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Salman Khan & Aishwarya Rai's Full Story (Cine Blitz 2001)

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Blast From The Past -- For The First Time! Dimple Talks About The Light Of Her Life

Dimple Kapadia insists she makes a lousy interviewee and I wholeheartedly agree with her. So this time I saved myself the trouble of going through the painstaking procedure of first bulldozing her into giving an interview, then patiently coaxing her to come out with crunchy statements, and finally convincing the sensitive actress (during the time gap between the article going into print and hitting the stands) that no, she hadn’t made any derogatory statements to hurt anyone; that she didn’t sound like a hypocrite, that she made an interesting copy!
Phew, the mere thought of it is so exhausting, that every time we come to the closing point of our interview, we promise not to see each other for six months at least! And faithfully try to stick by it!

And before we got down to meeting each other just once a year (which could prove to be detrimental to both our careers) I decided to change my line of action. Instead of conducting the stereo-typed made-to-order question-answer session, I let the ‘Zakhmi Aurat’ speak to her heart’s content for days, weeks and months on end.

Peeling off the superficial mask which has now become a second nature, Dimple Kapadia exposed her innermost, intimate feelings. She opened up about people she loved more than herself. And this time there were no restraints, no play of polished words or studied statements. Just a freewheeling of naked emotions, feelings and desires she had kept under wraps so far.

It was like getting to know a totally different Dimple. The vulnerable softie behind the hard-core actress.

Snatches of our marathon conversation…
Dimple had just returned from her (once in a blue moon) honeymoon with Rajesh Khanna and her teenage daughters. Considering the year before they had a rollicking time together in Nairobi, I teased her about the much awaited grand family reunion. After all she couldn’t possibly have flown all the way to the U.S.A for a measly five day shooting schedule of Jai Shiv Shankar. What’s more, of late her erring husband seemed to be dropping definite hints of wanting her back. In fact, he’d even gone to the extent of disclosing to the American press that making up with his actress-wife is not an impossible possibility. “After all she has been a good mother to my kids,” he is said to have magnanimously announced.

 

Barely had I completed quoting the famous last words, than I noticed that Dimple had suddenly stopped all activity. Flinging her eyebrow brush on the dressing table, she blinked in mock amazement. “Say that again!” she gasped. “I don’t believe it! You must be joking. You must have heard wrong!” she flushed and blushed like a sixteen-year old, unable to accept a simple compliment from the man she had once worshipped. “You mean, Kaka has finally realized my worth. I guess I must quickly make a note of this and hang the merit certificate on the wall. I should preserve it, for keep sake at least!” Then before she could check herself, the caustic remark slipped her. “After all it’s not every day that I get to hear such nice things about myself from Mr. Rajesh Khanna.” Conscious of the fact that she sounded more bitter than she had intended to be, she sighed saying, “I guess patience and goodness does pay in the long run,” and was lost in a world of her own.
Shaking the dreamy-eyed lady out of her stupor, I asked Dimple for the last time if she had any inclination of going back to Aashirwaad for her children’s sake. For surely, both Chinky and Twinkle must’ve been ecstatic when the four of them recently holidayed abroad. After all it was their secret dream to see their parents reconcile their differences. “Are you mad?” Dimple asked incredulously. “Do you really think I’m so foolish as to go running back, when I’ve got everything going for me?” Trying to make me see reason she explained. “For your information there was absolutely no reunion between us in the States. In fact, out of the five days we were there, both of them met their father for precisely one day. They preferred to go shopping and buy the whole of New York instead of accompanying me to the sets, because the place where we were shooting was a five hour drive away.  Not only that, but everything was very disorganized there,” she let out unwittingly. “Like, after we reported for shooting, the dance master didn’t approve of the location. So we wasted a lot of time in location hunting. As a result of which, we hardly saw much of each other.”
Being one of the most successful actresses with a break-neck schedule, Dimple is finding it more and more tough to spend time with her daughters – or so her (ex-husband strongly feels. For according to a Khanna campwalla, Rajesh’s secret grouse against the Number Two heroine is that her career heads her priority list. “That’s why our children are getting mixed up with the wrong kind of people,” he is said to have grumbled, and then added saying, “Maybe I should ask them to start living with me!”

 

Extremely  touchy as far as her own flesh and blood is concerned, Dimple attacked like a wounded tigress as she fiercely lashed out, “Why doesn’t he call them, then!” Her face pinched with pain, she hissed, “If he feels that I am neglecting them, then he is most welcome to keep the children with him at Aashirwaad. What’s stopping him? Certainly not me! Tell me, why doesn’t he call them back from their boarding school,” she fumed. “Incidentally they just love Panchgani and are faring extremely well over there. In fact they are the top rankers in school and always pass with distinction marks,” divulged the proud mother.
Gradually regaining her composure, Dimple’s facial expression softened. “Touch wood. Despite the fact that my babies come from a broken home, they are not complexed or mixed up people. Instead they have grown up into beautiful human beings,” she said affectionately. As Dimple fondly spoke about the centre of her existence, her almond-shaped eyes were filled with a thin film of tears. Choking with emotion she whispered. “And the entire credit goes only to them. Because honestly speaking, I don’t think either Kaka or I contributed to their well-being. Both of us were too wrapped up with our own miseries and my children automatically looked after themselves. In fact I grew up with them.”
Trying to objectively review their past, Dimple recapitulated saying, “Of course it’s not as if everything was smooth sailing all along. We did have our share of rough patches, but then thank God we got over them pretty soon.” With worry lines creasing her pretty face, Dimple anxiously spoke about the time she found it difficult to communicate and cope with her growing daughter. “We went through a phase where Twinkle and I just couldn’t see eye to eye,” confessed the Sagar girl. ”I used to get very upset with her because she was hardly thirteen then and had friends who were all eighteen, nineteen-year-olds. And when you are at that impressionable age, you naturally tend to ape your older friends because you look up to them. You are in awe of them. I know it, since I had gone through the same phase. And that’s why I didn’t want Twinkle to make the same mistakes that I did,” she said wincing at the memory of the nightmarish experience. “But Twinkle would refuse to see reason and we would have lots of arguments and fights. As a result of which, she became even more defiant. Those days, Simple, who is more of a mother to them, used to handle her. She vibes very well with both my children. Sometimes I really wonder what I’d do without Simple.”
Apparently the rough patch disappeared as suddenly as it came. “When Twinkle went back to school after her vacation, she was a totally changed person. In fact when she returned to Bombay in her next holidays, where was no trace of her earlier behavior,” confided the paranoid mother. “I am sure she must have realized herself where she had gone wrong. For she is a very mature girl. In fact even my little one is grown up for her age.”

 

During one of our intense tété-a-tétés, when we were discussing her children’s future, once Dimple totally caught me off balance as she deliberated if she should send Twinkle to live with Rajesh! “After all Kaka is a very lonely man and he needs a lady in that house. So maybe I’ll let Twinkle live with her dad after she finishes school in one year’s time,” she said sounding full of concern. “And Twinkle is just the kind who will take good care of her papa. Then all his drinking and parties will stop. In fact she is at such an age where she’s correcting even me most of the time,” grinned Dimple, her warm smile reaching her eyes.
Driving her point home the amused actress revealed how her adolescent daughter gets all het up whenever Dimple snaps at her younger sister Reem. “Mummy how can you talk to Reem masi like that!” chides the child-woman and immediately takes up for her aunt. “Twinkle is extremely close to Reem. Even more than Simple and I are to her,” informed Dimple.

 

Since the beautiful actress has always remained tight-lipped as far as her kid-sister is concerned, I was curious to know more about her. I wondered what had happened to Reem’s budding film career. And for once Dimple agreed to talk. Shrugging her shoulders, she made light of the matter saying, “Reem is the rebel of our family. She does exactly the opposite of what you ask her to do. Like, if you tell her to wear white, she’ll dress in black. Similarly if you advise her to write poetry, since she has a natural flair for it, she’ll never do it. In fact Reem also has a beautiful voice and I’ve told her umpteen number of times to train it, and take up singing as a profession, but that girl will never listen. That’s why everybody at home has given up on telling her what to do with her life.”
Putting her hair in rollers, Dimple hastily clarified saying. “Of course, it’s not as if I don’t want her to be a heroine. But I just feel that everyone is not cut for this profession. Besides, Reem has a wide range of avenues opened up for her. She can easily take up any course she fancies, or do just about anything, rather than go through the shit; I went through in this industry.

 

It’s not only her sister, but also her younger brother Munna, who Dimple feels responsible for. But unfortunately, Munna somehow has always got a raw deal in life. Maybe that’s why Dimple is only too eager to help him out, to iron out his troubles. Like recently she lent him money to set up a video-library. “But after the initial excitement of buying and recording tapes both my father and he lost interest in the business. They not only thought of winding it up but also gave all the cassette free of charge to a guy who was in need of money. And the next thing I hear is that the same guy instead of being grateful, cheated my Dad off some more money!” laughed Dimple and went on to narrate how her furious papa was all set to beat up that con man.
“Anyway, now I want my brother to go abroad and learn to fend for himself.” She yearned, “Only then will he be able to stand on his own two feet. On second thoughts, I want even Twinkle and Chinky to go abroad for further studies. Since they have the brains and I have the money, I want to give them the best of education. The very best of every thing. And I don’t see what should stop us,” challenged the determined actress.

 

In fact, now that the Number Two heroine has got everything going, there is no stopping her. For after years of endless struggle the never-say-die heroine has finally got her share of happiness. Like she told me herself, “Sometimes I wonder how all of a sudden so many nice things are happening to me. I mean, both my professional and my personal life has never been better. To be very honest there are times when I pinch myself to make sure I am not dreaming it all. And then I wish with all my heart that these days will never pass.” Now before Dimple tells you to do so, quickly touch wood!  

FAST FORWARD
The gorgeous Dimple Kapadia today even at the age of 60 plus is vibrant, vivacious and full of life. A grandmother – both Twinkle and Rinkle have kids – Dimple still does the occasional film. And despite the bright smile she keeps flashing, very few people know that Dimple is one actor who has gone through a lot of pain in her personal life - both her sisters Simple and Reem are no more today and even her ex-husband Rajesh Khanna succumbed to illness. Incidentally, she was there like a pillar of support for all of them until then end. Dimple has also singlehandedly brought up her nephew Karan (Simple’s son) who is all set to debut in films. Ask anybody in the film industry about Dimple, and they’ll talk about her generosity of spirit, her bohemian nature and her warm and caring attitude. No wonder, her alleged friend for many years, Sunny Deol has always been by her side even though they both have never spoken about each other. But they were recently spotted in London looking very happy together. More power to this beautiful woman.

Words: Sumita Chakraborty

Neelam Shares Her Painful Heart Break!

