Shahrukh Khan, Juhi Chawla to own Indian Racing League’s Mumbai team

Cricketer Sachin Tendulkar might pick a small stake in the League, called the i1 Super Series

Not satisfied with investing in the Indian Premier League (IPL), the team of Shahrukh Khan, Juhi Chawla and Jai Mehta are planning to buy a US$20m racing team in the newly launched Indian Racing League. The contract will be for 15 years. Called the i1 Super Series, the league is promoted by the Machdar Motorsports company. The first series will be held from January 8-February 26, 2012. And in April, it will be IPL time. We wonder why Shahrukh Khan is consciously devoting a quarter of his year and his money to activities other than films. SRK’s Kolkata Knight Riders hasn’t performed that well in the IPL, and now he is investing in a racing team, still a niche sport in India with less infrastructure and drivers. Looks like the RA.One star is planning for his retirement!

Meanwhile, Sachin Tendulkar might pick up a 26 percent stake in the league along with his friend Anjana Reddy. But Sachin’s involvement has been denied by Machdar as of now. Telugu superstar Nagarjuna and Dabur family scion Mohit Burman are among the others interested in owning a racing team for their respective regions. The cities to have teams include Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai, Chandigarh, Kolkata, Pune and Bangalore. The races will feature F1 and will be held in New Delhi, Abu Dhabi, Kuala Lumpur, Doha and Bahrain

Diehard fan builds SRK shrine

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But the inside story seems different! The distributors of ‘Ra.One’ claim that the superhero flick has grossed over Rs. 170 crore at the BO. But, since ‘Ra.One’ is made on a humungous budget of Rs. 150 crore, it is not a hit yet.

A prominent trade analyst, while talking to a daily said that Eros, the company distributing ‘Ra.One’, will fail to recover their investment. He further adds, “Ra.One is not at all a success; forget being a hit. Those who have bought the film are going to lose money. The figures have started going down and if this continues, it’ll be difficult to match even the Rs. 100 crore figure.”

The collections of ‘Ra.One’ witnessed a considerable drop since Monday. The film’s collection on Monday was said to be “alarmingly” low. It reportedly made Rs. 92 crore in India until Sunday which includes the Tamil and Telugu versions. The original Hindi version managed a business of Rs. 84 crore. Another trade expert maintained that it can be called a success, but not a hit.

Comparing the movie to Salman Khan’s recent superhit Bodyguard and Aamir Khan’s 2009 blockbuster 3 Idiots is inevitable. But as Bodyguard was made at one-third the price of ‘Ra.One’, and it didn’t even have a 3D version, the amount of money Bodyguard earned on first four days was jaw-dropping. But the same can’t be said about ‘Ra.One’, though it surpassed the first two-day collection of Bodyguard which was about Rs 39 crore.

Coming to 3 Idiots, the movie grossed Rs. 202 crore, while the gross earnings of ‘Ra.One’ in India is about Rs 137 crore, according to recent report

Diehard fan builds SRK shrine

Singh sits with his family in his living room, which is a tribute to SRK. PHOTO: REUTERS
LUCKNOW:

Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan has a legion of fans all over the world, but not many will be able to beat Vishal Singh’s obsession with the star.

The 38-year-old Indian businessman has plastered every square inch of his house with Khan’s pictures and spent his honeymoon waiting outside the actor’s house in Mumbai, hoping to catch a glimpse of his idol. “I will do anything that will make Shahrukh Khan happy,” states Singh, who runs a homeopathic medicine business from Lucknow city.

Singh’s house is a shrine to Khan. There are cut-outs of Khan on the ceiling, the television and even on cushions. Singh has even changed his name to Vishahrukh Khan. “No one can be like Shahrukh, but I wanted my name to have his name. My children are named Simran and Aryan, which is his son’s name,” he says. Simran is the female lead (played by Kajol) in one of Khan’s biggest films Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge.

His family was initially less than impressed with his adoration of the star, Singh says. “My parents were very worried about me, but now they know that my love for Shahrukh will never end,” he adds.

Khan has met his fan several times, including on Singh’s honeymoon, when Singh drove more than 1,300 kilometres (810 miles) with his wife to Mumbai. Khan has not returned the favour as yet, even though he’s promised to visit Singh’s home. “I’ve been wanting to open up a store of homeopathic medicines, but I won’t open it until Shahrukh comes and cuts the ribbon,” he said.

Khan, 46, is one of India’s most revered stars, and his latest film, RA.One, opened to packed houses during the Indian festival of Diwali last week. Singh watched the movie for the fourth time in a week on Wednesday, which was Khan’s birthday.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 4th, 2011