Dimag Ki Dahi Mat Bana

Tuesday, 15 March 2016

Sunday, 6 March 2016

Thursday, 3 March 2016

Thursday, 3 December 2015

Let’s Face It. Shah Rukh Khan Is A Far Better Actor Than Salman Khan

Two reigning Khans. A fortune worth billions. Global fame. Millions of crazy, obsessed fans. Two religions – Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan. That’s the best way you can describe mainstream Bollywood.

With people in India taking films more seriously than anything else, it is no surprise that the clash of the two clans is always a subject of discussion and quite entertainingly so. Both Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan have changed the face of Bollywood in their own unique ways. But sometimes, you gotta call a spade a spade.

Salman Khan and SRK have their own brand of fan following and for some very valid reasons. But there’s something that separates them; a quality or a lack of it that makes one of them a legend and an actor par excellence and the other, well, just a phenomenal star. It’s a difference most people overlook, but one that makes a world of a difference. Let’s face it. When it comes to performance, Shah Rukh stands where Salman can never reach. Shah Rukh Khan is a far better actor than Salman Khan. There you go, I said it. Take a bow, SRK.

No, don’t mistake me for a Salman Khan hater. I’ve got nothing against him. I’ve watched most of his films and I’ve rarely missed a weekend episode of 'Bigg Boss'. Neither am I one of those die-hard (read blind) SRK fans who were responsible for a film as bad as ‘Happy New Year’ breaking all box office records last year. No, we’re not challenging Salman’s stardom or his credibility. In all probability, he does have a more loyal (also aggressive) fan base and the fact that he has won so many hearts so effortlessly speaks volumes about his personality.

But it is Shah Rukh Khan who has made Bollywood an enriching experience for most of us. It’s time we look past their fame and popularity and acknowledge their real strengths.

It’s been a while since we’ve seen Salman Khan perform on screen – a long, long while. He’s well aware of how popular he is and chooses to take his audience for granted. No matter what the movie demands, he’s always playing himself – the cocky, arrogant, brash guy ‘nobody can mess with’. One cannot possibly validate this argument without citing the much recent blunder ‘Prem Ratan Dhan Payo’. It was supposed to be the film that marked Prem’s comeback. The same Prem everybody loved in ‘Maine Pyar Kiya’ and ‘Hum Aapke Hain Koun’. The Prem who was humble, docile, love-struck and yet so charming; Prem, the dream guy.

The film, however, was a stark reminder of the fact that Salman Khan has come to a point where he just refuses to be sincere with his work. From ‘Wanted’ to ‘Dabangg’ to ‘Prem Ratan Dhan Payo’, no matter what the character demands, Salman would do ‘whatever he wants to’, for he knows the audiences will still pour in.

He is done playing ‘characters’, all he does is appear on screen, mouth an iconic dialogue, do a funny dance, punch some goons, do the thing he has been doing for the last 7-8 years and become richer. He’s never the actor Salman Khan, always the star Salman Khan.

Where’s the hard work, Salman? Now there’s no denying that SRK has been taking his fans for a ride too with his recent movies but at least, he doesn’t compromise on his performance. He signs bad films but still acts with sincerity. Remember the time he transformed into a middle-aged boring man in ‘Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi’, or the time he played an autistic man in ‘My Name Is Khan’? There aren’t many actors in Bollywood today who can delve so deep into their characters, detach themselves from their real selves so much that their presence becomes almost unrecognizable. And that is the most commendable quality in an actor.

Shah Rukh Khan has taken up far more challenging roles than Salman Khan in his early years alone. He has never shied away from stepping into different shoes and pulling them off with equal finesse. He’s always taken the lead with his talent alone, and substance would always rank above style. He has played an antagonist in ‘Darr’, the lovelorn Rahul in many, an emperor in 'Asoka', an author-backed character in ‘Devdas’, a dying lover in ‘Kal Ho Na Ho’, a scientist in ‘Swades’, a hockey coach in ‘Chak De India’, a superhero in ‘Ra.One’ and a smuggler in ‘Raees’, a mafia man in ‘Don’ and an autistic guy in ‘My Name Is Khan’ – all of these are starkly different from each other, and from his real self.