Socked hard by fate in the heart, smashing it into smithereens. Rocked off her ballerina’s balanced feet by a devastating punch of destiny. From her lover forever-parted, half broken-hearted, she stands at the crossroads of life. Bewildered. Life has done her dirty again. The dice didn’t roll in her favour and she found herself sliding right down to the bottom of the board. To wearily try all over again. It would have broken any girl. But Neelam Kothari is not just any girl.

Neelam, 23 only in chronological years. But with the wisdom of one who has seen many more. Life does that, so does love, or rather the breaking-off, if such an unfortunate event occurs. The shattering of a heart and the piercing of the soul makes a person see life in a different light, the weaker crumble into universal ignominy. The stronger rise like the Phoenix from the ashes of its own self, and soar with strength anew. Neelam, with the strength of her Scorpio sign is doing just that.
Till yesterday, I used to joke with her about the love in her life, the youngest Deol, Bobby. Inevitably, I would bump into them at various discotheques or private parties and our reactions were always the same. The red blush could be seen in the dark of the disco. The naughty grin. The silent ‘Oh no’ almost audible, and then the reluctant ‘Hi’. All the while holding Bobby’s hand who, each time, was totally oblivious that he was being observed, surely to be filled in later, outside my presence. All I could do was smile and shrug. 

And the amnesia the next day. ‘Bobby? Now who’s that?” You’re not talking about the film are you? The one made by Raj Kapoor.” The trademark, whole-hearted laugh would follow and I would give up.

Five years of blissful togetherness. Unaffected by words, written or spoken. After all, love reigned supreme. Young love was what mattered, the world be damned. So much so that I’d anticipation the Neelam-Bobby wedding. The shocking news last month of their split plunged me into despair. I could well imagine what the lovely Neelam was going through.
It was with a heavy heart that I called her, and her tone was just as heavy. “Yes, it’s true that Bobby and I have split. I don’t like talking about my personal life as it is, but there are a lot of misconceptions and baseless rumours floating around, which I would like to lay to rest with a clarification. I don’t want people to believe what is untrue. And one of the rumours is that Bobby and I have split because of his involvement with Pooja Bhatt. Stardust itself had mentioned this. Well, let me tell you and the world, that this is false. I didn’t break off with Bobby because of a Pooja Bhatt. Or any other girl for that matter. Our decision to part ways was mutual and amicable. Certainly not because of infidelity on anyone’s part.” It was only the slight quiver in the pride that gave a glimpse of the pain.

“Seperation of any kind is a painful process. There’s bound to be pain if there is a parting. It’s almost like a surgery of emotions where one is removed from the other. But there is also the healing process which follows if the surgery is under healthy circumstances. And the more honest the split, the quicker you heal. Time becomes the balm which covers all the injury. And the strength has to come from within. I’m like that. I think a lot and I wait a long time before taking any major decision in my life. But once I’ve made that decision, it’s for keeps. It’s permanent. After that, there is no time or place for tears. You have to go on with life. I have so much life ahead of me. C’mon, don’t sound so dejected. I’m not. After all, I told you, the decision to part was mutual,” she paused for breath.
I was dumbfounded. This couldn’t be the word-shy, introverted Neelam I knew. I was convinced that it was all the false bravado of a strong, but grievously injured heart. To laugh so that the world would be convinced that she was happy. But the tone didn’t ring true. She wasn’t fooling me with her seemingly happy tale. I’d seen far too much heartbreak around me not to recognize it, in the missed tremor of a voice or the glistening in the eye. I knew the value of pain. It only makes you cherish the pleasure all the more. And learn to value the ache. Much like you have to see the dark of night to appreciate a glorious sunrise.

Neelam interrupted my reverie. “Actually, I think it’s the most sensible decision I’ve ever made. For one, it has made my family very happy. Now I can turn my attention to the other things in my life that I’ve been neglecting. So much to catch up on. So much to do. I want to start life afresh.” Again she tinkered with laughter in her baby-doll voice. This time with ‘hope’ as the dominant emotion.

I met her the following week. As usual, her face was glowing with its flawless radiance, a twinkle in her eye, but a red nose. She had a cold, and kept guzzling tea. She spoke, as I questioned. “I just realized all of a sudden that I would never be happy with him. I know that five years is a long time to reach that realization; I realized late, but at least, I did. And when it dawned on me, I acted as quickly as I could. Like I said earlier, once I’ve made up my mind, I go through with it.”
But when and where was it that the realization dawned? She elaborated. “I was in the U.S.A for 15 days from the last week of January onwards, for a charity show. But it gave me a lot of time to myself, to actually think and analyze my life. To dissect the past, and present and worry about the future. Then I came to the conclusion I have, and I decided the best thing to do would be to finish it. I didn’t consult my family at all. I just decided on my own.

“When I returned, I spoke to Bobby as well. And we came to this mutual understanding, we both felt it would be better. It’s not just my decision, it’s his decision as well. We both felt that it wouldn’t work out. So…” she was lost for words.

Brave decision it certainly was. And powerful enough to shake up and realign two closely-knit lives in totally different orbits altogether. Imagine getting up one morning to find something close to you missing. And missing that something (or someone) so much that it hurts. Only, you have to get used to the hurt and go on, filling the vacuum with other activities. A vacuum which takes a long time to fill completely. I looked at the petite girl sitting on a sofa several sizes too large for her, playing with her toe-nails. I ask her what the Deols were feeling. If sniggering voices and whispering grapevines were to be believed, there was jubilation there. That their Bobby had finally seen sense.
She looked up, hurt. “I honestly don’t know. So I can’t say what they must be feeling. I haven’t heard anything. Sunny and I never spoke about it when I shot with him. We shared the same relationship later too, that I did with him during Paap Ki Duniya. I’m very fond of Sunny and I know for a fact that he’s fond of me too. I have nothing against Sunny.” I ask her whether Bobby ever told his parents about her and her reply was instant. “I don’t know if he’s told them because he’s never told me of it. And I’ve never met them.

“Anyway, let me make one thing clear. Believe me, this decision has got nothing to do with either family. I just kept thinking about ultimately ending up as a star-wife – and the thought nagged me so much that it began haunting me. You know the thought of getting involved with a guy who’s getting into films… he hasn’t even started… I just felt scared. Terribly scared. I can’t explain the fear, I thought, might as well finish it now. I couldn’t bear the thought of something going wrong later. It would have been too late. I see it happening all around me, to all the star-wives. Okay, so I decided late, very late, I agree. But still, not too late.” she laughs.

I wanted the real reason for the break. Behind her intangible fear must lie a tangible reason. Again, she burst out laughing. “You mean you want to know all the gory details? Aha! I’m not going to tell. Look, it just happened. I don’t want to get into it again. Frankly, there’s not too much more to it.” she grinned impishly.
I kept probing. Was it because she suspected infidelity? Immediately she defended him, “Never!” Did she hear of him being linked with another woman? Her eyes sparkled. “Not before the break-up!” The reference to Pooja Bhatt was obvious. “Believe me, I’ve got nothing to do with that chapter of Bobby’s life. All I know is that as long as I was there, there was no other woman. I can say that with supreme confidence. And the break-up is NOT because of this girl.

“Anyway, it’s his life, he can do what he wants. I can only speak for myself. And the thing gnawing at me most was the insecurity that comes with being a star-wife.” Not the insecurity of not being accepted by the head of the Deol family, Dharmendra, I prodded again? He was apparently not too perturbed at the turn of events.

“Look, let’s not get him into it. And if he’s happy, it’s the same way that my parents feel for me. Because eventually, parents are parents. They always want to see their child happy and never get hurt. I guess they probably felt I wasn’t the best bet for Bobby, and my parents felt that I could get someone better than Bobby!” The smirk said it all.
“My parents were very insecure. They were happy as long as I was happy. But deep down inside, they were very scared for me. They were relieved when we split. And this is only about their insecurity for my future. Not to cast any aspersions on Bobby. Not about his personality as an individual. They’re very fond of him, in fact. They’ve got nothing against him. Nothing against his family. Just the core atmosphere, girls throwing themselves at a guy, things like that you know. Anyone would be concerned. And let me also clear one more rumour, about his family having met my family for talks. It’s rubbish. It never happened. My parents have never met his family, because we kept everything very quiet.”

I then asked her what everyone wanted to know in the industry. Did Bobby have a roving eye? Neelam laughed. “Every man has an eye for women. But I’ve never known him to be unfaithful. If I’d heard of anything, I wouldn’t take it. And if you ask me about any jealousy or insecurity I felt, it is there in everybody, in every relationship. I wasn’t crazily insecure. Okay… a little. And him? He was possessive, like a normal man should be. He wasn’t jealous because he was sure of me. He knew I would never do anything like that.”
Not even the time ex-friend Govinda proclaimed his love in print, I teased. She answered in the same vein, “He just ignored it and didn’t bring it up at all. Not a word was uttered. I guess there are certain things we just have to put away and ignore.” I side-tracked. Shouldn’t she now do a film with Govinda, considering the two were so lucky for each other professionally? She really let go with her laughter. “Aw, crap! Lucky, huh? But seriously, everyone thought that I was refusing films with him, it wasn’t true. It’s just that later, we were only getting those dance-roles, no good offers, so I refused. Anyway, let’s not talk about Govinda. It was a very strange incident that happened with him. I don’t want to talk about it. Let him.”

That was the long-gone past. What was on her mind was the painful present now turning into a past. Was it weighing too much on her delicate mind? Her answer was fortified by her inner strength. “No! I’m the kind of person for whom once it’s over, it’s over! Finished! I don’t think about it! Why should I think about something that’s only going to kill me? What he does now is his life. Whatever he wants to, I’m totally detached from it. I cut off totally. I’m not the kind of person to sit and brood about where he goes and what he does. I’ve got my life to think of. What do you want me to do, sit and analyze his life? No! It doesn’t bother me.
“What I feel, as someone who’s known him closely, and as a friend, is that he should be careful. He hasn’t even started his career. The last thing he needs now is controversy. He should avoid that at all costs. That’s all I’ll say to him.” Did that mean they would remain friends? “No way! It’s just not possible. You know what I mean?” I did.

Here was a lovely face, belonging to a lovely person. An enlightened one. Her entire life lay ahead of her in one glorious landscape of joy come to life. The last thing she needed was little strings of emotion tying her down when the chain of love had already broken. “Yeah,” she agreed. “I just need a little time to adjust. Then I’ve got a lot to do. I’m going to take my film career seriously if I get any good offers. Otherwise, I’ve got my dad’s business to fall back upon. In fact, I’m flying to Bangkok for a quick study on gems.

“In that respect, I’ve been very lucky. Everything just came my way. I never had to struggle. Especially since I see what all the other girls go through. So much muck. At least I’m clean. And I’m starting afresh.”

