KARGIL AUR KHAJURAHO
Whatever happened to all those filmmakers whose hearts bled and led them to launch several films based on the bitter struggle in Kashmir and the unforgettable battle in Kargil in which so many of our brave young men lost their lives defending our motherland. It is more than a year since all those noble men decided to make their great films to honour the brave sons of India. They seem to be having second thoughts when they think of that all-important "god" called money. I heard one of them even saying "making one of those semi-pornographic films in the guise of films on Khajuraho is a greater guarantee than making a film on risky subjects like Kashmir and Kargil. What kind of patriotism is this where patriots have a stronger feeling for money than for their own motherland which has made them what they are? Incidentally, there are at least eight films being made on Khajuraho. Why this sudden interest in Khajuraho?

And there are more than ten films being made on Kashmir and Kargil. There has been no progress being made on the Kashmir and Kargil films because no one is interested, because no one really cares in these times when the only thing man thinks about is money and more money.

STILL GOING STRONG
It has happened to some of the greatest superstars, especially to superstars like Rajesh Khanna, who started this "superstar system in the seventies and then was overtaken by Amitabh Bachchan who was once given up as a lost case after he had eight flops in a row and surprisingly and deservingly his superstardom is still going strong for the last twenty eight years. He has ruled supreme, while others have come and gone, risen and fallen, within a short span of time.

AND GROWING STRONGER
“AB", today is a bigger superstar than he or anyone before him was after he started the most unexpected Kaun Banega Krorepati on TV. And then one saw some good meaningful films coming after doing Mohabbatein, the film that proved that the actor can never do a bad job till he is given a bad film. Strangely, it is a TV show which has succeeded in bringing back the most successful superstar at a time when the Indian film industry was almost looking for ways and means to politely show him the way.

Millions of people stay away from whatever they are busy with, stay as close to a TV set as possible to make sure that they don’t miss any scene in KBC I wonder why KBC cannot be shown on every day when the superstar is so good that his work has become the talk of the nation, the theme of competitions, fodder for the ravings of politicians of all kinds and even sermons and talks by religious and social leaders. It is difficult to believe that the superstar at fifty eight has come closer to his people, much closer than when he was Amitabh Bachchan, the distant superstar. "He seems to be so human, so touchable, so takable, if I may say, so much like a man who doesn’t act or play but is the man he is in real life," a leading Internationally known female star who doesn’t miss a single show of KBC says. This one show reminds people like me of the days of the Ramayan and Mahabharat which were shown on TV for years, TV serials which made ordinary actors into "god" and "godesses". Amitabh has a long way to go before he reaches the popularity of those serials but there is no doubt he will beat them. What can you say when a three-year-old boy or a ninety three old man or woman refuses to go to bed before seeing KBC. They have "locked" Amitabh in their hearts thus giving him an easy chance to accomplish what ever he wants, like he has throughout his life.

And as I write a distributor friend from Mumbai drops in and says, "It is time we stopped the 9 pm show in all our theatres and all other entertainment shows. After all, who goes to see anything but KBC, the one programme that has taken every one by surprise first and now turned into a storm which can not be stopped by pygmies, plagiarists, and tamashawalas.

MAMATA AND HRITHIK
And the latest about the Hrithik mania was a very intriguing scene I saw in the most humble house of our dear, fiery Minister for Railways, Ms Mamata Banerjee in Calcutta. I managed to reach her house with the saint-like Sunil Dutt, a close friend of Mamata. It was the first time I found a leader following what she stood for and spoke against. There was a huge ancient wooden bed on which her mother either slept or sat with great difficulty. Mamata was out in the streets collecting funds for the flood affected people of Bhubaneshwar. There was a small kitchen, some children running up and down the house, making all kinds of sounds disturbing the old woman. She shooed them off and welcomed Dutt Sahab who was a regular visitor to the house whenever he was in Calcutta.

