This is usually the day I do my box office report, but I went over to BH to get the numbers and ran into a bunch of news stories I thought I should talk about first. So box office is coming, eventually, but first news for us!
Priyanka and Priyanka
Bollywoodhungama is so weird. One of these stories is clearly planted by her PR team and they are all “Priyanka, we love you!” and the other is clearly planted by Bharat’s team and they are all “Priyanka, we hate you!” And it’s the same story! Plus, there’s the usual “It’s American, it must be better” strange Indian low self-esteem thing going on.
These are the same stories we were just talking about in the comments yesterday, first Priyanka IS continuing to shoot The Sky is Pink with Farhan Akhtar for Excel. Despite dropping out of Bharat (link to story here). Quote from a “source” at The Sky is Pink:
“Priyanka Chopra starts shooting for our film from August 8 in Mumbai. There is no change in her plans. If she was getting married she would have informed us by now. She was supposed to join Salman Khan’s crew for Bharat in the second week of August. The plan was to shoot for Bharat and The Sky Is Pink simultaneously in Mumbai. Now she’s only going to shoot for our film.”
“It was probably the length of her role. We can’t be sure. But in our film she is the central character. Bharat is Salman’s show all the way,”
And an unnamed director who had worked with her before says about all this:
“It is a little strange that Priyanka didn’t realize the scope of her role when she agreed to do Bharat. Now as far as Bollywood is concerned she has incensed a whole lot of important people. After this the going will be tough for Priyanka.”
So, as far as the BH spin masters are concerned, continuing to make The Sky is Pink after dropping out of Bharat is quite scuzzy, and also makes it extra transparent that the engagement excuse is a scam. I find it quit a bit scuzzy myself, and I would love it if Farhan dropped her from the film out of loyalty to his big brother Salman. But I am sure he won’t, they are almost ready to film, who would force a big change to a movie at this point and thereby throw off all the planning? Oh right, PRIYANKA!!!!
But then, same day and same website, total opposite take on her signing the American film with Chris Pratt!!!! (link here) Here was BH’s sum-up:
It was one of the most coveted roles and it went to our Desi Girl! We are so proud! The film will come out next year.
Like I said, to a large degree this disconnect is just BH having terrible journalistic standards. But it’s also American versus Indian, right? Picking one Indian film over another is sleazy, but landing an American role is a triumph for the whole country and worth celebrating, even if it meant you left an Indian film in the lurch.
Tiger and Hrithik Fight, Not Dance
This is kind of a continuation of the above story. Big big deal being made over two foreign fight directors coming in for the Tiger-Hrithik movie. Which is foreign being chosen over local in two ways, first “ooooo, overseas fight directors! They must be better!” and second “ooooo, an international style fight scene, that’s what we want from Hrithik and Tiger!” (link to story here)
Speaking for myself, NO!!!! That’s not what I want! I want a local Indian choreographer to do an amazing dance scene for the two of them. I don’t care about the international level fight scenes, I want an Indian level dance scene.
Aish and Abhi Sign a Film Together
This has been rumored for a while, I think it’s supposed to be a married couple through the years or something? Anyway, I’m excited, because I like Aish the most when she is with Abhi. Guru is good, but Kuch Na Kaho is too! She just seems kind of relaxed somehow around him. (story here)
(I love this song with a passion and I can’t really explain why)
Akki and Bebo and Kiara and Diljit
Tiny story here, the Akshay Kumar-Kareena movie has a title, “Good News”. And Kiara Advani and Diljit Dosanjh are rumored to be the other leads. And it is supposedly a comedy about infertility. Most of this news, besides the title, has been known for a while. But it is nice to be reminded. (story here)
I’m excited about this movie! Are you excited? I’m guessing either that Kiara and Diljit will be the couple Akshay and Kareena adopt from, or Kiara will be their surrogate and Diljit her husband. And they will be awkward with nothing in common but slowly bond, successful older career types Akshay and Kareena versus sweet starting out Kiara and Diljit. Alternatively, they will be two couples both going through fertility treatment at the same time and bonding, despite their differences. Or, really wacky idea, Kareena and Kiara accidentally are impregnated with the wrong embryo. But I hope that’s not it, because that would be very bad publicity for fertility treatments. Although a great set up for a movie plot.
