Barbers are creative people: SRK

When Shah Rukh Khan wants his hair cut, trimmed, styled, dyed, streaked or whatever, he does not go to a barber’s shop, hair-dresser’s salon or beauty parlour... he has the stylist come home!



And why not — he’s the Bollywood Badshah, after all. In this case it is Dilshad Pastakia, hair-stylist to celebrities, and God’s gift to Bollywood. At Mannat, in his dressing room on the third floor, Dishad cuts and styles SRK’s hair.

She’s being doing this for years. “Ever since Mohabbatein and Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani,” she revealed. Gauri Khan was her client. And one day Gauri brought Shah Rukh into Dilshad’s salon at Bandra. “I was damn nervous and dropped the scissors thrice,” said Dilshad. SRK was himself, and went, “Cut like this, cut like that.” Gauri interrupted and told Dilshad, “Don’t listen to him, do what you want.”

The hair-stylist and the actor have been friends ever since. Now she attends to him at home. On the eve of his new release Billu (the Salon & Beauty Parlours Association of Maharashtra got the Barber snipped from the title on the grounds that the word was casteist), BT sneaked into Mannat where Dilshad was working on King Khan’s hair. The conversation went like this...

SRK: I don’t understand how the word barber is casteist... but I understand the emotions of the association. Hair dressers and stylists, they are creative people...
Dilshad: Yes, we create hairstyles for you...

SRK: But the film is not about the barber’s profession, the profession is incidental, Billu is about love and friendship, it’s about environment, so much fun... it’s the least controversial film.
Dilshad: I have no problem being called a barber. We’re cutting hair, that’s what the profession is about. If you call a barber a hair-stylist, you’re just changing the term, not giving him a different profession.

SRK: The associations issue is that the Hindi word nai, when translated into English, becomes barber. And nai is a caste. Which makes barber a caste. But then so is hair-dresser!
Dilshad: Hajam would have been closer... I’ve been called a hajam for years. Actually, the profession ought to be happy to be acknowledged in a Shah Rukh Khan film...

SRK: Aren’t barbers only for men? And stylists for women?
Dilshad: Barbering is a male technique in which the barber works with clippers and employs the scissors over comb. All over England, you have barber shops... there is dignity in labour there.

SRK: But people do use words to demean professions. It’s like calling Manish Malhotra a tailor.
Dilshad: That mindset should be curtailed.
SRK: Maybe after the film, it would have been... because Billu (Barber) has such a simple message. Whichever world you belong to, as long as you’re true to your emotions and your goodness, you’re a better person already. Your profession does not make you a special person. Your ordinariness is special.
Dilshad: It’s a fab profession, and people are proud to be barbers.

SRK: Are you a real barber?
Dilshad: I am a real barber!
SRK: ... Unless you’ve been lying to me for 15 years and are really a choreographer and cutting my hair!

Shah Rukh's next is a super-hero film

By Taran Adarsh

The excruciating pain on his shoulder notwithstanding, Shah Rukh Khan is going all out to promote his new film BILLU (the word 'Barber' has been removed from all posters/billboards).

Tell him that he's the best marketing brain in the industry thanks to the kind of promotion he did for OM SHANTI OM, he just smiles, "Not OM SHANTI OM, but YES BOSS was the film that started it all," he recalls.

Although BILLU is an SRK production, with Irrfan Khan enacting the title role, SRK hasn't forced himself in the story. On the contrary, he has removed two of his scenes from the film.

Not many are aware that Priyadarshan had offered SRK two choices - a film on heist and the other, a story on friends. "I chose the second," SRK tells me. And the actor is extremely happy with the way BILLU has shaped up.

"We had a screening recently for family and friends. I wasn't expecting people to get emotional, but a lot of people did. The last 20 minutes did make me moist-eyed as well. I think the film will connect with the audiences," the Numero Uno star states.

Financially too, SRK will make a neat profit on the film. Reportedly, he has sold the film for a fantastic price (Rs. 50 cr.) to Eros. "The rumours just don't stop. Sometime back I was told I was charging Rs. 100 crores for a film.

I've never over-charged any of my producers. Now this one! The truth is, we've spent quite a bit on the making of the film. Coming to the point, the price is not Rs. 50 cr., but Rs. 35 cr.," he sets the record straight.

Next on the cards is a film with Anubhav Sinha. "It's a super-hero film. I want it to be the best super-hero film made in India. We're hiring technicians from abroad. Am really looking forward to this one," he reveals.

SRK drops 'Barber' from the title of his forthcoming film Billu Barber

These days it's become a trend of sorts for films to face some opposition or the other at the time of release. The latest to face such rough weather is the SRK - Irrfan Khan starrer Billu Barber.

The film's title was found derogatory by members of the Salon and Beauty Parlour Association. The President of the Association, Mr Uday Takke, had requested SRK to change the name of the film and remove the word 'Barber' from the title. His explanation was that the term 'Barber' not just denotes an occupation but is also a caste.

