No room for SRK in Dhoom 3

The grapevine has been abuzz with news that Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan will play the villain in Yash Raj Films’ (YRF) action-adventure series “Dhoom 3″ but a source from the production company has denied any such development.

“This story is completely untrue and baseless. We have no idea where this rubbish originated but like all wildfires has spread rapidly, ” Rafiq Gangjee, vice president (marketing and communications) of YRF, told over e-mail from Mumbai.

The rumours that Shah Rukh would soon follow in the footsteps of Hrithik Roshan by playing a villain opposite actor Abhishek Bachchan in the “Dhoom” series began when British news website first reported it.

According to the article which was published May 26, a source was quoted as saying: “Shah Rukh had been approached by the banner to play the main villain in the most successful franchise of Bollywood – the ‘Dhoom’ series – and he has immediately given the nod.

Last few days there has been a lot of buzz that Saif Ali Khan has signed the dotted line for the same role but it seems they were just plain rumours. ”

However, as per Gangjee, there is no truth in any part of the report.

Shah Rukh’s next is a super-hero film

The excruciating pain on his shoulder notwithstanding, Shah Rukh Khan is going all out to promote his new film BILLU (the word ‘Barber’ has been removed from all posters/billboards).

Tell him that he’s the best marketing brain in the industry thanks to the kind of promotion he did for OM SHANTI OM, he just smiles, “Not OM SHANTI OM, but YES BOSS was the film that started it all,” he recalls.

Although BILLU is an SRK production, with Irrfan Khan enacting the title role, SRK hasn’t forced himself in the story. On the contrary, he has removed two of his scenes from the film.

Not many are aware that Priyadarshan had offered SRK two choices – a film on heist and the other, a story on friends. “I chose the second,” SRK tells me. And the actor is extremely happy with the way BILLU has shaped up.

“We had a screening recently for family and friends. I wasn’t expecting people to get emotional, but a lot of people did. The last 20 minutes did make me moist-eyed as well. I think the film will connect with the audiences,” the Numero Uno star states.

Financially too, SRK will make a neat profit on the film. Reportedly, he has sold the film for a fantastic price (Rs. 50 cr.) to Eros. “The rumours just don’t stop. Sometime back I was told I was charging Rs. 100 crores for a film.

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