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HONEYMOON
INTERRUPTED
 AKSHAY
KUMAR, as we reported last week, headed straight for the airport
following a scintillating performance at the Screen-Videocon
Awards. He was headed for a secret honeymoon destination in
Malaysia with wife of a few days, TWINKLE.
Indeed, life’s a series of interrupted honeymoons for
our good old hunk. Barely was he back home from a cruise with
Twinkle, than he decided to tie the knot well away from the
glare of the public eye. And though he was married but for
a few hours, he graciously consented to perform that wow number
for us on awards’ nite. And the Malaysia jaunt’s
but a brief pleasurable interlude before work beckons again...
TWINKLE, meanwhile, is playing the new wife and bahu to the
hilt. She dutifully drove her friends and in-laws to the awards
venue. Much to our amazement, she managed to sneak in to her
hubby dearest’s dressing room backstage. How she managed
to work her way round the heavy security and entry checks
still confounds us. Then, having checked for their flight
details and made sure which of her husband’s cardigans
to pack for the trip, she sneaked out again, just as surreptitiously
as she got in.
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AFTER THE BIRD’S FLOWN
VISIT Vaastu, Twinkle’s maiden home in Mumbai, today,
and you’ll swear the place isn’t the same again
in her absence. Even the maid who opens the door and ushers
you in will tell you it’s like an empty nest without
her Twinkle to light it up.
Sister RINKE, her old roommate at home who couldn’t wait
to see her leave, so she’d have the room all to herself,
now confesses she can’t bear to be in the room without
her. There’s an “aching void” she’s yet
to come to terms with.
But the one who’s pining for Twinkle the most is mom
DIMPLE, of course. All it takes is one phone call from Twinkle
telling her she’s coming home for dinner, for her to
drop everything she’s doing — even overseeing work
at her candle-making outfit, Faraway Tree, to rush back home.
And sure enough, Twinkle’s bound to have a bowl of her
favourite, steaming jhinga (prawn) curry waiting for her.
Twenty years ago, almost to the day, when Dimple had married
Rajesh Khanna, everyone at her own home Samudra Mahal, including
her mom and brother, would rush to welcome her. Now it’s
Dimple’s turn to play doting mother.
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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SKIPPER
AHOY!
FOR ANUPAM KHER it’s a dream come true. We were there
to watch him take his first few diffident steps as director,
when his film, Om Jai Jagdish was launched.
He has none of the pretensions or the swagger that are the
average director’s stocks in trade. Why, we thought he
looked more like a school teacher (he was that at one time,
remember?) than a movie director. It isn’t about appearances
alone: for he doesn’t bark out instructions like “Start
sound,” “Music” or “Dialogue” as
others do. There’s an almost apologetic air about him
as he mouths them. And best of all, he’s approachable
even on the sets.
But there the resemblances to a tyro end, as even seasoned
campaigners like Anil Kapoor and Tabu realised: they were
made to sweat through each scene till Kher thought they’d
got it just right.
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QUICK TO TAKE HINT
MET AISHWARYA RAI at the muhurat of pal Anupam Kher’s
debut effort as director, Om Jai Jagdish. She’d had to
bunk a half day’s shoo t
of Karan Johar’s Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham to put in an
appearance at the launch function. So the visit was a cameo
of sorts that lasted but a few minutes.
Yash Chopra was present at the muhurat too. And we overheard
him tell Ash, all in jest of course, “Okay, you’ve
come to meet Anupam. Now that you’ve finished saying
‘Hi’ to all of us, why don’t you go back to
work now, where there’s an entire unit waiting for you?”
“I was going to do just that,” she said, shooting
up from her chair like an obedient schoolgirl. Then, almost
in a flash, as it were, she was gone.
Bhansali, meanwhile, canned scenes with Milind Gunaji, instead.
