New Delhi: He asks for Rs 200 per retweet and posts details of what he claims is a bank account where people can deposit the money. He takes his dubious celebrity status on Twitter seriously enough to come up with outrageous claims every day. He is openly disdainful of Bollywood's A-listers but worships actress Asin to whom he sends out kisses diligently every day. But when you talk to filmmaker Kamaal R Khan, a Twitter disaster waiting to happen, his impish good humour and childlike superiority complex are sides to his nature not often written about.
Everyone loves to hate KRK, as he is popularly known on Twitter. He has over 46,000 followers and perhaps a larger number of people trolling him. But the filmmaker, who acted in Deshdrohi, a film he also produced, is unfazed. By his own confession, he sets himself a daily target of getting retweeted at least 50 times. He tweets on everything - cinema, crime, politics, Asin, human nature, sports, Asin, actors, business news, Asin.
"Kamaal Khan is not afraid of anybody or anything, and he does not care what people will think of his tweets," he says during a phone interview from Dubai.
Did I mention that he also refers to himself in the third person sometimes?
Khan created controversy when he assaulted fellow contestant Rohit Verma in the third season of the reality show Bigg Boss. He is now a social media convert and never shies away from rabble rousing. But mostly he loves to taunt and provoke without meaning any harm, he says.
"Do you know how much research goes into being your so-called 'controversial'? Every day I have to think up things to tweet that will get heavily retweeted," he says tongue-in-cheek. "The well known Bollywood stars put a lot of thought behind their tweets, because they have so much at stake. I have nothing to lose. And besides, mujhe kaunsi Twitter se shaadi karni hai? (I don't have to marry Twitter) I say something provocative and then sit back and laugh as the hate pours in, when I see people take my tweets so seriously. Seriously, everywhere else people are bitching and cribbing, what's the point if you are not allowed to have some fun on Twitter?"
It's no wonder that he thinks fellow filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma, who often raises hackles of the Twitteratti with his provocative tweets, is the "most interesting person on Twitter."
"I like the way Ramu doesn't give a damn and says what he wants to, not many of your so-called Bollywood stars will be able to do that," he says.
Sample some of his tweets:
My fees is Rs 2 lakhs to promote any film. If you don't want to pay then I shall say only truth and it's like #Tezz will be super flop.
Ppl want me to promote their films free of charge n why the hell shud I do tat? Nobody does anythng free in Bollywd so pay me for promotion.
I saw in many films breaking lock with bullet so early morning I fired twice on a lock but nothing happened. I wasted 2 bullets only.
Good morning and Kiss to Kareena kapoor for refusing film with Imran hashmi. Nahi tho maa beta lagtey theyy.
I am tired of Bollywood stars
"I have approached almost everyone in Bollywood, all stars big and small, to act in my film. Some turned me down outright, some never returned calls, and some whom I consider to be my friends were too polite to say no to my face but I know they would never take my film," Khan who is gearing up for Deshdrohi 2, says.
When I ask why, he explains unabashedly: "You see, it's my image. They have an image of me set in their minds. No matter what I do or say will change that. I know for a fact that no one in Bollywood will ever act in a film I make. So I have also given up chasing them." And no, he does not have a temper problem, he says.
"I have a set of friends I can call at 12 midnight and I know they would come and help me, but these others, they don't know me, yet they judge me."
Khan sometimes comes across as supremely confident, brutally honest about his shortcomings, unfailingly witty and yet at other times wholly insecure of his standing in an industry that is merciless to lone rangers without the backing of established professionals.
"I have wasted two and a half years of my life running after stars asking them to act in my film. I am tired of stars and now I do not care anymore. Neither do I have to ask for a role in anyone's film, nor do I have to care what people think of me," he says.
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