It’s Rani Week, but Shahrukh is still sticking his big fat nose in. So okay, I’ll throw up a discussion post for this.
Story just hit that Shahrukh is doing a movie with Aashiq Abu. I am NOT reporting that story, because I don’t necessarily believe it. As I have said every time we get one of these rumors, even if it is “true”, the movie may not happen for various reasons until filming actually starts. For example Shahrukh agrees, but then the script is so bad he drops out. Someone has health issues that delay filming. An old friend of Shahrukh calls in a favor and he has to change his filming schedule suddenly. This that or the other thing that can come up after the first meeting and the “I am definitely doing this film” verbal promise. So I am not taking it as a given. However, I am taking as truth that Aashiq Abu had a meeting with Shahrukh, just as Atlee had a meeting with him a few months back.
What does this mean? I think it means that Shahrukh, either as an actor or a Red Chillies producer, or both, is looking towards the South for creative partners. Isn’t that interesting?
As an actor, there is an obvious growing issue when Shahrukh works with Hindi directors. They just don’t seem capable of seeing him in a way that combines commercial and art cinema. Rohit Shetty, Farah Khan, they knew exactly what to do with him in their first films, and then the pressure got to them in the later films and they lost their way. Rahul Dholakia is a great director but somehow having Shahrukh in his movie got him all confused. And so on and so forth.
But maybe the south is the answer! There are loads of talented experienced directors down there who don’t have the massive baggage that the Hindi directors do when they work with Shahrukh. There’s a difference between having seen two-three Shahrukh classic films and vaguely knowing his work, and having the overwhelming pressure of his last few flops, his history as a star, his friendship with people you know, and on and on.
So, if Shahrukh is looking south, what actors/directors/films would you like him to look at?
I’m gonna start with my top most wanted: Anjali Menon!!!!! I want her to write and direct a sensitive broken male character for Shahrukh to play opposite a strong troubled heroine.
Next most wanted, Shobhana! I want her to be the stunning southern divorcee who Shahrukh romances in his next film, finally a heroine who is “new” but can also stand up to his star power.
And third most wanted, Ajith! Call me crazy, but a Shahrukh-Tabu-Ajith love triangle might be just about perfect.
dontcallitbollywood 
I loved Kumbalangi Nights because of how it gently deconstructed ideas about toxic masculinity and offered a different model for what it means for a boy to grow into a man and I loved Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi so this could be really good! Fingers crossed this actually moves forward.
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For a very very light film from the same team as Kumbalangi Nights, check out Salt ‘n Pepper. The plot is a middle aged couple who fall in love through a wrong number call over the phone (they cook a cake together over the phone), but are shy about their age so at the last minute chicken out and send their younger friend/relative to the first meeting instead. Complications ensue as the young couple fall in love and the old couple can’t understand what is happening. If that sounds charming, you should watch it and get more excited for the potential SRK collaboration.
On Thu, Dec 12, 2019 at 12:12 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Oh that sounds fantastic! It’s Cyrano but with women getting to have some agency, I love it.
Yeah, I’m down for SRK deconstructing his identity some more and doing it in a way that shows off his acting chops and forces him to step up to filmmakers who are not operating in the way he’s used to.
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So long as I am selling you on Salt n’ Pepper, here is the song of “I am all excited and in love but also wondering if I am crazy because we’ve only talked on the phone”
On Thu, Dec 12, 2019 at 12:22 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I don’t want to read too much into it but I’m glad he’s using his time off to watch a lot of movies and see what else is happening in other Indian industries. There was a time not too long ago when he had completely stopped watching movies and he used to say absurd things like how he has never seen a Gauri Shinde movie or an Alia Bhatt movie, while promoting his current movie with them. It was a very regular thing for him. I used to be flabbergasted when I used to hear him say things like that.
Hopefully this helps him see what else is going on and try to figure out what the audience likes. It’s not good to be so out of touch like he used to be.
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It’s kind of like a sabbatical in academic terms, you can’t keep teaching and giving, you have to take time to reflect and learn or you won’t stay on top of things.
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Both your thoughts exactly reflect my own thoughts about what he started to do after Zero.
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Hmm I can’t help thinking if Abram’s Malayali nanny had anything to do with it.
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I love this theory! Whose still single in Malayalam film? I want them to come visit Shahrukh and start a romance with the nanny, but then she will see something in the gossip press that makes her think he wasn’t serious, there will be a big misunderstanding, and finally Shahrukh will help arrange a Big Romantic Gesture that solves everything, and AbRam will bring her a ring and lisp “will you mawwy mistah man?”
(Christmas movies may have rotted my brain)
On Sun, Dec 15, 2019 at 11:30 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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