Shahrukh Khan's Ra.One Official Trailer 0.30 Sec.

Aah, now this one is a huge film. For a 10 year old who may still be wondering what's the fuss about the coming together of Shah Rukh Khan and Aditya Chopra, a trip to Maratha Mandir, Mumbai, is mandatory to check out Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge which is still running there for 13 uninterrupted years. And for the grown-ups, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi hardly needs an introduction. Of course, the music of any Yash Raj Film is special because regardless the fate of some of their recent films, music continues to be highpoint of the production house, Tashan and Bachna Ae Haseeno being the case in point.

Talking about the music of RNBJD, one looks forward to what composer duo of Salim-Sulaiman and lyricist Jaideep Sahni have come up with, considering this is easily their BIGGEST project ever. Also, they would be expected to fill the shoes of Jatin-Lalit who made the score of DDLJ and Mohabbatein, the two projects directed by Aditya Chopra, ever-so-memorable.

a) So, does the music eventually go on to meet the sky high expectations?
b) Has Aditya Chopra indeed reserved the best songs for his third directorial outing?
c) Will Shah Rukh Khan have yet another blockbuster score a la Om Shanti Om to his credit?
d) Does Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi turn out to be the kind which would be played at least 3-4 years from now, if not a decade?

So how does one sum up the music of Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi? Well, it is not bad but then it is primarily situational; the kind that gets enhanced by picturisation and choreography.

The sound of 'santoor' at the very beginning of 'Tujh Mein Rab Dikhta Hai' attracts one's attention right away since you immediately get the feel of a Veer Zaara outing. A simple outing that has an out and out Indian feel to it; 'Tujh Mein Rab Dikhta Hai' starts off well but just doesn't pick up enough, courtesy the choice of singer. Seriously, instead of Roop Kumar Rathod being entrusted with the responsibility of a track which is the flagship number of RNBDJ, if a singer like Udit Narayan or Sonu Niigaam or K.K. would have been the chosen one, the song could well have gone to a different level altogether.

In the end, it turns out to be a more than decent number which certainly could have been much better. Also, it doesn't quite turn out to be the kind which deserves to appear at the very beginning of the album. Female version of the song, a much slower one, comes towards the album's end and has Shreya Ghoshal at the helm. A 100 second piece, it is a slower version and a sad one at that. Purely situational.

A slightly better number comes in the form of 'Haule Haule', a number which carries the flavor of Aaja Nachle soundtrack both in terms of middle-class setting and the overall simplicity of sound design. Rendered by Sukhwinder Singh who is subdued rather than being typically full throated, 'Haule Haule' is a situational track which is already on air and is being noticed for the way the bespectacled Shah Rukh Khan brings in all his experience while comfortably dancing around in his middle class clothing. The number has melody as its driving force.

Would 'Dance Pe Chance' turn out to be that number which would make RNBDJ soundtrack special? This is what one wonders when this track sung by Sunidhi Chauhan and Labh Janjua arrives next. However, to one's disappointment, 'Dance Pe Chance' has an ordinary orchestra and arrangements that pull the song back. Preset keyboard sound seems to be driving this 'dance number' that is mainly a Sunidhi Chauhan track with an element of Punjabi being thrown in, courtesy Labh Janjua.

A song where a plain and simple Shah Rukh Khan seems to be going through dance classes, 'Dance Pe Chance' is a number where Salim-Sulaiman haven't done anything special and just followed the sound they have already brought to the audience in films like Neal N Nikki. A four minute remix version 'Dancing Jodi' marks an end to the album and is marginally better due to all the pep and rhythm thrown in. Also, it includes references to 'Tujh Mein Rab Dikhta Hai' and 'Haule Haule'.

'Phir Milenge Chalte Chalte' is a kind of number which (on screen) could turn out to be good on screen, purely on the basis of how Aditya Chopra gets some fun rolling on the screen. This one is clearly an experiment in the making since it amalgamates numerous lyrics and tunes from the yesteryear and mixes them together to create a 'bhelpuri' of sorts. So whether it is 'Jab Pyaar Kisi Se Hota Hai', 'Pal Bhar Ke Liye Koyi Hamein Pyaar Kar Le' or 'Hum Hai Rahi Pyaar Ke' or 'O Haseena Zulfon Waali' or 'Jai Jai Shiv Shankar' - the number includes them all and many more with Sonu Nigam singing as if he is a part of a concert where he has to pay a homage to all the greats from the past. As a standalone number, 'Phir Milenge Chalte Chalte' just doesn't stand a chance and certainly not the kind which would be solely responsible for the sales of the album.

