It’s official. The much talked about Shankar directing Shah Rukh Khan in Robot produced by the actors Red Chillies productions has turned out to be a non-starter.

The bone of contention is the script of the film. Shankar had given only a one-line script of the film, and SRK found too many loopholes in it and is said to have remarked that it is “half baked”. Shankar is said to have remarked- “a star of Rajnikanth’s stature, had worked with me without interfering in the script!”

Suddenly, both realized that their working style do not match, and has agreed to shake hands, and call of the project. The basic problem with SRK and Shankar was that they are as different as chalk and cheese.

The SRK kind of Hindi commercial cinema, is script driven and there is always something new in it (Chak De), for the multiplex and overseas audiences who form the bulk of the viewers. The Shankar kind of commercial entertainment has its roots in the 70 & 80’s crass fantasy pills of an ordinary good guy turning into a vigilante and fighting the system and the hero’s larger-than-life image is used to make the film work.

The current crop of Bollywood heroes in private make fun of southern heroes and their outlandish dressing and wigs. Ask Anil Kapoor, who will regale you with many Shankar jokes, during the making of Nayak (Mudhalvan, Hindi version), which he says was a frame to frame remake of the original, and it bombed big time!

In hindsight SRK, backed out and plumped for good friend Karan Johar and his new film My name is Khan, a film on how westerners view with suspicion anybody with a Muslim surname, after the 9/11 attacks in US. In a television interview, Shah Rukh said, he is “kicked about Karan’s film, especially after my personal experiences as a Muslim traveler abroad”. In private SRK is said to have said that Robot is nothing but a futuristic vigilante tale!

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