.

Sabbas Joseph of Wizcraft, the show’s organisers, said, “Stars have their commitments. Hrithik Roshan will now be the captain,” SRK’s absence is another blow to the event after Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and hubby Abhishek announced that they won’t be attending the gala, usually touted as a Bachchan family affair. Amitabh Bachchan will only make a fleeting appearance.

Katrina Kaif offers prayers for Rajneeti

Sify Movies Desk

Katrina Kaif is hoarding blessings for her upcoming, Rajneeti.

The actress was, on Friday, spotted in Ajmer at the shrine of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chisty. The Boom star was reportedly offering prayers for her film's success. Dressed in a salwar and without her make-up, Katrina did seem a little apprehensive - after all, there's no dubbing involving!

We wish you all the very best for the movie Ms Kaif, and yes, we are prepared for your Rajneeti.

Salman Khan hogs limelight at Dubai celebrity event

Dubai: The crowd was divided in two halves. But unlike any other India versus Pakistan cricket match, the frenzy at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Thursday night was more for an individual rather than the individual nations.

To say Salman Khan was a crowd favourite would be an understatement. Women – stretching to get a glimpse of the star – had to be escorted down from the first and second floors, for fear they would fall off from the railings.

One fan even considered divorcing her husband of eight years to be with the star. “I love Salman Khan… I was probably one of the first to buy the tickets for the game. I just need to meet him once to convince him that I am the one he needs to get married too,” Riah John, a 32-year-old homemaker and Dubai resident, said.

Forty celebrities, from Indian and Pakistan, including renowned cricket personality Shoaib Akhtar, had flown in to be part of the Celebrity Cup 2010 on Thursday and a fashion show held last night - a two–day event which organisers claim took over two years to materialise.

Khan had admitted during a press conference earlier on Thursday that the Indian team might face issues – on returning home – for agreeing to play against political rivals, Pakistan.

However, the thousands of Indian and Pakistani fans, from all over the emirates, had clearly packed away their differences for the night. “I am here to just enjoy the show. It doesn’t really matter who wins or loses,” Anand Ravi, a call centre executive and resident of Sharjah said.

Gulf News also spotted Indian tennis star Sania Mirza and her husband, Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malek, who said they were rooting for team India. They declined to comment further.

The walk

Before the start of the game, all 40 celebrities - dressed in blue and led by Salman – walked around the stadium, stopping at times to interact with fans, before collecting at centre stage for a group photograph.

Salman won the toss and elected to field first. However, he decided not to play and instead asked brother Sohail Khan to take over as captain.

Pakistan celebrities launched the innings with Saud and Saleem Shaikh as their opening batsmen. Saud hit a six in the first over, bowled by Indian actor Aftaab Shivdasani, but was clean bowled on the very next ball.

However, the highlight of the over was when actor Suniel Shetty sustained an injury after a ball hit him on the right foot. Fellow actors Ritesh Deshmukh, Aftaab Shivadasani and Javed Jaffery rushed to Shetty’s side and a few minutes of attention and ice packs later, the actor was back on his feet and entertained the crowd till the end of the event.

At the end of the15 overs, India had 121 to chase, which Salman said his team would chase in 11 overs itself.

He kept the promise. India won the match.

Sixth flop in five years

Sharadha Narayanan/Express News Service

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu Theatre Owners Association has demanded that actor Vijay, whose 50th film 'Suraa' was a total washout, compensate the theatre owners for their losses, to the tune of 35 per cent of the Minimum Guarantee (MG) amount that they paid up to screen the film.

In Chennai, a system is followed by which both theatre owners and distributors share the profits or loss that a film makes. The rest of the State, however, follows the Minimum Guarantee system.

By this method, theatre owners pay up a specific amount upfront to the distributor, and if the film makes more than the MG amount, the distributors and theatre owners share profits at an already-specified percentage, usually 50-50. This partnership system is followed usually for upcoming actors, while the MG method prevails for films of big actors.

"By the MG system, when a film flops, the losses are borne by the theatre owners solely. And the practice of screening preview shows for us before the movies are sold, was stopped more than 10 years ago. So we do not know how good a film is, until we actually buy it. We want to stop acquiring films by this method, or seek at least a reduction in the rates at which movies are sold to us," said Rohini Paneerselvam, president, Tamil Nadu Theatre Owners Association.

Such continuous losses have forced many theatres to shut down. From over 2,500 in 2000, today, the State has only about 1360 theatres.

When Rajinikanth-starrer ‘Kuselan’ had flopped in 2007, the theatre owners had similarly sought a refund, and the actor had done it to the tune of 35 % of the MG amount paid.

'Suraa', by Sun Pictures, was released on April 28. The film was produced by Murugan Cine Arts. "This film was bought at high rates because expectation were high as this was his 50th film. 'Suraa', however, turned out to be a flop, and theatres have totally incurred a loss of Rs 10 crore. Two hundred and forty theatres released this film in the State," said Paneerselvam.

The theatre owners are seeking a refund.

'Suraa' is Vijay's sixth flop in five years, and his fifth consecutive flop, after 'Vettaikaaran' (2009), 'Villu' (2009), 'Kuruvi' (2008) and 'Azhagiya Tamil Magan' (2007). In 2006, his film 'Aadhi', produced by his father SA Chandrasekar, flopped, forcing theatre owners to seek compensation. No compensation, however, was paid then. "The overall losses incurred by theatre owners because of these films totals to Rs 30 crore," said Sridhar, executive committee member, Tamil Nadu Theatre Owners Association.

