Latest news with #MyNameisKhan
Time of India
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
When Karan Johar recalled first meeting with Shah Rukh Khan: "People said he was arrogant"
Bollywood's king Shah Rukh Khan and the talented director Karan Johar share a special kind of bond with each other. However, their first meeting was rather tense. In a throwback interview, KJo, shared that when he first accompanied his father to a film set where Shah Rukh was present, he carried with him the gossip-fuelled belief that the rising actor was 'arrogant. ' But what unfolded was quite the opposite. "Everyone used to say Shah Rukh Khan was arrogant,' Karan remembered. 'But he came up to me, spoke with such warmth and humility, and completely changed the narrative I had in my head.' That day, he said, was the beginning of a bond that would go on to define Hindi cinema in many ways. The First Real Meeting That Almost Didn't Happen Interestingly, Karan recalled a time much before their first meet, long before they became collaborators or friends. At the age of 15, Karan revealed that he had once waited in filmmaker Aanand Mahendroo's office for hours, seated right across from Shah Rukh, but neither spoke a word. "I had no idea it was him," Karan admitted. It was only after SRK left that someone pointed out who he'd been sitting next to. That almost-meeting took on a new significance years later, as Karan and Shah Rukh would go on to collaborate on landmark films like Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and My Name is Khan, with their off-screen bond becoming as cherished as their on-screen work. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Providers are furious: Internet access without a subscription! Techno Mag Learn More Undo A Bond That Stands the Test of Time Today, Karan Johar and Shah Rukh Khan share a deep, brotherly friendship that has lasted for decades. 'He was the first person to hug me when my father passed away,' Karan once said in another interview. On the professional front, Johar last directed the rom-com 'Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani' and SRK was last seen in 'Dunki'. Maniesh Paul Turns Bald Baddie? Fans Smell Karan Johar Twist
New Indian Express
06-07-2025
- Entertainment
- New Indian Express
‘I am a big mythology buff': Kajol
One of the undisputed queens of Bollywood, Kajol's popularity knows no bounds. From Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge to My Name is Khan, Kajol ruled the audience's heart throughout the 90s and early 2000s. The 50-year-old actor is back with her latest film, Maa, where she's seen playing a fierce mother who does her best to protect her daughter from evil spirits. You played a possessive mom in your last film, Salaam Venky, and in Maa you play a possessive mother. How would you differentiate between the characters? The role of a mother is beautiful. In Salaam Venky I was a protective mother and had a different mission. In this film, my character is that of a possessive mother trying to protect her daughter, who is fighting a demon. The basic thought behind every mother is that she wants to protect her children and doesn't want any harm to come their way. I liked the tagline of this film, which says, 'Evil vs. Faith.' You have to have faith in yourself to overcome the evil. Do you believe in black magic? I believe that there is good and there's evil. Where goodness exists, evil also exists. I don't completely believe in black magic but when you look at your surroundings, you realise that everything is not normal.
