Yet another blockbuster

Sultan, Salman Khan’s latest movie that released last week, has had the biggest opening of the year, beating many records along the way. Just a few years ago, Salman was known for movies that made Rs100 crore in revenues but Sultan has crossed that number in a matter of three days.
But what is equally noteworthy is that almost all critics are raving about the movie and Salman’s acting in it. He has never been a favourite of reviewers but that is changing fast. Last year, Bajrangi Bhaijaan got an equally good response from them. In Sultan, Salman even has an image change. While he does play an invincible wrestler, it is also a role in which his character fails personally on many other fronts and is a remarkably vulnerable role for someone like Salman to do. But the audience seems to be lapping it up like there is no tomorrow.
Aamir Khan also said that he cried after watching the movie. And not just that. He predicted Sultan would beat his movie PK’s record of being the highest grossing of all time. That is actually quite gracious of Aamir because he is also playing a wrestler in his next release, Dangal, which will release at the end of the year.
Sultan was announced after Aamir’s Dangal and he should have been miffed that Salman also played a wrestler. But he seems to have only good words for Salman and the movie. The other Khan, Shah Rukh must be a little relieved that he postponed his movie Raees, so that it wouldn’t clash with Sultan. He recently told the media why he did it and cited two reasons — one was that there were just not enough theatres in India to handle two such releases and the second was that he had become injured and the movie got postponed anyway.
The man at the centre of attention, Salman, however had cause for something other than joy. A hit-and-run case in which he had been acquitted has now been admitted in the Supreme Court after the government appealed. But the court refused to fast track it as was demanded. This means that it might be some time before the Supreme Court rules on it.
Till then, at least, Salman will have nothing to worry on the professional front. On the personal front too, he seems to have sorted himself out. It has been an amazing comeback much like the character he plays in Sultan.

Yes, she is
It is difficult for actresses to reveal personal details about family and love life in public because the Bollywood audience is said to be fickle and very stuck up on image. So actresses, except for rare exceptions, will always claim to be single because to be in a relationship means their fans might reject them.
Or take the case of Kareena Kapoor, who is now married, but became the subject of speculation over her pregnancy because there was no clarification coming from her end. It began as rumours that linked images of her with looking slightly pregnant.
But in a subsequent media interview Kareena said that if she was pregnant she would come out and say it. It led people to believe that she was not pregnant. But, it turns out, that she is in fact pregnant. It took her husband Saif Ali Khan to confirm it to a newspaper that they were expecting their child in December and he asked for the media to exercise discretion and patience.

Out of favour

Dabangg, which released in 2010, was the movie that launched Salman Khan’s current run of superstardom. But it was also responsible for Sonakshi Sinha entering Bollywood with the proverbial bang. After that she went on to deliver a number of hits and when Dabangg’s sequel was made, she again found a spot in it.
If an actress plays the hero’s wife in two instalments of a franchise, then naturally you would expect her to be in Dabangg 3 too. However, there are rumours that Sonakshi might not be in it. And the reason is that Salman is not keen on it. Some time back it was reported that at a party, Salman had some angry words for Sonakshi, which led to her breaking into tears.
The reason for why Sonakshi fell out of favour is now been revealed by a gossip website. Apparently, when Salman’s brother Arbaaz decided to produce Dolly Ki Doli, he approached Sonakshi to do the main role but she had turned it down. They then got Sonam to do it. Dolly Ki Doli might have gone on to become a huge flop and Sonakshi was perhaps prescient in not doing it but you don’t rebuff the Khans without repercussions, especially when you owe your entire career to them. And Sonakshi does need a big hit soon given that it has been quite some time that she made any waves in the industry.


A superstar refused

The Bollywood filmmaking model works around signing up a big star first for a movie and then everything else falls in place. The biggest stars of the lot are the three Khans, followed by Akshay Kumar.
They can have any movie of their choosing and pretty much quote whatever price they want. That is why it was surprising to hear what Akshay Kumar had to say recently. His movie Rustom will release in August and so he is now promoting it with media appearances.
In one interview, he said that he had wanted to play the role of Indian cricket captain MS Dhoni in the biopic that is being made on him. But here is where there was a twist in the tale. The director, Neeraj Pandey, apparently told Akshay that he wouldn’t fit the part and declined to give him the role.
Pandey, incidentally has made two hit movies with Akshay — Special 26 and Baby. Perhaps he had the leeway to refuse Akshay because they will probably do some other movie together. As it turned out Sushant Singh Rathore got the role and he doesn’t really look much like Dhoni either!

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