SHAHRUKH'S MY IDOL, SAYS SALMAN KHAN

Salman Khan might not like SRK's personal attitude, but he is all praises for the actor's enthusiasm, professional attitude and physical features.

The actor was all praises for his Khan counter part duting his television show Dus Ka Dum.

In one episode of the game show on Sony Television, Salman said, "When it comes to romantic scenes no one can do it better than Shah Rukh Khan. He is proficiently great."

As if this was not enough, Salman went on to say that Shah Rukh has beautiful eyes.

"SRK has such beautiful eyes, it can make anybody go crazy," Salman said, adding, "SRK is the king of romance."

Salman also praised the honesty and dedication of Shah Rukh. He said that no one can be more professional than SRK and that he marvels at his dedication towards work. SRK was his idol when it comes to his attitude for work, Salman added.

SALMAN: BOX OFFICE GOLD

Salman Khan's riding high... and Bollywood is cheering.

It's Salman Khan time in Bollywood. With his full-on action film Wanted becoming a hit, the superstar has millions of rupees riding on his shoulders with three more big-budget films lined up. And all his friends in the industry - from David Dhawan to Vipul Shah - are joy at the actor's success.

Wanted earned about Rs.38 crore (Rs.380 million) across the country in its first week and industry experts feel that the film's good business will help Salman's approaching releases - Main Aur Mrs. Khanna, London Dreams and Veer.

"Salman always knew when and where to strike. He was always very confident about Wanted and this is the reason why he went all out to promote the film," Dhawan, who has worked with Salman in more than half a dozen films, told IANS.

"Forget first weekend collections; it was sheer disaster when Eid festivities began. Audience response inside auditoriums was unprecedented," he added.

Directed by Prabhu Deva, Wanted is a raw action-drama comparable to Aamir Khan's Ghajini.

"Salman may have done one or two bad films in recent times due to which it appeared to some that he was no more in the reckoning. They were mistaken though because he is beyond hits and flops," said Abbas Burmawalla of director duo Abbas-Mustan.

"His strong fan base could sense from a distance that Wanted was a film to watch out for and turned it into such a huge success," he added.

Salman's Yuvvraaj and God Tussi Great Ho bombed at the box office and many believed he was down and out. But the industry doesn't quite believe so.

"Wanted is Salman's one-man show. Yes, everyone involved with the film has done a fabulous job, but it is Salman's pull that got the audiences into theatres. Otherwise director Prabhu Deva was making his first Hindi film while Ayesha Takia isn't amongst the top three heroines that we have today," said Sanjay Kapoor, brother of Boney Kapoor who produced Wanted.

"He gave Wanted his full support and led the entire promotional campaign. He was supremely excited about the film and gave his heart, body, soul and time to its making followed by promotion," he added.

Vipul Shah, who has worked with Salman in the film London Dreams that releases Oct 30, is happy that Salman's three-film stint this year has got off to a good start with Wanted.

"My promotion plan though is not as expensive as that of Wanted. We are going right ahead in creating awareness around London Dreams, but the spillover of Wanted should also help our campaign. Since Wanted is all over, I am sure the euphoria and Salman's presence amongst audiences will continue for many more weeks to come," said Shah.

Filmmaker Suneel Darshan, who has never worked with Salman, is a little guarded before declaring this as a golden run of the actor.

"Wanted has done quite well in India but its fate in the overseas market has been contradictory. With crores of rupees riding on his shoulders in the current season on Veer, London Dreams and Main Aur Mrs.Khanna, all due to release shortly, god forbid if anything goes wrong, it will have severe repercussions on the industry's economy. This is just another interesting phase for Salman...," he said.

Himesh Reshammiya, with whom Salman has had a decade-long association, has a final word though. "Salman was a superstar, is a superstar and will always remain a superstar."

RITEISH'S BILLA NUMBER 007

Riteish Deshmukh’s mimicry acts have often left people rolling on the floor with laughter. Riteish’s talent was noticed by comedy king David Dhawaan at an award function who inculcated an interesting cameo for Riteish in his upcoming film, Do Knot Disturb.

Riteish co-stars with the legendary Amitabh Bachchan in Aladin and has mimicked everybody’s favourite hero in his approaching comedy. The mimicry was no mean feat as Riteish recreated Vijay Verma’s famous billa scene from Deewar.

A source informs us, “In the scene, Riteish is dressed in a blue shirt with a rope on his left arm and a beedi in his mouth Riteish Deshmukh sways a bundle of thousand rupee notes imitating Amitabh Bachchan from Deewar. Adding tadka to the scene is Riteish’s billa no.which reads 007 instead of 786. The scene shouldn’t create any problems because Riteish and Amitabh Bachchan are on good terms as they have worked together in Aladin. Also, Riteish and Abhishek are good friends and Riteish idolizes Mr. Bachchan so he would never do anything to offend him.”

Talking about the spoof scene, David Dhawan says, “Riteish’s mother in the film, played by Himani Shivpuri imagines his son to be Amitabh Bachchan from Deewar, so we decided to have a scene with Riteish imitating him. It’s an absolutely hilarious scene that will have the audiences in splits and Riteish’s comic timing and body language is spot on. He is a flawless mimic.”

Producer Vashu Bhagnani didn’t want the scene to create any controversy or show Amitabh Bachchan in a poor light. “We have ensured it is not disrespectful to Amitji or the film Deewar. In fact we had even spoken to Rajiv Rai to tell him about the scene before we started shooting it,” he said.

Riteish Deshmukh was unavailable for comment. The multi-starrer romantic comedy which stars Lara Dutta, Sushmita Sen, Govinda, Sohail Khan, Ranvir Shorey, Riteish Deshmukh, Himani Shivpuri and Rituparna Sengupta hits theatres on October 2.