Superstar Shah Rukh Khan seems to have finally gone back to his old friend, Farah Khan. The choreographer-director had a minor tiff with the actor after she signed Akshay Kumar for her movie Tees Maar Khan. The tiff is rumored to have been caused because both of them disagreed on the script of the movie, Happy New Year, which they were working on.

Talking at the book launch of his friend Kanika Dhillon’s book, Bombay Duck is a Fish, Shahrukh said, “It is one of the nicest things to work with someone (Farah) of that caliber, energy, belief and determination.” He also added that working with Farah khan was like “getting the finest tutelage in the country”.

Kanika Dhillon is the co-writer of Shahrukh’s upcoming film Ra.One’s  script and also assisted Farah Khan in Om Shanti Om.

Farah seemed quite happy when she heard about Shahrukh’s words. She said she hadn’t heard all this herself, but added, “I am sure if he has said nice things about me, they must be true. I am happy about that.”

When asked whether the tension between them has ended, Farah retorted, “Both Shah Rukh and I are fed up of answering these questions. I can’t focus my whole life on who has said what about me. It’s an old story. We already made up five months ago.”

The first news of their patch came during an award function in January this year. However, both of them remained distant after that.

Farah says that she has no hard feelings about the whole incident. She said, “Life is too short to remain hurt. I am happy, doing a lot of television shows, working on a fantastic script and spending all my free time with my children. I am not upset with anybody. I have nothing to say about whether SRK and I will work together. I can’t see the future, I’m not Nostradamus.”

It seems there’s no defeating Amitabh Bachchan anywhere. For decades, he has ruled the big screen with panache and now, with his small screen avatar in Kaun Banega Crorepati, he has done it again.

It is no wonder that the TRP of KBC is much higher than the other prime time shows hosted by Bollywood biggies like Salman and Akshay Kumar, both of whom are hosting some popular reality shows. While Big Boss is still relatively high up in the TRP race with Master Chef trailing right behind, KBC, in its first week itself, has completely overtaken both the shows.

A Unit member from the team of Master Chef shines some light on this, claiming that each reality show has its own sensibilities and therefore its own format and a loyal fan following. Kaun Banega Crorepati has been going on for a few seasons now and it would not be fair to compare it to the brand new format of Master Chef. Yet, the TRPs suggest that the fan following of Amitabh is much more than the youngsters could ever hope to achieve. Though it is true that all three shows are targeted towards different demographics, it is only the TRP that can convey the success or the failure of any of these shows.

Akshay Kumar’s three films in alliance with Vipul Shah have proved to be quite different from one another.  Be it Aankhein where he played a blind robber, ‘Waqt’ where he was a wayward rich son, Namastey London where he was a simple villager with a compassionate heart or ‘Singh is kingg’ in which he was a goofy villager, Akshay has always tried to enact  a huge variety of roles  in a number of films.

In what is to be their fifth endeavor together, ‘Action Replayy’ will  showcase a very different theme once again.   ‘Action Replayy’, has Akshay enacting roles with  three different looks and characters, but also finds him living in two different time zones with  a time difference ranging through a  decade.

With Akshay having done a variety of comic roles in the earlier films, Vipul keeps praising the actor who has always been by his side since the last five years from the time he has taken to film making.

“I have always believed that Akshay is a terrific all rounder. All he needs is to be challenged as an actor”, Vipul having made films  with Ajay Devgan and Salman Khan(‘London Dreams’) during the intervening short term,   “In ‘Action Replayy’, we have gone through a complete transformation for Akshay; something that he has never done before.”

Echoing the same idea, he also says, “In our last outing together (‘Singh Is Kinng’), he got an identity of being a Punjabi boy. Now people will love him for his retro look. No one would have expected something like that from him or me, especially so after the films that we have made together. However, the idea was to surprise and this retro avatar is going to surprise quite a few out there.”

In fact, there is a surely a surprise for all people.  Akshay was seen in a very surprising look in “Zor Ka Jhatka”, and everybody believes that Akshay portrayed two more different looks in the film.  One role is that of an old man and the second that of a person whose looks are transformed in the end.

Though the film is set in a light mood, according to Vipul, ‘Action Replayy’ also depicts a musical romance and a whole lot of entertainment catering to every section of the audience. Thus, proving that having done a variety of comic roles in many films, (‘Houseful’, ‘De Dana Dan’, ‘Kambakht Ishq’), there is something that different with Akshay this time on.

“That was the intent”, reiterates Vipul, “Akshay is a much bigger actor than what we see of him on screen. This is why I strive to do different things with him. In fact I am surprised to a certain extent that people have not really utilised his true potential as an actor. It is so strange that someone who is capable of doing so many things is time and again offered mainly comedies. No, I am not saying that a film should not have humour. But then I also feel that a film should not just be about humour. This is what makes ‘Action Replayy’ stands apart from the rest.”

Salman is not new to remakes. Hollywood movie’s One flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and the movie Hitch have influenced the actor’s earlier films Kyon ki and Partner respectively.

Moreover, a Malayalam film directed by Priyadarshan was remade at his home country, as the director decided to remake a 1980 hit for Bollywood.  Also to be considered is Tere Naam which was a remake of Sethu that starred by Vikram.  However, Tamil film Pokkiri was remade into Wanted : Dead or Alive which did well at the box office making  Salman turn towards the hit films of the south.

Wanted dead or alive

Wanted: Dead or Alive, his first in the year 2009 had put him back into action in Bollywood after having a considerably dismal year in 2008.  With choreographer turned director, Prabhudeva, as the director, the Mahesh Babu starrer Telugu hit was remade as Wanted.  Ilayathalapathi Vijay’s film of the same name was in fact remade into a Telugu version.

Ready

Ready keeps Salman busy after his movie Dabangg.  With Asin as a co-star and the director, Anees Bazmee, Ram and Genelia starrer Telugu hit of 2008 is being remade.

Kick

Salman and Sonakshi Sinha already considered a hit pair by the audience will be seen together in Kick, a remake of the Telugu movie which originally had Ram Teja and Ileana playing the lead role.

My Love story

Malayalam films saw Nayanthara making a comeback after a long break, with the film Bodyguard.  Salman Khan is likely to star in the remake of the Dilip starrer film from the south.  With Siddique as the director, who has made the original and the Tamil versions of Bodyguard, Kareena Kapoor and Salman Khan will be seen together, after Kyon ki and Main Aurr Mrs. Khanna.

Donn Seenu

Rumours doing the rounds are that the rights of Don Seenu, a Telugu film that is much sought after by Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar and Saif Ali Khan.  Gopichand Malineni, the director of the original film which is a  Ravi Teja-Anjana Sukhani-Mahesh Manjrekar starrer, has been a top hit in the Telugu film industry so far this year.