08092023-LSTC-01.qxd 9/7/2023 10:17 PM Page 1 c m y b THE BIKERIDERS ON ITS WAY The trailer and poster of upcoming film The Bikeriders has been released. Written and directed by Jeff Nichols, it was screened last week at the Telluride Film Festival. This 20th Century Studios’ production will be released in India on December 1. E TRIBUNE In a cameo Life Punjabi star Gippy Grewal, who has doled out countless chartbusters and blockbuster films, will soon appear in a cameo in streaming series Chamak. The fictional show is based on the Punjabi music industry. CHANDIGARH | FRIDAY | 8 SEPTEMBER 2023 Star and the star-struck ARLY morning shows, crackers and confetti, dancing on drumbeats, offering garlands and milk to King Khan’s huge posters, Jawan got off to an exuberant start on Thursday morning. The Shah Rukh Khan-starrer saw audiences streaming into theatres across the country — all the way from Srinagar to Chennai! The pan-India thriller in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu is directed by South Indian filmmaker Atlee, and if scenes inside and outside theatres in cities such as Jaipur, Jammu, Mumbai and Kolkata are any indication, this one is bound to create a buzz louder that his last film Pathaan. King Khan has something about him that is ever-so-enchanting. While his last film Pathaan’s box-office collections had hit the roof, the opening day frenzy for Jawanis sure promising much more BYE BOYCOTT Ahead of the film’s release, #BoycottJawan trended on social media for a while with some users calling for the film’s boycott because it is distributed by Red Giant Movies in Tamil Nadu. The company is owned by Tamil Nadu minister Udhayanidhi Stalin, who has courted massive controversy for his comments against Sanatan Dharma. SRK’s fans on X hit out at the actor’s detractors, saying the film will beat their negative Fans of Shah Rukh Khan were in frenzy right from the early hours of Thursday as his film Jawan was released in theatres. gathered at the Devi Theatre, placed large cut-outs of the superstar, threw confetti and danced their hearts out before the first show early on Thursday. Many donned SRK’s looks from the movie. At Liberty cinema in Delhi’s Karol Bagh, some fans clicked selfies with the film’s poster. As for Chandigarh, Raj Juneja, distributer in tricity, informs, “Chandigarh has seen unprecedented footfall for Jawan even for early morning shows. At Elante Mall, quite a number of people showed up for the first-dayfirst-show at 6:15 am, which is the earliest show for any film ever in recent times. Jawan has got plenty of shows and most of them are going houseful.” SRK KEPT AWAKE campaign to become a blockbuster. The controversy, however, didn’t appear to gather much momentum. EARLY START Theatres in several cities went ahead with their plans for early morning shows to maximise on the excitement and Janmashtami, a holiday in many parts of the country. In Kolkata, for instance, the first show was at 5 am and in Jaipur at 6 am. Outside south Kolkata’s Asoka theatre, fans raised slogans in support of Shah Rukh and decorated the film’s giant poster with garlands. They also struck SRK’s famous open arm pose for the cameras. Some fans even brought posters of the actor and arranged marigold petals to form their message, “Love SRK.” One fan performed a puja at the theatre, putting a tilak on the star’s face on the poster. “This movie will perform even better than Pathaan,” said one fan. “I didn’t sleep last night,” added another. In Jaipur, some eager viewers turned up at a theatre in white t-shirts with the poster of Jawan printed on them. They played the song Zinda Banda and danced to their hearts content. In Srinagar, some eager morning viewers, dressed in Jawan t-shirt hit the theatres in all excitement. In Noida’s Waves theatre, the audience erupted in whistles and cheers every time Shah Rukh made an appearance. In Mumbai, fans queued up in large numbers at the Gaiety Galaxy in Bandra and were seen frantically dancing to drum beats inside a theatre. Fans were also seen forming a human pyramid outside a theatre at a 6 am show. There were similar scenes inside a cinema hall in Chennai where fans broke into whistles. At Bengaluru’s Urvashi Cinema, a huge gathering was seen for the first show of the film. And in Hyderabad, hundreds of SRK fans Taking to Twitter, SRK, on Thursday morning, dropped a sweet message for fans, assuring them that the film is packed with loads of entertainment. “Beqaraar ho gaye ab toh aa hi jaiye….ghar waalon ko bhi saath laiye. Aap ko humaari kasam….!!! Ready with our offering of love for all of you. Hope you all are entertained,” he wrote. Theatres have been jam-packed since morning. In fact, several of his fans flocked Mumbai’s iconic Gaiety Galaxy theatre at 6 am to watch the first-day-first-show. On a page dedicated to SRK, a video was shared where fans can be seen chanting ‘India ki shaan Shah Rukh Khan’ in unison. The caption on the post read, “Its 5:35 am and we have started the celebration for our historic 6 am show…mass hysteria…” SRK took notice of the tweet and replied, “Love you boys and girls, I hope you enjoy the entertainment. Kept awake to see you go to the theatre. Big love and thanks.” — Agencies He’s proud of his roots Big B is ‘scared’ of AI Amid the massive Gujarat, to the hot seat. usage of AI across the For the Rs 2,000 question, globe, megastar Chirag was asked: Which of Amitabh Bachchan these terms is also commonly said he is scared to get used for writing a computer replaced in the future programme? The options givbecause of it, citing en were: Coding, Hiving, that it has already start- Streaming, and Clicking. The ed happencontestant gave the right ing in films. Artifianswer — coding. cial intelligence Big B later asked (AI) is the abilihim, “You must They might ty of have observed machines to that Al has replace me perform spread to the someday and I will be tasks that are jobless. Do save me if it world. Are you typically assolearning about happens in the future. ciated with Al in college?” We hardly find jobs human intelliThe contestant in my field. gence, such as replied: “Sir, a lot of learning and probour courses are related lem-solving. to Al. We even study AI.” In the 18th episode of the Chirag then went on to ask quiz-based reality show the thespian: “I’m sitting in Kaun Banega Crorepati Sea- front of you now, I consider son 15, host Amitabh myself very lucky. I am watchBachchan welcomed ing you live today in flesh and Chirag Agarwal, a sec- blood. But someday in the ond year B.Tech stu- future, you could get late for a dent from Ahmedabad, shoot, and they can send a vir- tual hologram of you and we can interact with it. I’d like your comment on it.” To this, Big B replied in a jokingly manner: “Let me tell you something, you’re talking to a hologram right now.” The 80-year-old actor further said: “I’m not so smart to comprehend all this. But yes, l’ve heard of many such examples. And it scares me. One day, they might replace me. It’s already happening in films. They make me sit in a room and there are 40-45 cameras taking shots at once. They ask me to turn around, clockwise and anti-clockwise.” “Later, I find out that using Al, they’ll put it anywhere. Even if I haven’t shot for it, it seems like I have. They might replace me someday and I will be jobless. Do save me if it happens in the future. We hardly find jobs in my field, and we are happy when we get something to do,” he added. — IANS c m y b Bollywood star Ayushmann Khurrana has said since he is a Punjabi, it matters to him a lot that the state of Punjab is proud of his body of work. Ayushmann said: “Being a Punjabi, I have AYUSHMANN KHURRANA always wanted to make Punjab proud of my work, and I’m indebted to the people of Punjab for the love that they have always showered on me.” The 38-year-old actor says he is proud to represent Punjabi culture through his movies and songs. Ayushmann said: “Whatever I’m today is because of their blessings.”— IANS