1. Aryan Khan: The Tight Slap to Trolls
Aryan Khan has suddenly become Bollywood’s hottest property. Once an introvert who preferred not to bask in his famous father’s limelight, he delivered a fitting reply—a tight slap—to the trollers and hate-mongers with his series, ‘Bads of Bollywood’.
Following the unprecedented success of the seven-part series, the distributor, Netflix, is desperate to sign him up again. Everyone in Bollywood, from spot boys to the biggest bigwigs, has lauded and blessed him after the thunderous success of the OTT series.
At a recent party thrown to celebrate the success, Aryan Khan made a stunning announcement: he would donate his entire earnings from the series to the flood victims of Punjab.
A proud father, Shah Rukh Khan, couldn’t hold back his tears. After composing himself, he thanked everyone associated with the project. A Mumbai scribe gave me a breaking news tip: Superstar Rajinikanth has reportedly warned his South Indian counterparts to “watch out for this boy, he would break many records.”
Shah Rukh has long had no true rivals in Bollywood or regional cinema. Now, his own son is throwing down a challenge. Aryan is currently preparing for a commercial potboiler, while Shah Rukh is busy with King. Let us wait and watch the silent duel between father and son.
2. A Smart Choice: Learning from Stumbled Careers
Kumar Gaurav was launched by his father, the ‘Jubilee Kumar,’ Rajendra Kumar, in the film Love Story. It wasn’t the expected blockbuster but was a hit nonetheless. When he acted in the film Star, it was supposed to be his showcase, but Pakistani siblings Nazia and Zoheb Hassan stole all the credit for the film’s success. Rightly so, as the songs were chartbusters thanks to their music.
Miffed by this, Kumar Gaurav famously let slip the comment that he wasn’t a star, but the ‘sun of the industry.’ What happened next is history: his films started flopping, and he faded into oblivion. His father tried to salvage his career by producing Naam, but it was his brother-in-law, Sanjay Dutt, along with director Mahesh Bhatt, who were catapulted to success, not him. Another rescue attempt, Phool, starring Madhuri Dixit, also flopped.
Let’s look at another case: Big B’s son, Abhishek Bachchan. He debuted with Refugee alongside Kareena Kapoor. Kareena became an A-list star, but Abhishek couldn’t quite make it. He can act, but being the son of the icon Amitabh Bachchan became a stumbling block for his career. He married Aishwarya Rai, a lady who successfully balances her family and career. Now, Abhishek has seemingly become her unofficial secretary.
Seeing their plight, Aryan Khan made a smart choice by pursuing direction and writing. He completed his scriptwriting and direction courses in the USA. He is well aware that he might not be able to match his illustrious father’s acting prowess, so he chose a different path—and that has made all the difference.
3. The World’s Wealthiest Star
Recently, news started circulating that our very own Shah Rukh Khan has become the wealthiest star in the world. A company named Hurun published the news based on their survey.
Hurun is an Indian company, and frankly, we haven’t heard of them before in the same vein as credible sources like Forbes or Fortune. I’m not questioning their analysis, and I certainly hope it’s not just media hype, because I’m a Shah Rukh Khan fan too. I’ve had the opportunity to interview him three times and have seen his incredible rise to success.
Nevertheless, we should rejoice in his success. He has made us proud by reportedly beating international stars like Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise. Shah Rukh is in a different league altogether.
He smartly invested his money in his production house, Red Chillies Entertainment, and the successful IPL team, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). His relationship with the Dubai royalty catapulted him into a global icon. His film premieres at the Burj Khalifa and his complimentary villa in Al Jumeirah are essentially gifts in exchange for being Dubai’s brand ambassador. Whatever the details, we are happy about his success.
