YOUNGER BY THE DAY

So SARIKA KAMAL HAASAN is back in Chennai after being bed-ridden following her accident. She had a steady stream of star visitors both at Lilavati Hospital where she underwent surgery and in her room at Hotel Regent.

One visitor was the happening Aamir Khan. Aamir later remarked to a friend that Sarika’s looking radiant. He’s surprised nobody has offered her a film. Well, we have news for Aamir -- Sarika’s got plenty of offers for a comeback, but she’s being choosy. She’s open to offers wherein she has a substantial role to play. Are the filmmakers listening?

REASONS TO CELEBRATE

KAMAL HAASAN’s elated with his wife’s speedy recovery. "Her recovery is the biggest success I’ve had in recent times," exulted Kamal in a chat with the press in Mumbai, last week.

Kamal has other reasons to celebrate as well. His much awaited Abhay, which has him in a double role is finally ready to hit the screens. The songs were screened to a select audience last week, at the Regent. Apparently, the Rs 23-crore bilingual (Alavandaan in Tamil) is currently being viewed by the Censors and is scheduled for release in October. Kamal Haasan plays Vijay, a commando with the National Security Guards, and his brother Abhay who has spent more than 20 years in an asylum. It’s been a difficult movie to prepare for, especially since he had to spend two weeks training with the National Security Guards before playing the black cat’s role.

Others who will, no doubt, be looking forward to the movie’s release are Manisha Koirala, Raveena Tandon, Kitu Gidwani and Milind Gunaji, all of whom play key roles in it.

BOUQUETS APLENTY

ACE showman YASH CHOPRA and his wife PAM celebrated a quiet wedding anniversary last week. In an industry where one’s current status is determined by the success of your last film, the number of baskets that flooded the Chopra mansion were an indication of the esteem they are held in.

The house, in fact, was lined with so many bouquets that it looked like a veritable garden. Commented a visitor, "Perhaps we ought to sit in the terrace, lest we knock down one of these bouquets."

OM SWEET HOME

OM PURI’s wife NANDITA is a lucky girl. Attribute it to the changing definitions of masculinity, if you like, Om’s the thoroughly domesticated sort. Not only does he prefer to stay at home on days when there are no shoots, he can even be seen doing odd chores around the house. Don’t be surprised if you see him, broom and kapda in hand dusting the house, or fussing over keepsakes in the showcase.

Change of activity they say is recreation. And true enough, Om attaches a cathartic value to cooking. You can trust him to rustle up a surprise every time he sets foot in the kitchen. The maid in the house has one grouse, though. Every time Om decides to cook, she’s left with cleaning many more utensils than usual. But Nandita’s learnt to leave him alone to rustle up what he likes.
Om’s also a good babysitter. The couple’s three-year-old son, Ishaan, can spout Om’s lines from his film Bhavni Bhavai, and you know who’s taught him those. Om had a nightmare of a time struggling to memorise the Gujarati lines. The hard work has helped. He still remembers every line from the film.

MEMORIES ARE MADE OF THESE

DEV Anand isn’t the only veteran still active in films. Visit BR CHOPRA’s office and you’ll be surprised how agile and efficient he is despite his advanced years. Old Daddy still sticks to a punishing 11 am to 4 pm routine and he returns home only at 4 after he’s had his customary cuppa.

You are bound to see a dozen men lined up and eager to discuss scripts with him. Yet it’s all over within minutes. And BR has seen them all and ascertained the progress each of them has made.
Younger brother Yash Chopra’s still amazed by the veteran’s infallible memory and especially, the felicity with which he keeps dishing out memories of those old forgotten yesterdays in Lahore.

Yash, in fact, is documenting the making of his brother’s films. Having interviewed his brother before every premeire, he has some vital footage he hopes to add to the commentary.

HER PARSI CONNECTION

WE didn’t know SHABANA AZMI had Parsi connections (other than her role in Pestonjee, of course). When she was invited to inaugurate an exhibition of photographs by scriptwriter-photographer Sooni Taraporevala, in Delhi, she readily agreed to cut the ribbon. First, because both are from the same school -- Queen Mary’s in Mumbai, and second, she even confessed to being a "big chamchoo of Sooni’s and I love her scripts."

She insisted that the organisers welcome her in the traditional Parsi way, which they did. The audience (many of them were Parsis) was in absolute awe of her as she shared her esteem for Sooni’s scripts, which, she said, were so good that even a novice director could make a good film from them. But when she saw the book The Zoroastrians of India -- PARSIS: A Photographic Journey, Shabana said, she was even more taken up by Sooni’s work as a photographer. Before she read an excerpt from the book, she told the audience about how her brother and she, as children, would sneak into Parsi weddings and navjots to feast on the Parsi food, particularly the Cassatta ice cream. After the formal party, many a guest walked up to her to say that they too had done likewise. And how she was surprised and thrilled!

But the evening will be remembered by one person, Mala, the maid of the organisers. In the days preceding the event, Shabana would have long talks with the maid. That evening, Mala came with her entire family, and Shabana promptly called upon a photographer to take a picture of hers with Mala and her mother.