A brave new world. A brave new girl. Neelam was one of those who led by example. 

Fast Forward
Neelam Kothari, the pretty young actress who entered the movie industry in 1986, had a relatively short career in her times, 15 years and 50 films. But the woman knew where her heart lay, and gracefully did not drag on an acting career when it stopped offering her roles worth her talent.

Entering the industry opposite Govinda (who was also debuting then) with Ilzaam, Neelam was also known for her relationship with the actor, who was besotted with the girl. An unlikely combination, she, a classy, polished and delicate mannered lass, coming from old money; and he, a gauche, awkward, down-to earth, middle class struggler with only his talent to prop him up. Neelam was part of a number of commercial hits in the nineties.

There were no earth- shattering roles she was offered and her last release was Kasam in 2001. She had already decided that she would only stay on in films if her roles were even halfway noteworthy. Since that was not to be, she chose to enter their family business of jewellery making, and established her line of high-end jewellery under her own brand name.
This Hong Kong- born lovely had a brief marriage to a businessman, after which, she married actor Samir Soni in 2011, and they adopted a little girl two years later. She is currently completely involved with her business and her happy little family, scarcely even involved in industry happenings.

Image Courtesy: Provided by Magna

The Strange Hold Dharam And Shatru Have Over Each Other.

f it’s true that there cannot be two swords in a sheath, then how can DHARMENDRA and SHATRUGHAN SINHA be anything but enemies? And how is it that the hot-blooded Jat has yet not smashed Shatru’s skull and stretched his cheeky tongue out of his loud mouth? Why does the He-man tolerate Sinha’s merciless bantering at the receiving end? And why is it that Dharam, who is always more bothered about his co-stars roles, footage and dialogues, makes an exception for the Bihari babu and lets him steal scenes in their combined-starrers?

Why does Shatrughan Sinha get away with blue murder plus impertinence, with the imperious papaji?

“Shatru, please take Dharamji along with you to so-and-so party, place or premiere, and also get him back,” is a request religiously made to the son of Bihar by Prakash bhabhi. She will not trust her husband with anyone else. “Only Shatru can control him after drinks,” is her unshakable belief. And, believe it or not, she’s not far from the truth. hy does Shatrughan Sinha get away with blue murder plus impertinence, with the imperious papaji?
At the Hope’86 show, when a very sozzled Dharam  took offence to a smart one from our desi Marlon Brando, Raaj Kumar, a demonstration of gaalis was sure to follow. The backstage was booming with the choicest Punjabi specials, while the volunteers scurried around to save the industry its remaining bit of dignity. But papaji, already a few patialas down, was in his element that day. Oye teri maa di… and teri paen di… and uski and iski …ad infinitum ad absurdum. Industrywallas, struggled desperately to calm him down, but the wounded tiger was hell bent on cutting his nose to spite his face, and the organizers’ – who crestfallenly watched their efforts of months to make the show a success, being devastated. “Only Shatrughan Sinha can save the situation,” remarked an actor sensibly. Volunteers went out in search of the Bihari babu (who was in the audience) to get him IMMEDIATELY.
“After having handled Dharamji so many times for so many years, I now have enough experience to make a very good baby-sitter,” guffawed Sinha, on the sets of Rajan Sippy’s Shehzaade, shooting with none other than his Dharam paaji. “God alone knows what Dharamji would have done to Raaj Kumar that day. His chamchas had chadaoed him so much, he was ready to kill. I pacified him and told him he shouldn’t behave like a college student. He was a senior actor, so was Raaj Kumar, and Dharamji calmed down. But I couldn’t leave him because I knew that he would flare up again the minute I left him, so I sat with him, literally holding him to myself for two hours. Like one would, a child.”

“Don’t you believe everything this braggart tells you,” piped Dharam, joining us after giving his shot. “Whatever he says should be taken with a pinch of salt. Bahut phekta hai yeh sala,” said the Jat good-humouredly. “I call him the sound talker. He’s ninety per cent sound and ten per cent a talker.”
“Dharamji can say what he wants,” remarked Shatru, with unusual humility. “He is, after all, my senior and one person I respect the most in the industry. I can’t help but agree with him. When a dog opens his eyes, who he first sees becomes his master. Dharamji was the first star I set my eyes on, and I have been a loyal follower of his ever since. I was in my first year at Poona Institute when Dharamji came to Poona as a chief guest for one of our functions,” said the Bihari babu while the Jat looked on indulgently.

“After the function was over, it was time for photographs. I tried to get as close to Dharamji as possible and desperately tried to think of a topic I could engage the star in for a few minutes,” Shatru narrated. “Aap balon mein kaunsa tel lagate hain? I meekly asked Dharamji. ‘Mein tel nahin lagata’, came the curt reply, and topic over. But I wanted to draw his attention so I tried again. ‘Aap race-course jate hain?’ This time he did not even bother to reply. Like the Jaya Bachchan of Koshish, he just nodded silently and moved away.”
As chance would have it, after the course in Poona, when Shatrughan came to Bombay and was making studio rounds, the first star he again saw was Dharmendra. “I was standing at the gate of Raj Kamal studios, and the gurkha suddenly shooed me away and rushed to open the gate. And there was Dharmendra, dressed in Khaki corduroy jeans and a khaki shirt and sandals, sitting on the front seat of a jeep with his left leg out. The picture remains imprinted in my mind. He looked so handsome, so tough and macho. But, of course, I was seeing him with the dog’s loyal eyes.” Shatru concluded.

“Later on, we worked in so many films together,” said Dharmendra, running his paws through his hair, “and I somehow took to Shatru. I think we are the most oft-repeated pair in the industry. And that is because we have no ego hassles. He’s like a younger brother to me. Sometimes he crosses his limits, but since I am the elder, I overlook his trespasses because I know that at heart, he genuinely respects me. It’s only his tongue that betrays him and tends to slip so often.”
Not that the Jat doesn’t enjoy the Bihari babu’s spicy sense of humour. “If Dharamji wants to pack up shooting and the producer wants a few more hours with him,” remarked Rajan Sippy,  producer of Shehzaade, who was till then silently watching the exchange between his two heroes, “the only way to keep papaji on the sets is by sending Sonu (Shatru) to his room to humour him. In fact, when Dharamji is going through a depression, he often asks his producers (producers of Dharam-Shatru starrers) to arrange for combined shooting with Sonu because Sonu is the only one who can bring him back to spirits.”

“It’s another thing altogether, that humouring Dharamji can become quite tiring at times,” remarked Shatrughan. “I can never forget Chintu’s wedding. Prakash bhabhi had, as usual, asked me to take Dharamji to the wedding and get him back. It’s like asking a bakri to look after a sher. I was dubbing at a preview theatre and had requested Dharamji to fetch me from there. When he came, I still had two loops to finish. By the time I completed that, Dharamji the authority on Indian-Foreign liquor, had finished two drinks. And God alone knows how many he had downed on his way to the preview theatre.”
So by the time Shatru joined them (Dharam was accompanied by his loyal chamcha Baldev Pushkarna), the Jat was totally tunn. The wedding was at the R.K. Studios, and the reception at R.K. Cottage. Dharam insisted it was too late for the wedding and Shatru felt it was too early for the reception. “So we’ll go to the cottage,” asserted the Jat. Off they went, the three of them  to R.K. Cottage to attend the reception.

“Our driver parked the car at the wrong place and we couldn’t find the main entrance to the cottage,” Shotgun recalled. “But Dharamji insisted that he knew the place well and he knew where the main entrance was. He took us to the backyard of the cottage, and made us jump over barbed wires. ‘This is the entrance,’ Dharamji maintained. Imagine the three of us, dressed in our best wedding suits, jumping over barbed wires in the dark, at eight o’clock. Rajji (Kapoor) was busy giving last minute instructions to the servants, waiters and bartenders. ‘eh idhar rakhiye ji, jaldi kijiye ji. Bas ab mehmaan aate hi honge’ and he suddenly saw us coming from behind ‘Yeh toh aa bhi gaye’ he exclaimed. He seemed puzzled at our coming in from the backyard, but he didn’t say anything because he was, after all, the host.”
“What will you have?” Raj Kapoor asked his early guests. “Water,” said the Jat, “with something in it, of course,” Rajji beckoned a bartender who got them three glasses with just whisky in them. “Paani le ao,” said Rajji, but even before water could come, Dharam had emptied his glass. “Baldev moved towards Dharamji and hissed ‘Bas ho gaya, aur nahin,” Shatru narrated laughingly, “but Dharamji had just started as far as he was concerned. ‘Peene de na,’ he sulked and took another and then another. By then Baldev was furious. ‘Chalo,’ he yelled at Dharamji, ‘chalo nahin to dekh lena…’ and even before he could complete his sentence, Dharamji gave him a hard push. Baldev went flying on the floor. Rajji was in a panic. ‘Dekhiye shaadi ka mauka hai ji, violence mat kijiye ji,’ he pleaded. Other guests had begun to trickle in and slowly, the cottage was packed with people and noise.”
The Jat suddenly felt weary and wanted to sit. He walked inside to the main hall and since he couldn’t find a chair, he went and sat on Feroz Khan’s lap. “Brother,” cried out the Khan in his Americanised accent. “Brother, hold it.” “Tu mera praa hai,” (you are my brother), slurred the garam Dharam and planted a peck on Feroz’s cheek. “Brother, what are you doing brother?” yelled out the eldest Khan (as narrated by Shatrughan Sinha) but Papaji was in a world of his own. “Many people thought that they were having a fight,” remarked Shotgun enjoying every minute of his narration while Rajan and Dharmendra looked on with smiles on their faces. Daddoo Sippy, the director of Shehzaade had also left his work to join us.

“Some ladies walked out of the room. They had not expected to see two macho heroes behaving in this manner. And Dharam had occupied the seat which they felt was rightfully theirs. I knew it was time for me to take hold of the situation. I gently pulled Dharamji from Feroz’s lap and took him aside. ‘You love me?’ Dharamji asked me in Punjabi. ‘Yes’, I replied. ‘Then give me a kiss,’ he said and put his cheek forward. I complied and then he patted my cheek and told me ‘to go and play’ and went back to sit on Feroz Khan’s lap. Whenever I went to him I would be sent off saying ‘go and play’. I was outside when I suddenly heard a male voice announcing, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, the dance is on’. After some time it was ‘The dance floor is empty.’ From the other end of the floor, I saw a figure entering. The John Travolta of Indian Cinema, Dharmendra, was on his way to the dance floor with his hands high up in the air, jumping, ‘Mein nachoonga, shaadi hai, shaadi hai.’ I could hear Prakash bhabhi’s words ‘Get him back’ and I didn’t know how to get him out of the place.
“Let’s go and wish Rishi and Neetu at last, I told Dharamji. ‘Rishi toh industry ka hi hai na, I can meet him anytime. Tomorrow, day after, anytime.’ ‘Arre but we have come for their reception, we have to wish them’. ‘No’, said Dharamji stubbornly. Finally, with great difficulty I took him out of R.K. Cottage. He kept muttering, ‘You don’t love me, tu mainu pyaar nahin karda,’ but I took him to his car, and Dharamji was nicely snuggled into his seat and sent safely back to Prakash bhabhi.”