There were four questions that were raised at the beginning of the review. This is what one has to say after hearing the entire album:

a) The music is decent but not huge enough to befit a project which marks the return of Aditya Chopra as a director
b) Aditya Chopra has been responsible for far better romantic outings, most recently being Bachna Ae Haseeno
c) The music will sell well but touching the numbers of Om Shanti Om would be feasible only if the movie turns out to be an excellent fare with a sustained presence at the box office
d) It seems highly improbable that the songs would remain rooted for years at stretch in the hearts of music buffs who expect nothing but the best from a project as huge and important as RNBDJ.

However, what needs to be remembered is that Aditya Chopra has been one of the pioneers when it comes to song picturisation. How can one forget songs like 'Ho Gaya Hai Tujhko To Pyaar Sajna'/'Mere Khwabon Mein Jo Aaye' [DDLJ] or 'Chalte Chalte'/'Soni Soni' [Mohabbatein] which were not the flagship numbers of the respective films ('Tujhe Dekha' and 'Humko Humi Se Churalo' were) but still turned out to be widely popular. The same can be ultimately expected from RNBJD, if response to just-on-air 'Haule Haule' is any indication.

Shah Rukh’s in his ‘Temptation Reloaded 2008’, a live concert world tour bandwagon has added more stars to rock the world. In the next event for the tour at Dubai Festival City Arena, Katrina Kaif and Arjun Rampal have joined the SRK’s group. Hard Kaur, Anusha Dandekar and Ganesh Hegde are other stars who would perform along SRK at the show.However, shows in Germany and Spain have been cancelled and SRK is in tight spot due to breach of contract. The show is also to be part of coronation celebrations of Bhutan’s new king Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuk in Thimpu, capital of the Himalayan kingdom, from November 6-8.

RAB NE BANA DI JODI First teaser on Sunday.
December 12 will see the release of perhaps the most awaited film of the year, the Aditya Chopra directed Shah Rukh Khan starrer, RAB NE BANA DI JODI (RNBDJ). It will be the first Shah Rukh Khan film (as a lead actor) releasing this year after a gap of almost a year and the audience will get a chance to see their favourite hero (that too in a double role!) after the all time blockbuster, OM SHANTI OM.

The film becomes even more special as it ends an eight year sabbatical for Aditya Chopra, director of the trendsetting DILWALE DULHANIA LE JAYENGE (1995) and the iconic, MOHABBATEIN (2000), both starring Shah Rukh Khan.

The initial plans of unleashing the first promo of RNBDJ with Yash Raj's ROADSIDE ROMEO were aborted for reasons best known to the makers themselves. However the eager fans of King Khan and Aditya Chopra will be happy to know that the coming Sunday (November 2nd) will see the first song promo/teaser being unleashed, on SRK's birthday!

The much anticipated music album of the film is expected to release on the 7th of November. And before we leave, here is something interesting. There is a buzz that both SRK and debutant Anushka Sharma have lent their voices to two separate tracks of the audio album.

SHAH Rukh Khan made his acting debut in 1988 in a TV series called Fauji in which he played an army commando.

For his first feature film, Deewana (1992), he won a Filmfare award - the Bollywood equivalent of an Oscar - and the first of 13 in his career.

Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (1995), starring Khan and actress Kajol, is Indian cinema’s longest running film. It has been on at Mumbai’s Maratha Mandir cinema since its release.

Om Shanti Om (2007), made by Khan’s production house Red Chillies Entertainment, was the highest-grossing Hindi film last year. It earned US$45mil (RM153mil) worldwide.

Khan is currently shooting Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi in which his co-star is 19-year-old model Anushka Sharma.

Next year, he teams up with actress Kajol again in Karan Johar’s movie, My Name is Khan.

He formed the production company Dreamz Unlimited in 1999, but its first films, Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani (2000) and Asoka (2001), tanked. The next film, Chalte Chalte (2003), was a hit.

He returned to the small screen last year to host India’s version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. This April, he began hosting India’s version of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?.

There is a life-size wax statue of Khan at the Madame Tussauds wax museum in London. It was installed in April last year.

In 2004, he was named one of Time magazine’s 20 Asian Heroes Under 40.

