Anushka Owes SRK

[akhilesh dubey]

Anushka owes her performance in 'Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi' to SRK

Mumbai (PTI): Model-turned-actress Anushka Sharma on Friday said she owed her performance in "Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi" to co-star Shah Rukh Khan who helped her appear confident in her debut film.
"Many people have told me that I appeared confident on screen. This was primarily because of Shah Rukh who made me feel comfortable and ensured that I concentrate on my performance. I could be myself and hence I appeared confident," Anushka told PTI here.
"During auditions, I was given lines from the film which I did not know at that point of time. I said those lines as I would say it naturally on screen, she said.
"Shah Rukh told me that actors get to play characters in their debut film that are closest to their real self. I agree with him because I feel I am a lot like my character Taani", Anushka said.
The actress said she could relate to the simplicity of her character Taani. "Like me, she is talkative and has a clean heart. But she has a lot of previous baggage and has married a man much elder to her to respect her father's last wish," she added.
The-19 year-old Bangalorean, who had moved to Mumbai a year before being approached by filmmaker Aditya Chopra for her debut, was full of praise for Shah Rukh. "SRK is a selfless actor and I felt comfortable in his company."
Quizzed about her low key debut, Anushka said it was a marketing strategy decided by the producers and she had no problem with it.
"I would have been distracted with the media frenzy in the midst of shooting the film. With me being out of media focus, there was no pre-release expectation from me and I felt protected," she said.
`Rab Ne...' has grand opening; on way to become mega hit
Shah Rukh Khan-starrer `Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi', that released worldwide on December 12, has grossed Rs 90 crore in its opening week, which is on par with and in some places even higher than two of the highest opening week grossers till date `Om Shanti Om' and `Singh Is King'.
Its producers Yash Raj Films (YRF) claimed `Rab Ne...' has also broken all earlier opening week collection records for Yash Raj Films, having surpassed the opening week collections of `Dhoom: 2' which is regarded as one of the highest grossing movies of all-time.
The total collections for `Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi' in India are around Rs 42 crore net (gross collections were Rs 70 crore). The total gross collections for all overseas markets are over USD 4 Million (around Rs 20 crore), a YRF statement said here on Friday.
In Middle East, `Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi' has broken all previous records for first week collections, netting just under USD 1.3 million. The previous highest grossing film in the Gulf region, having a sizeable Indian population, was `Dhoom: 2', which grossed approximately USD 1.86 million across its entire run.
The Aditya Chopra-directed romantic flick, featuring newcomer Anushka Sharma, is on course to break this all-time record going into its second week, the statement claimed.
The film has also had a grand opening week across overseas markets, including the UK, USA, Australia, Europe, Africa, and Asia, and features in the list of the highest grossers for the opening week in most of these territories. "The film has the potential to finish as one of the biggest blockbusters of all-time," it said.