Already put up a post about the trailers that are out today, but there were a couple of interesting news stories today, and one really cute picture, so I just have to talk about them too!

First, as part of the promotions for Rustom, various celebrities are tweeting things about how awesome the movie is, how great Akshay is, and so on and so on.  And Ranveer tweeted this picture of him meeting Akshay as a child.

Super cute, right?  And it also kind of reminded me of how Ranveer managed to make the Sultan release story about him as well, with the whole “dancing in the aisles in Paris” angle.  He is just the master at conveying these adorable personal moments, that also somehow manage to make him part of the news cycle that is really about something else (Sultan, and now Rustom).  I mean look, here I am talking about Ranveer when I really should be talking about Rustom!

Speaking of Rustom, there was a really interesting story about it’s rival, Mohenjo Daro.  As we all know, it is becoming practically routine for some interest group or something to file an FIR against a movie right before it’s release, because it “hurts sentiments” or something like that.  And then the group gets a lot of publicity for their cause, and the producer bows to whatever random demand they make (Remember how “Billu Barber” became just “Billu“?), and/or pays a hefty amount out of their pocket to make the case go away.

I am sure, a very small amount of the time, these cases are actually sincere.  I think, for instance, Chetan Bhagat sincerely thought that 3 Idiots was copied from 5 Point Someone and he should have gotten more credit for it.  But most of the time, these cases are just transparent money grabs, going after the producers days before the film releases when they can’t afford any delay, and will do whatever it takes to make it go away.

Anyway, most recently, some writer Akashaditya Lama accused Ashutosh Gowariker of stealing his script for Mohenjo Daro.  And he used the media and all sorts of forums to try to shame Ashutosh into paying him off before it went to court (at least, that’s how it looks to me).  But Ashutosh held firm, and the court has now upheld his argument that it is an original script.  More importantly, the court also criticized Lama for making such a transparent attempt to harress and blackmail the filmmakers, and pointed out that this has now become standard.  So, yay!  Now that this judgement is on record, maybe courts will be more willing to uphold filmmakers, and filmmakers will be more willing to go to court, and some of this frivolous cases will stop.

Oh, and then the final story, Gauri Khan has been invited to be the guest of honor at the International Real Estate Expo (IREX) 2016.  At first I thought this was just a blatant attempt to borrow some stardom from Shahrukh for their expo (heck, got me to read about it!).  But then I thought about it, and actually she is completely qualified for this.

If it was a regular real estate expo, or interior design, maybe not.  But this is specifically for wealthy Indians who purchase vacation homes overseas.  And that very particular subset is exactly Gauri’s specialty.  She and Shahrukh are currently investing in a housing development in Dubai, and according to reports, she has helped decorate all sorts of overseas homes for their wealthy friends.

So, good for Gauri!  Taking her expertise as the wife of a very wealthy, very international man, and turning it into a career.  Legitimizing all the work she does behind the scenes to make his life flow comfortably and easily.  And all the work she has done for others in their same social circles.