I am foxed by the deal.

The Fox guys read the script and have followed the project. They’re close enough to it to know what it’s all about. I’ve shared a comfort zone with them from Day 1. Both Shah Rukh and I believe they are the best people to handle My Name Is Khan. They’ve faith in our brand power and content creation. It’s not about money. It’s all about mutual respect.

Is Fox trying to give the Islamic world a more positive image in the West by buying a film about Islamic isolation and the western world?

It’s not the politics of the film. It’s when the film moves you on a human and emotional level that matters. My Name Is Khan endeavors to do just that. I don’t think Fox was swayed by the positive message. It’s the human aspect that won them over. I believe in the emotional content of both my cinema and personal relationships. Look at the longevity of the association between my company Dharma Productions and Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies and you’ll see what I mean.

I’d always want to direct original content. But there’re young filmmakers in my company who are excited by the idea of adapting films. Siddharth Malhotra, for example, is doing a Hindi version of Stepmom for our company. He’s working really hard on it. An adaptation is as difficult as an original film. And Siddharth is working really hard on it.

What is the final cast of Stepmom?

It’s Kajol, Kareena Kapoor and Arjun Rampal.

Shahrukh Khan, Salman Khan, Sohail Khan, Genelia D Souza, Tabu, Minisha Lamba, Sameera Reddy, Fardeen Khan, Ranbir Kapoor, Rishi Kapoor, Jeetendra, Kiran Juneja, Ramesh Sippy, Vivek Oberoi, Dino Morea, Rajneesh Duggal, Ruslaan, Arjan Bajwa, Raveena Tandon, Farhan Akhtar, Vidya Balan, Govind Namdeo, Manoj Bohra, Teejay Sidhu, Tapur Chatterjee, Nishka Lulla, Poonam Dhillon, Imran Khan, Kunal Kohli, Mohit Suri, Kunal Khemu, Vashu and Jackie Bhagnani, Pritam Chakraborty, Aashish Chaudhary, Alka Yagnik, Celina Jaitley, Karan Johar, Sanjay Kapoor, Juhi Chawla, Sammir Dattani, Ayub Khan, Niharika Khan  at Ramesh Taurani_s 25th Wedding Anniversary Celebrations on 11th Aug 2009.

Later when it was Karan Johar’s time to speak, he revealed why he was happy to take Shah Rukh Khan as a partner in his production ventures, like he has done in his latest under-production film, My Name Is Khan. “Since I am childless, and it’ only my mother and me in the family, it makes sense that Shah Rukh’s children should hold the negative rights of my films. I often ask Aryan and Suhana to choose the films they want from my library and they do have their favourites.”

Sources inform, “Katrina has widened her experiences as an actress in a short span of time. On one hand she had a typical potboiler like Singh is King to her credit but then proved her critics wrong with a terrific performance like New York.”

“Yet again she is all out to woo the audience with her romantic image in Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahaani with Ranbir but on the flip side she has a hardcore non glamorous look in a movie like Rajniti. Katrina has found an act of balance where her talent as an actress is concerned” adds our source.

Our source informs “Perhaps this is what that has impressed producer Karan Johar who has roped Katrina for Dostana 2. Karan initially had planned to to retain the same cast as Dostana. But Katrina’s performance in New York has left Karan highly impressed and after the survery where she was rated the sexiest Bollywood actress Karan confirmed his plans to have her on board.”

Karan has heard a lot of positive nature of the actress but for Katrina now it is a privilege to be a part of Dharma Productions,” said a friend close to actress.

Shahrukh Khan, Karan Johar, Anil Thadani at My Name is Khan press meet on 6th Aug 2009.

Harman Baweja, Karan Johar, Shahrukh Khan, Gauri Khan, Manish Malhotra at Sanjay Kapoor_s house warming party in Juhu, Mumbai on 28th July 2009.

Hansal could barely contain his excitement as he packed his bags in Pune to leave for his maiden movie.

“I haven’t even asked Dev Saab what my role is. But I believe I play a filmmaker. That’s double excitement for me. I get to play myself. I’ve simcerely followed Dev Saab’s instructions. He’s inspiring. I had a blast. I got what I wanted. I always wanted to work with Navketan and Dev Saab.”

