SHORT TAKES

APOLOGETIC AAMIR
At Madhuri’s earlier bash at the same venue amongst all the celebs Aamir Khan was conspicuous by his absence. Since he and Madhuri have a dil ka rishta, everyone was surprised to find him missing specially when they were informed that he had been there on the guest list. Aamir however dropped in at Madhuri’s apartment the next morning to apologise for his absence. Seems wife Reena who delivered a bonny baby girl the next day, got her contractions that very evening and there was no way the concerned hubby could leave his wifey to party. You’re forgiven Mr Khan.

THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT!
Madhuri clebrated her birthday with the press at the Holiday Inn this year. And surprisingly, she was at ease with the fourth estate. She smiled at them and for their cameras. And at the fag end of the evening, even burst into a song for the few journos who were left. Obviously in high spirits, the dil-breaker tried to cajole her guests to shake a leg but when they couldn’t be persuaded to join her on the dance floor she decided they could at least sing for her and with her. It ended up with Madhuri herself doing most of the entertaining. She crooned everything from the title track of her latest b-o grosser, Dil To Pagal Hai to an old favourite from Anjaam, Athrah baras ki kawari kali thi and the Ram Lakhan chart-topper, Bada dukh dena. Mama joined her for a song or two and we have to say that both ma beti are surprisingly good vocalists.

CONFIDENT SALIM
Producer Salim is distributing his next film Mehendi himself. The buyers have been flocking in but Salim is so confident of this Faraaz Khan-Rani Mukerji starrer that he’s hoping for a bonanza. And would like to rake in all the moollah for himself.

PICTURE PERFECT
Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Kareeb is scheduled for June 26 and one would have expected him to be through with all the production and post production by now. So people were surprised to find him shooting a song at Natraj Studios recently. Appa-rently, he was only shooting one antara and was expected to wrap up the shoot in a couple of hours. But Vinod being the perfectionist that he is, was there even late in the evening, fiddling with his lights and instructing his artistes, unwilling to retire till he had the perfect shot.

BEDDY BLUES
During a recent outdoors Govinda was booked into a five-star hotel as usual. But at the end of the day, when the star returned to his room hoping for a good night’s sleep, he found himself tossing and turning for a while because the bed was too uncomfortable. And what did Chi-Chi do? No, he didn’t give housekeeping a buzz to rave and rant. Instead he whipped the sheet off and spread it out on the floor. And curling up in this make-shift bed he promptly went off to sleep. The next morning he was there on the sets looking fresh and perky. “I had a great snooze,” he beamed. “Sleeping on the floor brought back many happy memories of the good old days when I couldn’t afford Kurlon comfort.”

THE OBLIGING BACHCHANS
Recently, on the sets of Major Saab Amitabh Bachchan was shooting a shaadi song with a whole crowd of junior artistes some of whom had been working with him for years. After the last shot had been okayed, many of the ladies crowded around the Big B and insisted he pose with them for a pix for their family album. Bachchan was happy to oblige. And guess, who clicked those keepsake photographs? Bachchan junior. Abhishek is the executive producer of the film and a regular on the sets.

LIVING FOR THE PRESENT
Aroona Irani has worked in more than 500 films and would you believe it, she doesn’t have any stills, no photographs of muhurats and shoots, not even a video cassette of her many films. The reason’s simple. Aroona doesn’t believe in living in the past. “If I had any mementoes I would invariably go through them and mourn about how young and pretty I was then. And that’s a futile exercise. Everyone grows older and I believe in ageing gracefully. I’m quite happy with the way I look today and I’m enjoying every moment, every new day.” Cheerio!