In a hat-trick of sorts, Shah Rukh Khan gets the cream of Bollywood to make another special appearance in a film with him, thereby providing the audience with a starry bonus yet again. The Bollywood Badshah did it first with Om Shanti Om last year in which he had the entire film industry - well almost, singing and dancing with him in one spectacular song. Then, earlier this month in Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, the superstar had another song in which his lovely ladies from earlier films - Bipasha Basu, Preity Zinta, Kajol and Lara Dutta - were proud to feature as his dancing partners.
Now, in his next release Billoo Barber - SRK’s home production directed by Priyadarshan, the lucky actor has Kareena Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone making special appearances. Strangely, Shah Rukh himself makes only a special appearance in Billoo Barber. The hero, or the actor with the title role, is the avante garde Irrfan Khan.
SRK, who plays a superstar in the film, laughed, “It’s a special appearance, but a substantial role.” No, he’s not playing himself. He’s playing a superstar called Sahir Khan who visits a small village to shoot a film where a struggling barber named Billoo happens to be his old school friend.
The barber and his wife (Lara Dutta) become the butt of village jokes when the rumour spreads that he knows the superstar. “I’m not playing myself yet, that I’m keeping for my old age - when I make a biopic,” joked Shah Rukh. But, even in his substantial special appearance, he manages to squeeze in four songs and give the audience a film within a film, with the story going on location, behind the sets, peeping into green rooms, and catching all the live action, the sound and fury of a Bollywood unit at work. “It’s a space age film in a village,” explained SRK. “And, Inshallah, ready for release on February 13, 2009. Gosh, that’s a Friday the 13th! In this business, all release Fridays seem like Friday the 13th!”
