Farah Khan and her team of stars are on a whirlwind tour to promote their forthcoming film. While here, they made blink-and-you-miss red carpet appearances and mostly spoke about each other like members of a mutual admiration club. Shrabasti Mallik reports
We all know that Shah Rukh Khan mostly shows up late for his press conferences and this one was no different. It seems the actor didn’t learn any lesson from his Chennai experience (where he was snubbed by the journalists for turning up late). While here to promote Happy New Year (HNY), he was over three hours late for the conference. We thought we should blame the cast’s multiple venue visits for the same, but we got to know that SRK sprained his ankle. So in his absence, his co-stars — Deepika Padukone, Boman Irani, Abhishek Bachchan, Vivaan Shah, Sonu Sood and director Farah Khan did the talking.
Rumoured to be a remake of Clooney and Brad Pitt starrer Ocean’s 11, HNY brings again the trio of SRK, Deepika and Farah after Om Shanti Om. Deepika is sure that her character Mohini Joshi will find acceptance with the audience. She said, “My character is a girl form Maharashtra and for the past seven years that I have lived in Mumbai, I have had a privilege to interact with a lot of Marathi speaking people. Plus my mother-tongue is Konkani, which is very similar. Farah wrote my character in such a flexible way that I could add something on my own.”
When SRK he showed up, he began showering praises on his dear friend Farah. “Working with Farah is like working with family and she keeps the best characters for me. She will find one reason or the other to make me remove my shirt,” he said.
He spoke highly of Deepika, too. “I think she was always a star. Although we haven’t worked for years before Chennai Express, I feel she has it all. As a friend, I told her that always be part of a film where you feel comfortable with the people around. She has made wonderful choices — whether it’s Cocktail or Finding Fanny,” he shared.
Abhishek’s character, is different from what he has played in the Dhoom series. “This time I am on the other side and the experience was fantastic. I got to play wild and it was a lot of fun,” he mentioned.
Vivaan Shan, who looked visibly sick, did a jig for the audience. “Vivaan was one such character who could not dance one bit. He didn’t even learn the steps, forget about rehearsing them. He danced whatever he felt like dancing,” shared the director. For Vivaan, the ultimate form of dance in the one which is uninhibited and free. “like the way people dance during Ganesh visarjan. I would also love to try tap-dancing someday,” he said. As a concluding note, SRK added, “The message of the movie is hope. A loser is not the one who has lost but someone who gives up immediately after it. The message is that life gives everyone a chance to become a winner.”
photos Pankaj Kumar