Comments on No Man's Land?: King Khan and some flop clans

I didn't see the movie coz of tight schedule o...

2010-02-26T09:57:41.157Z

I didn't see the movie coz of tight schedule of this month(I will wait for the channel premier :) ).But i'm told that it is a movie not worthy of the hype created.Just above average and many told SRK should stick to what he can- sing,dance,cry and avoid serious type movies.But they used Sena factor properly and got a superb publicity and producers are laughing all the way to bank now.Anyways kudos 2 karan , srk for handling it in a proper manner.It is answer for some people who think it is up to them to decide what people watch,think and do.

@ Indyeah, Welcome on board :) We all would love t...

2010-02-21T13:47:43.903Z

@ Indyeah, Welcome on board :)
We all would love to see the 'trend' continue, wouldn't we? Afterall a population who can hold the rulers responsible and accountable are vital for any democracy, especially one like ours which faces a lot of challenges.

@ Balvinder, Welcome and thanks for the response. :)

@ IHM, and I hope we keep on responding this way to these perverted sectarians of our society.
PS: Thanks a lot for suggesting this post for Blogadda Spicy Saturdays. :)

@ Xylene, the 'blackening' episode did make make my day, and I was pissed off at the 'democracy and gundagiri' talkshow by that moron but I could see the fun-side of it :lol:

@ KPJ ma'm, only the reviews have been rave, unfortunately. The film doesn't have anything in it worthy remembering...except for the off-screen drama.

@ Happy Kitten, I think now we're safe to say that the film hasn't lived upto all the hype. Its losing, as you may probably have heard. So SRK's campaign eventually didn't workout afterall! ??

First time here :) Liked what you wrote and how yo...

2010-02-20T17:01:05.864Z

First time here :) Liked what you wrote and how you wrote it .
This says it all I think The SRK-Sena showdown was seen by many as a guerrilla marketing strategy, but I care less. Afterall who is the loser? Only those who had to be defeated. That's the whole point. Dignified press persona Barkha Dutt, Pranab Roy (NDTV), Rajdeep Sardesai (IBN), Aaj Tak, Star News et al endorsed MNIK as if the movie was their collaborative in-house production released by the Press Council of India.
If Democracy has indeed been saved then let me applaud too and with full sincerity.
And if it indeed has been saved,then I hope that in Maharashtra at least, this trend continues and that 'gangs' (there's no other word for them) like SS/MNS and others of the ilk will now start getting weaker...
Will it happen ?
Only time will tell.
As for Muthalik? *sigh* The guy is a moron. His 'democracy' statement was too much to digest!

nd if I have taken offence against SRK's s...

2010-02-20T16:44:20.540Z
nd if I have taken offence against SRK's statement in support of the Pak players, does it make me a Muslim "virodhi" or a Saffron sympathiser?

HK I absolutely agree with you on this. The fact is at the end of the day I have full right to not like SRK's idiotic and irresponsible statements irrespective of whether he is a hindu, muslim or any other.
What his many fans are doing I think is turning this deliberately into a Muslim issue just to justify whatever he said and his freedom of speech nonsense. SRK has a right to say what he wants. But freedom of expression with some responsibility I dare say given that he is NATIONAL icon (not Hindu, muslim or any other icon )

Isnt it sad that the Indians (the media, those in business, the govt machinery, the common man) can be made to unite for the sake of a movie?
Yes, it is. Extremely sad. And it speaks volumes about us as a country.

Advertisement for SRK movie, hence lots of quick b...

2010-02-20T13:17:24.418Z
Advertisement for SRK movie, hence lots of quick bugs for the movie makers.

Humiliating defeat for the Shiv Sena.

Face saving for the Maharashtra Government

But above all the victory for the people of India.

I agree with you Philip. In a democracy if we do n...

2010-02-17T19:10:35.278Z
I agree with you Philip. In a democracy if we do not like what somebody says, we can protest peacefully. None of us have any right to threaten and demand an apology on behalf of an entire nation... funny thing being the SS were confused, they shd know it's they who owe the nation an apology.

"The elements which we have to be wary of,...

2010-02-17T19:06:22.554Z
"The elements which we have to be wary of, who're as lethal as the 'internationally branded' ones from across the LoC."

What a terrific post!!! I agree, "The message from the public appears clear" :) Blackened, ink stained clear :)
I also liked your comparison of the people of Bombay united against SS, with the people of Mumbai united after the 26/11. All that matters is that the common people got a chance to, finally, crush a sena.

