CELEBS FACTORY

Shah Rukh Khan’s over-ambitious superhero project RA.One received quite a few negative reviews in India. Talking from Los Angeles, where the actor was on tour with his film team until Saturday, he says, seeming rather upset, “I was reading some reviews and they were silly. They are looking into some other aspect of filmmaking.”

Internationally, he claims that the Anubhav Sinha directorial got a great response. “LA Times has carried a fantastic movie review,” he insists, before adding, “We presented the film to a lot of people from Fox (Fox Studios, US) and we spoke to the foreign press on the technical aspect of RA.One. It’s important that we promote this ideology and explain to the world that we can do it.”

Within this week, the actor has travelled to Dubai, London and Toronto, before arriving in the US. His promotional rampage in India too made headlines. But the real challenge he claims to face is “showing the world that India too can make high-tech films.”

And to facilitate the same, he has set up a technically advanced studio in the city, which he used for the postproduction of RA.One. “The good news is that the studio is two or three years ahead of any other. This is the first step in that direction,” says the actor-producer, adding, “This is the time to bring this genre to India. And I have started it. Instead of cribbing, if you want to modernise and make different movies, you have to use this technology.”

Till Friday, RA.One had collected over Rs 60 cr at the box office in India, the film’s spokesperson claims. “I feel relieved to see it open well. I’ve been travelling, so I wasn’t able to follow the figures much. All my partners now feel that they’ll be able to recover their money.”

The film, which also stars Arjun Rampal and Kareena Kapoor, released on Diwali, October 26 and was made for a reported budget of Rs 150 crore. Ask him about the sequel, and he says he’s leaving it all to time: “Let’s see how it fares. It’s lot of hard work. I’m happy how people have responded, despite mixed reports. Once it has come to the fore, I’ll give it a thought.”

Khan will be seen in Farhan Akhtar’s next directorial Don 2 in December, and will start shooting for Yash Chopra’s film in January 2012.