His work speaks volumes about his versatility as an actor. There has been no other actor in Bollywood who has shown so much promise and delivered more every time. If you were to ignore the recent disasters by him, SRK has been one of the greatest actors Bollywood has ever seen. There was a time when Salman Khan too experimented with roles apart from romance and comedy, but there hasn’t been a single good performance by him we could rave about since ‘Tere Naam’. That was 12 years ago. No, I didn’t skip ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’. It was a good film, but Salman Khan’s performance was ridiculously overrated.

Apart from a cult following, there's another rare feat Shah Rukh Khan has achieved in a span of 25 years that most actors can't in a lifetime. He's carved a niche for himself and how! Romance is synonymous to Shah Rukh Khan and that is a result of the legacy of timeless love stories he has left behind. You may find his 'open arms' pose annoying today but let's face it, he's the man who showed us what romance looked like.

Even at 50, SRK still is the unbeatable king of romance. Which other actor can you say that about?

Many of you have a lot to say, of course. Let's hear it.

50 facts about F.R.I.E.N.D.S you didn't know!

We have been brought up watching this American sitcom 'F.R.I.E.N.D.S'. Monica, Rachel, Chandler, Phoebe, Joey have been like a part of our gang. Here are a few unknown facts about the show we bet you did not have an idea about!

Rachel and Monica were secretly replaced on F.R.I.E.N.D.S

Clips of editing bloopers from the Friends TV series have recently surfaced online, thanks to some overly observant viewers. Actresses Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox disappeared in two of the scenes on the hit TV show and were replaced by doubles, who were accidentally caught in the frame. The women looked similar but wore different clothes, making the editing mistake even more apparent.

Joey and Chandler’s big white dog actually belonged to Jennifer Aniston. A friend gave it to her as a good-luck gift when the show started.

An average Friends episode took five hours to film.

When the show was first written, Joey and Monica were intended to be love interests.

The show was originally called 'Insomnia Cafe'. It was then renamed 'Friends Like Us', and then 'Six of One'; before becoming Friends.

In the first season, each of the main six cast members earned $22,000 per episode.

In 1997, they banded together to negotiate a salary increase to $100,000 per episode. It was the first time in TV history that cast members had done this. By the final season, they each got $1,000,000 per episode.

Courteney Cox is actually older than David Schwimmer, despite playing his younger sister.

In the pilot, Monica forgets the name of a guy she sleeps with. Producers were worried that this would make the audience not like her, so they handed out a survey to the studio audience asking whether they thought the plot should be changed. They didn’t.

10.

Ross and Rachel weren’t meant to be the central romance of the series. Their storyline was developed because of David Schwimmer and Jennifer Aniston’s chemistry.

11.

Monica’s apartment changed from number 5 to number 20 when the show’s writers realised that '5' wouldn’t denote an apartment on an upper level floor in a large block. So they matched, Chandler’s also changed from 4 to 19.

12.

Kathy Griffin and Jane Lynch both auditioned for the role of Phoebe.

13.

Jon Favreau and Jon Cryer both tried out for the role of Chandler.

14.

Phoebe’s wedding is not attended by any of her relatives, including her twin sister Ursula, her father, her birth mother, her brother Frank Jr. or the triplets she gave birth to.

15.

Hank Azaria, who plays David the scientist, auditioned for the role of Joey twice before the show went into production.

16.

The cast had a huddle before filming each episode to wish each other luck.

17.

Bruce Willis appeared in the show for free after losing a bet about whether ‘The Whole Nine Yards’ would be No. 1 in the box office on its opening weekend with Matthew Perry. He donated his fee to charity.

18.

Phoebe and Chandler were originally supposed to be supporting characters.

19.

David Schwimmer was the first of the main six actors to be cast in the show and Jennifer Aniston was the last of the main six actors to be cast in the show.

20.

Before the show’s pilot aired, the cast was taken for dinner at Caeser’s Palace in Las Vegas to enjoy their 'last shot at anonymity'. They later returned to the same place to shoot Ross and Rachel’s drunken wedding.

