HEALER OF HEARTS
Something that has never happened before. Millions of hearts, female specially, broke when the heartthrob of the nation, Hrithik Roshan married Suzanne Khan, daughter of one-time actor Sanjay Khan. A simple registered marriage at Sanjay’s farm in Bangalore amidst the kind of security V.I.P’s rarely received and a very select gathering of celebrities attended the reception.

Hrithik and his bride will soon leave for New Zealand for their honeymoon followed by a hectic shooting schedule for Mohan Kumar’s new film. "Will the Hrithik magic work after marriage ?" a leading filmmaker and distributor who like many others was shocked over the sudden happy development asked. It will depend on Hrithik’s next release which will take some time -- could be Subhash Ghai’s Yaadein, the pace at which the showman is going about making the film.

Reminds me of the times when Rajesh Khanna, the super-star of the seventies married Dimple Kapadia. The only big difference, the tight security the black cats and commandos all around in the midst of all the celebrations, almost ruining the reverence and solemnity of one of the most unprecedented marriages of our times, something like a marriage amidst a war-like situation.

Will Hrithik’s marriage affect his career? That’s one question on every responsible tongue. "Why, almost all our present day heroes are married, aren’t they? actress Divya Dutta asks. What will all those girls who wrote letters with their blood to the young man who they dreamt was their prince charming do now? And will the postman who carries all those letters to "Kavita", Hrithik’s house wonder why his bag has suddenly gone so light? Too many questions and no clear answers.


THERE’LL NEVER BE .....
What a life this woman has led, a life which no ordinary woman dare live! She was Helen, a small-time dancer in B grade Hindi films. She came up in life but her life was not in her hands. It was taken care of by her “well-wisher”, Mr PN Arora. All that was hers was his. She was just a bonded slave.

She soon zoomed and made it as a star dancer in a class of her own. She was a dancer without whom no big film could be made or a dancer whose presence, just one song and dance could make a film a big film. "Helen hai to sab theek hai, Helen hai na?" the distributors asked before they could enter into a any deal with a producer. It was the time when life was looking down that she met a Prince (he was known as Prince Salim before he became a writer and formed a team with Javed-Akhtar) The Prince fell for Helen and Helen fell for him. But the Prince was a married man with four children. But he defied all conventions, overcame all misunderstandings, even understanding between his first wife and his grown up sons. He first bought her a home where the Khan clan live. The understanding led to sweetness and light and Helen was accepted by Salim’s family.

The Khan sons now look up to her as their mother, seek her blessings before any thing they do. Her coming into the Khan family has brought love, light and understanding and success more than any thing else. Her becoming a part of the Khan family has also inspired her to come back to acting and the dancer who once swayed and swirled and swung in films is now playing meaningful roles in films mostly made by her sons. Helen has overcome all the bitterness of the past which was not so rosy and is now living a comfortable life with the great family which gives her all the respect she deserves for all the sacrifices she has made in life. Almost like a dream come true story.


ANSWERS TO SAVE
Some very crucial questions on whose answers depends the future of this once great industry ( how it pains to say this "once great industry").

When will our stars who are living in fear pass on a major part of their fear to the devils in society?

When will we make good films which will be remembered long after our generation has gone?

When will our writers realise that writing means creating something original and not just lifting stories, ideas and items from our own films and films from different parts of the world?

When will our music directors give us music that will last till the last days of our lives?

When will our stars realise that acting is not just singing and dancing and performing feats and indulging in acrobatics?

When will stars stop talking about crores and start talking about the quality of their work, acting?

When will our producers stop realising that we have much more beautiful locations than all the locations they visit to capture the beauty of their phools (flowers) to fool our gullible people?

When will our filmmakers and every one else involved in the film making of a film learn that film making is not a plaything, not a game but a beautiful blend of entertainment, enlightenment, excitement and money too, lots of it?

When will we know that if we don’t find suitable answers to these crucial questions we will be doomed to damnation? Who wants to see this beautiful world built by some of our geniuses in ruins?


THE RISE AND RISE OF...
If Raveena continues the good work she is determined to do, I am sure she will soon stand out as one of the better actresses, the kind we need to project the Indian woman in the right prospective desperately.

In the beginning, Raveena was just one of those pretty puppets on show and I distinctly remember several experts call her "do char din ki nachne gaane wali gudia". She lived up to their image of her and lived up very successfully. Till realisation seemed to dawn on her and she realised that acting was more than all that nachna gaana in Switzerland and rona dhona in India. I vividly remember some scenes in J. P. Dutta’s tough man-oriented film Kshatriya in which Raveena never let the tough men steal any of her scenes. She was good, she could act and I was glad for her, more glad for her father, my friend, Ravi Tandon (where are you, Mr Tandon?) whose dream it was to see his daughter make it as a good actress. Some more good films, some more appreciation and Raveena was accepted as one of the better actresses. She is taking herself very seriously or the Raveena we have seen in films like Shool and some other recent films would not be the Raveena who is recognised and wanted. Raveena is now taking very delicate steps. She doesn’t want to slip or fall. I am glad again, she is doing a film with Kamal Haasan the man who is a specialist in changing statues and pillars into flesh and blood human beings.

Forget the past, Raveena. Focus on the future which is paved with challenges. It’s not going to be easy. You have to challenge yourself to win and at this stage of your career, I know you have the will to challenge both yourself and any other challenges that come your way.