KPJ, I saw the film,may be the first SRK film I sa...

2010-02-17T18:49:17.279Z
KPJ, I saw the film,may be the first SRK film I saw on big screen. It is ok/good till the final 30 mts.I will recommend getting out of theater before that.

Happy Kitten,did the country unite for MNIK? I do ...

2010-02-17T18:42:14.959Z
Happy Kitten,did the country unite for MNIK? I do not thing so. A large section of population of India united against dirty politics of SS. It would have been the same if it was an Amir Khan or a Bhachan film. Indians were united for many other causes also, may be the latest I can remember is the issue of Bt Brinjal. Indians were united during the traumatic period of post 26/11 and the earliest I can remember is how the voters threw out the autocratic Emergency regime of Indira Gandhi.
Why they did not show SS its place before? That is an important question. S.S is considered as the creation of Mumbai Industrialists with the active help of the Congress to destroy the unity of working class of Mumbai. Local Congress leaders had a cosy relationship with S.S for a long time and may be even now. S.S. began to dictate terms to the weak Congress and the Rajiv Gandhi era saw the strengthening of communal forces all over India. Only in the last few years we are seeing a decline of communal forces. Recently Congress has become more bold and the Rahul visit is a sign of that. Public became more confident in security forces and the film could be released.
You have the perfect right to take offence against SRK's statement and your views will be respected. You will not be called a Muslim virodhi or saffron sympathiser. The main focus of campaign here is acceptance of diverging views. But if someone critisise only SRK's statement and say that all problems are caused by that and not due to the S.S''s 'fatwa' then you may be called a S.S. sympathiser,but still your views will be respected.
Now your last point. Can we ban Senas,Indian Mujahideen,SIMI etc with our what you say 'suddenly discovered strength of democracy'? [In my opinion Indian democracy discovered its strength in 1977 not 2010] Good question. Indian Mujahideen is an underground organisation already banned. SIMI is still under ban. But the Senas are recognised political parties. That is the tragedy of Indian democracy. We are soft against some communal and divisive organisations. But in a way that is understandable because banning an ideology which have widespread support especially among the upper ruling clases is of no use. Ideology should be fought ideologically and should be weakened before using the law to ban it.Otherwise ban will only help the spread of the ideology.

Muthalik speaking about democracy was crazy ! I gu...

2010-02-17T12:21:50.321Z
Muthalik speaking about democracy was crazy ! I guess he finally understood what that means. So when his own personal space was invaded I guess he felt the pain.
They torched a bus in retaliation to the ink staining drama. Now I know what he understood about democracy.
Now people along with Media and netizens dont just sit and watch the drama unfolding. They take part in it. Fight (pink chaddi campaign). But nowadays Media takes sides on reporting (mostly the good side) but then I guess they should just report these things and should not take sides.

Scorpio, maybe Sachin never even reacted since he...

2010-02-17T11:39:11.783Z
Scorpio, maybe Sachin never even reacted since he doesn’t have a movie to promote while SRK was forced to apologize…

Shahrukh has written on Twitter, “If I have said anything wittingly or unwittingly, have disturbed any sentiments, I express whole-hearted regret.”

As for raking collections, this movie is doing well in the US as well as UK, Germany and I am sure in Pakistan too, where SRK continues to reign as the most beloved Bollywood hero.
http://www.111breakingnews.com/33863-bollywood%e2%80%99s-my-name-is-khan-sets-uk-bo-record/
http://www.straight.com/article-289984/vancouver/my-name-khans-box-office-success-defies-controversy
http://www.german-info.com/press_shownews.php?pos=Berlin_International_Film_Festival_2010&pid=2236

Even the Amnesty International has it’s say..
http://blog.amnestyusa.org/waronterror/my-name-is-khan/
“Given the recent history of Shiv Sena, one can only assume that this movie has been targeted because the lead actor, Shah Rukh Khan is Muslim and he is portraying a Muslim who has suffered discrimination.

@ Charakan, You've pretty much summarized the ...

2010-02-17T08:58:05.701Z
@ Charakan, You've pretty much summarized the entire tale so far. Fair play to SRK for exhibiting the guts to stand up to SS hooligans, and it MUST go to his credit. Had he surrendered meekly as his co-workers then India wouldn't have seen such an uprising and SS would've lost the lesson.