“How Sonu exaggerates,” laughed the Jat at the end of the narration. “Though of course, it’s true that in times of distress or trouble, I impose myself on Sonu. And he’s definitely an actor I enjoy working with the most. That is why I can never forgive myself for depriving Shatru of Amitabh’s role in Sholay. Not that I didn’t enjoy doing it with Amit, and everyone knows what a good performance he had given. It’s only that Amit came to me and asked me to recommend him to Ramesh Sippy. I did so without being aware of the fact that till then, Ramesh was considering Shatru. And till today, I regret it.”
“It’s all destiny,” Shotgun added, “It’s nobody’s fault. How was Dharamji to know that the role was offered to me first? And I know what Dharamji feels for me. I can never forget how, despite having lost his mother just a few days earlier, Dharamji made it a point to attend the Shatrughan Sinha Nite in Bihar. He was depressed and sad, but he came.”

“And in no time you had me in splits,”reminisced the Jat, addressing Shatru now. “I was in tears of sorrow a minute before, and in tears of laughter a minute later. And, touchwood, our relationship has always been like that. We’ve never had even a minor dispute over anything. Just once, I remember I called you from Khandala and the lines were so bad that you couldn’t hear me, so I had to shout. So people around me thought we were having a fight.”
“And when the news reached your mother,” exclaimed the Bihari babu, “she had called me to the house thinking we really had fought, and apologized on your behalf. She was in tears. I was very touched.” “Yes, you also have my family on your side,” smiled the Deol fondly. “Dharamji is to me what Gorbachev is to Rajiv Gandhi,” Shatru said, to Rajan and Daddoo. “I can do what I feel like because I know Dharamji is there behind me. People ask me how I manage to take pangas with so many people or how can I go on and on about Rekha. ‘What if she retaliates and does something?’ they ask me. Arre, what can Rekha do to me that Dharamji can’t do to her? Even I have a HIM behind me!”

A couple of years ago when the industry had gone on strike, Shatru was fined `Five lakhs by the Film Committee for having shot for a Bengali film. When a committee member went to Shatru to get the money, Shotgun coolly told him that the money was lying with Dharmendra and “if anyone has the guts to go to Dharamji’s house and get the money, do it,” the Bihari babu stated firmly.

“But one day, this badmaash is going to get into big trouble because of his loud mouth,” the Jat said as he got up to give his shot, “and maybe even I won’t be able to get him out of it,” he warned as he walked towards the mandir at Chandivili Studios, for his next shot. “I still can’t believe that I am actually rubbing shoulders with the star Dharmendra who I have idolized for so many years,” sighed Shatru, as he looked at the Jat walking away.
“Sometimes, I suddenly start feeling very conscious. Am I really sitting with Dharamji and talking so informally with him? And the funniest part is that he sometimes behaves like a child with me. I think he feels safe enough to drop his inhibitions with me. In fact, he becomes ekdum carefree.”

Like the time Dharam and Shatru went for a formal dinner at a very big politician’s place. “Many other stars from the industry were invited,” Shatru adjusted himself in his chair as he got set to narrate another of his hazaar kissas on Dharmendra. “There were people from all walks of life, some of them prominent personalities, but Dharamji was concentrating only on two things. First liquor, which is his top priority, and second, a woman, which is also his top priority. There was this coy woman standing in a corner of the room and Dharamji, the pappi expert (he loves to shower kisses, irrespective of whether it is a man or woman) was blowing flying kisses at her from his corner. In between, he would also get up to steal an actual peck or two. And whisper sweet nothings like ‘mere saath outdoor chalo’ and ‘tu badi soni hai’ (you are very beautiful) etc. And when I’m with Dharamji, I am very alert. I have to be, I have no choice. And I was noticing this tamasha like many others were too. To cover up, I was laughing loudly and doing everything to draw everybody’s attention away from Dharamji. I went to him and told him, ‘mat kijiye aisa, sab dekh rahe hain’, but a sozzled Dharam knows no reason, sees no reason, hears no reason. He sees nothing but kanyaein (girls). Caste, creed, colour no bar. Name also no bar, whether it is Rita or Radha. A woman is a woman.   
“So when Dharamji refused to let go of the girl, I decided to find out who she was and to my horror, I found out that she was our hostess, the politician’s wife. I ran to Dharamji and told him, ‘Dharamji, do you know who this girl is? She is our hostess’. ‘Hein!’ exclaimed Dharamji, ‘achcha! She is the wife of this politician? Okay then, let’s go.” But the lady had obviously fallen hook line and sinker for papaji, the pappi expert. When we went out, she came running behind us. ‘You are a very nice lady,’ Dharamji told her, and planted two kisses on both her cheeks. ‘You looked after me very well,” and planted another two, and then said, ‘Namaste bahenji’ and got into the car. So there’s consistency in Dharam’s passion. It has to erupt whether it is a personal front, professional front or the political front.”

Just then, the Jat finished his shoot and joined us again. “What else has Sonu been feeding you about me?” he asked. “I don’t know why I allow him to take such liberties with me. I would not allow anyone else in the industry to get away with half the things that Sonu gets away with. But I guess there is also no one else whom I love half as much as I love this loud-mouth, and I know there is no one else who also gives me the love, respect and affection that he gives me. And I guess as a younger brother, he has a few rights over me which he exercises to the fullest.”

“I don’t know what the industry has to say,” put in the incorrigible Sonu, “but Dharamji is at his best with me and whenever I am around. If you can call that the best,” he grinned, as usual, having the last word for himself.
FAST FORWARD

SHATRUGHAN SINHA:  The Bihari babu is currently pursuing his second calling- Politics- which he does with as much flamboyance as he did his films. He is BJP leader and Lok Sabha member from his home town Patna and is all set to bring about a wave of reforms in the system there. 35 years and still married to Poonam, his daughter Sonakshi has become one of the frontrunners amongst the latest crop of actresses. Shotgun underwent a bypass surgery a couple of years ago and is trying to keep his health in check for the long haul ahead as he has much to do yet. The 69-year-old actor also received a special award from IIFA last year. His last work in films was being the voice cast for Krishna in the animation film Mahabharata.

DHARMENDRA: The 80-year old Dharmendra, has in nearly six decades, done over 200 films, and earned innumerable awards and accolades in some truly memorable films. He has even dabbled in politics (BJP/Lok Sabha), but his straight nature is totally unsuited to the cutthroat and mercenary aspect required of politics in India.  He made his debut with Dil Bhi Tera Hum Bhi Tere in 1960. He has done, action, comedy, and romantic hero roles aplenty, till over the last decade, where he has been doing endearing character roles. His noteworthy performances are Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Satyakam in 1969, and Ramesh Sippy’s Sholay in 1975.  
In 1983 Deol set up a production company, Vijayta Films, which launched his son Sunny in its .  first film, the superhit Betaab. His younger son Bobby was launched in 1995 through Barsaat, and his nephew Abhay Deol in 2005, with Socha Na Tha. He appeared with his daughter Esha in his wife (Hema Malini)’s directorial venture, Tell Me O Khuda in 2011. Dharmendra’s first marriage was to Parkash Kaur, in 1954 when he was barely 19. They are parents to two daughters as well as Sunny and Bobby. He has four grandsons. Dharmendra met actress Hema Malini during the filming of Sholay, and married her in 1980. Their daughters are Esha and Ahana. In 1991, he earned the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome entertainment for Ghayal, as producer. In 2011, Dharmendra was honoured with the Dadasaheb Phalke Ratna Award, and in 2012, the Padma Bhushan, India’s third highest civilian honour from the Government of India. He had over 50 other awards stashed away. 

Dharamendra is a man all heart, a passionate poet, actor, lover and family man. And still remains the best looking actor that Bollywood can boast of, across the decades.

(Contributed by Suguna Sundaram)

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is proving herself right after she said, “I’m Going To Have My Own Story To Tell,” 5 years ago.

Now here’s a rebel in the true sense of the word. While the world remained dazzled by her beauty, she chose to make her film debut in a starkly contrasting avatar. When every filmmaker was trying to pitch her opposite the country’s leading superstar romantically on screen, she challenged the norms by playing his sister instead. When the biggest of ‘commercial’ makers were chasing her with guaranteed blockbusters, she steered towards realistic cinema to explore her avenues as an artiste. And just when archaic mindsets believed that married actresses had a limited shelf life, she sprung back with a whopper of a hit followed by one of her most acclaimed performances to date. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan believes in rewriting rules and she’s done a pretty good job so far.

“She just keeps getting better with each film,” says hubby Abhishek. But Aishwarya firmly maintains that her best is yet to come. The creative doyens believe that too, which explains why she keeps getting the best of offers and roles. Despite being the first (and only) Indian actress to make a mark in the international arena, Aishwarya now wants to surprise even herself. She won’t settle for anything less than extraordinary so even when a Vishal Bhardwaj comes to her with a script, she wants to be sure it’s his best. She’d rather wait for the big ones to come along rather than take up random assignments to prove to people that she’s still worth it.
5 years ago, right after Guzaarish, and long before Jazba came her way, Ash gave a candid interview to STARDUST. As she now prepares for her thrilling drama Sarbjit, we bring back a piece of the past. Be prepared to catch those classic moments in this hearty tête-à-tête that was published in the February 2011 issue of STARDUST by Ashwin Varde…     

 14 years in the industry and still at the top. Aishwarya, you must be pleased…

The journey has been superlative in every sense of the term. I have to use the word because any other word I use will not be enough to quantify how full, fulfilling and overwhelming an experience it has been. Simply because there has been a lot in terms of the number of different experiences that can enrich a person. And for that, I am extremely grateful that God has given me an increasingly overwhelming time in my life. For me, it has been like this since my 12th grade because being a science student, I only knew a hectic pace of life.
So you were quite sure you wanted to be an actress…

That’s absolutely true. It is tough for me to pin down who might have been my first director because there were so many people. Shekhar Kapoor had told me, “Complete your degree but you will be in movies because I’ve done the same thing.” Yashji said, “After completing your degree, come and start designing my sets and soon you will be in front of the camera because you are meant to be here.” When I decided not to pursue my degree in architecture, I was making a career choice. I was not doing a fly-by-night thing or saying, “Oh, what fun! Let me be an actor.” No, I was making a conscious decision of a career choice. Fortunately for me, the directors who were approaching me were wonderfully accomplished and varied right from the beginning so I just had the perfect schools to start working at and I was spoilt for choice, by the grace of God. I knew I was here to be a part of this creative medium called cinema. 
The industry acceptance was unanimous. But do you feel recognition as an actress from the public came a bit late for you? 