KriArj Continues to Destroy All It Touched
Well, this was predictable. KriArj sold Vishu Bhagnani distribution rights it didn’t have for Fanney Khan, and now Vishu is making a stink and possibly holding up the release of the film because he wants his money back, 8.5 Crore. I don’t know what Prernaa Arora did with it, but it apparently wasn’t used to pay either her elderly lower class masseur with the dying husband, or John Abraham who was desperately trying to finish his movie. I think Vishu should probably accept that his money is gone forever and move on with his life. Although that is also A LOT of money. (story here)
I would be more sympathetic, except I watched Youngistan and I will hold the existance of that movie, and Jackky Bhagnani’s movie career, against the Bhagnani family forever and always. If he wanted sympathy for being ripped off of a massive amount of money, he shouldn’t have inflicted his son’s terrible acting on the world.
(It’s like Bharat Ane Nenu, but more superficial)
dontcallitbollywood 
C’mon, Bharat is going to be only about Salman, maybe she realized that late and she dropped out, nothing wrong as far as I see. I’m not in favor of Salman controlling everyone, and I hope that she isn’t dropped from the other film. I don’t know whether this supposed film that she’s signed opposite Chris Pratt is a better choice or not, but she just wants world fame, nothing wrong in that.
It’s actually good that she’s in the stage of her career where she can offend Salman and his cronies and not give a damn.
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It’s not a dinner that you’re dropping out of. This is a project worth crores with signed contracts. Even so, if she told the truth and asked them politely to let her go, that is another thing. Instead, she has used her friendships with the director and Salman’s sister (the reason why she got the movie at all) and manipulated them with an engagement and wedding excuse. No friends would feel right forcing someone to honor a contract if they are asking for time to enjoy their personal life and plan their wedding.
As soon as they allowed the contract to be dissolved for her engagement, news of her next movie was released. This is so manipulative and unethical.
Salman can be the worst person in the world but that doesn’t give Priyanka any extra rights to behave badly.
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I really don’t know how she got the movie so I can’t discuss that, but Ali Abbas Zafar was pretty cool about it, and we don’t even know when she dropped out. It’s about time women have a choice too.
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This has nothing to do with a woman’s choice. Her gender is irrelevant here. A man doing something like this would be just as unethical and manipulative.
Ali Abbas Zafar was cool about it because he thought she wanted to leave for her engagement and tweeted about that as well. That was before this new movie news was released. Now he looks foolish wishing her well for her life with Nick when it was just an excuse/lie for her to shift to a different movie.
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I’m not seeing how this is about women’s choices. Do a lot of men get to drop out of big expensive films at the last minute?
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Where you reading back when Abhishek dropped out of the JP Dutta film? It was a very similar situation, he dropped out literally the day before he was supposed to fly out to join the crew for location shooting. And it was a 9 days wonder, on the blog here and in the media, people were stunned that he would do such a thing. Supposedly his father called Dutta personally and apologized because this was such an unconscionable thing to do. It certainly didn’t cause a reaction of “good for Abhishek, taking a stand by choosing himself over the film”.
It wasn’t exactly the same, because the Dutta’s were openly blindsided, there wasn’t any attempt at a cover story, Abhishek was just out with no warning. But the end result was the same, a scramble to find a replacement before the shooting schedule got even more thrown off. Even if it was a terrible role and a bad movie, there was still general shock and distress at Abhishek doing such a thing to his director. Amitabh’s apology supposedly was to say “If I had another son, I would give him to you”. That’s how horrible it was.
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They don’t, I understand she signed contracts and stuff, but
the general outrage on the net is about how could she offend Salman. I might be biased because I hate Salman and his ways of taking and dropping people from films, and I’m just happy that Priyanka could walk out.
I hate the way Bollywood functions, that it’s the big stars and their wives that decide the actresses. I see it as a victory only from that angle. And I must have missed the Abhishekstory, so thanks for filling me on that. It is unprofessional, but in such a misogynistic industry,where actresses are cast based on the whims and fancies of the big heroes, this is a minor victory.
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Indian media has no journalistic standards and they don’t want to work hard either. 90% of the news is just straight PR releases. They do the same thing even in political and business sections so the BW stuff is even more frivolous. They don’t even bother changing the wording. They just push it out word for word, whatever they are given.
Frankly, it’s Salman’s own fault for allowing Priyanka into Bharat in the first place in spite of already knowing the type of stuff she had been doing with others in BW. He got scared due to back to back failures and mistakingly thought her supposed global fame would help his movie. This is one of those times they actually should have closed ranks and did not. Hopefully they do it now instead of letting her run roughshod over the industry and doing whatever she likes – ethics and professionalism be damned.
Prerna Arora is another one that needs to be shown the door. She is a scammer and has done this again and again and yet people are still working with her!! What makes them think they won’t suffer the same fate the ones before them have? It’s like there is no common sense at play here.
