Shah Rukh Star Power in Marrakesh

The Marrakesh International Film Festival met with an euphoric crowd of more than 50,000 people at the Jemaa el-Fna square for several hours as fans awaited Shah Rukh Khan to grace the event’s red carpet. The star seemed so moved that he braved his own security to wave at the thousands gathered there.

Indian cinema has a huge following in Morocco and throughout Africa, which also caused crowd incidents when in 2007 Shah Rukh Khan, accompanied by Rani Mukherjee, Preity Zinta and the late Yash Chopra visited France, a country where a large population of Moroccan immigrants has taken residence.

Prince Moulay Rachid later invited the star to a royal dinner and presented Shah Rukh Khan with the Medal of Honour of Morocco for his contribution to cinema.

YASH CHOPRA Rest in Peace

To most Bollywood viewers abroad, the name Yash Chopra conjures memories of discovering the world of Indian cinema, its emotions, its romance, its beauty and its music. 

The king of Bollywood romance passed away on October 21st following a multiple organ failure after succumbing to a serious strain of dengue fever. The film fraternity, friends and family have come to pay their homage at Studio 3 of Yash Raj studios before cremation took place. Colleagues from the film fraternity present at the studio were Shyam Benegal, Gulzar, Tabu, Shah Rukh Khan, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Rishi Kapoor, Vidya Balan, Ranbir Kapoor, Shahid Kapoor, Subhash Ghai and Ashutosh Gowariker among many others.

NICOLE KIDMAN's "GRACE OF MONACO" co-financed by YRF

Talk about the South of France and Cannes may be a hot topic at the moment due to the worldwide known Cannes festival 2012 but our attention was recently diverted by the news that the South of France will also be the "point of departure" for Nicole Kidman's Grace of Monaco. What does this have to do with Hindi cinema, a reader may ask. YRF Entertainment, a subsidiary of  Yash Raj Films studios in India is a company that focuses on the production of English language films abroad. The company will be participating in Kidman's endeavour in the executive production, script writing and financing/production departments. YRF Entertainment's CEO, Uday Chopra, has met with producer Pierre-Ange Le Pogam (ex co-founder of Europacorp and known for global films such as Colombiana) to organize the financial production of Grace of Monaco, which will be directed by Olivier Dahan (well known in France for La Vie En Rose starring Marion Cotillard). Films having a mix of Indian and foreign crew and cast include Oscar nominated movies by Shekhar Kapur (Elizabeth and sequel Elizabeth : The Golden Age) or films such as Karma: Crime, Passion, Reincarnation. We are looking forward to see the successful collaboration of entertainment professionals from France, India and the USA in Dahan's film, which retraces the political life of Grace Kelly.

Keep updated about Grace of Monaco at IMDb