And, surprisingly, as I looked around the house which was like any other house in the locality I saw a colour photograph of the heartthrob of the nation. Yes, it was a picture of Hrithik Roshan. He had a follower in one of the most well-known leaders of the country. Hrithik had already been invited over breakfast by the prime minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee and there are many other politicians, I know, who would give their right hand to have Hrithik at one of their rallies, something which Hrithik has vowed to stay for away from. " No politics for me, no politics of any kind anywhere" Hrithik says. And as Dutt Sahab followed me with his walking stick a huge crowd gathered, shouting slogans praising both Dutt Sahab and Mamata. One young follower of Mamata came up to me and said: "If only we had ten leaders like Dutt Sahab and Mamata we would have had a better country. I listen to him carefully but that one question kept rankling in my mind. Hrithik Roshan in Mamata Banerjee’s house? A number of thoughts rose in my mind all the time I was in Calcutta and I still think of that picture of Hrithik in that great leader’s house. Politicians, basically hate stars for their popularity. Some of them even "use" them. I don’t know why Hrithik had such a prominent place in the house of such a prominent leader who could even claim to be the prime minister one day.

THE YOUNG ONES
Let’s take a quick look at what some of the talented young ones are up to because on what they are up to depends so much of the future, the future we are all so anxious about.
The young Meghna Gulzar has completed a major part of her film, Filahaal, with Tabu and Sushmita Sen playing the leading roles. Farhan Khan, son of Javed Akhtar is soaring ahead with his Dil Chahata Hai. Karan Johar who created box-office history with his very first film has just started Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Ghum with some of the most talented artistes in the cast, including Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan and Hrithik Roshan and Tanuja Chandra is already on to her third film. Anurag Kashyap who wrote Satya has almost completed Paanch, which he also directs Tejaswini Kolhapure, sister of Padmini Kolhapure who makes her debut. The young choreographer Farah Khan is all set to start her own film with probably, Shah Rukh Khan, her favourite in it. Sanjeev-Darshan, the sons of music director Shravan are doing inspiring work, creating music which will last - and they are so young. Goldie Behl is making his film with Abhishek Bachchan. Sooraj Barjatya and Aditya Chopra who started an entire new trend of film making are busy working on their scripts and Sanjay Bhansali is working on something very delicate, romantic, sensitive and real in treatment and so is Santosh Sivan, the multi award-winning cinematographer. If these youngsters don’t do it the future will have to take a new look at itself. So, let them do it, go for it.

OH PRIYA, PRIYA
Looks like history when you think of the days when Priya Tendulkar took the entire nation, including the then prime minister, the late Rajiv Gandhi, to a world which was a new world, an every day world which was new to all those who had shut their eyes to the realities of the real world. Priya then got married to the man who played her husband in Rajni, tried to make a good marriage out of it which was one of our pet dreams but failed miserably and the marriage ended in a divorce

Priya next took to writing and within no time had three very powerful, popular and award- winning novels to her credit. She also came back to Marathi theatre and television serials and other Hindi serials. But the best she did was "The Priya Tendulkar Show" which was also very popular but didn’t reach the people on high for whom it was aimed. Her father, the venerable Vijay Tendulkar, was the man who inspired her to carry on with her show even though she had a crowd of problems blocking her way all the time. The show was one more chapter in the life of a girl who started life in a five-star hotel and worked just for sixteen days, a girl who became an air-hostess and then took to acting just because her sister, Sushama couldn’t do a very important play written by her father. She took her place within a day in a very difficult play and never looked back.

Priya is now fighting back to prove her talent, talent abounding, talent over-flowing like I have always said and seen. Her courage of conviction as a social activist are well known and so is her concern for the suffering, the sick and the downtrodden. She is one of those women leading the way to a better India. All she and other girls like her need are the facilities and the inspiration from all sections of people who matter, people with a mind who mind. They will have to get them soon because, other wise they are the kind of women who will grab them, fight for them.

Priya’s next chat show is called Zimmedar Kaun? in which she expects to continue her fight against society, against any community, any class which causes a chasm between Indians and Indians. I have known Priya for the last eighteen years. I have seen the fire in her. I have also seen her will which will never let her fire die down.