FOR THE PAKI HOUSEWIFE’S MONEY
She's made a habit of winning awards, of which she has plenty more than she can showcase: the Silver Abbey, A&M, Ad Club Mumbai and Delhi, the Gold CAG and Silver CAG among them. Now, the much decorated VEENA BAKSHI has just returned from Karachi, having become the first Indian ad filmmaker to shoot on the other side of the Line of Control.
The former Prahlad Kakkar protege who also worked with Dilip Ghosh and Mansoor Khan before venturing out on her own with SearchLight Productions in 1989, has just shot for Lever Brothers, a campaign, no doubt, that coaxes the reluctant Paki housewife to splurge on the Lever brand of FMCGs. And Bakshi’s an old hand at prompting people to reach for their purses, ask any client she’s shot for, such as Fevicol, UNICEF, Voltas or BandAid, or the ad agencies she’s directed films for, O&M, Lintas, TBWA Anthem, Mckann Erikson or Contract among them.
Shooting in uptown Karachi was no different from Mumbai, for Bakshi found the urban cityscape just as vibrant and colourful. And now that Bakshi’s back home in Mumbai, there’s one question some are likely to ask, soon. How come the Shiv Sena bad boys aren’t protesting in the buff at her gates, as they did with Dilip Kumar when he was awarded the top Pak honour, the Nishaan-E-Imtiyaaz?

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DESIGNS ON FILM CITY
WHAT’S cooking, here? Last week, Robert Halmi, the Hallmark Entertainment head honcho was in town for some hush-hush, undisclosed reason. In Mumbai, a prominent stopover was Film City, Goregaon, where Halmi spent well nigh a couple of hours, inspecting the studio floors and outdoor locations. Greeted with a fair measure of aplomb by Govind Swarup, the Film City MD, Halmi also spent a half hour with art director Nitin Desai at the latter’s workshop. Film City sources tell us Halmi went back, mighty impressed.
Neither Desai nor Swarup seem to be entirely in the know on the reason for Halmi’s interest in Mumbai’s Film City. But our own hunch is, Halmi had come scouting for an ideal locale for a forthcoming Hallmark venture. Now, that sounds interesting, don’t you agree?   

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SAYING IT WITH FLOWERS
PETA India seems to find a new star each week to endorse its interests. Last week, it was Moon Moon Sen’s daughter, Rhiya, who stirred hearts with a letter to the Mumbai mayor, drawing his attention to the cruel abuse of horses on Mumbai’s beaches. This week, the animal rights outfit has found another glamourous champion, HEMA MALINI.
The famous yesteryear Dream Girl has been sending dozens of assorted flowers to the Chennai cops who’ve been seizing slaughterhouse-bound lorries overcrowded with cattle and nabbing the drivers. One such lorry was packed with 21 pregnant buffaloes. As soon as the animals were rescued from the cramped lorry and sheltered, they delivered calves, some of them stillborn, because of their mothers’ stress. More raids followed at St Thomas Mount, Thirunindravur, Red Hills and Poonamailee, where trucks, crammed with more than 250 goats, 210 more than the legally-permissible 40, were seized. The shrieking cattle with broken legs and severed spinal cords were then treated.
Says a happy Ms Malini, who’s cock-a-hoop with the news of the raids, “My heart goes out to these poor animals, and I’m deeply grateful to these wonderful officers for their alacrity.”  

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PINT-SIZED DYNAMITE
SHE’S a mere slip of a girl, the pocket dynamo that powers the rather slow-paced Kairee. Yes, Amol Palekar’s celebrated film is taking time off the international moviefest circuit to get released in India. And the ten-year-old girl, who plays an orphan, is bound to catch the eye of the Indian movie connoisseur soon.
The movie (see Review on Page 4) narrates the moving tale of a ten-year-old orphan who lives with her aunt, Taani Mausi, following the demise of her parents. Uprooted from a loving home, the girl inhabits a largely loveless home, despite the fond ministrations of her devoted mausi (played by Shilpa Navalkar, daughter of former Maharashtra minister, Pramod Navalkar). The film, in fact, depicts the world as seen from the child’s perspective. And newfind YOGITA DESHMUKH carries the film on her frail shoulders, backed by a script that’s lovingly etched by Amol and Chitra Palekar.
The film, it goes without saying, is replete with ample flashes of Yogita’s natural talent. She’s seized with both hands, the tailormade opportunity to prove herself. Now, if only Mumbai’s dream merchants would sit up and take note.

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THE COSTLIEST
EVER ALBUM
TROOP in to Mumbai’s Aaarey Milk Colony, or Royal Palms, this week, and chances are, you’ll catch the shoots for a music album in progress. A couple of helicopters and cranes have been pressed into service for the shoots, as models Shaheed and Waheed preen and shake a leg before the cameras. More shoots are to follow hereafter, at Rajkamal Studios and God knows where else. And being canned are not just one or two songs from the album, but all eight of them.
You guessed it, the album’s almost certain to go down as the costliest ever in the history of Indian music. And guess who’s composed the tunes? Why, RAJESH ROSHAN, of course, who makes his foray into non-film music territory for the first time. Veteran Dev Kohli has written the lyrics for six of the songs, with Ibrahim Ashq and Vijay Akela chipping in with the other two. Sung by Kumar Sanu, the album has videoshoots directed by Arjun Sablok.
Has the producer gone bonkers to rain money like this on a mere album, do you ask? Well, you’re not to worry. Prakash Rohra, the producer for the label Wings Entertainment, is sure the costly experiment will fetch him rich dividends. And he’s certainly no rookie, involved as he’s been in the business of music for the last seven years. Surely, he ought to know just what he’s up to, don’t you think?

