A TRAVELLING SHOW

JOY SENGUPTA’s poised to go places. Deham, the Govind Nihalani movie which has him playing the stellar role along with Kitu Gidwani, is on the verge of hitting the turnstiles. It’s a performance he has huge expectations from. The film has augured well for him thus far, for even before its release, he’s bagged two more movies, one of which is to be directed by Anant Mahadevan, and the other by Pradeep Chandra. Both movies will go on the floors simultaneously.

So after a fairly creditable career in theatre and on the boob tube, Joy seems in for a longish run in the movies. Not that he’s about to call it quits as far as acting in theatre goes. He was recently seen in 30 Days of September alongside Nandana Sen. And he’s just embarked on a globetrotting spree that will see him perform in Dance Like A Man, the Lilette Dubey-directed play which features Suchitra Pillai in the lead with him. The play is to be staged at two prestigious theatre fests, followed by 14 more shows at the Edinborough Fringe Festival for Performing Arts. Joy’s got his hands full as you can see.

SUMMIT WITH THE DALAI LAMA

SHAH RUKH KHAN is pulling out all stops to endear his film to the masses ahead of its release. Earlier this month, he made a surprise visit to Coorg, the land of greenery and coffee en route to the Buddhist monastery, Sera, at Bylakuppe, where he met Dalai Lama. The film, Asoka, lest you’ve forgotten, traces the life story of the great emperor and is also a tribute to Buddhism.

Accompanying the Khan on the trip was Jay Mehta, husband of Juhi Chawla. Arriving in true movie style in Coorg, he blew kisses at the waiting crowd at the helipad. Then, following the half hour meeting with Dalai Lama, Shah Rukh fielded questions from the local media and signed autographs before he boarded the copter again. The media-shy Jay Mehta, meanwhile, kept a studied low profile throughout the stopover.

SUCCESS TO CROW ABOUT

SAIF ALI KHAN’s had the last laugh on soothsayers. When just about everybody in tinsel town had given up on him, and begun to count him among the has-beens, Saif’s dished out not one, but two commendable performances.

Love Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega may have been an average grosser at the box office, but Saif’s come in for a fair bit of praise for his performance in it. And in Dil Chahta Hai he’s come up with a performance that has even his critics eating out of his palm.

Saif’s son may be too young to revel in his abba’s success, but his daughter’s certainly relishing every bit of it. She’s quite a charmer, by the way, and Saif insists she’s the noisiest child he’s ever met. However, she can surprise you with her profound observations, especially early in the morning, when she’s at her reflective best.

On a recent visit to their home, we saw Saif attempting to dissuade her from going out in the rain to meet friends. But trust his daughter to make him change his mind. “I’ll be going in the car, she promised him,” adding, as an afterthought, “The rain looks lovely through the car window.” The argument left abba speechless.

THE OTHER WONDER BOY

FOLLOWING in the footsteps of Yash Chopra, KARAN JOHAR is so tight lipped about his forthcoming opus, Kabhi Kushi Kabhi Gham, that it is difficult to get a word out of him about the film.

Recently however, close friends of the Johars were privvy to some song sequences from the film, one of whom was a certain Javed Akhtar. Akhtar, for one, hasn’t stopped raving about the way the songs have been picturised.

OCTOBER HOMECOMING

COME October, and MIRA NAIR’s Monsoon Wedding will be released worldwide, starting with India. The movie starring Naseeruddin Shah, Soni Razdan and Lillette Dubey, is Nair’s toast to popular Hindi cinema. It narrates the tale of an Indian family that reunites in Delhi from across the globe for a wedding. Skeletons tumble out of the cupboard and generations clash during this grand reunion in a romantic comedy that combines elements of song and dance borrowed from Mumbai cinema.

Interestingly, the film’s been shot with a handheld camera and combines social realism with “fun and masti.” After films such as Salaam Bombay, India Cabaret, Mississippi Masala, The Perez Family and Kamasutra: A Tale of Love, Nair has wowed to release her latest film first in India. After all it’s intended primarily for Indian audiences, although several international distributors, including USA Films, have already acquired its rights. Nair says the film captures the extraordinariness of ordinary life. “I hope it inspires the Indian audience,” she says. Well, we can hardly wait.

TOAST OF THE BIG MEN

TALKING about Honey Irani reminds us, FARHAN AKHTAR should be a flattered young man today. All the top directors who have seen Dil Chahta Hai have telephoned the debutant to congratulate him.

The long list includes the likes of Subhash Ghai, Mani Ratnam and Yash Chopra. Steven Spielberg, where are you?

SAINTHOOD FOR THE ASKING

GUESS which has been the movie most often screened on the telly in recent weeks? Why, Bandit Queen, of course. Cable operators in Mumbai seem to have gone into high drive screening the film, especially in the wake of the Phoolan Devi murder.

On Independence Day we were treated to a slew of patriotic films of the Manoj Kumar variety as usual, and not to forget, Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi. But the surprise packet on SetMax on the eve of Independence Day was, you guessed it, Bandit Queen.