"When we tried to contact the actor, he remained unreachable. If he still refuses to pay heed to our demands, we will decide our further course of action at an executive committee meeting to be held later in June," Paneerselvam added.

Emraan escapes a fatal accident in Australia

Actor Emraan Hashmi, who is known for his sizzling chemistry and steamy scenes on screen with his female co stars, is also pretty good at action sequences. 

It is believed that the sexy actor escaped a fatal accident in Melbourne, Australia on Thursday while shooting for his upcoming movie “Crook”. The movie is being produced under the banner of Vishesh Films and once again Emraan is being directed by Mohit Suri of Raaz 2 fame. 

It also stars a new face Neha Sharma opposite Emraan Hashmi.

‘No frontal nudity for me’

Minakshi Saini, Hindustan Times

Sherlyn Chopra on the cover of Playboy magazine may seem like a far-fetched thought for most, but the item girl claims the international magazine, which has made the who’s who of Hollywood shed their clothes, approached her to be on its cover. “Got a Playboy cover offer. Don’t know what to say,” posted Sherlyn on her Twitter account last week.

Before long, the actress, predictably enough, did a U-turn, explaining why she couldn’t go ahead with the offer. “I guess it’s my Indianness to blame. I adore nudity. It is pure and it projects the subject in its most genuine form. But to do full frontal nudity is something I am not ready for,” she said.

Ironically, the actress had posted a picture of herself in the buff on Twitter only last week. And, in earlier interviews, she even claimed that she would “love to be on the (Playboy) cover and make India proud.”

While Sherlyn’s claim sounds suspicious, to say the least, a close friend of the actress reveals, “It all started when Bob, the chief official Playboy photographer, saw bikini clad images of Sherlyn on the Internet and contacted her for a shoot. But the deal fell apart as they were not offering her a cover.”

In an attempt to verify Chopra’s claims, HT City contacted the Playboy head office in Chicago, but received no confirmation on the matter.

Jai Ho... New York fans ready to pay $1,000 for AR Rahman concert

NEW YORK: Most international musicians barely get noticed in the bustling Big Apple, but AR Rahman is a show-stopper — and very profitable.

Fans have paid prices of up to $1,000 (Rs47,000) for 11 concerts in North America between June 11 and July 5, which are already thought to be sold out.

Rahman’s “Jai Ho — The Journey Home Tour” begins on June 11 at New York’s fabled Nassau Coliseum where Pink Floyd performed during “The Wall Tour”. More recently, Madonna held three performances of her “Blond Ambition World Tour” in the massive Nassau Coliseum.

“It’s definitely an East-meets-West kind of show where there’s technology and tradition. Just like AR’s music, it breaks all borders,” said the show’s artistic director Amy Tinkham, who has run tours for Britney Spears, the Backstreet Boys and Mariah Carey.

Two years after Slumdog Millionaire won eight Oscars, interest in all things Indian is still going strong. Rahman’s Slumdog... soundtrack, which earned him two Academy Awards and two Grammys, has made him a recognisable name in America.

It also helps that Rahman is a prolific composer who has astaggering range. Americans find his music “easy listening” as it is brewed with an unerring feel for melody, swing and soul.

Ahead of his concert, Rahman who has been writing musical scores for Bollywood since the 1990s credited the film industry for his versatility.

“In America, they typecast a person — he is a good horror movie soundtrack composer or he is a good classical music composer. In India, the director expects everything from one person. That pushed me to compose different types of music — Indian and Western,” Rahman told DNA on the sidelines of an event in the Asia Society.

For a musician who has won two Grammys, Rahman started out as an engineer who was clueless about the depth of his prodigious musical talent. “My first movie, I thought it was going to be my last movie,” said Rahman. “So I wanted to do my best and then leave it.”

For a man who was going to do his “best and then leave it” Rahman has come a long way. He has sold 150 million records and 200 million cassettes and is counted among the top 25 recording artists of all times. TIME magazine rated the soundtrack of Roja in the top 10 of their all-time best movie soundtracks of the world.

Financially the “Jai Ho...” tour is being run like a Swiss watch. Rahman will perform at massive venues in North America and Europe, but there will be one night per city instead of a run, so more places will be pumped up with enthusiasm and keen for Rahman souvenirs. Rahman snakes through America and Europe before ending at London’s Wembley Stadium on July 25.

Rahman is putting on a three-hour concert that features Cirque du Soleil or circus acrobats, four troupes of dancers and a Mongolian contortionist who will demonstrate extreme Indian yoga. The show brings together flutists, cellists, tambura players, singers and musicians who have played with Lionel Richie and Fleetwood Mac.

“Rahman has captured the imagination of audiences of all demographics, both Indian as well as western. His music is multi-faceted. I don’t think his Oscar-winning Jai Ho is his best work, but he certainly deserves an Oscar for the breadth and excitement of his musical talent,” said Aroon Shivdasani, executive director of the Indo-American Arts Council, which is selling the concert’s tickets.

“Regular tickets to Rahman’s concert tour of the US are sold out. The only tickets remaining are those of high ticket value. I doubt there will be a single available seat at any of the actual concerts,” she added.

Americans are buying into the East-meets-West spectacle. “Landing a Rahman concert ticket is a big deal,” said attorney Gary Sherman, who has a ticket for Rahman’s concert at the Patriot Center, in Washington.