@ HK, May be you could blame it upon our social frame-of-mind not to unite for common national causes. But sometimes the reason may not be as important as the result, see what a filmstar managed to do. Shiv Sena and MNS were continuously threatening the integrity of Mumbai and our nation by persistent deeds of sectarianism over the years. They attacked heavy-weights like the Bacchans, Sachin, Ambani abd nobody raised an eyebrow. Lets face it, SRK is in no way as great as them three but he did manage to create a huge public opinion and activism against the Sena, and this is the one GREAT thing that has come out of it.

Its #win! end result: India won against Sena, thanks to SRK. But he may still end up on the losing side. MNIK would've opened in a far better way had not this controversy happened. The film is slated to lose between 3-5 crores in the opening week just in Mumbai because of the restricted release. I think doctor Charakan has pretty well capsuled the story. :)

thanks for your inputs anyway Asha :)

@ Liju Philip, roflmao...the chaddi gang! lol! How befitting... But yes, people do take it on their hands when the law remains handcuffed. Can't blame them for the acts against Chaddi-boss or Rathore, but we don't want to see such things on a consistent basis, do we? Afterall we cannot officially yearn for the brand 'banana republic' ;)

@ Nona, Muthalik can await more of such acts of protests if he continues with this anti-social works.

and my issue is why the country will not unite for...

2010-02-17T08:23:13.047Z
and my issue is why the country will not unite for other causes.. why does it take a movie or SRK to make us aware of our democratic rights?

Why were'nt the Senas taken to task by our police force earlier for many such violations. Why should I feel proud now?

nd if I have taken offence against SRK's statement in support of the Pak players, does it make me a Muslim "virodhi" or a Saffron sympathiser?

nd now that we have suddenly discovered the strength of democracy and in media like our channels, Facebook, Twitter, blogs can we ban outfits like the Senas, the Indian Mujahideen, SIMI etc.

Beautiful post. agree with every word. SRK has no...

2010-02-17T02:27:22.033Z
Beautiful post. agree with every word.

SRK has not just united india- he has given a chance for the man in the street to flex his muscles and say to internal terror merchants that enough is enough. that's the only thing that can cut these cantakerous leadres blown up beyond their worth in their place.

incidentally, i've never been a SRK fan but the newspapers here giive rave reviews about the movie and his performance.

Good post. There is a big campaign going on the Ne...

2010-02-16T19:27:41.307Z
Good post. There is a big campaign going on the Net [initiated probably by S.S sympathisers] saying SRK said the pro-Pak statement deliberately to get publicity. They are saying SRK is more at fault than SS.
That is a malicious propaganda to save the face of SS. Let us look at the facts.

SRK being a typical film personality who wants to please everybody said good things about Pak players and Pakistan in an interview to a Pak Daily. Did he realise then that this will ignite big protest? Highly unlikely because then he would never have taken that risk. May be he thought the Dawn newspaper interview will never be seen in India. His film MNIK was to be launched with the biggest advt budget ever for a Hindi film.All corporates are on board and he never had a reason to get addl publicity taking a huge risk.

SS smarting under lose of support to MNS wanted an issue to ignite passion and decided to attack the Muslim super star of India,SRK. At that point most of the ppl thought SRK will contact SS directly and apologise and say it was all a mis understanding. All film ppl used to do that. The change from the usual script was here when SRK took the risk to stand firm.Many of the Corporates who had financial interest in the film must have tried their best to make SRK apologise. The veiled indirect twitter apology might have come due to this. But by then the mood of the ppl was very much against SS. Rahul's visit gave confidence to the local Congress leaders to use security forces liberaly against SS. The civil society of Mumbai including Bollywood stars were brave enough to defy SS. Thus SS lost while secular civil society won.

Happy Kitten, Actually the issue was not the movi...

2010-02-16T19:08:38.457Z
Happy Kitten, Actually the issue was not the movie MNIK. Issue was whether SS has the right to decide which movies Maharashtrians should see. It was about freedom of expression,freedom to dissent etc etc.It is a life and death issue for Indian democracy. Will India go the way of Saudi Arabia or Iran or Pakistan? That was the question.
Yes S.S has done it several times. Atleast now it could not do that. So it was a victory for secular civil society.
SRK's risk paid off but only partially. From now onwards SRK will be in the 'threat' list of saffron parties and their sympathisers. Saffron sympathisers have already openly declared their intent to boycott MNIK through blogs and twitter. More and more campaign against him as an 'anti national' Muslim Super Star will be seen in future.

