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Shah Rukh Khan: Indian heartthrob and King of Bollywood

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Shah Rukh Khan: Indian heartthrob and King of Bollywood

Shah Rukh Khan is Bollywood’s most popular star and at 57 still its biggest sex symbol, whose silver-screen repertoire of dance, romance and shoot-em-up heroics made him the cinematic avatar of a changing India.

“King Khan” — whose moniker reflects decades of box office dominance — is a rare unifying figure across India’s multiple geographic, linguistic and religious faultlines.

His latest film “Pathaan” was an event akin to a national celebration, shrugging off boycott calls by Hindu hardliners and packing out theatres with boisterous crowds.

Fans regularly make the pilgrimage to the gates of his Mumbai mansion and wait through the day to catch a brief glimpse of a man who basks in his status as a public icon.

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“I am very happy being a star. I can never be tired of it,” Khan said in a 2013 interview.

“I love the amount of people that love me, the crowds that collect, the controversies, the responsibilities I have, the success and even the failure. It’s an exciting life.”

Khan was born to a Muslim family in New Delhi and did not hail from an established acting dynasty.

His early 1980s TV roles showcased his natural charisma but it took him several years to break onto the big screen, and he risked being typecast as a villain after his riveting performance as an obsessed stalker in “Darr” (Fear).

But the biggest Indian blockbuster of 1995 catapulted him to international stardom and resonated with the profound social changes underway in his country.

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“Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge” (The Big-Hearted will Take the Bride) saw Khan play a Londoner who falls in love with another diaspora Indian while sightseeing in Europe.

They decide to wed — against the wishes of her father, who has promised her in marriage to another man back in India.

It was released in a decade when the country’s economy and its urban middle class were liberalising, with young men and women enjoying a lifestyle more affluent than their parents while chafing against their rules.

The film remains one of the most popular in the Bollywood canon, and it has screened at one Mumbai cinema every day — except for a Covid interruption — for the 27 years since its release.

‘Feelgood India’

Film critic Namrata Joshi wrote that Khan spearheaded a new kind of “romantic family hero” in Indian cinema, displacing the angry young man archetypes that matched the angst-ridden national mood of earlier decades.

“Many see SRK embodying… the spirit of post-liberalisation, feelgood, ambitious, assertive India,” she said.

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Along the way, Khan’s self-deprecating humour and striking good looks cemented his place as India’s chief heartthrob.

The book “Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh”, published in 2021, discusses the intimate desires of modern Indian women through their shared fandom for Khan and the sensitive masculinity he represented.

No film in his extensive repertoire has done more to burnish this persona than 1998’s “Dil Se..” (From the Heart), in which Khan pursues a mysterious woman across India’s most spectacular natural landscapes.

Today it is fondly remembered for its dazzling choreography — elaborate even by Bollywood standards — including Khan’s serenade to dozens of dancers atop a moving steam train.

‘So much love’

Khan’s visage on movie posters became a virtual licence to print money and a string of hits over the next two decades made him fabulously wealthy.

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His assets include the Kolkata Knight Riders cricket team in the Indian Premier League, and a film production company.

Recent years have seen a string of personal and professional setbacks, including the 2021 arrest of his son in a drug related case that was later dropped.

Khan, like other acting stars from India’s Muslim minority, has also increasingly been targeted for criticism by Hindu nationalists.

“Pathaan”, Khan’s secret agent action thriller comeback after a five-year absence from the silver screen, was the latest of several highly anticipated Bollywood films subject to a boycott campaign.

Ultimately Khan’s star power triumphed over his critics, and ticket sales for “Pathaan” smashed India’s opening day box office record.

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Khan afterwards was lavish in his praise for fans who made the film a success.

“There is so much love from all sides,” he said, “and we can never show enough gratefulness”.

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Entertainment

Roger Whittaker: Durham Town folk singer dies at 87

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Roger Whittaker: Durham Town folk singer dies at 87

Folk singer Roger Whittaker, famous for his 1969 hit song Durham Town and expert whistling, has died at the age of 87.

His other hits included The Last Farewell and New World in the Morning, and he sold nearly 50 million records around the world, his website said.

After starting in folk clubs, he went on to success with the Skye Boat Song, a duet with Des O’Connor in 1986.

He was also able to sing in several languages.

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They included German and French, allowing him to appeal to a wide audience, especially in Germany, where he was particularly popular.

Born in Nairobi, Kenya, in 1936, his parents were from Staffordshire, England.

