After a long silence as his movie Ae Dil Hai Mushkil got targeted for having Pakistani actor Fawad Khan in it, Karan Johar finally decided to speak out. He uploaded a video statement in which he said that he was not an anti-national and it had pained him deeply to be painted like that.
He said that he had shot the movie towards the end of last year when relations between India and Pakistan had in fact been going smoothly. And in what seems to have been an apology, he promised to not work with Pakistani artistes in the climate of antagonism that is prevailing between the two countries.
But he then also beseeched that Ae Dil Hai Mushkil be allowed to release because 300 Indians had worked hard on it and it would be unfair to punish them. The appeal seems to have done some good because the state government has now begun to act against the political party’s thugs who were was threatening to disrupt screenings of Ae Dil Hain Mushkil when it would release this Friday.
Even the home minister at the central government reportedly assured a delegation of filmmakers that the movie would have a safe release. Johar has pretty much been alone for most of the time in this issue. Recently, however, someone who really came fighting on his side has been Anurag Kashyap. He raked up the issue in a series of tweets to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which argued that when Johar was shooting Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, Modi himself had made an unscheduled stop at Pakistan to greet its Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on his birthday.
Kashyap tweeted, ‘@narendramodi Sir you haven’t yet said sorry for your trip to meet the Pakistani PM.. It was dec 25th. Same time KJo was shooting ADHM? Why?...why is it that we have to face it while you can be silent??...and you actually diverted your trip on our tax money,while the film shot then was on money on which someone here pays interest…I am just trying to understand the situation because I am actually dumb and I don’t get it. Sorry if you feel offended.’
Kashyap is now the most prominent voice when it comes to protecting the interests of filmmakers. Some time back he had openly castigated the censor chief when absurd cuts were asked for in a movie produced by him. What is somewhat mystifying is that the big stars whose voice would be heard loudest all decide to go mute when a filmmaker faces such issues.

Creative rift
The only way to work with Salman Khan is to humour his impulsiveness and whims. One would have thought Kabir Khan would know that by now. He has in recent times been the favourite director of Salman with the two having delivered two big blockbusters in Ek Tha Tiger and Bajrangi Bhaijaan.
They are again working together in Tubelight. But this relationship might now not be rosy, if you go by recent news reports. Apparently, while they were shooting in Manali, the two had a falling out over ‘creative differences’. What they were is not spelled out but superstars usually call the shots when they don’t agree to something that the director has conceived.
And when it comes to Salman, he really is not someone who would bow down to the director’s vision entirely. There were also rumours that Salman’s parties were disrupting the schedule and that was what had irritated Kabir. Whatever be the case, matters apparently came to such a pass that Salman left early from Manali to return to Mumbai.
Given that he himself would have a stake in Tubelight, it is unlikely that he would drop out the movie entirely. Though, as many others in Bollywood have experienced, Salman would just cut them out of his life if he had a disagreement and that might also be Kabir’s fate.
Kabir, however, denies that any such rift has occurred and blamed the media for cooking up such rumours. He even made a joke of it in Instagram by putting up a photo which has him and Salman looking in opposite directions with the caption: ‘Next time the press does a story of @beingsalmankhan & me not talking... this is the photo they should use ‘HaHa..’

Helping hand
Akshay Kumar doesn’t have any movies releasing immediately but he was in the news nevertheless and for all the right reasons. Akshay’s very first movie as a hero had been one called Dwarpaal. But it had never been released. Subsequently he got signed on for a movie named Saugandh which launched his career.
He used the break to first become an action hero and then with period reinventions became a superstar. But a recent event has shown that Akshay still remembers the road he came by and has not forgotten those who helped him on the path. The producer who gave him the break in Dwarpaal was also said to be the one who helped him get Saugandh.
Recently, someone tweeted to Akshay that the producer was in dire straits. He had to do a kidney transplant but had no money. The entreaty worked because Akshay is now helping the man. He tweeted, ‘Yes sir, my team has reached out to him…Already taken care of.’

Same pinch?
The trailer of Dangal, Aamir Khan’s long in waiting next movie, is out and as expected has been making waves on social media. Dangal is the story of a man from the state of Haryana who raises his daughters to be wrestlers in a male dominated society.
Ordinarily, an Aamir movie would be known for its novelty but not this time because Salman Khan came out with Sultan a few months and that too had wrestling as a theme. And not just that, it was also set in Haryana.
Dangal’s trailer is now being compared with Sultan for some similarities of look and feel. There is not much Aamir could have done about it given that Sultan was made after he started on Dangal and it released earlier. At a film festival in Mumbai, Aamir was asked if the two movies were similar. He replied that they were not and people would realise it once they saw Dangal.

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