Shah Rukh Khan
By Manjusha Radhakrishnan, Senior Reporter
There are several adjectives that trail Shah Rukh Khan. Charismatic, slick and a consummate charmer are a few of those ubiquitous words attached to King Khan. He has a way with words, an informed opinion about everything under the sun and can even hawk skin lightening lotions for men in the most convincing manner. But there's one facet of his personality that he keeps well-hidden: This, one of the world's most recognised faces with a billion-plus fans and immense box-office pull, claims to be one big loner.
"I am very reclusive. I actually enjoy the fact that I can be alone and that I can get up in the morning," said Khan.
"I will be a show-stopper at a fashion show because I am asked to do that and it's a part of my job description… I talk to people and I say the stuff that people want to hear," he said.
True to his word, his interaction with the media and his fans during his two-day visit to the Dubai International Film Festival is littered with quotable quotes like, "When you are as hot as me, there's smoke coming out of every orifice" or "I am not a role model but I truly believe that kids should be exposed to all kinds of cinema" and "I am Don, I can get away with anything."
Mention Don 2, his Christmas offering, and Khan returns to his trademark showman form.
"I think it's the only film in the world where a bad-guy sequel is being made. In Don 2, he's not trying to save the world, he's trying to destroy it," said Khan. "When I did Darr or Baazigar [his earlier films where he played an anti-hero], there was a justification to his evil nature. He was either killing his dad's killer or something went terribly wrong in his childhood. But Don is just a bad guy. No repressed childhood issues or justification there."
Talking money
Khan's star power is further underlined when the subject of Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol postponing their release dates in India over the fear of clashing with King Khan's Don 2 is brought up. "A good choice," he jokes. But continues on a serious note: "To be really honest, any western film doesn't find the kind of market that Indian regional films find. I don't think the business would have cut into each other but the marketing would have."
Khan claims that he doesn't talk money when film offers come his way.
"Very few people know about this except the people who work with me. For the last eight or ten years, I don't ask for a fixed fee. I tell them you can rake in all the money by utilising my name and let the film go as big as possible. And when you do make the money out of the film, you decide what you want to give [me]," he said.
The self-made billionaire's love for his craft transcends his love for the material world. "The biggest gift an actor can get is when he can act in front of the world. There's no bigger salary than that.
"The only thing that turns me on is work, work and more work."
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Priyanka Chopra
By Manjari SaxenaDeputy Editor, tabloid! on Saturday
The "Junglee Billi" (wild cat) is back, still hot on the heels of the man who is nearly impossible to catch. Priyanka Chopra reprises the role of Roma in Don 2: The Chase Continues.
"It's a really fun part," she says. "I am Don's Junglee Billi, but also a cop who's after his life. The most interesting part in this film for me is the relationship between Roma and Don because that's evolved tremendously. And that's definitely something people would want to watch because I don't think even Don and Roma know what they want."
In the film, Roma falls in love with Vijay, the good guy, only to find it was actually Don at the end. "Roma hates him. He betrayed her. Four years later she trains to be a cop and her only ambition in life is to catch this guy who killed her brother and sister-in-law and made her fall in love with him and then left her. So it's a warped relationship between Roma and Don," she says. "Roma is, as he says, ‘his bad habit'.
"He's not sure if he loves her or hates her and even I don't understand that even though I'm playing the character," she explains, breaking into her trademark giggle. "And that's what makes it interesting. There are strings that bind them yet they can't stand each other."
Shooting for this film was fun, she says, but not easy. From fast car chases to blasts to shooting in a Malaysian prison with real prisoners.
"We didn't see any prisoners at Malacca Prison, because security was tight, and I was really upset because I wanted to. We were told not to make eye contact with them because they hypnotise people and I wanted to see if they could do it to me. It was weird, because being in a real prison was real creepy but it was a very good-looking prison, I must say. They had these bright orange jumpsuits which you will see in the movie and they looked really cool."
Speaking of thrills, Chopra also spoke about her stunt coordinator and double, Bibi, who passed away earlier in the month. "Bibi taught me so many of the stunts I've done in the film," Chopra says. "She was my stand-in before I came and did what I did and her death was shocking. It was as if one moment she was there and we were filming and the next, she wasn't and it made me really, really sad because when you've interacted with someone so closely, it's really difficult to imagine they are not there any more".
