Perhaps it’s something about 2012, perhaps the excessive humidity in Mumbai or even the stress of his eagerly anticipated release or - more improbably – perhaps he was still in character!
Whatever the reason, suave Agent Vinod star Saif Ali Khan has become the latest Bollywood leading light to fall foul of the ‘Petulent Star’ syndrome which afflicted the mighty Shah Rukh Khan earlier this year.
Mumbai Police have reportedly charged Saif for assaulting a businessman at a restaurant of the plush Taj Hotel on Tuesday night.
According to witnesses quoted by the Press Trust of India, Khan was out dining with actress girlfriend Kareena Kapoor and several friends when Iqbal Sharma – who had been sitting at the next table – requested the actor and his companions to tone down the noise level.
The affronted actor – the son of cricket legend ‘Tiger’ Pataudi and actress Sharmila Tagore – is then reported to have proceeded to recalibrate Mr Sharma’s nose.
This is the second case of assault against the actor; in 2008 he was accused of a similar recalibration of a journalists’ nose.
In his latest film ‘Agent Vinod’, Saif plays a hard drinking and preternaturally tough government agent investigating the murder of a fellow spy.
The film is released 23rd February 2012.
- Vijitha Alles
The Bollywood badshah finally graced the city of Berlin with his royal presence to the extreme satisfaction of his fans. It happens at times. You acquire a glow after having braved a serious bout of cold and Flu. King Khan looked smart and cheerful while he walked the red carpet at Friedrichstadt-Palast, the venue of the DON 2 Berlinale premiere, in Berlin. He wore a formal Tuxedo, and looked healthier and heartier than ever before. Was it the effect of his autograph seeking fans who turned up in good numbers to cheer for him and to attend the film's screening at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival?
The King arrived in Berlin in style by a chartered flight following his advance guard Farhan Akhtar, Ritesh Sidhwani, and Priyanka Chopra. He was not alone. Gauri Khan was with him as well at the Red Carpet in her smart red dress, looking ever youthful and 'fighting' fit. She could not have allowed her recuperating darling of a husband and doting father of her children to be all by himself in an extraordinarily cold Berlin weather. And what can be warmer than a caring, admiring, and beautiful wife next to you in these conditions to provide you the mandatory medicinal doses and to ensure that you have the muffler tightly tied around your neck.
Surprisingly, King Khan did not join the rest of the DON 2 team on the Red Carpet at the Berlinale Special gala event at the Friedrichstadt-Palast and reached the venue much after the screening had begun with his wife Gauri and Reliance head honcho Amit Khanna. The reason given was that the chartered plane of the King took its own time to land at Berlin airport.
He appeared on the stage after the screening with Berlinale director Dieter Kosslick. He performed his regulation DON 2 act, inviting others to repeat his moves. Everyone did it but for the film's lead actress Priyanka Chopra, who acted coy, and refused to dance to SRK's tune.
Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan is recovering from successful abdominal surgery over the weekend, doctors say.