After much deliberation and talks between the parties involved at SRK's residence Mannat over the weekend, Shah Rukh Khan has decided to drop the word 'Barber' from the title of the film with immediate effect. The film is now called Billu and posters of the film have also made the necessary change.

Shah Rukh didn't want his film to run into any unnecessary trouble nor did her want to hurt the sentiments of a certain section of the society and hence the change.

Hope audiences are as excited to see Billu as they were to see Billu Barber.

Shahrukh's special Valentine gift to Gauri

He is a talented actor, smart businessman and a complete family man. Shahrukh Khan is extremely versatile in real life too like in reel life. Well everybody knows that this romantic hero is equally romantic person in real life too. Thus when asked about his Valentine gift to Gauri Khan, he said, "I have gifted my entire life to Gauri,".

When asked whether his forthcoming film Billu Barber, which is releasing a day before Valentine's Day, will be his gift for his wife, he quipped, "She produces all my movies and only if the film does well, she accepts any gifts. If my movie flops, then she does not accept any gift. If the film works well, my wife will accept a gift otherwise she will throw me out of the house".

He further informed that Billu Barber is a beautiful film about relationships, love and friendship. Shahrukh plays a superstar in the film while Irrfan Khan will be seen in the title role.

Hope Gauri accepts Shahrukh's gift this time. Wish you all the best Shahrukh!

SRK delays surgery for Billu Barber

Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan has put his surgery on hold for his soon to release home production Billu Barber. The actor will now go for his shoulder surgery after the film's release but before that King Khan will have to undergo intensive physiotherapy.

The injury happened while SRK was shooting a special appearance for the film Dulha Mil Gaya. He was advised surgery but hoped physiotherapy would do the trick but now it looks like there's no avoiding the scalpel.

Sources close to Shah Rukh say that while he would prefer to have the operation here but to duck the public and papparazzi, the superstar may have to opt for a surgery abroad.

"Surgeons in Los Angeles have suggested that he should go for a surgery now. It is better that he gets it done soon," says Dr Ali Irani, Physiotherapist.

"I'll go in after Billu releases if it does well I'll go in for surgery happy and if it is not nice then I'll have somewhere to hide but I think people will like the film," said Shah Rukh Khan.

It is during the schedule of Karan Johar's My Name Is Khan where his injury worsened but even here, the injury did not get in the way of his fans or his film commitments, proving yet again that nothing keeps the king down for long.



Vikram Thapa, NDTV Correspondent

Thank You Priyanka, with love from SRK

By Subhash K Jha

Shah Rukh has been taking more than a passing interest in the music for the films he produces. And Priyanka Chopra would vouch for that.

If she declares from rooftops that she is Shah Rukh Khan's biggest fan then it with reason. The man just floors his ladies, without trying to be be charming.

What he did for Priyanka Chopra in Billu Barbar would certify as pure magnanimity and generosity, both as a considerate co-star and producer.

Shah Rukh decided to give away a large portion of his duet in Billu Barbar to Priyanka.

Says the film's excited music composer Pritam Chakraborty, "Shah Rukh took very close interest in each one of the songs. He isn't a musician. But he has an instinctive ear for music. It takes him just a few seconds to approve or cut down a track."

With the songs meant for Kareena Kapoor and Deepika Padukone, Pritam faced no problems. "Shah Rukh loved his songs with Kareena Marjana and Deepika Love mera hit hit. They were straightforward dance songs with shared grooves between Shah Rukh and Kareena/Deepika."

The Priyanka song needed special treatment. And Shah Rukh made Pritam re-work and re-record the song.

Divulges Pritam, "Shah Rukh's song with Priyanka Khuda-ae-kher is not an item song. It's a love ballad that the pair playing Bollywood superstars, emote to in front of the camera.

Being a love song Shah Rukh felt there wasn't enough of the female presemce in the vocals. He made me re-record the song with more for the female vocalist (Dominique) to do since he wanted Priyanka to have an equal number of lines."

Irrfan Khan and Lara Dutta who play a rustic couple will later be seen enacting the same Shah Rukh-Priyanka ballad exactly the way the village couple had seen the stars do the song.

From sharing Akshay Kumar on screen in Andaaz to sharing the same love song, the Priyanka-Lara Dutta rivalry sure has come a long way.

Laughs Pritam, "It was entirely Shah Rukh's idea to give Priyanka more lines in the song. He's a very generous entertainer. If you see him on screen he never tries to steal the limelight from his heroines. Even Khai ke paan banaras wala had a lot of Priyanka in Don although it was entirely Shah Rukh's song."

When told about Shah Rukh's gesture, Priyanka stays silent for a while. She then sighs and says, "What do I say? Now do you know why he's my favourite?"