Whittaker studied medicine after doing national service in Kenya.

While studying for his degree, he sang in local clubs and wrote his own songs.

But he left his medical course after 18 months and went in to teaching, moving to the University of Bangor in Wales in 1959 to get a teaching qualification.

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While there, he composed some songs to sing during university Rag Week, and sent a demo track to a music publisher.

“Before he knew it, Roger was back in the studio recording his first single, The Charge of the Light Brigade,” his biography said.

His next release, Steel Men, picked up airplay while he was still a student, and his career began to progress, with TV work following.

He retired with his wife Natalie in France in 2012.

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Katy Perry sells rights to five albums including ‘Teenage Dream’ to Litmus Music

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Katy Perry sells rights to five albums including 'Teenage Dream' to Litmus Music

 Singer Katy Perry has signed a deal to sell rights to five of her studio albums released between 2008 and 2020 including “Teenage Dream” to Carlyle-backed Litmus Music, the music rights company said on Monday.

“One of the Boys,” “PRISM,” “Witness” and “Smile” are the other four studio albums that are part of the deal.

Billboard reported the deal was valued at $225 million, citing sources. Private equity firm Carlyle declined to comment on the deal value.
The five studio albums were released under Perry’s contract with Capitol Records, whose former president Dan McCarroll is the co-founder of Litmus Music.

Blackstone-backed Hipgnosis Songs and other investment firms have in recent years scooped up music catalogs of artists including Justin Bieber and Bob Dylan as the rise of streaming turns their songs into a reliable source of revenue.

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With Perry, Litmus Music gets access to an artist who shot to fame in July 2008 with the track “I Kissed A Girl” and has earned 13 Grammy nominations and five MTV Video Music Awards.

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YouTube cuts off Russell Brand’s ad revenues: Sky News

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YouTube cuts off Russell Brand's ad revenues: Sky News

 YouTube has suspended adverts on Russell Brand’s online videos, Sky News said on Tuesday, after accusations of sexual assaults involving the British actor and comedian.

Brand, once one of the country’s most high-profile comedians and broadcasters, has over 6 million subscribers to his YouTube channel.

London police said on Monday they had received an allegation of a sexual assault dating back 20 years following media reports about comedian and actor Russell Brand.

Brand, 48, said on Saturday he had never had non-consensual sex when the Sunday Times newspaper and Channel 4 TV’s documentary show “Dispatches” reported that four women had accused him of sexual assaults, including a rape, between 2006 and 2013.

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Police said since those allegations were published and broadcast they had received a report of an assault alleged to have taken place in Soho, central London, in 2003.

“Officers are in contact with the woman and will be providing her with support,” the Metropolitan Police statement said.

“We first spoke with The Sunday Times on Saturday, 16 September and have since made further approaches to The Sunday Times and Channel 4 to ensure that anyone who believes they have been the victim of a sexual offence is aware of how to report this to the police.”

There was no immediate comment from Brand’s representatives following the police statement.

Brand, the former husband of US singer Katy Perry, issued a video message on social media to deny the “very serious criminal allegations” hours before they published on Saturday.

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“These allegations pertain to the time when I was working in the mainstream, when I was in the newspapers all the time, when I was in the movies. And as I’ve written about extensively in my books, I was very, very promiscuous,” Brand said.

“Now, during that time of promiscuity, the relationships I had were absolutely always consensual,” added the comedian, known for his flamboyant style and appearance who has starred in a number of films such as “Get Him to the Greek”.

The Times and Dispatches said one woman had made an allegation of rape, while another said Brand assaulted her when she was 16 and still at school. Two of the accusers had reported the incidents occurred in Los Angeles.

The reports of the allegations about Brand, once one of the country’s most high-profile comedians and broadcasters, has dominated British media since they appeared.

He was in the middle of a stand-up tour and was due to perform at the Theatre Royal Windsor on Tuesday, but this has now been cancelled.

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“We are postponing these few remaining addiction charity fundraiser shows, we don’t like doing it – but we know you’ll understand,” said a statement from his tour promoters, shared by the theatre.

The BBC, on whose radio programmes he worked between 2006 and 2008, said it was urgently looking into issues raised by the allegations and Banijay UK, the production company behind a television show once hosted by Brand, said it had too launched an urgent internal investigation.

“These are very serious and concerning allegations, and you will know the Met Police has asked anyone who believes they have been victim of a sexual assault to come forward and speak to officers,” a spokesperson for British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told reporters.
 

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