After a news black out, suddenly stuff is happening with SRK’s next films!  Well, not suddenly, more like inevitably and part of a production plan.  He just started a new filming schedule for Raees, and Fan is coming out in a couple months, so it is time for the PR people to jump-start the rumor mills.

It’s all worth talking about, so I will, below.

First, Shahrukh landed in Gujurat yesterday for location shooting.  He was greeted at the airport by hundreds of screaming fans (his life is so weird!  That never happens when I land at the airport), one of whom slipped and fell, so he stopped and helped her up.  So, handy tip, if you ever need to catch SRK’s attention in a crowd, apparently the key is to risk bodily injury and he will stop and check on you.  (the link above had video, if you need to see it)

Second, while the airport people in Gujurat were thrilled to see him, not everyone is so happy.  The VHP in Gujurat has announced a protest (in case you don’t know, the VHP is the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, the sort of philosophical and intellectual wing of the general Hindutva groups of which the BJP is the political party, and the RSS is the foot soldiers).  A VHP protest sounds much less scary than an RSS one, and so far it doesn’t seem that impressive.  About 20-30 people protested outside the office of the government branch that gave permission for shooting.  They haven’t even been able to reach the set itself yet, the police were able to disperse them before they even got close.  Of course, this is also how the Dilwale protests started, and then they started gaining steam over time, so it’s possible this one will as well.  Especially if the RSS gets involved.

This is crazy, right?  That in the same state, Shahrukh will be welcomed by worshipful hordes and by protesters?  See, I think this is why film stars, at least the national ones, tend to be cautious about politics.  Because their fans aren’t necessarily that political.  So a political controversy surrounding the star might serve to energize them, to get them involved in areas they would not otherwise.  Or it might turn them off, not because they necessarily disagree with a political point, but just because they don’t want to deal with politics as part of their film fandom.  But on the other hand, the protesters want the fans to care, they want to make it a political issue, they want the base to be energized, one way or the other.  These two groups, right now, are completely separate.  But over time, if this kind of thing keeps happening, they are going to collide in one way or the other and it’s going to get messy.

Speaking of messy, Shahrukh is off twitter again!  Probably wise.  I’m guessing it was not the happiest place for him after the “Intolerance” remarks.  But I have hope that he will come back.  Every time something like this pops up, he drops off twitter for months at a time, and then suddenly returns and posts more than ever.  But for now, being off it is probably a good way to keep the politics and the fandom as separate as possible for as long as possible.

So, that’s the news, now it’s time for the wild speculation!  First, my speculation, if they are already protesting Raees, there must be some sort of rumor about the content that has slipped out and is not good for the Hindutva movement.  Or, heck, the VHP could have just seen the same things as everyone else: 1. Gujurat setting leaving it open for commentary on Modi; 2. Shahrukh playing an aggressively Muslim character for only the 3rd time in his career (discounting Hey Ram); 3. Releasing on Eid.  All signs point to a powerful political statement, of the kind that the VHP would prefer not to have released.

Oh, and there’s additional wild speculation about Fan, as promised.  This comes from Business of Cinema, not me.  The main info they have is just additional details about what we already knew, that SRK would be recreating his past performances as part of the world-building for the film.  It sounds like it might be SRK as Guarav, the fan, doing SRK scenes in SRK costumes (the costume detail is what this article focuses on).  And then, waaaaaaay at the end, they come out and say that the film is going to turn into a rivalry between the two SRKs, and there will be a big action sequence at the end.  So, as I have suspected all along, it’s going to be Misery!  Well, actually, I was torn between Misery and Prince and the Pauper, but then Prem Ratan Dhan Payo was Prince and the Pauper, so I figured it was probably Misery.  Which might also explain the slavishly devoted reverse fanvids Shahrukh just released.  If he is going to make a movie that turns a fan into a monster, might be a good idea to suck up to the fanbase a little first, to make it clear that he’s not talking about us, but like the other fans, the bad ones.  He knows we’re all perfectly sane and normal.

Speaking of sane and normal, isn’t that header picture cute?  And not at all weird for me to consider making my new computer wallpaper?  Shharukh brought Abram to Gujurat with him, hopefully the VHP won’t give him nightmares in his little curl covered head.

And also, the making of video from the set of “Tukur Tukur” was just released and there is a half a second in the middle in which Kajol and SRK accidentally kiss, I suspect you may want to see it.  Again, as part of your healthy and normal fandom.