So what’s next? Is Phoolan Devi about to be canonised, by any chance? Will she now be reckoned on par with the freedom fighters now that she’s dead?

THE ELUSIVE PHONE CALL

DILWALE Dulhaniya Le Jayenge may have been running for 300 weeks on the trot now, but PARMEET SETHI has seen the film just once. That was six years ago, at the movie’s premiere.
Now, he’s keen to see the film again, this time with his family for company, especially his younger son, who is yet to see the film. The elder one who has, didn’t quite relish seeing his dad being subjected to a sound thrashing by hero, Shah Rukh Khan.

Despite the movie’s record-busting success, Parmeet is yet to cash in. Six years later, he’s still hoping for a call from his friend Adi (Aditya Chopra), telling him “Come on Bittoo, it’s time we picked up from where we left off.”

ANOTHER YEAR OLDER

SAAWAN KUMAR celebrated his birthday with friends on the evening of August 9. With music playing in the background, and scotch flowing in the foreground, it made for quite a groovy scene. So what if intermittent showers dampened the scene somewhat, the guests refused to let the drizzle cramp their style unduly.

Rakesh Roshan, Prem Chopra, Udit Narayan, Vikas Kalantri and his bandana-sporting son, Vijay, Sonu Nigam, Faisal Khan, Johnny Bakshi, Tabassum and Mink were among those who turned up to greet the filmmaker on his birthday.

Saawan Kumar himself, dressed casually in a cream-coloured shirt, looked every bit the genial, indulgent host. And the yummy food and snacks, provided courtesy a city hotel, turned out to be the cherry topping.

FILM TO MAKE MOM PROUD

SPOTTED HONEY IRANI at a screening of Dil Chahta Hai at Mumbai’s Gaiety Galaxy complex. She took in the 3 o’clock show with the audience on the opening day, perhaps to gauge the response of the public to son Farhan Akhtar’s first film as director.

Honey seemed to be in a thoughtful, reflective mood when she stepped out of the darkened auditorium, but the audience sure can’t be blamed for that. For they turned out in large numbers for the next show too. And the queues outside the counters on the first Friday must have warmed the very cockles of her heart.

CELEBRATING SUCCESS

FOLLOWING the extraordinary success of Gadar — Ek Prem Katha, ANIL SHARMA is currently wading through a flood of offers. At last count, he’d thumbed down as many 18 of them for the simple reason that they were hardly exciting.

Sharma’s obviously being extra cautious — he doesn’t wish to squander his hard-earned popularity with a flurry of wrong movies.

Gadar, in fact, has done wonders for the career of another man, too. Writer Shaktimaan, who had been struggling for a toehold in the industry for well nigh a decade, now finds himself saddled with more offers than he can possibly handle. Of the 20-odd offers that have come his way, Shaktimaan has snagged only four of them.

But even these will have to wait. He’s taken his family on a well-deserved holiday to the US and Canada and work on the new films will have to wait till he gets back.

AN IDEA FOR A JV

RAJKUMAR SANTOSHI, as we’d hinted in these very columns a while ago, has plans to make a mega venture on Bhagat Singh. Others had plans to make films on the martyr, too, and all but one of these projects seem to have fizzled out. Now, the only other banner still in contention is Sunny Deol’s which, we’re told, will have Bobby Deol playing the Shahid, while Sunny himself will play Chandrashekhar Azad.

As if to make way for the Deols, Santoshi has hinted his next film may well be a comedy. Having just about wrapped up the shoots on the serious emotional drama, Lajja, Santoshi is now keen to try his hand at a comedy for a change. The question on everybody’s lips is, is Santoshi making way for Sunny?

Santoshi sure is no stranger to the Deol — the two have collaborated on movies such as Ghayal, Ghatak and Damini, remember? Well, how about coming together again on the Bhagat Singh project, then, gentlemen? That would be a treat for cinebuffs for sure.

A HAPPENING WEEK
NOT QUITE CRICKET: Squashed into AAMIR KHAN’s crowded itinerary was a brief stopover at the new A-H Ansari Squash Academy in Mumbai, last week. The Khan not only inaugurated the academy, he also took in a round of squash much to the delight of those who had turned up. Cricket (remember Lagaan?) apparently, isn’t t he only game he plays well.		CHOPRA WINS BATTLE: Based on a complaint by producer VIDHU VINOD CHOPRA, the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission has held the Film Makers Combine guilty of restrictive trade practices. The FMC had imposed a ban on all those associated with the making of Chopra’s 1942 — A Love Story for paying his workers wages on rates that were not approved by the FMC.		AN INDULGENT FAMILY: Almost the entire Kapoor Khandaan was there at the show of Ajnabee, KAREENA KAPOOR’s forthcoming release, last week. Among those who turned up at Famous Theatre, Mumbai for the show were Rishi, Randhir, their mother Krishna, Neetu Singh and the director duo, Abbas-Mustan.