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COMING
UP: HER SWANSONG
KAJOL’s fans may want to think we’re fibbing, but
we sure ain’t: the forthcoming Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham,
she insists, will be her last film before she calls it quits.
If only temporarily.
The reason? Well, there’s a whole wide world out there,
outside of the movies. And Kajol reckons it’s time she
devoted a fair bit of time to exploring it. Even with just
one film on hand, she’s discovered she has to set aside
15 days or thereabouts each month for film shoots, which is
getting to be quite a drag on her system. Besides, the urge
to settle down, in the traditional sense, even raise a family,
seems to intensify by the day. And which fan would want to
deny her that?
What about a return to acting at some stage in the future
then? She ain’t telling just yet. But considering how
bored she is with the profession, the odds seem stacked heavily
against a return.
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NOT QUITE CRICKET
THIS was one show they didn’t demand to be paid to
perform in. And  AISHWARYA
RAI was the cynosure of all eyes at the charity match featuring
the cricket and movie stars. The proceeds from the match,
played on February 25 in Mumbai, will be given entirely to
the children affected by the killer quake in Gujarat.
Aishwarya, trade watchers tell us, charges a whopping sum
to perform in each show. And Ash has been amongst the most
sought after performers at all staged events organised in
the last six months. Stage events get over in a flash, unlike
movie shoots that usually last a year or more. And with the
money involved in events getting better by the day, our stars
are beginning to find them an altogether attractive proposition.
But Aishwarya may well have an interesting movie offer coming
her way too: Southie filmmaker, PRIYADARSHAN, is said to be
keen on working with her. Though Ash has worked with other
South Indian filmmakers like Mani Ratnam and Rajiv Menon,
she’s yet to work with Priyan. The two met but briefly
at the charity match, though, those in the know tell us they
did discuss their forthcoming project.
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COMPLIMENT OF HIMALAYAN PROPORTIONS
FOR BHAGYASHREE, it was a birthday to remember, celebrated
at her mom’s  place,
which was decorated for the occasion, complete with flowers
and coloured lamps. The family had intended to throw a surprise
party for her. But trust husband Himalay to keep a secret,
especially from his wife!
Well, to give credit where it’s due, he did try to keep
the secret to himself until his wife ferreted it out with
uncanny feminine ingenuity. “Let’s go out for dinner,
tonight, since you haven’t made any plans for the evening,”
she told him. And he was forced into telling her that her
mom had already ‘booked’ them to spend the evening
with her.
One of Bhagyashree’s sisters was there, too, making it
a cosy family occasion. Yet the star of the evening wasn’t
Bhagyashree, or even her charming sister, but her mom herself.
“She’s a beautiful lady,” Himalay says of her
mom, adding tongue-in-cheek, “I was a little too late
to marry her, as you can see.
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PAT FOR PEDIGREE
CINEMA and cricket may be opiates for the average Indian.
For SAIF ALI KHAN, both course through his veins in addition
to the pedigreed blue blood. The Mumbai charity match against
the touring Aussies was an occasion for Saif to take another
peak at a career that might have been. Son of the legendary
Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, and no mean cricketer himself, Saif
also got to rub shoulders with a lot of his father’s
pals at the Cricket Club of India.
RAJ SINGH DUNGARPUR, for instance, was seen giving a paternal
pat on the cheek to Saif. “I’ve known him as a baby,”
the erstwhile Raja, in the news, lately, for his spat with
Sunil Gavaskar, was heard commenting.
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SHEER WEIGHT OF EXPECTATION
IN a world devoid of smack, resounding hits, people of
KARAN JOHAR’s ilk are a rarity. So what if he’s
still to prove he isn’t a one-film wonder? The world
can hardly seem to wait to see his star-studded movie, Kabhi
Khushi Kabhi Gham. Almost every week, we get loads of letters
asking us for updates on the film’s progress. The film’s
all but half-complete, and there’s a long way to go yet
before the shoots are wrapped up. Karan obviously isn’t
in any undue hurry to see the end of it, what with shoots
for only 15 days a month on an average.
Rumour’s already rife that the trade circles have begun
to offer unheard of sums for the film’s distribution
rights, though. But that’s his dad’s lookout, not
his. With a seasoned businessman like Yash Johar at home,
Karan would rather not meddle with what isn’t quite his
cuppa tea. With the sheer weight of a nation’s expectations
on his shoulders, he’s got enough on his plate to chew
on, in any case.