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I don’t think Prerna is working with people, thank goodness. Last I saw, KriArj was under through of receivership and court control. However, this just shows how this kind of bad behavior can have long consequences. Vishu is still trying to get his money back from last year (and I don’t think he ever will), and it is affecting a movie that was taken away from her months ago. She rose so fast and so far, she had her finger in so many projects, it is going to take months, maybe years, to get fully free of her.
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And you can see why Priyanka and Kangana have to claw their way in, I’m not in support of anybody making stuff up, but in a patriarchal society which exists in India, it’s so difficult for women to make a mark. Even if a married man has an affair, fingers are pointed at only the women. The women are called homebreakers, and fans of the stars start abusing the women. I don’t know, and I don’t think anybody except SRK and Priyanka can confirm what happened between them, and most of you here might not agree, but it has been difficult for PC and Kangana given they are outsiders. SRK was also an outsider, but he’s a man so it’s easier for him in the industry.
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The patriarchy is real but as we were discussing last night, there are also a lot of examples of famous actresses having affairs with married men who didn’t suffer any backlash to their careers or reputations, including Nargis, Madhuri, and Sridevi.
The reason why Priyanka and Kangana have gotten a negative reaction is because they went public with their supposed affairs in a way that was calculated to humiliate their lovers and their families.
There’s nothing wrong with being ambitious and no one is faulting Priyanka for wanting the big Hollywood career. But dropping constant hints about SRK, the stunt relationship with Nick Jonas, dropping out of a movie with a phony excuse and then announcing a big movie literally days later, are all unprofessional and kind of icky.
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Well things have changed since the times of Madhuri and Sridevi. While I don’t agree with Kangana’s weird stories about Hrithik and their supposed affairs, the fact that they can even speak out is a big thing. Maybe I’m taking this a bit too emotionally because as an Indian girl, I don’t enjoy as much freedom as the men in my country enjoy. I was thrashed when I was caught with my boyfriend, and was forced to separate from him. Im 24 and I have to hide the fact that I’m seeing someone, and I have to make sure that I’m not seen with him. He can’t drop me in front of my house because my parents would kill me if they found out.
And I can’t even get the thought of making out with him, I would be labelled as a slut, and who would marry me then?
It’s been the same with actresses, they are labelled “home wreckers” and what not, but the men continue to work happily.
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Thank you for your posts. I’m coming at this as a married American so my pov is very different. I am understanding now how gratifying it must be to see Priyanka behave fearlessly against men as powerful as Salman and SRK. I still don’t like a lot of her behavior but I understand her appeal to fans a lot more
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Glad you understood 🙂 though I’m not technically a fan of any particular actress, I admire certain things about her.
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Sridevi married someone else’s husband. So did Hema Malini and Helen. (I.e. There was no divorce.) And Maria was in a ten year relationship with someone else’s husband, not just an affair.
They wouldn’t get away with that crap today. Today those situations would be considered far worse that Kangana or PC, at least to the diaspora and international audience.
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*Nargis, not Maria
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I’ll give you another one. Rani Mukherjee. She kept her thing with Aditya Chopra which almost certainly started before his divorce, dead silent until their wedding day, and no one seems to hold it against her. Even though everyone sort of knows about it. Kiran Rao, she’s not an actress but still no one seems to mind she is a second wife. Kareena of course too. Bipasha, that was a very public relationship that started while he was married to someone else.
I don’t really have a point, just throwing out there that there are woman even today who ended up with married men and there wasn’t a whole thing about it.
On Tue, Jul 31, 2018 at 9:45 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Your examples prove my point. These women didn’t just marry men that were already married, they waited for a divorce first, and in Rani case, 5 years after divorce, to marry.
Similarly, the men didn’t just take second wives, they got divorced and then started a new marriage with them.
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Just to play devil’s advocate, could you argue that the increased social acceptance and legal ease of divorce has lead to a decreased social acceptance of affairs? With the thinking that if a couple is truly in love, they should just get the divorce and be together, there is no excuse for an affair?
On Tue, Jul 31, 2018 at 10:01 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Replying to Margaret – Yes, it’s definitely true of the general population, but celebrities have always played by a different set of rules. They’ve been getting divorced for decades before it became socially acceptable for us to do so.
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As much as I dislike Priyanka and her “interesting” career choices (and am usually lukewarm to her in films with a few exceptions)…I also have to respect many of her choices. She was clearly looking for a paycheck with Bharat and keeping up her “desi girl” cred with that one. Actually, the film with Farhan interests me much more anyway as I thought they had really cool chemistry in Dil Dhadakne Do. And I also have to admit I like her pairing with Chris Pratt in what looks to be a kind of campy comic book adaptation…always like to see POC in major romantic film pairings and she’s definitely broken some barriers in that department, too. The Indian “press” shouldn’t be able to have it both ways, but the same is done in the American celebrity pages, too. One day you’re in and the next day you’re out.