21.

Crew member Paul Swain was responsible for the Magna Doodles on the door of Chandler’s apartment.

22.

When Monica pops up from underneath Chandler’s bedsheet in London, the two of them held position for 27 seconds.

23.

NBC originally thought Central Perk was too trendy and wanted to set the show in a diner, like Seinfeld.

24.

The orange couch in Central Perk was found in the basement of the Warner Bros. studio.

25.

Ross is 29 years old for three years.

26.

Monica and Chandler’s twins are born three minutes and 46 seconds apart.

27.

All of the six main characters have kissed each other at one point (if you include alternative 'what if?' episodes), except Monica and Phoebe.

28.

Like Monica and Chandler, Courteney Cox and David Arquette had trouble getting pregnant.

29.

The frame around the peephole in Monica’s apartment originally had a mirror in it. It was broken by a crew member during the early stages of filming, but producers thought it looked good so they left it.

30.

June Gable, who played Joey’s agent Estelle Leonard, also played a nurse in the episode where Carol gives birth to Ben.

31.

David Schwimmer directed 10 Friends episodes.

32.

Friends co-creators Marta Kauffman and David Crane are also co-writers of the show’s theme song, 'I’ll Be There for You' by The Rembrandts.

33.

When Rachel is trying to find a new officiate for Chandler and Monica’s wedding, she finds a Greek Orthodox priest coming out of the Anastassakis/Papasifakis wedding. Anastassakis is Jennifer Aniston’s family name.

34.

When Lisa Kudrow first read the script, she thought Chandler’s character was gay.

35.

Giovanni Ribisi plays Phoebe’s brother Frank Jr. in later episodes, but he also has a small cameo in the earlier seasons. He plays a boy who accidentally throws a condom into Phoebe’s guitar case instead of a coin.

36.

Lisa Kudrow had already been guest-starring on 'Mad About You' as Ursula Buffay for two years before Friends aired. They decided to make Phoebe a twin to create a crossover between the two shows.

37.

Gunther didn’t have a name until the middle of the second season.

38.

James Michael Tyler was cast as Gunther because he was the only extra who knew how to operate an espresso machine.

39.

Gunther didn’t have a line until the show’s 33rd episode. He said 'yeah'.

40.

There were six versions of Phoebe’s dollhouse made for 'The One with the Dollhouse' because the plot involved burning them.

41.

The actor who plays Joshua’s father is actually Matthew Perry’s real-life father.

42.

Ellen DeGeneres turned down an offer to play Phoebe.

43.

In the last episode, it is mentioned that all six characters have lived in Monica’s apartment. They have all also lived in Joey’s apartment.

44.

When the last series ended, Jennifer Aniston and her then-husband Brad Pitt hosted a dinner party at their home. They served bottles of wine that producer Kevin Bright had saved from the first series.

45.

When the last series ended, each cast member was given a piece of the sidewalk from outside Central Perk as a keepsake.

46.

Before Friends, Courtney Cox appeared in various commercials. In fact, she was the first person to say 'period' on national television for a Tampax commercial.

47.

Some of the laughter from the show's live audience was cut in scenes so the next punch line wasn't lost.

48.

Marcel the monkey is actually a female and her name is Katie. In fact, we hear she's got she's had some pretty recent modeling gigs lined up. After her career-launching role in Friends, Katie led the way for future Friends alumni by breaking into Hollywood with a show-stealing performance in 'Bruce Almighty'. And when she’s not relaxing in her California residence between shooting, she also serves as the mascot for the LA Angels baseball team.

49.

Three cast members from The Simpsons made guest appearances on Friends: Dan Castellaneta (Homer), Hank Azaria (Moe/Apu, etc.), and Harry Shearer (Mr. Burns/Smithers, etc.).

50.

'The One Where No One’s Ready' takes place entirely in Monica’s apartment because the show didn’t have a large enough budget for guest stars or additional sets.

51.

In the opening credits of 'The One After Vegas', which is dedicated to Courteney Cox and David Arquette’s marriage, every cast member has the surname Arquette added to the end of his or her real name.