Two films. Two hits. And Deepika Padukone is comfortably placed amongst one of the top choices for a heroine when it comes to mainstream Bollywood cinema. No wonder, she finds herself on the hot seat as Sajid Khan chats up with her on 'Sajid Superstars'.

- Find her smiling and blushing for almost an entire episode as she charms one and all while facing the most scandalous and tricky questions. Example? On being asked to choose her favorite actor between Shah Rukh Khan and Akshay Kumar, she replied - 'When Shah Rukh Khan acts, the nation rocks with him. And when Akshay acts, he rocks the nation'. A reply that prompted Sajid to insist that she join the politics!

- Deepika tells facts about herself as a kid. Apparently, she took badminton quite seriously in her growing up years and was amongst the Top-3 in her state (Karnataka) when she was 15-16 years old. Even today, she maintains that given a situation, she can give quite a few a run for their money if asked to step on the badminton court. Just the right reason for Sajid to hand her over a shuttle-cock as a gift!

- She was also asked a question to choose the better looking man between her father (Prakash Padukone) and her love (Ranbir Kapoor). What did she reply?

- The world is aware about her alleged involvement with Yuvraj Singh. Hence, it was inevitable that she was thrown a query about his presence at her birthday party. Deepika's reply? 'Well, he is a friend and was there having dinner with us. Period.'

- Before being paired with Shah Rukh Khan in Om Shanti Om, Deepika had made her small screen debut with Himesh Reshammiya. Remember the video? Sajid plays it for the audience in the show.

- Meanwhile she appears to be quite confident about one of her upcoming films about which she is confident that it would be the biggest hit of 2009. The film has Akshay Kumar as her co-star and is titled Housefull. The director? Sajid Khan himself.

- Remembering her growing up years, Deepika confesses that she had a huge crush on Arjun Rampal. Apparently, the man was understandably embarrassed when Deepika told him the same during the shooting of Om Shanti Om.

- However, currently she is all loyal and committed to Ranbir Kapoor and admits that she belongs to the 'pati parmeshwar' variety who would love to see herself married to him 10 years down the line with number of kids around her.

- There was some fun in store though when she got into 'How well do you know Ranbir' round. When asked about Ranbir's stint as an assistant director in his early years, Deepika was confident that Black was the first film where he assisted Sanjay Leela Bhansali. However, that is not the case since years back; Ranbir had started his career with a different director. Any guesses?

To see all of this and lot more, tune in to 'Sajid Superstars' at 8:00 PM, Saturday on the newly launched channel COLORS!

Shah Rukh Khan has done it again. After having done many guest appearances and cameos in the recent past in films like I See You, Heyy Babyy, Bhoothnath, the superstar will once again be seen in a cameo in director Vivek Sharma's next film Kal Kisne Dekha.

The film marks the acting debut of producer Vashu Bhagnani's son Jackie Bhagnani and is a romantic drama slated to release early next year. Incidentally, Shah Rukh agreed to do a guest appearance in the film because of his proximity with director Vivek Sharma. SRK was even seen in a small role in Vivek's directorial debut Bhoothnath alongside Juhi Chawla and Amitabh Bachchan.

Hope SRK is able to weave his magic once again.

Just two days in Amritsar and King Khan is in love. As all must have already guessed, we are talking about Shahrukh Khan, who is in Amritsar for the past few days, shooting for Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi. Since it's a Yash Raj project, there is a lot of secrecy concerning the story of unquestionably the most awaited movie of the year. And why not? After all, it brings back the director-actor 'jodi' of the iconic Dilwale Dulhania Le Jaayenge (still running in its 672nd week in Bombay) and Mohabbatein. Naturally, the moment the unit arrived in Amritsar, there was (and still is), a frenzy, both amongst the media as well as the fans of superstar, Shahrukh Khan, in order to catch a glimpse or have a word with Bollywood's global superstar.

After the initial shooting stint at the famous Golden Temple earlier this week (as has been widely reported in the media), the venue has now shifted. Wednesday saw a traditional Punjabi marriage ceremony (some are saying that it was a 'mehndi' ceremony) taking place at the posh Queen's Road, and the venue was Kapoor Guest House. The whole unit as well as the director, Aditya Chopra and Yash Chopra were present for the shooting. The atmosphere was seeped in Punjabi culture (seen in countless Yash Raj super-hits!), complete with girls dancing 'gidda' and boys swinging to 'bhangra', dressed in traditional Punjabi finery and clothing. Once the 'mehndi' ceremony was complete, there was the marriage ceremony. Shahrukh was dressed in traditional Punjabi clothing and accompanying him were the relatives who arrived at the Kapoor Guest House and headed for the place where the marriage ceremony was taking place.

