According to a German embassy official, “Traditional diplomacy was about government-to-government relations. Modern diplomacy is more about people-to-people relations. And culture is central here
Salman Khurshid, German envoy Michael Steiner make acting debut in ‘Kal Ho Naa Ho’ remake.
@suhelseth Salman Khurshid running around the trees with German envoy Michael Steiner, may continue acting till congress becomes active!
— Indian Affairs (@Indian_Affairs) April 25, 2015
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XK3BVXbVsU#t=193
German Ambassador to India Michael Steiner paid tribute to the soft power of Bollywood by making his acting debut in a video on Shah Rukh Khan-Saif Ali Khan-starrer 2003 romantic drama ‘Kal Ho Naa Ho’.
Steiner loved the title song of the Karan Johar-directed movie. The song, penned by Javed Akhtar and sung by Sonu Nigam, talks about living in now rather than thinking about past or future.Besides Steiner, the tribute video stars his wife Eliese in the role earlier played by Preity Zinta while former foreign minister of India, Salman Khurshid filled in the role done by Saif.The premiere of the music – “Lebe Zetzt-Kal Ho Naa Ho” was attended by actress Sharmila Tagore, Saif, Akhtar, Madhu Kishwar and director Sumit Osmand Shaw.Steiner said working on the three-and-a-half-minute music video was tough and has renewed his respect for actors.“There were three difficulties, one, the only acting that I did was in my school some 50 years ago, second, I don’t know Hindi so lip-syncing was very hard and third, Germans are not known for their sense of humour,” Steiner said at its launch at his residence here today.Tagore said it was fun to see Steiner doing SRK’s role and Khurshid playing her actor-son Saif in the video.“Bollywood has been a wonderful ambassador of Indian culture and Indianness all over the world. Many years ago we were slightly rubbished but everybody knows the potential of Bollywood now. Also, the theme of ‘Kal Ho Naa Ho’ resonates with the youth,” Tagore said.Saif hailed the video clip as a “unique diplomatic effort”, adding that he particularly enjoyed watching Steiner.Khurshid said while it was very tough to imitate Saif’s style in the song, it would be a lot tougher to play him in politics.Javed Akhtar joked that he always believed that politicians and diplomats were good actors and now he had a video proof of that.
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What do you get when you put former External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, German Ambassador to India Michael Steiner and a camera together?
A CRAZY BOLLYWOOD MUSIC VIDEO!!!
That’s exactly what you see in this YouTube video of the Bollywood song ‘Kal Ho Na Ho’ put up by the German Embassy. What’s more the duo enact the love triangle of the film, with Eliese Steiner (the Ambassador’s wife), playing the part of Priety Zinta.
In the video, Salman Khurshid plays a man romancing and serenading a woman (Eliese Steiner).
But Salman’s got competition in the form of the German Ambassador who’s trying to get the attention of the same woman.
The video is so bad that…it’s good. So good that it’s badass.
And if you’re wondering why anyone would star in such a project, the German Embassy on the YouTube page explains:
Traditional diplomacy was about government-to-government relations. Modern diplomacy is more about people-to-people relations. And culture is central here.
Michael Steiner, German Ambassador to India, and Salman Khurshid, former Foreign Minister of India, without taking themselves too seriously, plunged into uncharted waters. Together with Eliese Steiner and under the direction of Sumit Osmand Shaw, they pay homage to the Indian film by reenacting one of its most famous music videos – thus connecting people across borders.
Steiner said it was a lot of hard work for him as he does not know Hindi.
“It was a challenge. These actors are masters and I had to imitate them. I realised that you cannot imitate Shah Rukh Khan. He is such a perfect actor. We wanted to show our respect to Bollywood and these fantastic actors. They are very popular in Germany.
“Bollywood is a cultural institution. This is the one instrument to connect to the world and it is a very good instrument. Me and my wife are Bollywood addicts. She has seen more than 150 Bollywood films… we have seen them together,” the ambassador said. The video is now available on YouTube.
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