If there is no dancing (or even just one end credit song) in that Tiger/Hrithik movie I will blow a gasket!! Hrithik is pretty vain though and may not want to lose in a dance-off…
I’ve been wanting that Aish and Abhishek film to be confirmed for so long! That’s a great move for both of their careers. Viewers love seeing real life jodis on screen together.
I’d definitely watch a heartwarming dramedy about infertility with that cast! Yay for Kiara Advani getting decent roles, too. I bet your guess that it becomes about two couples from different walks of life bonding over the subject.
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I’m fine with PC’s choices, even agree with them, I just wish she had made those choices a heck of a lot sooner and in a less insulting way to Bharat. On the other hand, I am also interested in seeing her with Farhan, I thought they had good chemistry too. And it’s interesting to think about them going from director-star to co-stars.
It’s ridiculous to cast Tiger and Hrithik together and not have them dance! We certainly won’t be showing up for their acting skills.
I’m excited about the Aish-Abhi movie too! Partly on a shallow note, it means we will get cute Aish-Abhi photo ops, which there haven’t been many of lately.
I am super happy about a heartwarming dramedy too! Especially with that cast, it seems like it MUST be dealing with the contrast between an older and younger couple, right? And we almost never get to see the story of an older couple wanting to be parents. Which, I assume, would mean wanting to be parents not because of social or family pressure, but simply because they want a child despite being past the socially expected age.
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There was that film with Rani, Preity, and Salman about surrogacy and that’s the only one I can think of and I haven’t seen it? And I heard it’s a little crazy in how it deals with the actual conception part!
I do keep thinking about Kareena and Akshay in that awful film where he has blond highlights…and then the weird one, Kambakt Ishq. Have they ever done a decent film together?
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On a completely unrelated note, have you seen that the Ajay/Tabu film is not a romance between them but between Ajay and another much younger actress. He’s dead to me.
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Oh blech! Why would we want to watch that?
Can you link back to the original story so I can scrutinize it for any possible loophole?
On Tue, Jul 31, 2018 at 11:02 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Chori Chori Chupke Chupke. They have to do natural conception because of the “publicity” of doing artificial insemination. I still don’t understand this idea. And it is explicitly because Salman’s father wants a grandson, so they have to do whatever to make it happen. An amazing strange confusing film. But Salman and Rani have great chemistry in it! It has the No. 1 Punjabi song, one of my all time favorites.
I just looked at Kareena and Akshay, and they have worked together a lot but usually in not so great films. But I think that is more because they both just happen to have been in a lot of not so great films. They always had amazing chemistry, she did a cameo in Gabbar is Back and it was the best part of the movie, seeing them together. I love them in Tashan, which is a very “those who love it, LOVE it, and no one else gets it” kind of cult film. So I can’t exactly recommend it, it will either become your favorite movie ever or you will hate it. But it’s certainly the most interesting film they have done together.
Here, so you can get the highlights out of your head, their last time on screen together:
On Tue, Jul 31, 2018 at 11:01 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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How could I forget Tashan! It’s one of my cult favorites, too. And I did like that song in Gabbar is Back as well.
Re: the Ajay/Tabu film…I’m only basing it on the wikipedia entry here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_De_Pyaar_De
Yuck!
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Just checked the articles linked, and it is still possible that it is Tabu!!!!! Or at least some kind of realistic love triangle. I will keep hope alive!
On Tue, Jul 31, 2018 at 8:32 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Ali Abbas Zafar is walking back his tweet
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Although, the actual tweet was pretty much what he said her. Referencing Nick’s name and wishing her love and happiness. What I found a little weird about the original story was the People soft leak right after. Like they were trying to take control of a story that wasn’t intended. Which I think we talked about, how strange it was to have these leaks and rumors and stuff in an era when stars are more likely to just make a straight announcement through a social media portal instead of “rumors”. PC and Nick can kill this whenever they want, suddenly stop being photographed together, tweet something sad, let everyone assume that the engagement is over without the messiness of having made an official announcement that now they need to walk back.
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I don’t know if priyanka will get a good role in Chris Pratt movie.
From the looks of it she might have a romantic interest role of about 4-5 scenes.
Also I am excited about abhi ash .their chemistry was electric in guru
Finally I think prerna Aurora is still afloat is because of akki.
Most of his movies have her as a producer.
