A huge eagle provides a Chandamama-like backdrop, while welders perched precariously on the roof create sparkles that provide a shooting star effect. The theme is 'fire' and the song will move on to the 'water' and 'wind' themes, I am told. Meanwhile, a pregnant Farah Khan, expecting triplets, and complaining of morning sickness in between shots, is angry at the cameraperson for cutting SRK's crotch from the frame. "We are not shooting a Bengali art film here, get it (the crotch) back," she roars on the mike, and stretches herself on the director's couch.
SRK is in a jolly good mood. Unsparingly mocking, he sends up everything for a lark: the 'Yashraj Films'-inscribed cutlery with which he eats his McDonald's burger, Rahul Rawail's new film, Buddha Mar Gaya, and a news item in the Economic Times which quotes a 'prosumer' survey to declare that Ram Gopal Varma's Darling will be the biggest hit of 2007. The mention of fire is enough for him to tell us a hilarious anecdote about watching Deepa Mehta's film of the same name in the company of his mother-in-law and squirming all the way. SRK even sends up SRK. He complains to Farah about how he hates shooting with the leggy models: "They make me look and feel like a chaprasi (peon)."
It's not all fun and games. Seriousness surfaces as Khan reads the scripts of promos of OSO that will show on NDTV, red-stemmed glasses perched on his nose. The film is ready, the marketing and hype are about to unleash and you can see how keen he is to get all the details of the launch right. The performer's job is done, the producer-businessman has taken over.
SRK is at an interesting juncture in his life. He is not just a star. Many see him embodying, through the Rajs and Rahuls he plays, the spirit of post-liberalisation, feelgood India—just as Big B's Angry Young Man represented the angst-ridden India of the '70s and the '80s. And 2007 has, so far, been a glorious year for him. Chak De has been the year's biggest hit. What's more, it's the first film in his entire career to earn him commercial and critical approval in equal measure. "They loved you in Chak De," I tell him. "We will undo that with OSO. I can't make people love me for so long," he says, tongue firmly in cheek.
With OSO, SRK is back to giving us an absolutely in-your-face Bollywood movie, the mother of all entertainers, with a mother of all item numbers starring every single big star in the industry.