Tell Hansal that the role was offered to Karan Johar first and he turned down the role (without even informing the indefatigable Dev Saab that he wasn’t interested), and spirits refuse to be dampened. “Who in the world says no to Dev Saab? I’d like to believe I was the first and last choice for the role.”

It was just two days’ work for Hansal. But he packed enough clothes and accessories for the entire schedule.

“You never know. Dev Saab might love my performance and increase my role. But seriously I hope I get enough scope in Charge sheet to display my exceptional acting skills,” said the twinkle-eyed Hansal who has directed film like Chhal, Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar and Woodstock Villa.

Films Featuring Karan Johar as an Actor

Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge

Home Delivery

Salaam-e-Ishq (just a voice on the phone)

Fashion

Luck By Chance

This movie to be directed by debutant Puneet Malhotra is reportedly a remake of Sony Pictures’ classic super hit film STEPMOM directed by Chris Columbus and that is the reason being said for the joint venture. It stars Kajol, Kareena Kapoor and Arjun Rampal in the leading roles.

Trade reports suggest, Karan wanted to remake the film for a while now and he had a meeting to discuss the remaking rights of the film with the heads of Sony Pictures recently. But he was in for a pleasant surprise when they offered to co-produce the film with his banner.

While the shooting of the film was initially said to commence from August in Australia, it is believed that after the recent racial attacks on Indian students, Karan dropped the idea and now the film will be set in India and will be shot in Mumbai.

How did you bring in your birthday?
I’m having a get-together. I’ve invited the people I respect.

But your best friend Shah Rukh must have beeen in South Africa for the IPL finals?
He was very much here. And of course he’ll be at my birthday get-together.

How’s the year been for you?
A lot of work covered. Now I’m 37. It’s just a number.I might give up the hair dye. I oscillate between dye and real hair. I give up the dye then I see someone older with jetblack hair and I quickly revert to my dye. Maybe when I’m 40 I’ll go officially grey.

37, and growing older. How does it feel?
Growing old is a fear that I’m facing now. I admit I worry all the time about being alone when I’m old. But you can’t fight your destiny. If I’m destined to be alone, so be it. At the end of the day we all wish for a perfect balance in our lives, but end up dealing with imbalance.Now that I’m getting older I enjoy being alone in my space.

Isn’t that a scary space to be in?
I like being the master of my days and nights. Maybe I’m getting too used to being alone, so much so that I may not enjoy having someone in my life. I’m answerable and accountable only to my mother. She understands my passions and weaknesses. The same situation with someone else seems like a distant and strange option. A couple of years ago I was looking for a relationship and commitment. I’m no longer sure I’m ready to do that. Life is no longer a poem, novel or a book. I realize life is very different.

It’s a been a stressful year?
Stress is good. I’m happy with the stress. It’s a healthy stress. And I’m happy that our production house has undertaken so much work. It’s a new way of working for us. Dharma Productions has never been so active. As much as I groan and complain about living out of of suitcases I completely enjoy this hyper-activity. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Of course it takes away from a personal life. Is that a regret?
No it’s a choice. Thinking about my personal life would make me very depressed. Better to move away from it. Work is therapeutic. It’s a healthy distraction.

Does that mean your personal life is unhappy?
It’s empty. Better that way than to fill it up unnecessarily. I’ve realized emptiness is better than unwanted clutter. I’ve lots of close friends. But I’ve no personal life.

Do you surround yourself with hyper-activity to fight off loneliness?
It’s a conscious decision to surround myself with people who are doing quality work. I feel the people in my workplace are a family beyond an immediate family. And I feel I’ve to constantly nurture that family. It fills in all the empty spaces in my life without any expectations from me. Isn’t that a great equation?

But that’s like being exploited?
I’ve been subjected to that treatment in the past.You can never run away the risk of being used. I’ve mastered the art of no-expectation from people around me. I’m attached to and yet detached from people around me. It’s a brilliant balance to achieve. And I’ve been able to do it. I’m able to protect myself from hurt. The level of hurt when I’m betrayed is now manageable.

Why do you have so many untried directors working for your company?
They’re the hungriest. And they come with no baggage.