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Akki has been strangely silent on the whole thing. But she isn’t the producer on his next films I don’t think. I suspect KriArj was a good partner for him because he is a very good businessman and he kept it under control. Maybe she was even a bit of a beard, he was really the lead producer but found it useful to have someone else as a front. Anyway, he never likes to get involved in this messy stuff, so of course he is keeping his hands clean and out of it.
I was wondering the same thing about the Chris Pratt movie, it sounds like a very hero focused concept. Possibly the same kind of role she would have gotten in Bharat, but without the hassle of working on a Salman Khan film (last minute changes, filming delays, all the Salman stuff).
Super excited about Abhi-Aish too! I forgot, they were also in Sarkar Raj, which was generally not a great movie but their chemistry was amazing there too. So that seems to say that even if the film turns out bad, we can count on good chemistry from them.
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Let’s not forget the paycheck, she’s likely to get way more money for the Hollywood film. Plus a higher-profile in general.
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Thats a good thing hopefully bollywood learns something about underpayed actresses
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Well, to be fair, the pay gap is probably just as bad in Hollywood. It’s just that the base rate is higher.
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true, but in bollywood its not like actresses have anything to do either besides be in a couple of songs or be the love interest but it has improved
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Pingback: News Round-Up: Priyanka and Her Evil Twin Priyanka, Aish and Abhi, KriArj and Fanney Khan, Hrithik and Tiger, Akki and Bebo — dontcallitbollywood – Business Startup-Bay Area
Wow there are so many Priyanka haters here
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Not really, it’s just the 3 of us chewing this all over because we are fascinated by her. I think the rest of my readers are probably bored to death by this.
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I would love it if you talk about your fave Shiney Ahuja more 😀
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Blech!
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While this topic is being discussed, does anyone actually know what happened? Was there truth to this affair, or was it just PC’s PR the whole time? When would it have started/ended and how does the timing of AbRam fit into it? What about the fact that SRK has Aryan and Suhana, since Hrithik obviously has his two boys as well but they are young. Aryan and Suhana are likely very informed of the situation if it were true since they are older…?
I wonder what the rest of the industry knows about it? It’s strange that if Don 3 happens, PC clearly won’t be a part of it, meanwhile PC and Farhan are shooting The Sky is Pink together right now so it very likely would come up between them? The whole thing is strange, the timing of it and everything. If they got together during the Don 2 shooting, then they shot the first Don with nothing going on? The whole thing is strange…
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I hadn’t thought about Farhan and PC co-starring and knowing she won’t be in Don 3. You are right, that is very weird.
For more details on the PC affair rumors, look at this post:
https://dontcallitbollywood.com/2018/06/21/hindi-film-101-priyanka-chopra-and-shahrukh-khan/
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So to open a giant can of worms, who are the most “feminist” of the female Bollywood stars? I’d put Anushka high on the list. She is married but still working and her career is still her priority even with a sports star husband. He seems to be super proud of her and promotes her constantly on social media. Anushka has a production company and a solid track record so far. Pari was her baby and while it wasn’t a big hit, it made money and her performance was lauded. She seems in control of her life and is carefully planning out her career. I don’t love her as a performer but I admire her career moves.
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Ek second. Let me finish walking Dog Hazel and i will put up a discussion post. I like this question!
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Me, too…
…and I wonder if you will write your thoughts about Suhana’s cover shooting…
As for Priyanka: there was a time when I admired her focus on her career, her hard working to enlargen the artistic horizon but then there came a time when I lost interest bcause she started to (mis-)use people and rumours.
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Not much to say about Suhana, except that as her parents have been saying, she seems serious about an acting career while her brother does not. On the other hand, Sara Ali Khan got a magazine cover ages ago, and it didn’t turn into anything. It was just sort of getting us used to her face years and years before her launch.
On Tue, Jul 31, 2018 at 6:10 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Excerpts of the Suhana interview are out and she says pretty clearly that she is headed to university and won’t be debuting until she finishes studying. It’s a nice interview to read if you’re a SRK fan – gives some insight into him and their family. She calls her dad her best friend. He massages her feet after she wears ‘nonsense’ shoes.
https://www.vogue.in/content/suhana-khan-first-ever-interview-shah-rukh-khan-vogue-india-august-2018-cover-story/
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I’ll probably do a post once the whole thing is out.
But for now, she sounds like a really nice 18 year old girl. Nothing special, which is as it should be, very confident and sure that her life will work out just like she thinks it will, the way 18 year olds do.
And her father sounds suuuuuuper protective, which isn’t a bad thing when you are 18 and doing a magazine photoshoot and interview all on your own.
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