HOMAGE TO HIS MEMORY
I pay homage to the memory of Mohammed Rafi, on the occasion of his birthday (December 4). Yaad Rafi Saheb ke marne ke baad bhi marti nahi, woh gam ban ke rehti hai magar jati nahi.
If Mohammed Rafi Saheb could talk to us now, here’s what he’d probably say:
Muhje yaad karne wale,
Tere saat saat hu mai,
Jo kabhi no khatam hogi,
Wohi dil ki baat hu main,
Main juda bhi hoke tujhse
Main kabi juda nahi hu.
S Hardeep Singh,
Melaka, Malaysia.

THE ROYAL IGNORE
I wish to bring to your notice the fact that the last time Mithun Chakraborty was featured on the cover of SCREEN was in the issue dated February 12, 1999, almost a year and eight months ago. It is a crying shame that India’s largest entertainment weekly hasn’t done a cover story on Mithun all this while. Surely, a man like Mithun Chakraborty ought to be decorated with more cover stories, don’t you think?
Roopan Narayanan
Peringammala, Thiruvananthapuram.

IN AGREEMENT
I am in full agreement with the letter of K Raghunath "Double Standards," (SCREEN, November 3). Not only have modern heroines learned to influence the gossip press, they also seem to have bought over TV critics. There is this insufferably smug, supercilious, self-important TV reviewer who wrote off Madhuri Dixit after a couple of flops, and who said about Prem Granth that it was the last nail in her coffin. The same fellow now glosses over Karisma’s and Aishwarya’s flops by saying that they have had hits in the past so a few failures do not matter.
V Srinivas
Ashok Nagar, Chennai

PRICE OF EXCELLENCE
While agreeing with K Raghunath on his letter "Double Standards" (SCREEN, November 3), I would like to add: If Madhuri Dixit and Sridevi were taken to task by the media for their flops, it was because they were probably the only heroines since the 50s to be considered capable of carrying films on their own.

Madhuri, in particular, turned several ordinary films single handedly into super hits. No one expects the likes of Karisma and Aishwarya to "carry" films on their own. They are always secondary to their heroes. So when the films flop it is the heroes who get the blame. Since Madhuri and Sridevi overshadowed their heroes they had to take the flak. It is the price excellence has to pay in a world full of mediocrity.
RK Sarma
RA Puram, Chennai

NOVEMBER’S STAR
THROUGH SCREEN, I would like to greet my favourite actress Juhi Chawla on her birthday (November, 13). Juhi would have been a real threat to the present number ones had not Cupid struck her. But there is still time and Juhi is on her way back. She has to bring out the acting mettle in her. As a great fan, I’m eagerly awaiting her forthcoming movies.
Prashant Mukund
Thalikkavu, Kannoor

IN ANUPAM’S WAKE
I have been a regular reader of SCREEN for the last nine years.
Now that your column, "Ask Anupam", has been stopped, why not start a similar column with the likes of Dev Anand, Dilip Kumar, Ashok Kumar, Amol Palekar or Mahesh Bhatt?
Abdul Razak,
Lohegaon, Pune