Express Tribune
29-06-2025
- Politics
- Express Tribune
Age of ill-founded generalisations
The writer is an educationist based in Kasur City. He can be reached at Listen to article We are living in a world of ill-founded generalisations. Generalisations are our judgemental, aphoristic and summarised assessments of people or circumstances. They are mostly churned in haste, satisfying our inner cathartic or vengeful cries. They are also forged in the smithy of slothful minds who shirk viewing anything as relative. Being closed to possibilities leads one to generalise. Generalisations is also the arsenal of propagandist cultures. "My name is Khan and I am not a terrorist" is a defiant thesis statement of a Shahrukh Khan movie, My Name is Khan, against the broad-brush propaganda painting all the Muslims, particularly with the generic name Khan, as terrorists. The generalisations don't pop up out of nowhere. There are always contributions of the species being generalised. In one of Aesop's fables, the shepherd boy is labelled for crying wolf as "once a liar, always a liar". So, whosoever cries wolf is called a liar; all liars can be humans, but to label all humans as liars sounds misanthropic. Generalisations are also based on fears – fears of threats to existence, supremacy and hegemony. The Muslim countries developing and having nuclear weapons are branded as a threat to the US and its allies despite the fact that they themselves are nuclear hegemons defying all the UN nonproliferation resolutions. North Korea and Israel possessing nuclear capability are not considered as menacing to world peace as Iran which, even American analysts predict, is years behind in achieving nukes. It is said that generalisations without examples and examples without generalisations are useless. Whether it is education, politics or public discourse, communication remains infertile when one is offered without the other. The nuptial bond between the two births healthy understanding, intellectual persuasion and ideological clarity. Oversimplifying students' behaviour into binary terms (intelligent or obtuse) ignoring neurodiversity is common in our educational institutions. Kierkegaard says, "Once you label me, you negate me." Our teaching is devoid of contextual examples, hence fails to inspire students. Generalisations are handy go-to statements for politicians. At talk shows and pressers, generalisations are used as off-ramps to avoid pointed questions and blunt replies. When people run out of arguments, they generalise. The failure to substantiate generalisations causes mistrust. In science, a theory (generalisation) must stand the test of experiments and observations (examples). At the crossroads of world crises, the generalisations are the fence sitters' choice. Instead of taking sides and doing something practically, statements of condemnation and support are issued as policy statements. We heard this lip service at the Israeli genocide of Palestinians and its unprovoked attacks on Iran. In written outpourings, generalisations make the writing abstract. Examples are actually stories – the time-tested means to better communicate, understand and retain information. An idea becomes palpable when it is embodied. When a writer doesn't show but tells, his writing goes abstract. Our politicians are well-known for showcasing their flagship achievements. The public must not be befooled by the cherry-picked examples as one swallow doesn't make a summer. The public can differentiate between a well-annealed generalisation and a manipulative one by observing the consistent performance of their representatives. The gap between a generalisation and examples bespeaks of craft and hypocrisy. In the realms of morality and ethics, the gap becomes the acid test for one's character and charisma. In our political discourse, a line is drawn between a leader's personal and public life. If his public persona is taken as a generalised life statement, his personal life stands for the telltale examples. The unparalleled yardstick to assess a leader is the life of the last Prophet of Allah, Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH and his progeny). All the biographers of his life concur that there was no discord between his personal and public life. In Mohsin-e Insaniyet, the biographer writes on page 120: "The greater the gap between a person's private and public life, the lower their true status." [Disclaimer: the space here necessitates generalisations]
Hindustan Times
29-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
How a ₹5 crore indie film with no stars became highest-grossing Indian film overseas, beat hits of Shah Rukh, Aamir Khan
Since the 90s, Shah Rukh Khan has been the flagbearer of Indian cinema overseas. His films, from Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge and My Name is Khan to Jawan, have all worked well in the US and Europe, with some even eclipsing local releases. Similarly, Aamir Khan has ruled the roost in China. But in 2001, an independent film with no stars and a budget of just ₹ 5 crore managed to outdo the biggest hits of both these stars. The tiny film that beat heavyweights at the box office. In 2000, screenwriter Sabrina Dhawan wrote a screenplay about an Indian family in Delhi during her time in the MFA film program at Columbia University. Director Mira Nair came on board to direct, and the film came to be known as Monsoon Wedding. Produced internationally between companies from India, the United States, Italy, France, and Germany, Monsoon Wedding had a modest budget of $1.2 million ( ₹ 5.5 crore at the time). It starred theatre and TV actors like Naseeruddin Shah, Lillette Dubey, Parvin Dabas, Vijay Raaz, Shefali Shah, Rajat Kapoor, Soni Razdan, Roshan Seth, and Kulbhushan Kharbanda. Three newcomers were also part of the cast - Vasundhara Das, Randeep Hooda, and Ram Kapoor. The film was not expected to break the bank at the box office, but Monsoon Wedding defied all expectations. Monsoon Wedding had a large ensemble cast but no stars. The film was a success in the North American market, grossing over $13 million there, which stood as the record for an Indian film in the US-Canada for years, before being overtaken by Baahubali in 2017. Monsoon Wedding earned $30.8 million ( ₹ 145 crore) worldwide, with the bulk of it coming from North America and Europe. It became the highest-grossing Indian film overseas, a tag it enjoyed till Bajrangi Bhaijaan and Dangal overtook it 15 years later. How Monsoon Wedding beat hits of the Khans Shah Rukh Khan was at the peak of his career in 2001 when Monsoon Wedding was released. That year, he had two releases—Asoka and Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. Both films were successes overseas, but their combined overseas collection was just $14 million ( ₹ 60 crore), lower than Monsoon Wedding. Even Aamir Khan's Lagaan, which was also released the same year and went to the Oscars, earned just $3 million ( ₹ 13 crore) overseas. Monsoon Wedding is currently available to stream on both Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.
