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MATTERS
SARTORIAL
TABU was in a dilemma before the Screen Awards. What should
she wear to the awards nite, considering she’d been nominated
for best actress, for her role in Astitva? In the end, she
decided it was best to wear something glamorous since she’d
been nominated for a serious role. “When I’m nominated
for a performance in a glam-puss role. I’ll wear something
sober,” she twinkled.
Well, win she did, of course. And Tabu thanked her mom profusely
for letting her wear her cotton sarees in Astitva. That brings
us to the question: oughtn’t Tabu’s mom have been
nominated for the best costumes, too?
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MEETING OF GENERATIONS
RANI MUKERJI was as much of a hit on stage, where she presented
a medley of her hits, as off it. Back stage, she had other
heartthrobs like Rekha and Sridevi gushing about her. Rekha,
for instance, was spotted introducing Rani to a friend, “You
know she’s just like one of us, a bilkul apni jaisi type.”
Talking of SRIDEVI reminds us, she had our other guests eating
out of her palm. And Sri was in her elements, too, gushing
on about her kids. Jahnvi, her little girl, is a big fan of
Hrithik Roshan’s and Preity Zinta’s. Her favourite
pastime, we’re told, is hanging out on the terrace of
her home, Green Acres, in her best dress, and waving out to
every aeroplane that shoots by in the sky. Guess why? She
does so in the fond hope that some day, she may prompt either
Hrithik or Preity to parachute down from the plane, and take
her out on a dream date.
Well, we have more on the little moppet. Every time Sridevi
dresses up for a big event, she asks Jahnvi how she looks.
And Jahnvi squeels, “Wow!” Then comes the stock
rejoinder, much to her momma’s anguish, “But Preity
Zinta looks a lot better.”
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MISSNG
HRISHIDA
HRISHIKESH MUKHERJEE, along with Pran and Lata Mangeshkar
was one of our chosen ones for the Lifetime Achievement Award
for his invaluable contributions to Hindi cinema. Hrishida
was thrilled to be accorded the honour. “The Screen Awards
are special and this will be your golden jubilee year, right?
I’ll definitely be there,” he’d promised.
Just weeks before D-day, however, he fell seriously ill. “There’s
no way he can get there,” his family who had gathered
by his bedside decided finally. It was our loss more than
his.
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TURNING
UP BY PROXY
SANJAY LEELA BHANSALI wasn’t present on our big night.
But he was there by proxy. Wonder how?
Well, Bhansali’s been up to his neck in work, shooting
for his much-awaited opus, Devdas, almost around the clock.
There have been several interruptions to the shoots, and Bhansali’s
been at work like one possessed, making up for lost time.
But we managed to coax him into letting Madhuri Dixit attend
the function. She was there, much to our delight, representing
the entire unit. It goes without saying that the queen bee
dashed straight for the shoots after curtain fall.
Bhansali, meanwhile, canned scenes with Milind Gunaji, instead.
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COOL
AS CUCUMBER
URMILA MATONDKAR, needless to say, was yet another star act
at the Screen do. We caught her backstage before the big event.
Was she nervous before her act? She didn’t show.
There was but an hour left for her to go on stage. And Urmila
could be heard barking instructions to her driver about where
to park the car. When the confused driver tried to get a word
in in edgeways, she winked at us, “I don’t see why
people are using their brains when somebody else is using
it for them."
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TECH-AIDED MEMORY
SHABANA AZMI, as always, was in her elements on stage, presenting
a recap on Screen’s glorious history. She could as well
have been expounding on one of her pet themes in Parliament,
the way she gushed on.
She’d had her speech typed and ready before she went
up stage. And though she had the sheef of papers in her hand,
she didn’t need to look at them even once in the course
of her long eulogy on Screen. Were we impressed? Dumb-founded
is more like it. “How did you manage to memorise the
entire speech at such short notice?” we asked her. “I
had the tele-prompter on, silly,” she quipped.
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ALMOST
BUT NOT QUITE
ANU MALIK’s sure an emotional man. He missed the award
for best music director by a cat’s whisker, though there
are those among us who thought he ought to have won it. He’d
been nominated for two films, Fiza and Josh, but Rajesh Roshan
pipped him to the post in a humdinger.
Later in the week, we ran into the maestro at Javed Akhtar’s
home, where a music sitting was in progress. “I was much
too disappointed for words on not winning the award,”
he admitted. If only we’d known what to say to console
him.
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A STATEMENT IN BABYPINK
RATI AGNIHOTRI was there. too. She set eyes turning her way
in a babypink saree, a scene-stealer even in the ocean of
pretty faces. She’s the flavour of the scene in Mumbai
cinema after Kuch Khatti Kuch Meethi. And she’s the one
who’s profited most from the movie, more perhaps than
even Kajol.
There’s been a glut of pretty, glamorous faces to play
the mom on screen. In Rati Agnihotri, producers seem to have
discovered just that. And Rati, sure, is enjoying every bit
of the second inning.
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STANDING BY HIS MOVIE
GAJA Gamini, let’s face it, hasn’t quite set the
cash registers ringing, the hype, and Madhuri Dixit notwithstanding.
But MF HUSAIN’s neither suprised nor rattled by it. Neither
is he willing, just yet, to write off his first movie as a
temporary lapse of reason that’s to be quickly forgotten.
That perhaps explains why he flew in to Kolkata the other
day to mark the film’s release at Chaplin Hall. And,
not to forget, inaugurate an exhibition of his paintings inspired
by the movie at the Academy of Fine Arts. Husain’s still
committed to taking the movie to every nook and corner of
the country.
“I didn’t make the film for commercial success.
Basically, it’s my tribute to womanhood as I see it from
my own personal vision. It’s a theme that’s still
dear to my heart. But I didn’t make the film to tell
a story either, concentrating instead, on incorporating elements
of paintings into the language of cinema,” he said at
a crowded press conference.
Husain didn’t forget to tug at sentimental Bengali heart
strings, recounting his first visit to the city in 1936, to
work on the posters for V Shantaram’s Do Aankhen Barah
Haath. “It feels good to come back, this time with the
movie I’ve been yearning to make for the last 60 years,”
he said to resounding applause.
Shaju George Alex
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