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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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Sania Mirza performs Umrah, shares photos on Instagram

Sania Mirza performs Umrah, shares photos on Instagram

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Sania Mirza performs Umrah, shares photos on Instagram

Former India tennis player Sania Mirza, the wife of Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik, has performed Umrah along with his son.

Ms. Mirza took to Instagram where she shared a slew of photos captured in Makkah and Madina, the holiest places for Muslims in the world.

“Allhamdulillah May Allah accept our prayers,” she captioned the photos as she can we seen wearing black “Abaya” while posing for the clicks.

Last month, Sania Mirza retired from the game after suffering a shock defeat in final game of the career.
She played along with Madison Keys of the US when the pair was defeated by Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova and Liudmila Samsonova in the women’s doubles match at the Dubai Open. The 36-year-old was playing the last tournament of her glorious career after announcing her retirement plans.

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The former women’s doubles world number one was ranked at 28 in the latest Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) rankings. She had won six Grand Slam titles and 43 major titles in the celebrated career spanning over wo decades.

She is the only Indian woman to top doubles rankings, and achieve a career-high singles ranking of 27.

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Food poisoning lands Alizeh Shah in hospital

Food poisoning lands Alizeh Shah in hospital

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Food poisoning lands Alizeh Shah in hospital

Lollywood diva Alizeh Shah has proved her mettle in the showbiz industry with her exceptional acting skills and reached the heights of stardom

She used to treat the fans with her beautiful clicks and videos on Instagram. This time around, the Ehd-e-Wafa famed star has fallen ill as she posted her photo from the hospital bed.

She can be seen lying on a hospital bid where she is receiving IV treatment. Taking to Instagram stories, she wrote: “Pls pray for me. I got food poisoned”.

Alizeh Shah debuted her acting career in 2016, with a supporting role Alina in Choti Si Zindagi. Later, she performed roles in Ishq Tamasha, Ehd-e-Wafa, Hoor Pari, Jo Tu Chahey, Mera Dil Mera Dushman, Bebessi and Taqdeer.

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Taylor Swift kicks off US Eras Tour at Super Bowl stadium

Taylor Swift kicks off US Eras Tour at Super Bowl stadium

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Taylor Swift kicks off US Eras Tour at Super Bowl stadium

Taylor Swift opened her U.S. concert series with a three-hour tour of her career.

Swift kicked off the first concert of the 52-date Eras Tour with a six-song set from her album “Lover” on Friday night at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, where the Super Bowl was played a month ago.

“I don’t know how to address the way this is making me feel right now,” Swift, who hasn’t toured since 2018, said early in the show.

She ended the concert with a seven-song set from her latest album “Midnights,” closing with the song “Karma.”

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In between she played clusters of songs from most of her albums — and just one, “Tim McGraw,” from her 2006 self-titled debut. In the end it took 44 songs and just over three hours for her to span her 17-year career.

Having not toured for her previous three albums, this concert series is intended to play catchup by providing the live debut of many of those songs. When Swift announced the tour in November she called it “a journey through the musical eras of my career (past and present!).”

Swift seemed to acknowledge the Ticketmaster furor that sullied the run-up to the tour when she told the crowd of more than 70,000 that she understands it took “considerable effort” for them to be there.

After another show at the same venue Saturday night, the tour moves on to Allegiant Stadium outside Las Vegas and then AT&T Stadium near Dallas.

It concludes with two Los Angeles-area shows in August.

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