The Hindu
18-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
Five films that got neurodivergence right, and why ‘Sitaare Zameen Par' might join them
On the cusp of Sitaare Zameen Par's release this Friday, the freshly invigorated conversation around neurodivergence in cinema feels long overdue. Marketed as a spiritual sequel to Taare Zameen Par, Aamir Khan's latest venture brings ten neurodivergent individuals into the spotlight as people with stories of their own. That this release follows Autistic Pride Day 2025 feels quite timely. For too long, neurodivergent characters in cinema have either been flattened into saintly savants or trapped in caricature. Their complexities are also often sanded down for neurotypical comfort. But if autistic pride teaches us anything, it's that the real challenge is the lens through which the world insists on viewing the disability, rather than the disabilty itself. So, in honour of June 18, and of a film that is trying to imagine something more inclusive, we revisit five films that have portrayed neurodivergence with empathy, nuance, and a refusal to tidy up their themes. A Beautiful Mind Ron Howard's classic biographical drama A Beautiful Mind was an earnest attempt at making sense of schizophrenia—for both the person inside the condition and the people orbiting him. Russell Crowe's John Nash does succumb to certain tortured genius tropes but they rarely exist in a vacuum. He's a husband, a colleague, and a man trying to trust what's real when reality keeps shifting under his feet. The film's actual trick isn't the twist about his hallucinations; rather, it's the manner in which it presents love, routine, and stubborn willpower. It's messy and it simplifies things, but at its core it's a genuine effort to portray what it means to live with, and not despite, mental illness. Margarita with a Straw Shonali Bose's Margarita with a Straw steers clear of syrupy inspirational blurbs and gives us a bildungsroman that's brimming with life. Kalki Koechlin plays Laila, a young woman with cerebral palsy, who wants the same things everyone else does — love, sex, independence — and the film lets her want them without judgment or pity. Bose subverts both Western and desi stereotypes of disability by making Laila's neurodivergence the engine that propels her and the narrative across continents, into relationships, and towards a vivid understanding of her own queerness. My Name is Khan My Name is Khan is often heavy-handed, but it comes from a place of real compassion. The film centres on a man with Asperger's syndrome in a geopolitical epic, and does so with a degree of earnest dignity rarely afforded to neurodivergent characters in mainstream Indian cinema. Shah Rukh Khan avoids caricaturising Rizwan, and shapes him by the way he sees the world with deep empathy. Finding Dory Finding Dory reflects a long-standing Pixar tradition of addressing social issues under the guise of children's entertainment. The film treats the talkative, titular Blue Tang fish with short-term memory loss with sincerity. She forgets things, but she also adapts, repeats, invents workarounds and 'keeps swimming'. The film isn't about curing her or changing her, but about the fish around her learning to understand and support her. Everything Everywhere All at Once Everything Everywhere All at Once feels exactly like what it's like to live in a brain that doesn't always play by the rules. In fact, one of the directing duo, Daniel Kwan, came to realise his own undiagnosed ADHD during the writing process. Evelyn and Joy are never explicitly labelled, but the film's take on identity, perception, and meaning feels deeply familiar to anyone who's ever felt like their mind is a bit too loud. The multiverse here is a metaphor for every 'what if' and 'should have been' that clutters the average ADHD brain. The film leaves us with the tender thought that maybe clarity isn't about fixing the noise, but learning how to sit with it.