A member of the crew tells us that it is at this ceremony that the 'younger' Shahrukh Khan falls in love with his 'mutiyar' (beautiful, young Punjabi girl), played by model-turned-actress, Anushka Sharma.

As we file this report, the shooting venue has shifted to the famous Khalsa College, but more about that later!

Shah Rukh Khan plays the role of a superstar named Saahil Khan in the movie Billo Barber directed by Priyadarshan.

Priyadarshan has been trying to rope in Shah Rukh Khan for various projects and Shah Rukh was busy with the IPL hungama. Finally Priyadarshan narrated the script to Shah Rukh Khan and an impressed Shah Rukh gave dates simultaneous with the IPL matches.

Billo Barber is the remake of Malayalam hit Katha Parayumbol starring Mammootty and Sreenivasan. Irfan Khan plays the title role and Shah Rukh plays a superstar called Saahil Khan. It’s inspired by the mythical friendship between Lord Krishna and Sudama but done in a completely contemporary context.

“It’s about a village and the changes that happen in it when a superstar comes to the village. What people don’t know is that there’s a very strong suspense element in the film,” said Priyadarshan.

Commenting upon Irfan, the director said: “Any big star would’ve agreed to play the title role. But I wanted someone who looked like a real villager, a hardcore barber. Irrfan has learnt how to cut hair.”

Shah Rukh Khan has roped in Deepika Padukone and Kareena Kapoor to do cameos in the film.

Interestingly, Deepika Padukone was offered her first film by Priyadarshan but she went ahead instead with Om Shanti Om. Now she appears in a cameo in Priyadarshan’s pet project thanks to Shah Rukh Khan.

Music channel MTV is all set to make three films with the reigning stars of today - Shah Rukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan and Aamir Khan.

All the three movies will be regular commercial productions to be made on a grand scale, a source at MTV revealed.

Right now, the actors signed by the channel are busy working in their respective movies. Shah Rukh is currently shooting for Yash Raj Films' Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, Hrithik with home production Kites and Aamir with his much-awaited Ghajini.

Since these movies are slated for release later this year, the proposed MTV productions are likely to mount the sets next year. The channel, however, refused to elaborate on it.

MTV India's past attempt at filmmaking, however, was not encouraging. In 2006, the channel made Ghoom, a 45-minute spoof on Yash Raj Films' Dhoom, but it bombed at the box-office.

Superstar Akshay Kumar's demand has increased by leaps and bounds. Akshay's good show with every passing film has positioned him among the top league. And with Singh Is Kinng's fantabulous success, Akshay has become the most sought after actor of the industry. Many filmmakers are showing their desire to work with Akshay. And one such filmmaker who has shown his keen interest is the ace filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra, the man behind the successful Munna Bhai flicks.

Apparently Vidhu initially approached Shahrukh Khan but for some reasons SRK backed out of the project. And so he approached Khiladi Kumar with the idea while he was attending the success bash for Singh Is Kinng. As per few reports, Vidhu was seen chatting constantly with Akki throughout the bash. He left no stone unturned to let him know how much he loved him in Singh Is Kinng and his other releases. In fact he even made it a point to offer him a lift back home so that he could talk business on the way.

Veteran actor Manoj Kumar who felt insulted at being caricatured in last year's blockbuster Om Shanti Om and not satisfied with an apology from Shah Rukh Khan has now filed a case against the telecast of the film on television.

And that's not all. There is another lawsuit against the film and this time from a script writer alleging plagiarism.

Manoj Kumar is upset that Shah Rukh Khan has not kept his promise to delete scenes in which he was caricatured.

Shah Rukh's Red Chillies Entertainment produced the film which was one of last year's biggest hits.

Joining Manoj Kumar in the battle against Om Shanti Om is scriptwriter Ajay Monga. On Wednesday, Monga also moved the Bombay High Court saying that OSO was partly based on a script he wrote three years ago.

A script he claims is registered with the film writers' association in 2005.

Monga claims Red Chillies promised to pay him Rs 1.25 crore but later back tracked. Red Chillies was not available for comment.

It seems like a wake up call for Shah Rukh Khan but Monga says this is a wake up call for the entire industry where over the years original work has given way to plagiarism. Something he says which has to stop.