But hunger to achieve is not a measure of talent?
It is! The hunger within them makes them tap the talent that they have. And besides these aren’t youngsters from the blue. They’ve a certain cinematic background besides a hunger to excel. At one time I used to see those qualities in myself. When I was just starting out I used to wonder how I could be a filmmaker when I wasn’t eccentric enough to qualify as one. Now I see I’ve fallen into my own erratic pattern of existence. And of course I’m strange, therefore qualified to be a filmmaker. My mother and the people close to me understand my strangeness. Life is as beautiful as you make it out to be. And right now I’d like to think my life is very beautiful.

Your mother went through surgery recently. Was that a reminder of her mortality?
Every time she visits the doctor I am petrified. I’ve been through the process of losing my father. Hospitals and doctors are never a happy situation. But I’m an exceptionally happy person. Like my mother I’m a fighter.She’s fighting constantly to bounce back after a health scare to be there to hold my hand. To me my mother is not just a person. She’s a power I want to hold on to all my life.

Sonam Kapoor, Amrita Rao, Karan Johar, Neelam Kothari, Anushka Manchanda, Anaida, Rocky S, Shonal Rawat, Prashant Raj, Narayani Shastri, Nisha Harale, Sucheta Sharma, Zoya Akhtar, Shruthi Seth, Apoorva Agnihotri, Shilpa Saklani, Aarti and Kailash Surendranath, Aanchal Kumar, Ritesh Deshmukh at Loreal Paris brunch in Olive on 10th May 2009.

Imran Khan, Sanjay Kapoor, Dino Morea, Amrita Arora, Shakeel, Bunty Walia, Shaina NC, Chunky Pandey, Karan Johar, Farhan Akhtar at Shah Rukh Khan’s party for Hollywood actor Gerrard Butler on 3rd May 2009.

“That’s true. Earlier on John Abraham and Bipasha Basu were all set to be a part of this video that has been created to spread awareness around voting for our Government this election season. Even Katrina Kaif was finalised but in the final scheme of things, we had to shoot the video without the three of them. Such a pity”, exclaims Tarun Mansukhani who has made a drastic shift from a colourful ‘Dostana’ to his recent campaign that has been shot in all Black & White.

The video now stars Abhishek Bachchan, Ranbir Kapoor, Shahid Kapoor, Imran Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Deepika Padukone, Asin, Ritiesh Deshmukh, Farhan Akhtar, Sonam Kapoor and Karan Johar himself.

So what really went wrong? What was the real reason behind John, Bipasha and Katrina opting out of ‘Vote Aapke Haath Mein Hai’ which is written by Niranjan Iyengar, the man who has written dialogues Karan Johar films like ‘Kal Ho Naa Ho’ and ‘Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna’?

“If you are searching for any controversies then there aren’t any. In fact it wasn’t even the matter of anyone opting out”, Tarun is quick to react, “All three were quite sweet and were game to shoot for the video. But then on the day of the shoot, John and Katrina were not in the town due to which we had to go ahead without them.”

How about Bipasha?

“Well, her ‘Aa Dekhen Zara’ was being released on the same day when we had to shoot for the video. Other than that, she was also a little hassled due to the multiplex issue. ‘Aa Dekhen Zara’ was engulfed in this situation where no one was sure if it would eventually see an all India multiplex release or not. It was all right if Bipasha couldn’t shoot for the video in such a scenario.”

Though there have been accusations that his video, which carries the punch line of ‘Kuch Nahi Ho Sakta’, is an out-and-out copy of Hollywood’s ‘Don’t Vote’ commercial featuring Leonardo DiCaprio, Forest Whitaker, Dustin Hoffman, Ellen DeGeneres, Jennifer Aniston, Ashton Kutcher and will.i.am amongst others, Tarun is completely unperturbed.

“I haven’t even seen the ‘Don’t Vote’ campaign and I don’t want to worry about that. The point at the end of the day is that the video has been liked and more than that the message is being rightly passed on to the youth. All celebrities coming together for this cause has helped create a great awareness around our right to vote and that’s what that matters at the end of the day”, declares Tarun.

However, at the last moment, the trio couldn’t be a part of the video for different reasons and director Tarun Mansukhani had to contend with other actors.

“That’s true. Earlier on John Abraham and Bipasha Basu were all set to be a part of this video that has been created to spread awareness around voting for our Government this election season. Even Katrina Kaif was finalised but in the final scheme of things, we had to shoot the video without the three of them. Such a pity”, exclaims Tarun Mansukhani who has made a drastic shift from a colourful ‘Dostana’ to his recent campaign that has been shot in all Black & White.