I won’t say that. The public was exceedingly supportive from the beginning. I gave myself strength throughout by focusing on the positives because I am a very positive person. But obviously, I am not turning a blind eye to the negatives because if the critiquing was harsh, I understood where it was coming from. I was occupying the space of a top bracket actor; I was being given that league of work; I was getting to work with some of the directors that probably a lot of my other seniors at that point if not contemporaries were aspiring to work with. In Iruvar, I got great critical acclaim and that was at the beginning of my career. Like Mani (Ratnam) would say, “What is done cannot be undone. You have shown your mettle; now you just have to have that many opportunities to prove it.” Some opportunities allow that and some don’t. Also, in the initial stages of your career, when you meet seniors, it becomes difficult to say no. There are some films you’re doing not for the character or the script but because you do not know how to say no. You’ll be able to figure out these films if you look at my line-up. This I have been able to articulate only recently; I couldn’t do it before.
Your choice of films has always been quite unusual. For every Jeans, you had an Iruvar. You had a Devdas and around the same time, you did a Chokher Bali. And then you had films like Raincoat and Provoked. Was this a conscious decision?

Yes, it was a conscious decision and it started with Iruvar. There were lot of offers and there was a lot of curiosity about which would be my first film. Rajiv Menon had approached me for Sapnay and for a long time, we were discussing the script. Eventually, he told me, “Listen, if you don’t have the conviction, don’t do it.” Then later, he told me that he was signing Kajol for it. I was very happy because I really liked her. Then Rajiv told me, “Go and meet Mani. I know you want to work with him and he’s making a new film.” The thought of working with Mani, in Iruvar, in a role that was going to span 30 years in the life of a girl, was too exciting. I knew it was in Tamil and I did not know the language. But when he called me to Chennai for a screen test, I just dressed up like the character Pushpa, who was a typical south Indian girl. Even Shankar was there. They clicked a few photos, and Mani laughed and said, “You are in the film.” Just like that, while I was all the time thinking that it being a screen test, we all were supposed to act and all. My joy knew no bounds.
And then you signed Josh, where you played Shah Rukh’s sister. The industry was quite shocked by that decision. 

When Josh came my way, there was this huge discussion that she is nuts; why is she accepting a role like this? I was playing Shah Rukh’s sister and the lead opposite Chandrachur Singh. Initially, in the film, first there was Shah Rukh and Salman, then Shah Rukh and Aamir – all these discussions of casting went on and then finally they said that they were getting Chandrachur and wondered if I was okay with it. I have seen some of my colleagues get disturbed, very disillusioned and very disheartened by the pressures of expectations. But my resolve gave me the strength to tide through everything and my every choice, even if it was slightly against the tide, it got me my own little victories in each of them. I felt this is going to be my original story. I am going to have my own story to tell, where I have come and done a Dhoom after 10 years of the business and it got me the fruits. I am very thankful for it and I worked for it.
You’re the first Indian actress to garner so much attention in the West. There was a time when the industry believed you were only interested in Hollywood films. How did you cope with that?

I could understand those assumptions; they came from the fact that I was saying no to a lot of work. It is coming from a positive place. I am saying all this because I know it. We are all part of a very small world, that may seem like this magnificent world on the outside but we are all very compact and we all know each other. The world, in terms of the media or the showbiz world outside of India actually sat up and recognized this actor Aishwarya from India when Devdas went to the Cannes Film Festival. It was a huge moment for sure. It is not that it was the very first time when Indian talent had been applauded, appreciated or recognized abroad. It was not expected but definitely cherished.

The work pattern in India was also changing by the time you finished Bride and Prejudice. Comment.

I remember when I came back from Bride and Prejudice, bringing back call sheets to your make-up room had started becoming a norm here. The whole system was changing; there were these assistants to directors who brought that kind of working like foreign units, with their walkie-talkies, constant checking and the like. All this went through some degree of critiquing by seniors, though some would say that this is the way to work. It was an interesting time but I had already experienced the change a year before it came into the industry.
Strictly speaking box-office results, what would you say has been the highlight of your career?

One thing I would like to share here in all genuine honesty, for which I have to thank God and my audience is that I have actually had at least one peak every year. Each year my every experience in that sense has been very blessed. I have been able to focus on that. I have developed the strength because I was put under the microscope from the beginning. When I made the choice for Dhoom, I knew why I was making that choice. I had done only two item songs, Kajra re and Ishq kameena. Adi (Aditya Chopra) told me blatantly that he wanted me to underline this first cinematic moment of Abhishek Bachchan and Amitabh Bachchan. And I did that song. The song got a huge response. Then he came up with Dhoom. So I was doing Dhoom on one extreme, then Guru on another level and then Jodhaa Akbar.
You haven’t signed any new film. Are you taking a break from work?

People have been taking about this so-called ‘break’ a bit too much. I was supposed to do Singularity and Roland Joffe had asked me about it. He wanted to start it in October. But my films were releasing in November and I had committed to those movies. And he could not delay it. That’s how I had the free time on hand. Vishal (Bhardwaj) came to me with two ideas. I liked one but he wanted to make the other first, which I wasn’t very keen on. That’s when I backed out. Now it’s really funny. Either you take on work to prove a point because all these assumptions are made or you make choices on films you really want to do. I prefer opting for the second. I did go through this internal battle for a week or so and I’m confessing that. I felt if I don’t make an announcement soon, they’ll start saying she’s stopped working. And I was very tempted to take on something just to avoid that. But finally I realized this is something I’ve never done. I cannot get pressured by assumptions. I am meeting directors; I am reading scripts. But I don’t want to take on something unless I’m charged about it. I want to continue the immense satisfaction that I feel with the choices that I have made. There is no rush but at the same time, I do not have a single free day. 

 

By Srividya Menon

Vinod Khanna: A Life On One’s Terms.

Professional hara-kiri! That’s what VINOD KHANNA has committed. What with his perpetual late-coming on the sets, his drinking himself silly, and his coming-on strong with all his heroines. These were just some of the accusations hurled at the sexy-ex-Sanyasi. Instead of getting defensive in our COURT MARTIAL, the usually tight-lipped actor spoke for a change!

You seem to be taking your career as one big joke. Why else would you keep your co-stars and unit waiting hours on end, while you saunter in whenever you feel like? It’s it the height of unprofessionalism. No wonder your producers are throwing up their hands in exasperation.

Let me clarify once and for all. The last thing that I can do is work like a machine from dawn to dusk. It’s just not my style. I am not a robot to work endlessly. Give me a break. Actually, after I made a come-back, I explicitly told all my producers that I did not want to get into the shift business. I wanted to do one shift a day. Unfortunately, that’s not how it’s working out. Here I am, very much in the groove, grinding away endlessly. Also, I’ve got other things in hand. I am doing up my house and since I don’t have anybody to help me out, I have to supervise everything myself! I’ve been working on my place since a year and finally, it’s close to completion. It’s not so easy when you are on your own. There are myriad things to be attended to. What’s more, I like to meet friends, go out. There are other things to life as well. However, when I’m on the sets, nobody can complain about my quality of work. Isn’t that what matters finally? There, I am absolutely at the mercy of my directors. Also, last month I wasn’t keeping well. And when I requested my producers to shift my schedules, they wouldn’t believe me and thought I was playing truant. 
Your once-upon-a-time good friend Raj N. (Daddoo) Sippy can’t forgive you for delaying his film Mahadev by over a year-and-a-half, only because you did not like the original music score of the South Indian version (by Ilayaraja), which was included in the Hindi version. We heard that you flung the tapes out of the window. Why do you interfere so much in production?

There is not an iota of truth in this. When Daddoo had approached me for Mahadev, he had very confidently told me that he wanted a certain number of dates from me to complete the film. A demand to which, I had willingly conceded. Now, when he was unable to complete the film in record time for reasons best known to him, he  approached me for further dates to complete the remaining half. By then, I was committed to my other films and I was to shoot in Madras for them. Despite this, I told him that if he wished, he could come to Madras where I was shooting, and I would work at night for him and shoot for the other film during the day. But it didn’t work out. I was only trying to be co-operative. As for the background music, etc., I’ve always maintained one policy. I never interfere in matters of production. I am primarily an actor, my function therefore being, acting. I refrain from such pastimes. Therefore, the question of holding up the release of the film does not arise. In fact, when Daddoo and I met recently, he was discussing another film which he wanted me to act in. That shows  there’s no bad-blood between us at all!
You must be insecure! Or why would you resort to low-down tricks like having Anil Kapoor thrown out of the film Buniyaad because his talent was pitted against yours. Being a senior in the industry, shouldn’t you be above all these things?

As you rightly put it, I have been in the line longer than Anil has. And the kind of films we work in are quite different from each other. So there’s no feeling threatened and insecure. I have carved my own niche. I have a standing of my own, very different from the younger generation. Besides, I have enough films on hand. So any such remorseful feeling is out of  question. And let me tell you one thing. It was Anil Kapoor who backed out of Buniyaad, not me. So you should be asking him this question. Anyway, I see things differently. I personally feel that we need more younger actors and actresses in our industry. There’s always room for more.
Everyone is amazed at the way you booted out Feroz Khan from your life when Dayavan flopped. Are your friendships so flippant that they are solely dependent on a film’s success or failure?

Dayavan did very well in Bombay. I can say it with conviction because I was the distributor for the Bombay territory. And my performance in the film has not been criticized. On the contrary, it has been appreciated. About the film, I had only one doubt in my mind which I discussed with Feroz. Since Dayavan was a remake of a South Indian film, I felt that a South Indian character would not be well received in the North. Feroz did not think likewise, and thought it better to retain the original theme. And sure enough, as I had predicted, the film lost its impact in the North. Frankly, while a film is being made, I can usually tell whether it will be well received or not by the masses. I can make suggestions, but finally it is left to the discretion of the director to either take it or leave it. My friendship with Feroz has not been adversely affected at all because of Dayavan. In fact,  Feroz is contemplating another film with me.
After the resounding flops of Dayavan, Ustaad, Mahadev and Batwara, your professional credibility has sunk to a new low. In fact, even your best buddy Raaj Grover has nicknamed you ‘DUMB’ (An acronym for the initials of those movies), and has dropped the of making a film with you in the lead. Comment!