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DISTANT
BELLS
SO MANISHA KOIRALA, if rumours are to be believed, is all
set to tie the knot. Her fairytale man, it turns out, is the
current Australian ambassador to Nepal. Christpin Conroy’s
the name. Conroy was married to an Italian woman, but has
already obtained the divorce papers, clearing the way for
an early wedding. They met in connection with Manisha’s
work to rehabilitate Nepali prostitutes.
There’s a catch to the story, though: Manisha has to
complete her shoots for Rajkumar Santoshi’s Lajja, before
she can set a date for the wedding and Conroy himself is tied
up with work at the moment. Rumour has it that they’re
already engaged, and have plumped for an August date. Now
that’s a good six months away and neither is likely to
have much time for the other till then.
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WAITING FOR GODOT
NOW that AAMIR KHAN’s wife, REENA has turned producer
with Lagaan, she’s discovering that everything he’d
told her about the film industr y
is true. He’d warned her that filmfolk were emotional,
disorganised, even unprofessional. But she’d reckoned
she could easily work her way around all that.
On a recent visit to Chennai, however, she discovered, she
had to make allowances for unexpected delays. Getting AR Rahman’s
dates for the movie was becoming quite an ordeal, and half-way
through the trip, a frustrated Reena called up to say she
was throwing in the towel. “There’s no use waiting,”
she told Aamir.
But Aamir would have none of it. He told her she wasn’t
leaving until she got what she’d come for. “Now
you know how difficult it is to organise things in moviedom.
Go on and learn it the hard way,” he said.
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HOME’S
WHERE THE HEART IS
PREM CHOPRA may be the arch villain in the movies, today,
but off screen, he’s a thorough gentleman, a doting dad
of three girls. He leads a disciplined life, too, one without
frills and wild parties. What’s more, his favourite place
on earth is home.
Every evening after he gets back from shoots, he has a quick
shower and a daily quota of just one drink, before he plumps
into his favourite sofa to watch the telly, especially, pal
Amitabh Bachchan in Kaun Banega Crorepati. Then, no matter
who invites him where, he refuses to budge. Till 10 am the
next day, home’s where he likes to be.
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PRIVATE PUBLICITY MAN
TALKING of Prem Chopra reminds us, his eldest son-in-law,
this time’s Screen-Videocon Award winner for best publicity
design, RAHU L
NANDA, is a bit of a recluse, too. There’s no way you
can get him to even answer the phone once he reaches home,
let alone accept an invite.
The other day, his wife’s friend invited him to a wedding,
and when it turned out to be of no avail, she even tried a
bit of emotional blackmail: “You know I’ve never
invited you anywhere. This is the first time I’m doing
so,” she said. “Liar,” he said, “you do,
every day!”
Of course, turn up for the wedding Nanda never did.
We did catch him at the O2J (that’s industryspeak for
Om Jai Jagdish) launch, though. But even here, he kept a characteristic
low profile, hanging around in a corner until friends approached
him for a hug. For a publicity designer, there’s nothing
he shuns so much as publicity for himself.
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MUSIC DOWN THE YEARS
WHAT’S producer BOBBY BEDI of Bandit Queen fame been
up to lately? Co-producing, along with Films Division, a series
on the contemporary history of India, one that focuses on
the content of our cinema and music.
Says Bedi, “Music is the most effective aid for memories.
One note of music from the past is enough to set our minds
racing into the evergreen vistas of nostalgia. Our series
co-relates foot-tapping music, soulful lyrics and simultaneously
traces the historic events that influenced generations of
Indians. It’s going to be as different from a boring
history lecture as it can get.
Each episode in the series will be 30 minutes long, and will
be directed by Bedi himself. Bobby recently produced a serial
titled Rajdhani for STAR Plus, but it was abruptly taken off
air following a sudden change in the channel’s policy.
Ambaresh Kumar, a PhD in Cinema has done the research and
scripting on the series. The final output on digital-beta
will be sold on VCD/DVD formats, in addition to selling them
to the satellite channels.
Shaju George Alex
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