I love it when the Khans do stuff!  Everyone in India gets all excited and opinionated about it. Speaking of excitement and opinions, also new rumors about Kangana and Ranbir!

Aamir isn’t doing much himself, but his wife, the adorable and talented Kiran Rao, filed an FIR about a fake facebook account that she found out about when she started seeing messages not from her on friend’s feeds.  The general reaction of the public was “why would anyone bother impersonating Kiran Rao?”  Which, okay, I can see.  She is delightful, but she isn’t exactly powerful.  But on the other hand, I don’t think this is so much of a “I can pick any person in the world, I choose her!” kind of crime, but more of a “hey! I just randomly got enough info to impersonate this one particular person, so I will!” kind of crime.

(Delightful!)

Either way, I find this story and the Hrithik possible imitator story really interesting in terms of how it might change the way stars interact.  My impression is, most people in the industry maintain their own twitter, facebook, and email accounts.  They use them for business and personal and to connect with fans.  Just like in the past (and still a little today), they were very available in the real world to regular people, now they are very available virtually to regular people, much more so than big stars in other industries or other countries.  I think it is because they are so much more than just actors, if you are Amitabh Bachchan or Shahrukh Khan or Hrithik Roshan, you are also running a business empire, and a charity empire, and take personal responsibility for the health and happiness of billions of fans (we have all heard the stories of them getting a random text or being stopped at a traffic light, and arranging for life-saving medication, education expenses, or whatever else, for one of their fans).  But this also means they are much more open to virtual identity theft than stars in other industries, or possibly even than regular people who are not accessible to billions of followers!

So, that’s what’s up with Aamir.  What’s going on with the others?  Salman just issued an interesting statement about his Olympic Ambassador job.  If you remember, there was a big fuss made when he was first appointed because he’s not an athlete.  And now Rahman and Sachin have been appointed as well, and there is no fuss at all.  Which Salman pointed out.  Actually, he had two points.  First, the whole idea of the fuss was insulting, because who is to say what makes someone a sportsperson?

“The media should have done the same when Sachin and Rahman were roped in. Why didn’t that happen? Why didn’t the media give them the same coverage that they gave me? In their case too, while one isn’t a sportsperson, the other has only played one sport. Does Rahman need a state level certificate or a national-level medal to be called a sportsperson? In fact, all the kids who have tried out certain sports and haven’t won a medal, aren’t sportspersons? All the kids who follow a sportsperson aren’t sportspersons? So why just pick me?”

And secondly, why is there this fuss about him as an Olympic spokesperson with court cases in his past, when no one talks about all the many many many many many elected officials with much worse accusations against them.

“So you have issues with one person who has court cases becoming the Olympics Goodwill ambassador. But there are so many politicians who have court cases against them? Desh zyaada important hai ya Olympics?For me, the country is important so I am ready to leave my post as the ambassador if the politicians also leave. There are so many people who have scams, corruption, and rapes but they are still there.”

They are good points, but what is really clever is that he phrases them as questions, and leaves it to us to fill in the answer, that he is being picked out because he is so beloved, and criticising him will make more news than talking about a politician or an athlete or even AR Rahman.

And then there is SRK!  Who might be in a remake of Guide?  Which means I really need to watch the original sometime!  He signed for Imtiaz Ali’s next which is rumored to possibly be “inspired by” Guide.  The bigger story here, is that he is sticking with the unpopular art movies!  Gauri Shinde’s film is coming out next, then Raees, then this thing with Ali.  And none of them sound like a big budget/big profit thing.  Is he retiring as a Movie Star and just turning into an Actor?

Oh, and then one non-Khan story, which is just too enticing to resist, DNAIndia is reporting that Kangana and Ranbir have started hanging out!  They spent a lot of time together at a party Kareena and Saif threw, and now they are seeing each other.  Not romantically, but as friends!  Because they have so much in common at this exact moment in time.  I love the idea of them providing scandal-support for each other, and I would love it even more if they actually started dating!  I think they might do well together, they are both equally unconventional and uninterested in the public relations game, and like to think of themselves as actors first and foremost.  And everyone else is as excited by this as I am, because #NowRanbirKangana is trending on twitter!