There’s no question of Raaj Grover deserting me or vice-versa just because of my films flopping, or anything of the sort. Raaj was definitely planning a film with me. But due to lack of adequate finances, he has temporarily shelved the project. As for the films you’ve mentioned, Dayavan didn’t do well only in the North, as I explained earlier. Ustaad and Mahadev were released on the same day, as a result of which the masses were undecided as to which film they should see first. This initially affected both my starrers. However, eventually, both the films drew 70 to 80 per cent at the Box Office. Surely you can’t call them flops. Except perhaps for Batwara, all my films have been well received by the public right from Insaaf and Satyamev Jayate – they all did reasonably well. And to cite the simple economics of filmmaking, if my producers were not making money with my films, I wouldn’t still be here, would I? Mind you, Batwara was not my film entirely. It was a multi-starrer. So…! Anyway, objectively speaking I see myself here for another three to four years. Perhaps, if I look after myself, exercise, diet, etc, I can stretch the duration further. Meaning, that I see myself around in this industry, either as a producer or a director. I am here to stay. My functions may change. But otherwise, I will be very much around!
You have undergone a total metamorphosis post your Rajneesh Ashram sojourn. People who earlier found you forthright and jovial, now find you aloof and withdrawn. What is the reason for such a drastic change?

I’ve realized that there is no meaning to existence. The more you look for the meaning, the more complexed life is. These questions – what life is, what is the purpose of living, what is right, what is wrong, all these questions become more intriguing when you start questioning yourself. With Rajneesh, it was going one step ahead of all this. We went beyond all this, at a higher meditation level, nirvana, tranquility! You see, when you have a Guru to lead you, your path to soul-searching is devoid of trial-and-error methods. All your quests, doubts are answered by meditations, etc. Only when you have these quests unanswered, that you philosophise yourself. Today, I am at complete peace with myself. I have learned to live life on a day-to-day basis, to completely immerse myself in whatever I undertake. Be it work, relationships, or whatever I do, I do with total dedication, total involvement. I believe in experiencing every mood, every emotion to its fullest. If I love, I love passionately. Have you tried to experience anger fully? No. Because we are told to repress or overcome all our negative emotions. At Rajneesh, we went beyond all this. And, believe me, it has helped me today. So my aloofness is in fact, peace which I feel from within! Nothing else!
You have a reputation as a womanizer and a flirt. In fact, if unit-wallas are to be believed, no heroine escapes your roving eye and hands. No wonder Mithun had forbidden Sridevi from working with you, when their romance was at its peak. What do you say?

Besides sharing an easy working relationship, there is no other relationship I share with my co-stars. Oh yeah, light flirtation is inevitable between all actors and actresses. And nobody can deny this. If they do, they are blatantly lying. Obviously, when you flirt with a lady, she is going to blush. As for Sridevi, Mithun couldn’t possibly forbid her to work with me. In fact, we are working in quite a few films together at present. I am not as big a hound for females as I’m made out to be!

Don’t you feel guilty about neglecting your sons Rahul and Akshaye? After all, they are in their adolescent years and must be missing their father. Also, don’t you wish to marry again? How much longer are you going to lead the life of  a bachelor?
Well, the very fact that I wanted to marry Amrita (Singh), answers the second half of your query. As for my kids, Rahul and Akshaye, I may physically not be present in their day-to-day life, but I’m always there when they need me. We share an amicable father-son relationship. Rahul is in college and Akshaye is yet in school. Like any other father, I reprimand them when necessary. Usually, one look at both my boys and I can tell when there’s something disturbing them. So, together, we try and work out their problems.

Your on-off relationship with Amrita Singh may finally be off (as of now), but isn’t it a little callous of you to use model Lubna Adams as a closet girlfriend in-between? You happily flaunt her around when there is no one else, but dump her the moment you find someone else. How convenient!

Well, before Amrita and I got involved, I had met Lubna on a couple of occasions. That’s about it. After that, I was seeing Amrita, and when I am serious about one person, I don’t two-time. I am not that sort at all. It’s only now, when things have fallen out between Amrita and me, that I am seeing Lubna. We go out partying, socialize, go to the discos. And for heaven’s sake, she is not my closet girlfriend. 

— Kanan Divecha
FAST FORWARD

The 70-year-old Vinod Khanna is still a stunning looking man by any measure. In his early life, he has been an actor, producer and is still an active politician. After a career span of nearly five decades starting in 1968, and more than a 150 films to his name, he was last seen in Dilwale in 2014. The Punjabi Adonis with the sexiest clefted chin, debuted as a villain in 1968, did some more villainy, and went on to play leading man in numerous films from 1971 onwards ( also the year he married Geetanjali), playing romances as well as action with equal aplomb. He was also a great asset in multi-starrers, which were numerous in his heyday. 

Vinod Khanna became a follower of the spiritual teacher Osho (Bhagwan Rajneesh) in 1975, and left the film industry in 1982 for five years. At that time he was married to Geetanjali and had two sons with her, Rahul and Akshaye. In the early eighties, he moved to the Osho Commune in the US, Rajneeshpuram. It was this perceived desertion of his family that caused his marriage to end in divorce. 1987 saw him come back to Bollywood. In 1997, he produced Himalay Putra to launch his son Akshaye. In 1990, he married Kavita, fathering a son, Sakshi, now waiting to be launched on the silver screen, and a daughter, Shraddha.

Since nearly two decades now, he’s done character roles and even television. Since 1997, Vinod Khanna has been a BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) member, from the Gurdaspur constituency, then the Lok Sabha, followed by Union Minister for culture and tourism, and Ministry of External Affairs.  He is currently the sitting MP from Gurdaspur.

The dashing Khanna continues to draw admiration in his rare celluloid outings.

(Contributed by Suguna Sundaram)

Sridevi Exposes Her Real Relationship With Jeetendra And Insists She’s Not Scared Of Wife Shobha.

Jeetendra is the most lovable star and I don’t blame Sridevi for giving her heart to him. More so, when being involved with this big Box Office draw has so many advantages for the career-conscious South Indian superstar. By allowing Jeetu to monopolise her on screen and mesmerise her off it, Sridevi has not only replaced her biggest rival Jaya Prada in Jeetu’s films and affection, but even seen her own career take-off like a speeding bullet. Her involvement with the ‘lucky’ star is giving nightmares to rival heroines (threatened by her entry into Hindi films) and sleepless nights to Shobha (this is the second time a South Indian girl is threatening to take her Jeetu away from her). It is also creating a lot of speculation in both, Bombay, as well as the Madras film industry, about the couple. Everybody wants to know Jeetendra’s real relationship with Sridevi. Is he seriously involved with her or is she just a professional pastime? Is it a publicity-stunt for their films together or is Sridevi using Jeetu as her ladder to success?

Jeetendra was most unhelpful when asked about his lady-love and if she was trespassing on wife Shobha’s property. “After so many years of togetherness,” explained Jeetu, “Shobha knows me inside-out. She also knows that she and the kids mean a lot to me. I can never leave them for anything or anyone in the world. These days, she too has been hearing stories about Sridevi, but she understands.” Did that mean that he was just having a fling with his heroine? “I never said that,” he smiled mischievously, and then joked, ‘Mooh bund. I don’t want to say anything.” Instead of getting nowhere with Jeetu, I decided to meet Sridevi in Madras.
The South Indian superstar took me by surprise. I had fixed the appointment with her, and when I landed up at her bungalow in Madras, I was stunned. Except for a couple of stone statues in the tiny lawn, giving it a filmi touch, the house had a typical middle-class chaap. Sridevi certainly lacked taste and I could see that Jeetu hadn’t rubbed off his good clothes-sense on to her.  I couldn’t imagine the bare-footed, ordinary-looking girl in a cotton blouse and A-line skirt, with a running nose and no tissue or handkerchief to wipe it, as the most beautiful girl in Madras. As I shamelessly stared at her make-up-less face and oily plait, Sridevi smiled and her eyes lit up impishly. She pulled up one of the cane chairs in the verandah and asked me to sit.
She ordered for a cup of hot Bournvita for me and insisted that I needed it, and when I started my interview, I realised Sridevi was right. We had a language problem. I couldn’t speak Tamil and she had difficulty in understanding English or Hindi, but we managed. And I have to thank Jeetu for it. For, the moment she heard her hero’s name, the girl was completely charged, and co-operation personified. Without the slightest embarrassment, she confessed that she fell in love with Jeetendra when she saw Caravan. “I saw it more than five times.” She laughed. “I simply loved him in that film, the way he danced around.” Since that day, Jeetu became Sridevi’s favourite hero. “And so,” she continued enthusiastically, “when director Raghavendra Rao suggested his name for Himmatwala, I was very happy and agreed at once to do the film.”

When Sridevi met her screen-idol in person, there was instant chemistry. Her eyes glowed as she recalled their first meeting. “It was the 100th day jubilee function of one of my Tamil films,” she blushed. “Jeetu had come specially to meet me and congratulate me on my performance,” She even remembered what both of them had worn that day. “I had worn a nice salwar-kameez and he was in a very smart-looking pants and a T-shirt.” Sridevi was thrilled to bits to be introduced to him. “My first impression was that he was a very handsome man with excellent taste in clothes. He was also very smart and a perfect gentleman. And after knowing him so well now, I still feel the same way about him.”
Sridevi’s fan-turned-lover story was very similar to that of Rekha’s. Even she was in love with Jeetu before she joined the industry, got emotionally involved when she started working with him, and fell out of love the moment she realised that Jeetendra had boasted of his conquest to his friends. In fact, till a couple of years ago, when she made up with him, Rekha refused each and every film with the Jumping Jack. I asked Sridevi if she trusted Jeetu. She laughed, “He is such a nice man, I can never forget how helpful he was on my first day of shooting. I was extremely nervous since Hindi was a new language for me, and my first Hindi film Solva Sawan, hadn’t done well. But Jeetu gave me all the moral support and confidence I needed. He went out of his way to make me feel comfortable by explaining the dialogues to me, and his kind and helpful nature really appealed to me.”

Sridevi however, denied all rumours about a link-up between her and Jeetu. When I told her that a hot-shot Bombay producer insisted that every evening after shooting, Sridevi visited Jeetu in his hotel room, and stayed there past midnight, the girl blushed and screamed,“Never! Honestly, till this day, I have never been to Jeetu’s hotel room, nor has he ever come home. I know people have been saying a lot of bad things, but this is the truth.”
“I am an innocent girl,” she continued quietly. “I’m not a fool, but I am not a calculative person either. And I am certainly not a man-eater.” Sridevi insisted that these rumours linking her up with a married man, didn’t really affect her or her orthodox parents, because she’d been a child-star and ‘link-ups are a part of the game’. “It’s not new to me,” she smiled shrewdly. “I’m used to and prepared for things like this. My parents, though conservative, know what this industry is all about. Besides, they have met Jeetu a couple of times and find him a very decent man.”