The nation, meanwhile, continues to wait.
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WHEN ‘EROS’ BECKONS
ON a stroll through Churchgate, Mumbai, we walked into Eros
Mini for a lark, in time to catch the press show of Cast Away
the other day. While waiting for the movie to begin, we caught
sight of this familiar hunk parking his car and strolling
into the moviehouse. A moment later, another familiar hunk,
this time the aforementioned worthy’s brother strolled
in, fresh from a workout, obviously, because, we notice he’s
still in a jogger’s suit. Neither is surprised to see
the other there, so they’ve come by prior appointment,
we presume.
Who do we refer to? Why, RAHUL KHANNA and his brother AKSHAYE,
of course. They stayed for the length of the film, mostly
munching on popcorns, and a sundry other things, before going
their separate ways again.
No we didn’t intrude into their privacy. After all, it
isn’t often one finds brothers taking in a movie together,
and generally enjoying each other’s company as the Khannas
do.
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HOME ON WHEELS
GONE are the days when even the big stars sought refuge from
the heat in their makeup rooms while at work. Now, most of
them have mobile makeup rooms that double up as vehicles.
ABHISHEK BACHCHAN is the latest to join the bandwagon. Like
his dad in his heydays, he prefers to travel in style in the
comfort of his own, all-blue van, shutting himself off from
the heat and dust of big, squalid Mumbai.
Yes, the van’s equipped with most of the fancy gizmos
you can care to mention, right down to plasma screens and
DVD players. Little wonder then that it’s quickly become
his mobile home away from home.
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ANOTHER SEN SENSATION
FOR one who’s hardly ever in Mumbai, and has never worked
in a Hindi film before, she has a lot of the city’s moviefolk
in her thrall. Consider the sheer numbers: Ketan Mehta has
been wooing her to work in his next, Garbhit; Anupam Kher
has sent her feelers regarding a major role in Meri Zameen,
his film on exiled Kashmiri Pandits, to be directed by Ashok
Pandit; Jhamu Sugandh has her in a key role in Ghar; Vinta
Nanda, of teleserial Tara fame has her in mind for an English
film to be titled White Noise; and so has Soni Razdan, for
Difficult Daughters, a movie to be produced by Mahesh Bhatt.
NANDANA SEN, that’s right, Nobel laureate Amartya Sen’s
blue-eyed girl, has not only been offered forceful and challenging
roles in Hindi films but also in several international ventures.
And this despite the fact that people only vaguely recall
seeing her in Seducing Maarya, where she played a Calcutta
immigrant trapped in an unhappy marriage, and Goutam Ghose’s
Gudiya. Both films created ripples on the international film
festival circuit, but rarely got noticed off it. She’s
wangled an exciting role in a thriller to be directed by Gil
Rossellini (son of the legendary Roberto Rossellini), with
whom she’s worked in an Italian film, Branchiae. To top
it all, she’s even begun to write screenplays and scripts
for films, one of which is to be directed by Emil Stang Lund.
So take it from us, we haven’t heard the last of this
Sen, yet.
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CAPITAL VISIT
PSYCHEDELIC lights bathe Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi,
even as the much-hyped “Show of the Roshans” gets
underway. Then, out of the blue, as it were, the lights in
the stadium are switched off, as a compere asks, “Are
you ready for the Roshans?”
Enter HRITHIK clad in skintight golden trousers and a sleeveless
T-shirt, whipping up a frenzy, with lines as these, “New
Delhi’s the heart of India. That’s why I’m
here, to win your hearts. Will you give it to me, pleeeeease?”
The 70,000 odd audience seems to scream “Yes” in
unison, prompting a pleased Hrithik to go into humour mode.
“I’ve been nervous as hell, waiting for the show
to go on. But when someone asked me if I were nervous, I said
‘no.’ ‘What in hell are you doing in the ladies’
loo, then?,” she asked me. Honestly, I hadn’t realised
where I was.”
The show, put up as a celebration to mark the 50th year of
the Roshan clan in films, was rather drab and dreary for the
most part, till Hrithik set the stage on fire. No, he didn’t
turn up on a motorbike as some promised us he would. And neither
did he zoom in, with brand new wife Suzanne in tow, in a sports
car. But turn up he did, thank God...
Shaju George Alex
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