Isnt it sad that the Indians (the media, those in ...

2010-02-16T11:50:56.029Z
Isnt it sad that the Indians (the media, those in business, the govt machinery, the common man) can be made to unite for the sake of a movie?

The SS’s have been around even before this movie and doing the same old stunts, yet no one bothered to put them in place.. neither the government nor the people who voted the govt. to power.

I don’t mind SRK taking credit for uniting the country for the sake of a movie.. for making the govt. deploy guns and guards to theatres, even when I hate to see him act. But isn't if sad that we cannot be united for greater causes?

I shall remain sad for the fact that we shall unite only when we are directed by certain vested interests…

Nd I still feel that SRK should have promoted his movie in another manner and not by dragging the Pak player issue…

Liju philip, I agree with you.my request to you is...

2010-02-16T03:21:13.744Z
Liju philip,
I agree with you.my request to you is to pl go through the events in the order as they happened,starting from the issue taxi licences.
Once politics takes centre stage,logic is finished.
Also pl read the mtd day of the 15th
Thank you

Chowlaji, our democracy gives us the right to spea...

2010-02-16T02:29:01.118Z
Chowlaji, our democracy gives us the right to speak our mind. It doesnt give us the right to beat up someone who speaks his mind. SRK didnt incite violence. He just spoke his opinion and he has every right to do so under the laws of the country.

Sadly the only language that the chaddi gang and its members understand is goondaism. Its high time Scum Sena is banned from contesting elections for inciting violence.

FYI - Iam no fanboy of SRK too. I hate his movies and his acting.

The best gift i have ever got for V Day has been t...

2010-02-16T02:25:04.195Z
The best gift i have ever got for V Day has been to see Muthalik's face blackened. There was nothing more lol worthy than that. Though am not a great supporter of vigilantism or mobocracy, this was seen coming.

When the govt you elect to power hoping that they will protect you from scums like Muthalik, Thuggerays and the rest of the chaddi gang themselves are helpless spectators, it was just time that people took law into their hands. The other example being the knifing of the rapist IPS Rathore.

I still hope some sense is drilled into the brains of our rulers and they do their jobs properly and keep the Thuggerays where they deserve to be in.... behind bars.

The past two weeks have been eventful. Like you me...

2010-02-16T00:33:05.975Z
The past two weeks have been eventful. Like you mentioned, I really do not know the fate of the movie. But it served as an unifying factor.

As for a blackened face, I think it is justice delayed but appropriate. :)

@ Chowlaji, I'm also no fan of his but he has ...

2010-02-16T00:27:18.356Z
@ Chowlaji, I'm also no fan of his but he has defeated a sectarian outfit who has been holding Mumbai to ranson for long and that's what I appreciate here.

@ Mirage, yes! And I think there are more hard lessons on way for our Muthaliks and Thackerays :)

@ Mathew, exactly. Though SRK is no ' evil' in any sense, could be naive at times but not in any way harmful like Shivsena. :)

@ Ashwathy, Muthalik's Valentine Day show also turned out to be a no-no. This time he won't even get the pink chaddis...too bad!

You must consider all the facts.Where did the prob...

2010-02-15T11:54:29.694Z
You must consider all the facts.Where did the problem start?If SRK is so much in love with Pak players ,why did he not bid for one?Who stopped him?
I am no fan of his. I have seen only one of his movies,

Hello scorpio , Happy Valentine's Day t u.Its...

2010-02-14T21:29:38.098Z
Hello scorpio ,

Happy Valentine's Day t u.Its a day of celebration for lovers of any age & Pramod Muthalik is no one to stop it. Our democratic India has given us the right to do it,we are no slaves anymore & we will do it.

I received a beautiful treasurable gift from my valentine today :))

I think Pramod Muthalik & Manohar Joshi & etal should be whipped a 10,000 times for their hooliganism.

Hats off to the Maharashtra CM Mr.Ashok Shankarrao Chavan to show the courage to come to the cinemas & push the movement of the population into it.

At the end of the day,MNIK hit & SENA flop at the box office ....

mirage:))

Well written post..though personally i donot belie...

2010-02-14T20:07:31.106Z
Well written post..though personally i donot believe SRK is a saint...i think in this case it is a question of siding with lesser of the two evils...and for me what SS is propogating has wide ranging influence on the general harmony of our nation...which has to be condemned at al levels...its another story that SRK is raking in enough publicity out of it.......