Sridevi insisted that she didn’t know why Shobha was feeling threatened by her. She also stated emphatically that though she admired Hema Malini very much, she would never go her way and marry a married man. “It’s a wrong belief that second wives are a common feature in the South,” she said seriously. “Even here, it’s a big thing to marry a married man or have a second wife. Everyone gossips about it. People are more conservative in the South than in Bombay.

“Besides, where Jeetu and I are concerned, there is no affair and no marriage plans. Shobha is a very nice and understanding woman. I’ve met her at parties, premieres and other filmi functions. I have met his kids too. They are very cute. Once when they had come on our sets, they told me, ‘Aunty, we liked you in Himmatwala very much’.”
I asked her, if her relationship with Jeetu was all that professional, how was it that he had monopolised her for so long. Wasn’t it a fact that he didn’t allow her to work with any other hero besides him, till recently? Sridevi rubbed her nose with the palm of her hand, fidgeted with her skirt, took a deep breath and attacked, “Never. I signed films with other heroes because I got films with them. Before that there were no offers. And how can anyone say I’ve got so many films with Jeetu? To date, I have only done Himmatwalla, Jaani Dost and Justice Choudhary with him. And I’m doing only two more films with him, Tohfa and Mawali.”

Did that mean that they never wanted to capitalise on their on-screen link-up? Hadn’t Sridevi wanted to rekindle the Hema-Dharam love pair charisma on screen with Jeetu? The girl sheepishly nodded. “That’s true. It’s not as though Jeetu and I have planned not to work with each other. I have been offered interesting roles with different heroes and I’ve accepted them. A change is always good. And when I said I’m doing only two films with Jeetu, I meant I have two films on floors. Otherwise, we have plenty of films together, yet to start. I’m even working in his home production Akalmand, directed by Raj Bharati.”
Wasn’t Jeetu recommending her to all his producers and trying to stop her from working with other heroes? She looked at me, nodded, and said, “May be he does it sometimes. But he’s never told me about it, so I really don’t know whether he does it or not.” And then, she blurted, “Actually, now that I’m confident about myself and don’t need much help from Jeetu, he has not been as warm or friendly with me as before.” I queried if she took an interest in Jeetu only because she wanted to steal him from her rival Jaya Prada, Sridevi was flabbergasted. Wasn’t she also doing the same with Jaya’s new catch, Rajesh Khanna now? Sridevi lost her cool and shouted. “Rajesh Khanna doesn’t belong to anybody anyway. If he was Jaya’s property at one time, he will now be mine!”

Gaining instant confidence she continued, “I really don’t care about what people have to say about me. I’m only interested in my work and career. And I’m eager to make it big in Bombay. Some time ago, people said I was involved with Kamala Haasan, and saying all sorts of things because Kamal and myself have been working together since I was just 13. And Kamal being what he is, is very difficult to hate. He is so unlike the reserved Jeetu. He is always cracking jokes, making people laugh, teasing everyone around him. In fact, more than Kamal, I’m friendly with Vani (Kamala Haasan’s wife).” Seeing the surprise on my face, she explained, “That’s because she is a lady!”
Her logic was funny and I laughed. Wide-eyed, she asked me about the big bad wolves of the Bombay industry. Her naivety touched me and I saw her eyes growing bigger as she attentively listened to stories. I could see her cleverly grasp the information, frequently nodding of her head. I stopped, realising why all the filmi men flipped for Sridevi. Taken in by her vulnerability, they were all ready to hold her hand and guide her through the cross-roads of her filmi career. I couldn’t blame her heroes for that.  

 
FAST FORWARD
For a child who started her acting career at age four (with Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu and Hindi films eventually), and had a Bollywood entry (in Julie in 1975) four decades ago, the 53-year-old Sridevi is an amazing story of determination and sheer popularity, not to forget, tremendous acting talent. She was a terrific dancer and had a face that echoed naivety and vulnerability. Needless to say, she had a lot of the Bollywood heroes going crazy about her. 1978 (Solwa Saawan) to 1997 (Judaai) were her years of active Hindi films, and in over a 100 movies, she did some landmark films and has a long list of noteworthy performances. Sri married producer Boney Kapoor in 1996, and they have two daughters, Jahnvi and Khushi. After a 15-year long hiatus, Sridevi got back to the screen in 2012 with English Vinglish. She had only enhanced both, her looks, and her skills a hundredfold. 2013 got her a Padma Shri. 2015 saw her play a royal in a Tamil film Puli. Her celluloid outings are greatly thought about and few and far between. Even as she is still on her ascending cusp, her young daughters Jahnvi and Khushi are both now, old enough to set foot in the industry. Sridevi, to her credit, has worked all her life to rise beyond the humble stock she came from. And has polished all that gauche, rustic demeanour into a lady of style and substance. Sri is one of the few actors in the current day, who still merits the label of superstar. And in the future, her work guarantees that her name will always be on the list of legendary actresses of India.

(Contributed by Suguna Sundaram)

Zeenat Aman On Loving & Living.

With class and a studied candour, she threw it all away. Yesterday she was there, today she’s not, and no one knows if she’ll come tomorrow. An impulsive marriage and a bonny boy threw her into the sidelines. The image of the sex-symbol sunk into oblivion. Zeenat Aman, the enigma, grew… but the lady never surfaced. Until now!
 
Everybody speculated on how a star who had bathed herself in the harsh glare of the public eye could settle for a mere shadow of things that used to be. The transition from curvaceous curves to wet diapers was an arduous one. An actress who had her days filled with pen-pushers and autograph-hunters, now only heard the warm gurgles of her darling child. The priorities have shifted. From claustrophobic make-up rooms to the cradle, Zeenat’s come a long way, with her baby.
 
Her waking hours are spent with the child. Nothing matters more to her than the welfare of the infant. At a fly sitting on the baby bottle, she lets out an agonising scream. If the child burps with satisfaction, she screams in sheer maternal delight. There are no maids or governesses for this child. Zeenat’s playing all the roles this once. For the first time she’s shuffling the cards, and it thrills her like never before. The mother’s rocking the cradle to a finally satisfying tune.
All through it, Zeenat lived cocooned from the flak. When asked to speak, she politely (and not so politely at times) declined. But after haunting, cajoling and pursuing her, the mother within the sex-bomb finally allowed a peek into her very private life.
 
Seated in her cozy home, Zeenat Aman looked ravishing in a casual white shirt and acid washed skirt, completely at peace with herself. She spoke relentlessly, reflecting on her growing-up days, on what it meant to be a sex-symbol, on what it took to marry Mazhar Khan; she spoke frankly on motherhood, her insecurities. What she expects out of the future, for Mazhar, for her child. For herself.
Over to Zeenat Aman – glamour girl, glamour star, and above all, glamour mother…
 “My childhood was full of warm and happy memories. It was a very balanced one, in spite of the fact that my parents were separated when I was very young. I never lacked anybody’s love and attention, I always had a lot from both sets of parents. My father remarried and so did my mother, so there were more people to dote on me. In fact, there were more. I was also very, very secure. I never resented my parent’s separation because when one is that young, you don’t question, you just accept. I just missed being at both the weddings for which I felt very bad. My mother remarried in Germany and my dad remarried in Bombay. But I was in boarding school in Panchgani. I was put into a boarding school because my mother was travelling a great deal, and she felt that I needed the consistency of having a routine, balanced life. And I enjoyed it.
 
“Immediately after I left the sheltered world of a convent boarding school, I went into the climate of Southern California which was a total contrast. There were people walking around in bikinis and banking in shorts. The hippie and drug culture had also just started. But what really shocked me was that fourteen-year-old girls were dropping out of school because they became pregnant. That was a very severe culture shock for me. It’s interesting that it happened in those formative years of my life. It just widened my perspective. I realised that both these lifestyles existed separately at the same point of time. That’s where the balance in my life started.
“I realised my feminity towards the end of my stay in America. There you have what you call Prom night, and you have all these blondes and blue-eyed girls vying to be the Prom Queen. And they sent me in as well. I used to wear a saree to school and was dusky in comparison. I realised that they thought of me as a feminine persona and liked me. This was the beginning of being aware that I was a woman. Boys began approaching me for dates. And this awakened in me a certain something I carried over to India.
 
“Back in Bombay, I found the environment in the colleges very stifling. I realised that I wanted to be a part of the mainstream of life, and therefore, moved on to the next easiest thing I could think of, modeling. And there, I grew more aware of being a woman, of being feminine.
 
“Frankly I was never attracted to the industry. After I returned from Manila as Miss Asia, some offers were made to my mother to allow me to enter the movies. So I signed Mr. O.P. Ralhan’s film in which I had a five-day role. Then I was recommended by him for Hare Rama Hare Krishna.
“At that time, my mother was leaving for Germany to join my step-father. All our stuff had been shipped out of the country, we were absolutely ready to go. I begged my mother to let me go to Nepal just for two months, after which I begged her to stay for the release, and then I never wanted to go to Germany at all. I told her that I had a career here and therefore, didn’t want to go. My mother was faced with a very difficult situation – to choose between her daughter and her husband. And she made a phenomenal sacrifice – she stayed on with me.
 
“The seeds of a ‘sex-symbol’ tag were sown by Hare Rama Hare Krishna itself. Then there was Heera Panna, where I did a song in a bikini, in a hammock. And this went on till I reached the peak in Satyam Shivam Sundaram and Qurbani. But I never really identified myself as a sex-symbol as a person, because I’ve always been a more cerebral person than a physical one.
“Mind you, I’ve never been able to wear a swimming costume in public, because I know people are watching me. But between action and cut, I become a totally different person – I become the character I play. These bikini scenes were done only in the early days – and under the aesthetic expertise of veterans like Raj Kapoor and Feroz Khan. With youth, you have a certain innocence, freshness, and it looks very natural because you don’t question it yourself. But the moment you begin to question, you stop.
 
“Values and principles are things that just happen. It’s one thing to be told something theoretically, and another to live it on a day-to-day basis. I’ve believed in the right of people to live and let live, not consciously wanting to hurt any other human being. Today, I feel very far from the rat-race. I feel I’m looking at it from a great distance.
 
“Art cinema is something I’d love to do now. I can never come back to the rat-race though. I’ve been a part of it for 15 years and just don’t want to go back for more. My priorities have changed today. Just the other day, I was offered three films in a row and I turned them all down. If I act now, it will only be in meaningful cinema. But I’ll never regret my years in the industry. Those were years when I blossomed from childhood to womanhood. Your perspectives change through time, that’s why 15 years later, you are totally different from what you’d started out as.
“I feel the Gods have smiled upon me. I’ve been through a gamut of life. For 15 years, I was a very successful star. Today, I am an equally successful wife and mother. And I’m glad all this happened to me early in life. Fortunately, I don’t have to wait till I am 50.
“My relationship with my husband started in a very tumultuous way. But today, everything is sorted out. Neither Mazhar nor I contemplated or planned our marriage. It just happened. We weren’t talking to each other when we left for Singapore and 10 days down the road, we were married to each other. It was off the diving-board, into the deep end where we’d plunged, and then learnt to take it stroke by stroke. Marriage just happened to us, and not all of it was easy. I think walking away from a marriage is easy – staying and making it work is a tough task. We’ve done that.
 
