Subhash Nagre, an influential, Godfather-like man has two sons: Vishnu, an irresponsible film producer more interested in actresses than in work, and Shankar, recently returned from studying in the U.S. When someone frames Subhash for murder, he is forced to reexamine the source of his power and his relationship with his sons.

So what’s the actual price of MY NAME IS KHAN? Has Fox Star Studios India paid a massive Rs. 100 crores for the global rights of the film [excluding music rights]? Or is the actual price Rs. 81 crores? The speculation continues… “It’s a privilege to be associated with Karan Johar and Shah Rukh Khan. It can’t get bigger than that. But the price is completely not 100 crores or 81 crores. I wouldn’t like to reveal the exact numbers, but it’s completely off the mark,” Vijay Singh, CEO of Fox Star Studios India, breaks his silence on this topic.

Remember, they parted on a sour note after her hasty departure from his home production Chalte Chalte six years ago?

She had already canned a portion of the film when Salman Khan reportedly landed on the sets… and, well, the rest as they say is history.

Post that scene, SRK let Ash off the hook and took Rani Mukerji as his leading lady. And, since then, many big banners including Yashraj and Dharma failed to reunite the pair that created such magic in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Devdas.

Subsequently, though the Bollywood Badshah wasn’t invited to the Ash-Abhishek wedding, King Khan and wife Gauri posed with the Bachchans for the shutterbugs at the Drona premiere last year. And more recently, at Karan Johar’s birthday party on May 25, the two couples — SRK and Gauri, Ash and Abhi — spent quality time together.

In the light of this thawing of relations, comes the news of cinematographer-director Rajiv Menon (whose Kandukonden Kandukonden in Tamil had Tabu and Ash) reuniting the SRK-Ash jodi. Menon is said to have flown to London to narrate a dramatic script (with Ash in mind) to Shah Rukh, which the actor liked.

At this point of his career, SRK is looking to do films that explore his dramatic intensity as in Devdas. He has no problems working with Ash and she with him. At Karan’s birthday, the Bachchans and Khans got along famously. Rajiv Menon’s film is being seen as a natural progression towards mending the bridges between two of the most powerful families of Bollywood.

And, if America bends its constitution, Austrian-born Arnold Schwarzenegger is ready to muscle his way into the White House as well. While in Bollywood, in Dr APJ Abdul Kalam we have a former President who is making the great crossover and entering cinema with a film called Mein Kalam Hoon.

Dr Kalam, an aeronautical engineer and scientist whose work on ballistic missiles and space rocket technology earned him the name ‘Missile Man of India’, has done this Hindi film with children that’s been directed by Madhav Pandeya and produced by the SMILE Foundation. The former Prez, who has always been fond of children, agreed to do the film because it gave him the opportunity to work with kids.

Describing the Honorary Doctorate conferred on him by a leading British University as a “very very special honour”, Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan has pledged to utilise the recognition to further the cause of under-privileged children in India.

“I promise to dedicate a large proportion of my time to do whatever within my capacity to further the cause of education among kids as a way of my thankfulness and gratitude for this honour,” Khan said after receiving the Doctorate in London in Friday evening.

“Of course, starting with my kids who are highly uneducated right now,” he said.

Khan was conferred the Doctorate by Professor Les Ebdon, Vice Chancellor of the Bedfordshire University, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the arts, media and culture at a special ceremony held at Washington Mayfare, a hotel owned by NRI entrepreneur Joginder Singh Sangar.
The Bollywood heartthrob, who has won several international recognitions including the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Order of the Arts and Literature) from the French Government, the Malaysian title of Datuk – equivalent to a British Knighthood, said: “I could not believe that I may be addressed as Doctor from henceforth. My kids have, lifelong been asking me if I will be getting a stethoscope as an award. In my job as an actor, getting an honorary Doctorate is right up there, as an achievement.”

Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan will be conferred an honorary Doctorate in Arts and Culture by a leading British University.Shah Rukh, the first foreign actor to be conferred the Malaysian title of Datuk, equivalent to a British Knighthood last year, will receive the Doctorate from Professor Les Ebdon, OBE, Vice Chancellor of the University of Bedfordshire.

The University of Bedfordshire received nomination of Shah Rukh Khan from an NGO, Routes to Roots, which is also a member of World Association for Non Governmental Organisations.

It works in the sphere of augmenting people to people contact across the world, specially endeavouring to bring people and cultures together across the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries in general and India and Pakistan in particular. Actor Juhi Chawla and filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt are among its patrons.
“Shah Rukh Khan was selected by us after careful study since he has his head and heart at the right place in spite of being crowned the King of Bollywood. The superstar has done immense work for the underprivileged and downtrodden and has always come forward for charities in case of natural disasters,” said Tina Vachani, co-founder, Routes to Roots.

Miss India Ekta Chaudhary posing for shutterbugs at the Ritu Kumar design studio in Gurgaon.

In India, a country of a billion inhabitants, where film and pop music are one, A.R. Rahman, 43, dominates the music industry so totally that he has supplied the sound track for a whole generation. He enjoys the godlike devotion of India’s youth, but everyone from the street child who sweeps train platforms to the middle-aged doctor in Mumbai’s posh Malabar Hill hums his tunes.

A.R.Rehmaan With Middlesex University Vice Chancellor Professor Michael Driscoll

Born in Chennai (formerly Madras) and raised on Tamil movies and music, Rahman converted to Sufism — a mystical form of Islam — in the late 1980s. It is easy to hear these influences in his work, but his genius lies in tying many forms of music together to make a sound that is at once familiar and new. He first gained widespread notice for Mani Ratnam’s Tamil film Roja (1992), then branched out into Hindi films and has succeeded in making Indian film music a global phenomenon. He has worked with Andrew Lloyd Webber and with Shekhar Kapur on Elizabeth and has influenced other gifted directors like Baz Luhrmann. This year he won two Oscars, a Golden Globe and a BAFTA for giving Slumdog Millionaire its frenetic sound.

Shahrukh Khan Temptations 2004 Tour Diary – Interviews part 1