Mumbai, March 26: Shah Rukh Khan has rarely, if ever, been at a loss of words. His wit has never failed him either, definitely not on a public platform but just this once, either King Khan decided to take a backseat and be a perfect host to guest of honour Hugh Jackman, or the over six-foot 43-year-old Australian actor, twice voted the sexists man alive, just clean bowled him.
“I have been told that there is going to be a sequel to My Name Is Khan and I am going to star in it. It’s going to be called, My Name is Jackman, And I Am Not a Tourist,” said the man whose ready wit and sense of humour had the packed crowds at the Ficci Frames 2011 closing ceremony in Mumbai, in splits from the word go.
Whether it was Australia’s quarter final loss to India in the World Cup or his quip about how he was going to be playing for SRK’s IPL team KKR, or how he wished he could do a Bollywood film, adding that it was a hint to Karan Johar or how the “Bollywood style” audio visual showing him gyrating to “I am a Disco Dancer…” was going to “destroy his career”, Hugh Jackman hit only sixers.
On his first visit to India, the actor acknowledged the growing popularity of Hollywood films internationally, citing the example of how his film Australia had grossed only $50 million in the US while worldwide collections totalled $200. Figures, that the actor emphasised would have been unheard of a decade ago. This, of course, was a polite retort to SRK’s comment that the Hollywood viewership is not as great in India when compared to other cities across the world.
But SRK did also play the perfect host-he emphasised not only to the audience but also to Jackman that not only was his son Aryan, but also daughter Suhana, wife Gauri and he himself “huge fans of Jackman, specially X-Men and Wolverine”. In a quip to Jackman’s MNIK sequel, SRK said Jackman had promised him a role in the next X-Men.
Apart from the X-Men series , Jackman is known for essaying the lead roles in Kate & Leopold , Van Helsing , The Prestige and Australia. In fact, Jackman, who started his career with stage musicals, is a singer and dancer. Being a superhero is not easy. In fact, it’s very hard work as both superstars discussed.
“How difficult is it to perform when you wear a superhero suit in X-Men? In fact, how did you manage to go to the loo?” SRK asked Jackman. Getting off the stage, wriggling around, the six-footer acted out exactly how difficult it was!! Expectedly Jackman asked SRK how he managed the same in RA One? Getting up, SRK said, “I just stand up and shake my leg!”
–Agencies