THEIR WEEKEND HIDEOUT

NEVER mind the kind of films he’s known for, DAVID DHAWAN is a simple man at heart. His favourite idea of recreation is spending time with wife LAALI and their two sons. Almost every weekend when David is in town they visit their hideout in Madh Island, Mumbai, where they are often spotted relaxing in shorts on the beach.

The last time they went to their beach bungalow was to hold a party in honour of their younger son who was leaving for the US to complete his studies.The Dhawans’ other son is following in his dad’s footsteps. He is assisting David in directing his movie.

BUSY AS CAN BE

ASHA PAREKH has her hands full. Between looking after her responsiilites at the Central Board of Film Certification and the artistes’ federation, and directing Kangan, the latest teleserial she’s been directing for Star Plus, it’s a marvel how she finds time at all for the industry’s causes she is known to espouse.

Parekh, perhaps, is the only actress-turned-director who is really directing her entire serial. For though the likes of Saira Banu and Aruna Irani are directing serials, too, they have resorted to episode directors to look after the nitty gritties. Parekh is the hands-on sort who prefers to look into everything that goes into her serial, even if that means she has to walk the tight rope, managing time for all her concerns.

FRESH ONE LINERS

KAUN Banega Crorepati may be 200 episodes old, but the producers aren’t about to let it hit a plateau yet. There are fresh surprises being thrown at the viewer almost every other week.
After the promos titled Nau Baj Gaya Kya that were made for the show, the producers have enlisted Priyadarshan to direct another series of promos. This one has the catch line, "Kaun Banega Crorepati -- Aap Ya Aapki Padosi?."

And Bachchan has also been trying to come up with fresh responses to even the stock situations on the show. Last week, for instance, when he announced to a contestant’s brother, "Main Amitabh Bachchan bol raha hoon Kaun Banega Crorepati se," pat came the almost standard response, "Sir, it is my good luck to have you calling me up." Bachchan made a comical face for the benefit of guests on the show, muttering, "Is ka koyi upay batayiye na." Of course, it goes without saying that he had most of the guests falling off their chairs in laughter.

CELEBRITY ON HOT SEAT

ANIL KAPOOR was the celebrity guest on the Independence Day episode of Kaun Banega Crorepati telecast on Star Plus. Anil was prompt to arrive for the shoots to that episode, and, was equal to the occasion, matching the Bachchan wit for repartee.

And for one who failed to make it to the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, some years ago -- he’d flunked the General Knowledge paper, Anil had a fairly longish innings on the hot seat opposite Bachchan. He managed to walk away with Rs 50 lakh from the show, and the prize money, of course, was donated to charity. Well played, Anil.

Next on the celebrity list, we hear is Sanjay Dutt.

SUMMONS FROM LONDON

GOVIND NIHALANI’s upbeat about the fact that his first feature film in English, Deham (Body) has been invited for the prestigious London Film Festival to be held from November 7 to 22. Film fest buffs in the country will get to see the film a couple of weeks earlier -- it is to be screened in the Panorama Section at the Indian International Film Festival scheduled to get underway in Bangalore in October.

Based on Manjula Padmanabhan’s play, Harvest, winner of the Onassis Foundation’s first prize for theatre in 1997, the film features KITU GIDWANI and JOY SENGUPTA along with the likes of Aly Khan, Surekha Sekri-Rege and Julie Ames. Among the film’s other highlights are classical aalaps by Shubha Mudgal and a ghazal sung by Jagjit Singh.

So, get ready, Bangalore.

WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND

SHE’s played the innocent-looking, dangerously-scheming housewife in the Hansal Mehta film, Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar. And, not to forget, she’s also played an ageing alcoholic in Satyadev Dubey’s play, Bekaar Ki Bakbak in London, a scarred, brutalised woman in Going Solo-II, and the young wife caught in an intriguing mindgame in Sunil Shanbag’s Khel Khel Mein.

Now, DIVYA JAGDALE is getting ready for her next appearance on stage, as the vivacious Pooja Khanna who flits in and out of relationships in Shiv Subrahmanyam’s Snapshots From An Album, which is to be staged at Prithvi Theatre, Mumbai.

Playing Jagdale’s estranged, academic husband in the play is the handsome HIDAYAT SAMI, last seen in plays like Androcles and the Lion, Julius Caesar, The Magic Pill and The Proposal. Snapshots takes us through curious flashbacks to the time when, as love-struck co-eds they decide too tie the knot. He becomes a respected professor of History, while she’s set to climb many a ladder in the corporate world. Marriage follows, and then, the estrangement. Yet, their paths are destined to cross again, as they discover...

MAKING IT TO WISDEN: AAMIR KHAN’s Lagaan has found a reviewer in the unlikeliest of plublications. Wisden, arguably world cricket’s best magazine, has published an article titled "Cricket goes to Bollywood" in its recent edition, the reason, of course, being that more than half the film is devoted to a cricket match.	PLAYING HIDE AND SEEK: JAYA BACHCHAN attempts to hide behind a copy of NASREEN MUNNI KABEER’s book, Bollywood: The Indian Cinema Story. The book was released in Mumbai, last week.	MUSIC VIDEO IS NEXT: FARDEEN KHAN has been roped in for Alisha Chinai’s forthcoming music video for Universal. The video is to be directed by Sanjay F Gupta of Kambakht Ishq fame.