The video now stars Abhishek Bachchan, Ranbir Kapoor, Shahid Kapoor, Imran Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Deepika Padukone, Asin, Ritiesh Deshmukh, Farhan Akhtar, Sonam Kapoor and Karan Johar himself.

So what really went wrong? What was the real reason behind John, Bipasha and Katrina opting out of ‘Vote Aapke Haath Mein Hai’ which is written by Niranjan Iyengar, the man who has written dialogues Karan Johar films like ‘Kal Ho Naa Ho’ and ‘Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna’?

“If you are searching for any controversies then there aren’t any. In fact it wasn’t even the matter of anyone opting out”, Tarun is quick to react, “All three were quite sweet and were game to shoot for the video. But then on the day of the shoot, John and Katrina were not in the town due to which we had to go ahead without them.”

How about Bipasha?

“Well, her ‘Aa Dekhen Zara’ was being released on the same day when we had to shoot for the video. Other than that, she was also a little hassled due to the multiplex issue. ‘Aa Dekhen Zara’ was engulfed in this situation where no one was sure if it would eventually see an all India multiplex release or not. It was all right if Bipasha couldn’t shoot for the video in such a scenario.”

Though there have been accusations that his video, which carries the punch line of ‘Kuch Nahi Ho Sakta’, is an out-and-out copy of Hollywood’s ‘Don’t Vote’ commercial featuring Leonardo DiCaprio, Forest Whitaker, Dustin Hoffman, Ellen DeGeneres, Jennifer Aniston, Ashton Kutcher and will.i.am amongst others, Tarun is completely unperturbed.

“I haven’t even seen the ‘Don’t Vote’ campaign and I don’t want to worry about that. The point at the end of the day is that the video has been liked and more than that the message is being rightly passed on to the youth. All celebrities coming together for this cause has helped create a great awareness around our right to vote and that’s what that matters at the end of the day”, declares Tarun.

By Joginder Tuteja

Post SRK coming back from his IPL 2 commitments from South Africa there is yet another schedule being planned for the US. But Kajol it seems is not too keen on shooting out of India given that she has to leave her daughter Nysa back home now that she’s going to school. So while the shooting in Mumbai in June coincided with Nysa’s school days, Kajol had no problems. But Karan also has to shoot some more sequences in New York, which Kajol is refusing to oblige with. She was informed that there would be only one schedule in the US, which she’d agreed to. But now since Karan wants to go back for whatever reasons, Kajol is adamant and just won’t.”

Another insider reveals, “Karan expects that his good friend understands his problem but Kajol wants him to shoot these portions in Mumbai itself on specially built sets. But Karan being Karan he just doesn’t want to compromise on such things. So now that’s a deadlock even the King Khan might not be able to resolve.”

Karan chose the boy to play the childhood section of Shah Rukh’s life not only because of his facial likeness to Shah Rukh, but also because of the Tanay’s instant connectivity with the Mumbai slums and thereafter the Western audience.

Says the director, “Tanay is exceptionally talented . He was able to imbibe Shah Rukh’s character traits and use them to make SRK’s childhood look convincing.”

The director now intends to cast Tanay as junior SRK whenever required, much in the way that Master Mayur played the young Amitabh Bachchan in a series of films.

Karan’s exposition on the Muslim identity is expected to reach out to a global non-NRI audiences. Though the take-off point for My Name Is Khan is 9/11 not a single shot is taken in New York.

The film is set in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Two of the most expensove cities in the US for shooting. While Karan Johar’s production of Rensil de Silva’s Kareena-Saif film on terrorism will have Philadelphia masquerading as New York , Johar’s own directorial take on terrorism and the isolation of the working-class Muslim has gone to the two actual US cities were the plot is location .

Karan shot in LA earlier this year. He leaves for San Francisco in May for a 40-day schedule. The first and last Hindi film to be shot in SF was Imtiaz Ali’s Love Aaj Kal.

Putting his shoulder surgery behind him Shah Rukh with best friend Karan Johar and favourite co-star Kajol to accompany him, would be gone to San Francisco for 40 days in May and June .

With Aamir Khan vacationing with his children out of the country, the two purported architects and mediator Karan Johar for the solution for the multiplex crisis are all out of the loop putting a large question mark before the deadlock that threatens to shut the film industry.

