Abhishek to enter Guinness Book?

Stars are known to aggressively promote their films, but few can match Abhishek Bachchan's enthusiasm, as he attempts to enter the Guinness Book of World Records by making maximum public appearances in at least six cities in a span of 12 hours to promote his latest film "Delhi 6".

Starting on Friday morning when "Delhi 6" releases, Abhishek will travel to as many events in as many cities as possible within 12 hours.

Speaking from Dubai Wednesday where he was attending the film's premiere, Abhishek excitedly said: "It's an idea that has been with me for a while ever since I heard about some German actors who set a world record by attending five public events in twelve hours. I want to beat their record. I'd do at least 6-7 appearances in 12 hours in six cities. It could go up to seven cities."

"By the look of it, we could do Gurgaon, Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Chandigarh, Baroda and Mumbai and break this record on the 20th itself or on 21st... starting time could be 10 a.m. or 12 noon doing a 12 to 12. We could do seven cities instead of the current record of 5 cities," said Sabbas Joseph, director of Wizcraft International who would be manoeuvring the record-breaking endeavour for Abhishek.

The current record-holder in the category of the greatest number of public appearances by a film star at different cities in 12 hours promoting the same film is five by J?rgen Vogel and Daniel Br?hl (Germany). They walked the red carpet, signed autographs and introduced the film "Ein Freund von mir" (Germany 2006) at cinemas in Munich, Berlin, Hamburg, D?sseldorf and Cologne, Germany, on Oct 22, 2006. They were accompanied by the director of "Ein Freund von mir" Sebastian Schipper.

Would Abhishek be able to break that record?

"I hope so. And I think I will. Actually I'm quite excited by the idea, more so because I'm implementing it for a film that's so close to my heart."

Guinness Book officials are expected to be present to watch Abhishek make history.

Weekly Box Office Report: Billu is below average

Shah Rukh Khan’s Billu opened with 35% to 45% collections on Friday, which is certainly low for a Shah Rukh Khan film. Perhaps the audience had a fair idea that Irrfan plays the lead. The figures were comparatively better over the weekend but dropped again on Monday. The coming days will prove Billu’s fate at the box-office.

The other two releases were much smaller in comparison to Billu and even in itself since they lacked star value or publicity factor. Kay Kay Menon starrer The Stoneman Murders despite being a decent effort couldn’t get a good opening. Manoj Bajpai’s Jugaad was outright rejected.

SRK discharged from hospital

Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, who underwent a successful shoulder surgery at the Breach Candy hospital here Monday evening, has been discharged, said a hospital source.

"Shah Rukh has been discharged from the hospital. He left at around 5 p.m.," a source at the south Mumbai hospital told IANS Tuesday evening.

The actor had to undergo an arthroscopic surgery for acute pain in his left shoulder. Though he had planned to fly to London for the surgery, he chose to get it done in Mumbai under the guidance of Sanjay Desai, the orthopaedic surgeon at Breach Candy.

For now, Shah Rukh has been advised by doctors to refrain from indulging in any heavy-duty action scenes.

"It's a normal precaution that one has to take. The surgery was long pending and it is good that he finally took out time for it. Keeping in mind that he would only become busier in months to come, it made sense that he got himself operated before it was too late," Desai had told IANS.

The 43-year-old superstar will be on a forced break for six weeks to recuperate completely. However, he will host the Filmfare Awards on March 7, which were scheduled for Feb 28 earlier. The organisers postponed the date for Shah Rukh's sake.

SRK, Priyanka sizzle in Billu Barber

SRK seems to have adopted the guest appearance routine since it worked for Om Shanti Om. Even his last release of 2008, Rab Ne bana Di Jodi had a song with multiple Bollywood stars.

The third diva who shakes a leg with SRK in Billu Barber is the sizzling Priyanka Chopra. The other two are Kareena Kapoor and Deepika Padukone.

When SRK said that Billu Barber is based on the Krishna-Sudama story, he wasn't joking, what he didn't say was that his character may be based on Krishna and there are indeed gopis all around him.

People misunderstood marjani song: SRK

First it was the name of the film, which created a controversy and now it's the song that has kept Shah Rukh Khan on the defensive.

He says that the song Marjani from Billu has been misunderstood by some people. He said his house was attacked for no fault of his own. SRK who is currently in London ahead of his shoulder surgery, said he was worried about his family after the attack.

