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Short Takes
Jet, set,
go
Rani Mukerji lives out of suitcases. She really does.
Back after putting up 35 shows on her month and a half long Euro-American
tour with Aamir-Ash-Akshaye, she shot off to Jodhpur that very day for Pranlal
Mehta’s Govinda starrer. A week later she was in Delhi for an ad-related
press meet from where she went to Chennai to shoot with Anil Kapoor. Phew!
That’s not all, from Chennai she air-dashed straight to Switzerland
for Salim Akhtar’s Baadal from where she flew down to Calcutta just
for a day for Durga Pooja. Back to Switzerland and then she will be in Mumbai
for a while before taking off for a month long schedule in Mauritius. So
you realise now how tough it is for our tribe to keep a track of this busy
bee?
A dose of
Ayurveda
Wonder what ace filmmaker Sai Paranjpye is upto these
days? Besides being the chairperson of CFS and churning out an occasional
tele-serial, that is. Sai fans will be immensely relieved to know that the
lady is swinging back in action. She’s ready with an interesting script,
"It’s a love story with Ayurveda in the backdrop. It’s about a
German doctor who visits India to study Ayurveda, he’s the pivotal hero
of the film. He falls in love with a native," elaborates Ms Paranjpye. To
be produced by a German medical company, this film - we are sure - will be
just what the doc ordered. The time is just right for alternate cinema of
Sai’s making.
Where
to?
Sushmita Sen has called off her shooting for four days
between November 18 and 21. The erstwhile Ms Universe will be in Dubai for
those four days. For a show or a shoot or just a vacation ? The lady just
smiled enigmatically at all those who asked her about her much-publicised
trip to the Middle East. Not even a persuasive Yogesh, the director of Aaghaaz,
could get her to divulge details on her Dubai trip. The Scorpio lady was
at her secretive best. But we know what she has in mind - she wants to usher
her birthday on Nov 19 and really let her hair down partying. We wish the
birthday gal great times ahead.
Street
smart?
Juhi Chawla turned down the role of a street walker
in Mahesh Manjrekar’s Vaastav on the grounds that the language of the
film was "extremely streetlike". Manjrekar argues hotly,"How else did she
expect a prostitute to speak, in Queen’s language? The character was
true to life, it didn’t even have any skin exposure. She doen’t
object to the bottom slapping and hip-swaying in the other films but when
it came to playing a realistic role - she backed out. And then these girls
say that they aren’t being offered substantial roles," he lashes out
angrily. Over to Juhi now.
Dinner
date
Rumour mills had it that Bobby Deol and Akshay Kumar
had a massive showdown in Switzerland while shooting for Abbas-Mustan’s
Talaash. The cause of dissent was apparently Bobby’s sudden flight back
home to round off home-production Dillagi. Since all the scenes involved
both the actors, Akki was left high and dry in the cool climes of the Alps
as Bobby abandoned the shoot midway. When we broached the topic with Bobby
recently, he seemed genuinely surprised,"Hey that’s a new one. But let
me put it straight that we both are close buddies and we are trying to have
dinner together sometime. But both of us are engaged in our ways and it’s
difficult for us to co-ordinate the dinner date," he clarifies. If it’s
peace and friendship - we are all for it Bobs.
A matter of
honour
Akshay Kumar dashed off to the US for stage shows with
Rekha and Manisha only four days after his father’s death. He didn’t
even observe the requisite period of mourning before getting on with business
as usual and many admonishing eyebrows were raised by the industry veterans.
But Akshay has an explanation for it, the bereaved son says that it’s
not as if he’s running after money. It has taken a lot of effort on
his part to steel himself and carry on with the show. It was done only to
honour his commitment, says Akki. He didn’t want the organisers to incur
losses because of him. Our heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family.
And we are sure that papa Bhatia must be smiling proudly at his brave beta
from up above there.
Millennium
movie
Apna thinking Khan has wrapped up all the films on
hand. He has even wound up dubbing for his forthcoing release Mela. And then
he takes a headlong plunge into his home-production Lagaan. He hasn’t
been taking up fresh offers for a while now. He wants to give his all to
the period film he’s making with buddy Ashutosh Gowarikar as the director.
Towards the end of the millennium, Khan will proceed to the colourful desert
town of Bhuj and he will stay put there until he winds up the film. "On May
4 to be precise," informs Aamir. That well-planned the project is.
Driven to
anger
The latest on the grapevine is that Bihari babu Manoj
Bajpai has been rather harsh on his chauffeur. He has not only withheld the
salary of the poor chap and he has even been depriving him of his supper.
So we questioned the Shool man about violating human rights and he clarified,"Oh
that chap dug his own grave. He never reported on time and inspite of having
a Honda City of my own I was forced to hop into a rick. Moreover this chap
was a gossip monger. I thought we were best parted. I have a new, efficient
driver now," he adds. The trouble seems to be over for the time now.
Shining at seventy
Oozing with energy and enthusiasm, these two
septuagenarians can really hold the court still. Dev Anand, 77 and Lata
Mangeshkar, 70 regaled the small gathering of musicians and film persons
at Western Outdoors recording studios recently at the song recording of Censor.
It was a day to remember as the nightingale crooned and the evergreen hero
swayed to her melodious voice. It took Lata didi just about half an hour
to wrap up the song and then she emerged out of the recording room, smiling
sweetly and posing for keepsakes with everybody. "She’s my younger sister,"
declared Dev sahab with a flourish and Lataji just smiled back, gathered
her while pallav and her two long braids and breezed out effortlessly to
get the lift to descend four floors down. Dev Anand dashed swiftly after
her to see her off. And the rest of us were left panting, trying to catch
up with the dashing duo in vain.
Deepa
Karmalkar with, Namita Nivas, Alok Mathur and UTN