Chopra, who also turned singer recently, is all set to release her debut album next year. "We're hoping to record a single in the next couple of months and let's see where it leads," she says.
"You know, the more I've written, the more I've realised I'm spilling out my life in the music and it's really scary because I'm a very private person and when I read my lyrics I go, ‘My God, it's me!' You can tell so much about people by just reading their lyrics."
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Farhan Akhtar
By David TusingDeputy tabloid! Editor
He may often be credited as the director who brought cool to Bollywood, but Farhan Akhtar is not quite sure which he would choose, if given a choice between acting or directing.
"It's difficult to do," he says, momentarily lost in thought and then confidently: "It's tough."
With a filmography that includes some of the most well-known and critically acclaimed films in the past decade both as a director and separately as an actor, Akhtar's incertitude is understandable.
He is, however, quite sure how he wants his latest directorial venture, which happens to be one of the year's most awaited film, to turn out.
"Don 2 belongs to the genre of the kind of action movies I enjoy watching and have always liked to make and eventually got to make. It's quick, it's fast paced and there is always something happening," he says.
Don 2 will be full of twist and turns, promises director Akhtar. "There is a tremendous amount of action sequences. And because it is a sequel, I could get straight into the plot this time and need not spend time introducing the characters," he says.
Born into an illustrious film family, Akhtar's father, Javed Akhtar, is one of India's most respected poets and scriptwriters. His mother, Honey Irani, is also a well-known writer.
After directing a number of music videos, the 37-year-old made his directorial debut in 2001 with Dil Chahta Hai (What the heart wants), a critically acclaimed film and runaway success at the box office. Following it up with Lakshya three years later, Akhtar became known for his own brand of filmmaking, with strong and real characterisations and stylishly framed shots. Him and younger sister, director Zoya Akhtar, already with two major hits behind her, are now two of Bollywood's leading lights.
Zoya cast Farhan as lead in both her films — Luck By Chance (2009) and one of this year's biggest hits, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (You won't live life twice).
This makes Farhan a hit director, leading man, singer (he sings in Zindagi's soundtrack) and dancer (in Luck By Chance). "If you can dance, sing, mime or juggle, that's great. Because eventually, as an actor you can only use three main tools: your body, voice and expressions. Everything comes from those three places."
Next year, Farhan will play the lead in a biopic based on the life of Indian athlete and Olympian Milkha Singh called Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (Run Milkha run).
"Everything I have learnt has been from watching and then working with really talented people. So it really has been a journey of learning.
"But I don't think it's complete yet. I don't think you can ever say that."
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Ritesh Sidhwani
By Natalie Long, tabloid! Editor
As Don, Shah Rukh Khan played a twisted double role as a criminal mastermind and his lookalike. That duality is reflected in the partnership behind Don — and now its sequel — that’s been working perfectly for over a decade, although it’s a lot more straightforward.
Producer-director duo Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar first brought their element of urban cool to Bollywood with 2001’s Dil Chahta Hai, and since then, the pair have worked closely on nearly a dozen films, including 2006’s Don reboot, The Chase Begins, and now Don 2: The Chase Continues. It’s a relationship that’s brought critical acclaim and box-office bucks, and works because the two have the same vision, says Sidhwani. “We’ve been friends from school.
“I think the common ground was the sensibilities we wanted — you come together on a creative platform. Unless you are on the same page, you cannot go out and convince a million people. I think we have similar sensibilities where stories are concerned.”
“We have known each other for the past 25 years,” adds Akhtar. “I’m happy to have him as my business partner. I trust him implicitly and I assume he does in the same way.”
Sidhwani’s role as producer means he’s thinking big picture — long term. And in the movies these days, that means one thing: franchise. Is Don India’s first real stab at the concept? “We are going to take it as it comes,” he says.
“It’s exciting. The character has become somebody you love. People want to see what happens next with him so we made a sequel, so if people appreciate this, I’m sure you will see it [a franchise]. This time we have left a hint which I can’t reveal.
“He only kills the bad, you don’t see him kill the good person. Neither is he Robin Hood. He’s very clear. Because he’s a character that is very iconic, I can see it going forward.”
