AAMIR KHAN THE PAINTER IN DHOBHIGHAT





After playing a 20-year-old student in '3 Idiots', Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan will be seen in the role of a painter in wife Kiran Rao's directorial debut 'Dhobighat'.

The film, which also stars Smita Patil's son Prateik Babbar, will be Aamir first project in 2010. The film will be released in the second half of this year. "Dhobighat's shooting is complete. Post-production is going on. We will release it in the last half of 2010," Aamir said. "There are four lead roles and I am one of them. I have enjoyed working with Kiran. She is a creative director and Kiran has got what she wanted," the actor told reporters here last night.

Aamir is playing a painter who lives and works in his tiny studio-apartment in a noisy and congested Mumbai neighbourhood. The megastar said that he would release three films as a producer this year. "Right now, I am going to take a two months off. After that, I will start reading scripts that appeals me as an actor or director. If I like something, I'll do that. But whether its acting or directing, I don't know," he said. Rejecting reports that his brand value has increased after the success of '3 Idiots', the actor said, "I don t hold myself as a brand. I am an artiste who works with stories".

Echoing the message of '3 Idiots', the superstar advocated reforms in the education sector. "Improvement is required in the present education system for children. The Union Human Resource Minister, Kapil Sibal has been doing a lot to that end. I would like to have more inclusiveness in education," he said. Advising students to follow their passion while choosing a career, Aamir said, "I would like to see children being taught not just to memorise things. They should work where their heart lies, where their passion blooms".

On his New Year resolution, he said he wanted to loose some weight as he had gulped a lot of sweet dishes during a two-week promotional tour for '3 Idiots'. "I ate a lot wherever I went. Especially at Dada's (Sourav Ganguly) house; they gave a lot of sweet dishes. So my New Year resolution is to get back in shape." Talking about his childhood days, he said, "My parents were very strict. It used to be like watching one film in six months," he said recalling that he was barred to watch romantic films, including the 1973-hit 'Bobby'.

'3 IDIOTS' IS BIGGER THAN 'GHAJINI'+'WANTED' COMBINED IN C.I.

• Collects a record-breaking first week collections of Rs. 2.87 crores, with a distributor's share of nearly Rs. 1.72 crores. Not only are the first week collections a new record, but they are more than the combined total of GHAJINI [Rs. 1.64 crores] and WANTED [Rs. 1.20 crores].



• Collects new theatre record at all six plexes of Indore:- PVR 37,18,615, Inox 1 27,40,146, Inox 2 23,09,967, Mangal Big 26,64,065, Velocity 22,45,394, Satyam 16,18,076. The combined total of all plexes is a new city record of Rs. 1,52,96,263.



• Collects new theatre record at all three single screens of Indore - Regal, Aastha and Kastur.



• The combined total of all five cinemas of Bhopal is a new city record of Rs. 49,02,030. Collects new theatre record at Alpana, Jyoti and Rangmahal, Bhopal.



• The combined total of all four cinemas of Gwalior is a new city record of Rs. 31,11,712. Collects new theatre record at Fun, Gold and Baaz.



• Creates new theatre and city records at Lisa Sehore, Jhankar Satna, Sanghivi Big Dewas and Mahinder Barwani.

AAMIR'S CONCERN FOR HIS FANS



Aamir Khan cautioned his fans to be careful when they came to meet the superstar here on Kolkata on Thursday. After Bangalore, the 3 IDIOTS team is here to meet fans after the astounding success of the film in the first week.

After landing in the city, Khan cautioned his fans not to hurt themselves when coming to meet him in his blog.

'One word of caution to all those who come to meet and see us at the venue, please be careful not to hurt yourselves,' he said.

'I always worry that some kid will get trampled in the chaos. There are ladies, girls, kids and elderly people in the crowd, and I would not ever like it to become a mob situation or a stampede where someone gets hurt,' he said.

The actor said he knew everyone gets excited, but in all the excitement no one must get hurt. 'We have come to see you, and are there for you, and please be relaxed about it,' he added.

'Kolkata has always been a place I have loved and I am very happy to be back,' the superstar added.

The actor later addressed a press meet at South City mall in Kolkata.

'I thank my fans in Kolkata for the kind of reception they gave to the film (3 IDIOTS),' he said.

'In Kolkata the food was too good at Souravdada (Sourav Ganguly)'s house (during his promotion for the film when he came incognito) and the sweet dishes were very good. I have become like rosogolla now,' he joked.

AAMIR'S IDIOTS IN KOLKATA



Aamir Khan, along with his 3 IDIOTS team, flew in Kolkata on the New Year eve (Dec 31, 2009) to thank people for appreciating the film.

"We are so overwhelmed with the people's response that we decided to personally visit every city and thank people for their support," Aamir said Thursday night.

Aamir, R Madhavan, Sharman Joshi, director Rajkumar Hirani, producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra, screenplay writer Abhijat Joshi and Swanand Kirkire interacted with fans at Fame Cinemas, South City Mall, before going for a charity screening of the film at Paradise theatre Thursday night.

C.I. UPDATE: '3 IDIOTS' BIGGER ON THURSDAY THAN TUE. & WED.


Now that Week 1 has come to a close, the business of 3 IDIOTS in C.I. circuit is as follows:-

Thursday [paid previews]: 8.75 lacs
Friday: 47.89 lacs
Saturday: 39.60 lacs
Sunday: 48.27 lacs
Monday: 44.17 lacs
Tuesday: 33.74 lacs
Wednesday: 30.74 lacs
Thursday: 34.75 lacs

If you notice carefully, the business on Thursday has shown an escalation and is in fact, better than Tuesday and Wednesday figures. The C.I. total for Week 1 is a whopping Rs. 2.88 crores. The Week 1 business can be described in just one word - Unimaginable.