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Pssst...
Madhuri booked
The high regard M.F. Huss-ain
has for Madhuri Dixit is well known. "No one compares to her," he
says. "I have painted Madhuri countless times but I’ve never shown her
full face. I first met Madhuri in 1994 at an awards function. I was
sitting between Jaya Bachchan and Parmeshwar Godrej, when
I was called on stage to present the Best Actress award. I opened the
envelope, I paused, because I hadn’t seen any of the winner’s films. And
I had closed my ears to her song Ek do teen (Tezaab) which was
blaring from loud-speakers all over the country. I took a deep breath
and ann-ounced, ‘The award goes to Ma-dhuri Dixit.’ I was disappointed,
because I was quite fixated on Sridevi those days. Then I saw
Hum Aapke Hain Koun, and I have been a fan ever since. I saw the
film over 70 times just for her dances. She would take five steps
backwards and shake her dyna-mite hips. I have never known my mother, I
see her also as my Ma...dhuri. A book should be written on her. Her
performances have been extraordinary, but no critic has done her
justice. If no one else writes the book, I will."
Mirror image
The makers of the film
Simran believe Pakistani actress Meera is the mirror image of
Aishwarya Rai. Meera plays Ash in the film based on the
manglik issue that was much discussed when the former Miss World
tied the knot with Abhishek Bachchan. Per-haps what prompted
director Neeraj to cast Meera in the film was the fact that she
is known as the Ashwarya Rai of Pakistan. She’s done 37 films in
Pakistan and has Nazar to her credit in Bollywood.
Unfit to train
Hrithik Roshan is said to be unhappy with Shah Rukh Khan’s
trainer, Prashant Sawant, and has dropped him after just a day’s
work. A source reveals that the exercises recommended by Sawant did not
go down well with Hrithik and he told Sawant that his style of training
did not suit him. Rumour has it that Hrithik was angry with Sawant for
boasting that he was the personal trainer for Hrithik and wife Suzanne
before he was confirmed on the job.
Gauri’s cheat notes
At the star-studded launch of
Anupama Chopra’s book – Shah Rukh Khan and the Seductive World
of Indian Cinema – good friend Karan Johar read excerpts on
Shah Rukh the husband and Shah Rukh the superstar, and Rajkumar
Hirani spoke about the making of the legend. When Gauri Khan was
asked whether she would read the book, she said that though she’d heard
the book was very good, she didn’t need to read it since she knows her
husband better than anyone!
Singers without borders
Pakistani singers are hugely
succesful in In-dia. Shafqat Amanat Ali, better known as the
voice of the erst-while Pakistani band Fuzon, lent his voice to
the superhit Mitwa in Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna. Atif
Aslam (left) and Goher Mumtaz have fans humming along to
Aadat in Mahesh Bhatt’s Kalyug, and Faisal
Kapadia and Bilal Maqsood’s ren-dition of the dark, brooding
Aakhri alvida in Shootout at Lokhand-wala is a big hit.
And now Farida Khanum and Ghulam Ali will feature in an
album with Lata Mangesh-kar. "We will include a song by Mehdi
Hasan which he has com-posed especially for me," says an elated
Mangeshkar.
High price for a bride
There are reports that
Shilpa Shetty has lost what would have been her first British film
because she wanted more money. Sources suggest that the 32-year-old
actress was approached for Quick, Slip Me a Bride, but she quoted
too high a price. A website quoted producer Renu Patel as saying,
"Shilpa agreed to film with us. Now we have been forced to go ahead
without her because she wanted 350,000 pounds and insisted half of this
had to be paid before she shot a single scene".
Laughing all
the way to the bank
Boman Irani, who used to
be a potato chip manufacturer be-fore striking gold in the movies, talks
about his early days as an actor.
"When I was shooting, Shiamak Davar said to
me, ‘You’re a born actor. You should try out theatre.’ So I did stage on
weekends.
"My first role was just a cameo in Alyque
Padamsee’s Roshni, but it got me rave reviews. I was paid
just Rs. 700-Rs.1000 a night, but every Sunday, I’d come back feeling
very pleased with life. I’d done cameos in Josh and Everybody
Says I’m Fine. Let’s Talk came about in 2002. It was a small digital
video film...an experiment, but it went to the Locarno film festival!
Aamir Khan, Ashutosh Gowariker, Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Javed
Akhtar had a look at it and Vinod Chopra said, ‘Dates rakna
(keep yourself free)...next December.’
"That’s how Munnabhai mbbs happened. After that, it’s been
relentless."
Happily unemployed
"Ï don’t know how close Dhamaal is to
It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World because I have not seen It’s a
Mad... All I can say is that Dhamaal lives up to its zany
title and is a laugh riot – in fact, I think it is the funniest film I
have done to-date," says Riteish Deshmukh. "Times are changing.
We are no longer in a structured formula era like in the 70s and the 80s
when you needed to have a hero and a heroine, a villain, two comedians
and four songs." Deshmukh does not deny that he has been typecast ever
since Masti, Kya Kool Hai Hum and Apna Sapna, Money Money
clicked at the box office. "Ï want to do different kinds of roles to
prove my versatility instead of just being smug with my image as a
comedy actor. It is wrong to label an actor who does comedy roles as a
comedian. Paresh Rawal is considered a comedian though he was at
his best in Sardar. Boman Irani looks the character in
every film and yet he is called a comedian." He agrees it is ironic that
an actor struggles to build a certain image but once he acquires it, he
sets out to break that image. Currently, Deshmukh has just one film on
the floors – Alladin – in which he is cast along with Amitabh
Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt and Ayesha Takia. "Besides Alladin,
I do not have any other film – I am an unemployed actor today," he
laughs.
Deshmukh is upset that there are people who feel he got a break
because he happens to be the son of Vilasrao Deshmukh, the chief
minister of Maharashtra. "It is unfortunate if people choose to think
so. It’s true I was signed for Tujhe Meri Kasam when dad was the
chief minister, but I was offered Out of Control, Masti
and Kya Kool Hai Hum when he was not the chief minister."
A different take
Asked to comment on the
rumoured rivaly between her and Aishwarya Rai, Sushmita Sen says,
"My fans who love me need to understand this about me... tho-ugh on the
face of it it’s a com-petition, ultimately you win or lose to yourself.
You are either at your best or you are not. I’m very happy for Ash. She
deserves all that she has and much more. Who she is and what she wants
from her life are very different from who I am and what I want from
mine. For me, success means doing my best in life, not running after the
results. My life is successful because I’ve lived it on my terms and
I’ve lived it with complete conviction, and most of the times I’ve lived
it without fear, which is hard in itself."
Yes, minister
While releasing the
auto-biography of Vyjayanthimala, India’s Finance minister P.
Chid-ambarm (who is 12 years young-er than the actress) confessed
that she was his first crush and he still remembered Sangam,
Naya Daur and Madhumati. Vyjayanthimala was the first,
original dream girl of Indian cinema, he said, and the most dominant
actress of her era. "Who would believe she was born in 1933? She looks
as if she was born in 1963!" he said.
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