Talking about the song he said: "I think people misunderstood the lyrics of the song marjaani and that's why the whole controversy surfaced. There is a line in the song rab ke huzoor mein kasmien bhi kha li, duniya ki auni pauni rasmein nibha li. Now huzoor has two meanings one is prophet and the other is 'in the presence of'. Some people misunderstood and didn't hear the song correctly. They heard the song like rab ke huzoor ne kasmien bhi kha li, which is incorrect. The correct line is rab ke huzoor mein which means in the presence of God. So, Huzoor doesn't refer to god at all anywhere in the song. But people who didn't hear it properly misunderstood the whole meaning."

Shah Rukh said he was paying the price of his stardom and there are people who wants media attention by creating all these controversies. "As a celebrity I have to take good with the bad. I know we are vulnerable but we have to continue to do work and perform our duty."

Slumdog becomes millionaire despite giving wrong answer

NEW DELHI: The 'slumdog' was not entitled to be a 'millionaire'.

Call it his destiny or an oversight by the Oscar-front runner team protagonist Jamal is shown winning Rs 2, 50,000 in the film despite giving a wrong answer.

"Slumdog Millionaire" is based on Indian diplomat Vikas Swarup's novel "Q and A" and was adapted into the movie by scriptwriter Simon Beaufoy, who changed some parts of the story to make it fit in the film's narrative.

The result of it is that Jamal ends up giving a wrong answer to a question with wrong options.

Swarup's book refers to "Ankhiya Hari Darshan Ki Pyasi" as the song by saint-poet Surdas. The question for the protagonist in the book is a different one.

The song, "Darshan Do Ghanshyam Nath Mori Ankhiya Pyasi", that features in the movie, is from 1957 film "Narsi Bhagat" which was directed by Devendra Goel.

The film was based on the life of 15th Century Gujarati saint-poet Narsinh Mehta, who was a devotee of Lord Krishna.

The song, based on one of the oldest ragas — "Rag Kedar", was written by eminent Hindi poet and Bollywood song writer Gopal Singh Nepali.

However, some people believe that it was originally written by Narsi which was later translated by Nepali.

Surdas, a contemporary to Narsi, wrote "Ankhiya Hari Darshan Ki Pyasi" which expresses a similar sentiment.

In the movie Jamal is asked to name the poet who wrote song "Darshan Do Ghanshyam Nath Mori Ankhiya Pyasi" during the show- Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? He has four options from the show host- Surdas, Tulsidas, Meerabai and Kabir.

Obviously, none of these is the right answer. The producers of the film were unavailable for comment.

I am a good husband : Abhishek Bachchan

Not so for Abhishek Bachchan, who has already carved out his niche in Bollywood in his nine-year long film career. Riding high on the box-office success of Dostana , Abhishek took time out for a candid chat with TOI. We caught his many moods. Exclusive excerpts:

Different strokes
“I know what is required out of an actor. I think I have become more experienced and I am prepared as an actor. I have learned many things over the years. As an actor I want to play a variety of characters. I am fortunate to get to do such roles. I have never deliberately tried to do different roles, I just happened to get them. I don’t regret doing any film.”

Rakeysh & Sonam
“I am nervous about Delhi 6. I always get nervous on Fridays when my film releases. We put in so much hard work for a film, that’s why Fridays make me so nervous. But Delhi 6 is a good film and made very well. It is a very realistic film and its music is really appealing. As an actor I hope to meet the expectations of people. Rakeysh Mehra and I had wanted to work with each other for very long. He met every expectation of mine. It was wonderful working with him. Sonam (Kapoor) is a wonderful person and a very promising actress. It was a pleasure having her on the sets. She is really hardworking.”

Family album
“I do consult my family before taking up a film, but I take the final call. I would be dumb not to take their advice.”

Ash you like it...
“I don’t think I have changed after marriage. I am still the same guy I used to be. I guess I am a good husband. Aishwarya is extremely down-to-earth. She is very humane.”

Beyond movies
“I am passionate about cinema and acting. I never get time for myself because I am always working. But I am happy that I am getting that much work. When I get a little time off work, I like listening to music, watching movies and reading autobiographies. My favourite autobiography is Marlon Brando’s Songs My Mother Taught Me.”

Fashion code
“I know people say, I’ve often been spotted wearing blue denims and white shirt but that’s coincidental. I wear whatever comes in my hand when I wake up from bed.”

Fit hai to hit hai
“As an actor I have had to put on and shed weight to fit into the character that I am playing. That’s what my directors expect from me. But in personal life, I don’t follow any diet or any fitness chart.”

I, me, myself
“I don’t look within myself to find out what my strengths or weaknesses are. I am just another normal guy.”