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SCOURING
MUMBAI’S BARS
THE mujrawalis, as depicted in our movies, are a thing of the past, did you think? Well, you have another think coming.
As we’d reported in this very column a couple of weeks back, TABU’s now playing a bar girl, who dances to entertain guests at a sleazy Mumbai bar in Chandni Bar. She plays Mumtaz, a Meerut-born girl who arrives in Mumbai in search of a living, only to be trapped in the none-too-enviable profession.
Yes, Tabu’s done a fair bit of homework, scouring some of the shady Mumbai bars, with director Madhur in tow, to find out just what makes a bar girl tick. Not that the girls she met on her prowls were dying to reveal their secrets. Tabu’s come to realise she can never get a firsthand feel of what it means to be a bar girl unless she spends a lot more time with some of them, and time, sadly, is something she no longer has enough of. And secretive as they are, Tabu’s having to rely on her own imagination and Madhur’s interpretation of the character to get into Mumtaz’s skin.
The film, we’re told, is a realistic portrayal of life as it exists in Mumbai’s bars. It neither glorifies nor trivialises ground reality. And chances are, the film could well be for the bar girls what Satya was to Mumbai’s mafioso. A true to life depiction. And we can scarcely wait!

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FRESH SPATE OF RUMOURS
SO MANOJ BAJPAI, we hear, has lost out to a rank newcomer. And Mumbai’s movie trade publications are tom-tomming the news, too — that showman Subhash Ghai has dropped plans to cast Manoj as the hero in his forthcoming opus, Rahul, to be directed by Prakash Jha. Ghai, never one to brook nonsense from any star, is said to have put Manoj in his place, casting newfind Jatin Grewal (see Celeb Chat on Page 16) in the film’s title role.
The reason? Manoj’s said to have demanded an “astronomical sum” (a Rs 35 lakh fee, sources say) for playing the role. This when most actors worth their salt would be willing to take a cut in their pay cheques, to be able to work with the high-profile Mukta Arts banner. After all, stars like Jackie Shroff and Sunil Shetty have been known to do so to work with good banners in the past.
To be fair to Manoj, though, the rumours are yet to be corroborated. Reacting to a recent take in this column, hinting that he’d been demanding huge sums by way of fees, he’d written in to SCREEN, explaining that was hardly the case. Contrary to rumours that he’d priced himself too high, he said he’d loaned money to a cash crunch-hit producer himself, to ensure the timely release of his movie. Hence, the fresh spate of rumours are unlikely to amuse him. Care to talk to us about it, Manoj?    

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SHINDIG WITH SANTANA
AGREED. News that RAHUL BOSE is soon to turn director is old hat. In fact, we’d broken the news ourselves, a while ago, in this very column. But wait till you hear the latest: Bose is set to create movie history, having signed multiple Grammy-winning sensation, Carlos Santana, no less, to perform the film’s title track. And guess who’s scoring the background music? Our very own Zakir Hussain.
The film, Everybody Says I’m Fine, set to go on the floors in November, has Anahita Oberoi, Pooja Bhatt, Boman Irani and Rehan Engineer in key roles, with Bose himself essaying a comedy-laden role. Vikas Sivaraman (remember Sarfarosh?) cranks the camera while Shiamak Davar choreographs the dances for the film, which also has Hemant Trivedi chipping in with the costumes and Aradhana Seth designing the sets. Sure, with big names like these to back him, Bose has managed to pull off a major coup for the soon-to-roll opus. And everybody’s indeed, saying Bose is doing just fine. But the question is, does he have an engaging enough script to match?

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NOW FOR SOME
PREMATURE GREY HAIR
AFTAB SHIVDASANI’s all eager and waiting to set unpleasant memories surrounding the Mast fiasco to rest. Hopefully for good. It was billed as a dream assignment for the handsome hunk, what with a great director to work with, and not to forget, an interesting script and famous co-star. But Mast failed to live up to its title or billing, despite a promising initial at the turnstiles.
So what’s Aftab on to next? Well, hold your horses, we’re coming to it. The 22-year-old’s playing a middle-aged man in Kasoor. It’s an unconventional choice, a dark, brooding, offbeat movie. Sounds interesting to us. But will the junta think so too?    

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VISIT TO HELEN COUNTRY
UNTIL not so long ago, she reigned over Mumbai cinema as a sought-after sultry vamp who danced to dazzle.
Now, the yesteryear bombshell is soon to make a reappearance on the boob tube, courtesy DD Metro’s Nine Gold. The channel pays a tribute to the sizzling diva in a special live concert.
Wait, you haven’t heard it all. The concert will also feature the likes of Aishwarya Rai, Raveena Tandon, Shilpa Shetty and Urmila Matondkar performing HELEN’s yesteryear heart-stoppers like
Piya Tu... Aa jaane jaan and Mehbooba mehbooba. It will also trace Helen’s career from the early 50s to the 90s.
The series is to be beemed early this month. Interested? Well, you know where to catch the show now.

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Shaju George Alex
With inputs from Subhash K Jha and Shoma Chatterjee

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