What is Wrong with Shahrukh Khan?

hmm... dissappointing article.

soundmeister: long time no see. kahan thay aap? hope all`s well.

Watched my favourite movie A Few Good Men again on TV last night. That has the unlikeliest plot and the most overacting I have ever seen in a Hollywood production. EVERYONE overacts- Tom Cruise (always happy to ham it up), Jack Nicholson, even Demi Moore (when asked why do you like (the Marines at G.Bay) so much, she replies``Cuz they stand on a wall. And they say nothing`s gonna happen to you tonight. Not on my watch`` Wah! wah!).
Rob Reiner is an amazing filmmaker (Spielberg is overrated). OK

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if AFGM is not to your taste, check out his classic quasi-spoof rockumentary ``This is Spinal Tap``.
What`s all this got to do with the article? dunno really

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except that both are about actors

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hehe

#33 saminshah

Have you seen ``Kal Ho Na Ho`` if not than go see it. Movie is another reminder of how Indian movies do not represent Indian culture and if you fail to see it in this movie too.... than your bhagwan may help you.
I hope as you age you will realize what damage today`s movies are doing to Indian culture.
Good Luck!

#33 saminshah

I watched this movies so that I can write this, movie ``Kal ho Na Ho`` starts with hollywood style movie, a character Zinta in this case is introducing characters in the movies in different scenes.
Around intermission the movie turns into traditional Indian movie crap like comedy, romance and a songs, for example one in the middle of a street in some east coast city, street is blocked and dancers, singers (N.J I believe). It is just beyond reality.
In the end movie comes back to the starting tempo again, i-e Zinta helps move narrating and adding more stuff to the storyline towards tear jerking end ( I could not believe some people walked out of the theatre with swollen eyes).

Now tell me Samin(after watching the movie), do you really think movies are representation of our daily life?

sometimes i wonder why southindian directers dont get in any movie some slim actors.i dont like their jadia(faty) actors.
as far as talk abt shahrukhkhan he is not actor,he is overactor.there is no chance of him of being 21st`s amitabh or larger then life figure of bollywood.

HN #30
I agree about the character actors. I haven`t seen Yatra or Ambedkar. The one that really stands out in my memory is Thaniyavarthanam.

After a long time, I finally saw an Indian movie, which I would say is a must-see. Kal Ho Na Ho is excellent. The director and writer deserve awards. I would say one of the first new generation comedies I have seen, which had all the correct subtle touches. And it combined tragedy with comedy and romance, which is extremely difficult to do.

Shahrukh Khan was cast for a role, for which he is too old, now. And he was a bit too intense, where some of the scenes required a lighter touch. But his comedic acting was good, as always. I think comedy is where he fits in the best. Shahrukh Khan of seven years ago would have been the perfect age for the role. But I am not sure who else could have fit the role, amongst current actors.

But overall, the best Indian movie I have seen since 1942 - A Love story. And easily the best Indian comedy I have ever seen. It is a real comedy, as opposed to an overacted one. The key to a good comedy is how the subtleties in the humor are handled, without seeming ridiculous. Interestingly by the time the movie ended, everyone was crying, even though it is a comedy.

Interesting note: The whole movie seems to be shot in New York, however, in the middle of one song, for two minutes everything is picturised in downtown Toronto. Kind of wierd. The song goes back and forth between Toronto and New York, depicting everything to be New York. My guess is that due to Sep 11, they were not allowed to film the subways and buses in New York, so they moved to Toronto, for those shots. Good attention to detail.

Priety Zinta is going to be a big star, after this one.

I just saw KHNK, and thought that the film has been entirely misjudged. Saif is the hero! And a great one!

Unlike Anand, Saif`s ? Patel aka Amitabh clearly beats Shah Rukh`s AmaaN, hands down.

Sadna # 17

Mamooty is a brilliant actor, no doubt. I hear from a young cousin that the older lot, especially women, in Kearal, love Mamooty more for his gravity. And those among the young love him to play roles where he gets to spout English!

Mamooty`s Yatra stuck in the mind, and recently ``Ambedkar.``

Malayalam film industry`s greatest gems are perhaps their set of charcter actors...Tilakan, Nedumudi Venu, KPMCLalita, Suresh Gopi....etc Brilliant in any role.


Plats* #24

I do not think there is a debate on comparing Shah Rukh with Naseer! It is more about how the ``lack of personality`` in great actors that is interesting. Today I heard Greg Chappel make a rather colloquial australian expression regarding batting...``he has to get out of his own way``...to score. It was about Ganguly needing to be less Ganguly to get over the chin music the Australians had promised.