Priyanka Chopra, Shahid Kapoor, Ritesh Deshmukh, Bobby Deol, Farah Khan, Shirish Kunder, John Abraham, Bipasha Basu, Karan Johar, Manish Malhotra at Tarun Mansukhani_s birthday bash in Bandra on 16th April 2009 .

“And that’s Karan Johar’s My Name Is Khan. I play the childhood portions of Shah Rukh Khan’s role. It’s a small role and a very important film. And it will be shot during my holidays. Except My Name Is Khan my parents have decided to let me concentrate on my studies.”

Tanay is shifting from his current school Campion in Colaba to the Dhirubhai Ambani International School in Bandra and is geared for a new life in a new school.

He completely dismisses stories of replacing Darsheel Safary in Anil Monga’s film Padduram. “I don’t know where that came from. I haven’t said yes to any such film.” Protests Tanay.

Tanay who played Darsheel Safari’s best friend in Taare Zameen Par got the role of the younger Jamal in Slumdog Millionaire by chance.

“I couldn’t go to the auditions. But eight months later they came to my school for auditions. Luckily by chance I got the role. They had to work a lot on my physical appearance to make me look compatible with Ayush who played the youngest Jamal . They straightened my curly hair, etc. Also they had to darken all of us three who played Jamal(Ayush, Tanay and Dev Patel) to look like we were constantly exposed to the sun. My makeup used to take 90 minutes every day.”

And he will now be playing the role of the junior Shah Rukh Khan in Karan Johar’s My Name Is Khan, a decision Karan took after watching Slumdog Millionaire(SM),” says the 12-year son of a business family whose life has transformed almost overnight.

“My family and friends are very proud of me. It feels really good. For my friends I’m still the same Tanay.”

“I’m a movie freak . When I walked the red carpet I could recognize everyone who walked by,” says

He has to sit his elocution exams at Trinity College at London. “But coping with the studies is no problem. All my teachers have been very co-operative. Half of Slumdog was shot during my vacations.”

Surprisingly Tanay says acting is a hobby. “Right now I just want to enjoy my childhood. I’m passionate about football. And I love to write. I’ve lots of stories to tell. As far as movies are concerned my next release is Mastang Mama where Ruslaan Mumtaz and I play mama-bhanja. I know another Slumdog may not happen. But like my dialogue in film goes, it’s all about destiny.”

Tanay misses the Slumdog team. “But we keep meeting for pemieres and awards function. And we all keep in touch through the email. We were all one big family.”

The Media Spa launch on Tuesday April 7th late night in Bandra, Mumbai witnessed a huge celebrities turnout. We saw Karan Johar, Karishma Kapoor, Lara Dutta, Rani Mukerjee, Bobby Deol with wife Tanya Deol, Dino Morea, Malaika Arora Khan (a must for such events), Yash and Avanti Birla, Kunal Kapoor, Farah Khan, Chunkey Pandey with wife Bhavana Pandey, designer Nandita Mahtani, Leena Mogre, Manisha Koirala and in a rare appearance Neetu Singh.

Love birds Ritesh Deshmukh and Genelia D’Souza came in separately and avoided getting posed together in front of the present photographers. But once inside they kept stuck together till it was time to leave, separately again since the photographers were still around outside. Manisha Koirala seemed to have lost a lot of weight. Rani Mukerjee too was seen after a long gap at any event and her weight loss training sessions seems to have done wonders or may be the long string of flops has done its damage on her health. For a minute we could not recognize that it was Rani. She as usual avoided speaking to the media and rushed off when we tried getting a sound byte from her. It was also after a long time we saw Bobby come along with wife Tanya Deol.

Aamir Khan, Shahrukh Khan, Rakesh Roshan, Ashutosh Gowariker, Yash Chopra, Mukesh Bhatt, Kunal Kohli, Karan Johar, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Manmohan shetty, Kishan Kumar at the producer_s meet to solve the multiplex issue on 7th April 2009.

Financial trouble had erupted on the sets because of the same. But the fault wasn’t Karan’s Dharma Productions’ as it is famous for its fair deal treatment especially when shooting abroad. The person responsible for all this financial mess was the local line producer.

The line producer had committed many financial frauds in name of Dharma Productions which lead to all these problems. Because of which unnecessarily Karan’s production company got a bad name in the US. The problems now have been sorted out and the film is almost complete.”