In literature class, I remember, Eliot redefining poetry ....as not so much the expression of personality as the ``escape from it.`` The greatness quotient seems to be in escaping than expressing...hah!

On the same subject, for example, my brother is a big fan of jack Nicholson, Pacino and DeNiro. While they are great actors, no doubt, the more I see their later films, more i see the person...not the character. They need to get out of their own ways...:)

Harish

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#26 arjunm

I suspect this was bound to happen, make any kind of (positive?) statement about homosexuals and you invite speculation. Combine this with the effeminate characteristics of Karan Johar and you have enough masala for people to indulge in.

Re: Kal Ho Na Ho

I agree with arjun_m`s analysis that it is more the production house than anything else. I had similar problems with Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham that I had with Kal Ho Na Ho, and they both stem from the fact that I like subtle things more than grand things.

But overall the film was entertaining, it was something you know you could go and watch and not feel like you wasted your money, and take your family with you. Especially since the other choices seem to be films like `Janasheen` (I`ll have to be shot before I`ll be seen in a theatre with that playing, and I know what to expect before going in).

SRK - he knows how to play the `cute` roles, and he invariably gets to all the women. I do applaud his `emotional guy` attempts, opening up the hindi cinema to emotional rather than macho men.

dost-mittarji:
Imagine the tragedy king and queen excelling at comedy. I saw `Kohinoor`, `Azaad` three times each and love `Aplam chaplam`, and the way the song was picturised using Hindi wrods but using an almost S.Indian style of dancing...Dilip was so good in `Ram aur Shyam` too. He is among the few actors who could emote well in songs. Bharat Bhushan would barely open his mouth!

Dilip also sang a solo in `Musafir` without musical accompaniment -- it is that scene when he is sitting alone, he brought the solitariness alive.

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K.L.Saigal is not a ``nasal voiced singer``. At that time, this was the style of singing adopted by everyone -- Jagmohan, Pankaj Mullick, Rajkumari, Mubarak Begum. Saigal is the epitome of the voice with `thehraav`. The cinematographer of his version who made the Dilip Kumar `Devdas` was Bimal Roy. I think this film succeeded at several levels, mainly because it did not try too hard to capture the Bengali superficialities and went straight to its essence.

I just remembered that this reined-in, unrequited passion was portrayed by Sharukh Khan much better in `Dil Se`.

plats8:
Naseer was stupendous in `Paar`, as he was in `Sparsh`, `Manthan`, `Bhumika`. Have you watched him on stage? Fantastic. If you are in Mumbai, catch him in the Ismat Chugtai adaptations. And `Waiting for Godot`, `Dear Liar`.

Your comment, ``Naseeruddin Shah can play the role of a chair better than a real chair``, I think this is his handicap. Sometimes, his performaces do seem too studied, like in `Mirch Masala` and `Drohkaal`. But these are small quibbles...

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Imran Suleman:

``What really gets me going is that the author of Devdas, Sarat Chander Chatopadhyay, was only 19 when he wrote this timeless classic. I wonder, that at the ``tender`` age of 19, how can a young man right such an ``intense`` novel, with such limited life experiences. Perhaps, I am naive in my assumption of not having the life experiences to write such a moving novel, but stil... they dont make authors like that anymore. I want those intense authors back!``

Damn right! Imagine the courage, the sacrifices of such a person! For these qualities must have been in a person who is capable of such `imaginations`! How many times must he have been dismissed as an aimless dreamer! How many times must he have been let down! And yet...the persistance...

Am reminded of a Faiz poem...`Jinhain jurm-e-ishq peh naaz tha, voh gunahgaar chalay ga-aye...`

As for the Telugu Devdaas, here`s some info on it (copy-paste from an email):

``Devdas or Devadaasu as it was called in telugu was released in the year 1953 - 50yrs ago
The main charachters of Devadaasu and parvathi were played by the legendary ANR (Akkineni Nageshwara Rao) and Savitri

It was a biggest all time hit, and ANR`s son who is a very good actor too says that he could never play the role as genuinely as his father did..
I believe the director did not give ANR anything to eat for a long time to make him look the way he did``



Arjun_m:

Advice taken!

2 by meet_taimoor

I second your opinion, you stole my words ;-)

Just watched Kal ho na ho... the second half made me cry... it`s a good sign for the actors and directors right ?

:)