“There has to be fidelity in a successful marriage, but this does not rule out being attracted to another person. Mazhar is a human being and there is the possibility that he may find someone more attractive and appealing. There’s also the possibility that I may find someone more attractive, more stimulating. But this does not mean I’ll give that person preference over my marriage. For, if and when I do, the marriage would cease to be important to me, and I’d move away. I don’t think I’d be able to share Mazhar with anyone else, and I doubt he’d be able to do the same.
“Episodes like that Poonam Gidwani one, don’t affect me. I have nothing to say about that tartlet. She tried so bloody hard to sink her claws into Mazhar. She’d do cheap things like bringing him home-made sweets which I’m sure were highly indigestive. She had the gall to say Mazhar wanted her for publicity. Tell me, why would he use her for publicity if that’s what he wanted, when he’s married to me? Frankly I don’t wish to waste my breath over such floozies.
 
“I’m confident of the fact that Mazhar’s equally not fond of Rubaina. I can justify her nastiness towards me, as they say ‘Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.’ I share no relationship with her at all. The only thing I feel that is not right is Azhaar being deprived of Mazhar’s attention. Mazhar is not being allowed to be with Azhaar as he should. He’s been completely shut out. And that’s not fair to the child. From my side, this house is always open to Mazhar’s other child as well. I feel very bad for Mazhar and I can’t justify the stand of this woman because she is doing her son a disservice by depriving him of his natural father.
“Motherhood means everything to me and I enjoy every moment of it. I feel like a complete woman after I had my son. It’s a myth that mothers can’t be glamorous. Motherhood only enhances the charm, beauty, and glamour of a woman. The only regret I have is that I waited so long to have Azaan. To create and nurture another human being is a sheer miracle. Azaan knows he’s a very special baby.
 
“Azaan’s too little yet to give me the kind of pain I probably gave my mother through the years. It must have been difficult for her, it’s not easy being a single parent to a successful actress. There are a lot of things I’ve done in my life that have given her a lot of pain, but I don’t think I would like to go back into the past. I value my mother immensely. There are three people very important in my life - my mother, Mazhar, and my son. Amidst all this, I am an identity on my own. I am first. I’ve had my own personality and individuality from childhood. I was never so-and-so’s daughter or wife. If I am anything else, it’s because of love. I love my husband enough to want to be his wife. I love my son enough to want to be acknowledged as his mother. It’s purely out of love, and not a lack or loss of individuality. It’s not as if I’ve not had the choice. I’ve always had it.
“Looking into the future, I envisage a few more kids for myself, and great success for Mazhar in whatever he does. Maybe I’ll do a few challenging films myself. I know there’s some force  watching and guiding, and he’ll lead us on. But it’s difficult to say what tomorrow holds…”
 
--Kersi Vajifdar
 
FAST FORWARD
Zeenat Aman ruled the silver screen as sex Goddess in the seventies and eighties, making news for her films and her personal life. This1970 Miss Asia Pacific had a convent school education and studied abroad, causing her to be cast mostly in roles of westernised heroines in Hindi films. She may not have had blazing talent, but her looks and her style carried her far in the industry. After her actor-husband Mazhar Khan died in 1998, her kids Azaan and Zahaan were brought up by her single-handedly. She never remarried.
A debut in 1971 in OP Ralhan’s Hulchul was followed by successful films with many leading directors, making Zeenat the favourite cover girl of Stardust. She even took a shot at Hollywood with Shalimar, saw a 17-year run with her playing lead roles till 1989. With films such as Hare Rama Hare Krishna and Yaadon Ki Baraat, she impacted the characterisation of and fashioned the image of the youthful and westernised woman in Hindi cinema. She played unconventional, non-conformist and liberal thinking characters in nearly 80 films, and had very few appearances after a comeback. The 64-year-old Zeenat Aman lives with her now grown-up sons, and is social only to a very small degree, holding herself aloof from the industry and its activity, making rare appearances at fashion shows and film events. She still is the picture of grace and style.  
                                                                 (Contributed by Suguna Sundaram)

MITHUN’S TWO WOMEN!

They are two women who can’t see eye to eye — especially since they happen to be involved with the same man. Both are attractive, fair, light-eyed, with silky, flowing hair, and voluptuous figures that need calorie-counting. Helena Luke and Yogeeta Bali (in that order) are the two women in tall, dark and sexy Mithun Chakraborty’s life (at present). Both of them are fighting for their right and their man. Theirs is a tragicomedy, with Helena having married Mithun on the rebound (after her five-year relationship with Javed Khan ended), Mithun having jumped into matrimony with Helena for the very same reason (after the grand ditch given by his girlfriend Sarika), and Yogita having walked into Mithun’s life and heart (after her split from husband Kishore Kumar).
 
Today, it’s almost three years since the Mithun-Helena separation (after four months of a marriage on the rocks), and just when the divorce is coming through, there are fresh rumours of Helena’s desire for a reconciliation with Mithun, making Yogeeta a nervous wreck. The battle now is not between the miya and his ex-biwi but between these two women, who have never met nor seen each other so far! Caught in the cross-fire of this feminine war is Mithun, stubborn, sentimental and single.
I met Mithun, who told me, “I have not even spoken to Helena after we separated. My secretary deals with her. I only wish she’d leave me alone and let me live in peace.” And then added in a whisper. “I want to get married again yaar. I am only 30.” That set me thinking. I decided to meet both the girls.   
 
Helena was polishing her toe-nails when I walked into her fancy flat at Warden Road. 23, poised and vibrant, I liked her confidence and candidness. Coincidentally, the day I met her was Mithun’s birthday, she mentioned it. “This four-month old marriage of mine is like a hazy dream now,” she smiled. “I only wish it hadn’t happened.” She put the blame solely on Mithun’s shoulders. “He was the one who brainwashed me into believing that he was the man for me,” she explained, recalling the days he shadowed her from 6.00 a.m.(when she went to her health club), till the time she went to bed, constantly pleading her to consider marriage with him. “Unfortunately, he succeeded,” she laughed. 
I asked if she planned to patch up with Mithun, now that he was no longer the struggling newcomer she’d known, but a successful star in his own right. She said sternly, “I was the one who walked out on him and asked for a divorce. He may be a star now, but that does not change my plans. I’ll never go back to him even if he is the richest guy around. I haven’t even asked for alimony.” She was quite upset with Mithun and his mud-slinging. “It was a nightmare and it’s over. I wish Mithun would stop talking about me. What I hate about Mithun is the way he treats his women as publicity props by discussing them and talking about them. As for me, this is the last time I’m speaking on this man. In a few months, our divorce will come through and he can do whatever he likes after that.”
 
One thing she was sure of, was that their marriage could not be saved even at this stage. She’d been a pampered child who’d got everything in life her way. “But after marriage, I got nothing. All alone I used to wait for him to come back home. I got to see him for only four hours every day and couldn’t bear it.” Having been totally indulged by her father, Helena expected Mithun to do the same. It was a tall order, but it was not as if Mithun hadn’t known of her princess-like upbringing. In fact, in one of his emotional moments, he had promised her father that he would treat his daughter like “the ninth wonder of the world,” and the whole family had got taken in by those impressive words.
Helena had got completely bowled over by Mithun’s love talk. “I really believed him when he told me that he loved me. But when I got to know him better, I realised that he loved no one but himself. He was extremely immature, and though I was years younger than him, I felt much older,” she said simply. “He was very possessive and accused me of seeing my ex-boy-friend Javed on the sly. I used to go blue in the face trying to convince him that I didn’t, but couldn’t succeed in eradicating his deep-rooted suspicious nature. It was only later that I realised he had a guilt complex. He himself was fooling around behind my back and thought I was doing the same.”
 
But what Helena resented the most was not Mithun’s straying habits, but his tight-fistedness. “I had to literally beg for even `10 from him. Till today, this man hasn’t given me even 10 paisa,” she exclaimed. She chuckled wryly. “If Yogeeta called her first husband a kanjoos, her second one is just the same. Perhaps worse.”
The one occasion Mithun gave his wife spending money generously, was when he wanted her to buy some saris for his sisters! When she got back, he demanded an account, and she was baffled at his three-and-a-half-hour long lecture for buying costume jewellry (worth `30) for herself, She reminisced miserably, “Imagine, he wanted me to go and return it! I refused to do any such thing.”
 
Yet, the next day, she found out that Mithun happily gambled in his free time during shootings. One of his directors advised her to keep her husband in hand because he lost almost `300 every day in cards! “I was furious. How could he crib about 30 bucks when he was wasting 300 every day?” She let Mithun have a piece of her mind. After every big showdown, which ended with Mithun apologising and promising her it would never happen again, the two of them drove off to a restaurant for dinner. Trouble brewed again when ex-girlfriend Sarika walked in and Mithun sprang up to leave the place. “I told him to sit down and eat his food, but he wanted to rush out,” she narrated. “I refused to budge and threatened to create a scene if Mithun left me alone.” Mithun, who knew his wife meant business, stayed put, but sulked the rest of the dinner and did not eat a morsel. They had a bigger showdown at home.
Home was another problem. They lived in modest paying-guest digs with two dogs and two cousins. “They were hangers-on and spent all his money, which I did not approve of,” she explained. And when she suggested that they move out to another place, Mithun threw a fit and told her that if she wanted to go, the doors were open. She took him up on his words the next time he said them.
 
But the biggest cause of their marriage breaking up was Javed Khan. Helena wasn’t seeing him, but Mithun, carried away by his suspicions, taunted her all the time about him. “Even if we bumped into him accidentally, Mithun insisted I had planned the meeting,” she said disgustedly. Helena hasn’t forgotten till today her first birthday after marriage. Mithun was out of town and had refused to give her any money to spend on that occasion, “I always give a party to my friend’s son on my birthday,” explained Helena, “and this was not only the first birthday after marriage but also my 21st birthday. I was very upset.” Her father volunteered to throw a party but she wouldn’t allow him to. “Why couldn’t my husband do that?” she asked. Eventually, her friends took her out to dinner after which they dropped in at Javed’s place for a drink. Mithun however, did not even bother to call her up or wish her. “What hurts me most is when he lied to the press and said that he had not only called me and not found me at home, but that he had sent me flowers and a bottle of perfume,” she said. “That was disgusting.”
Once the two of them decided to separate, exactly after four months of a stormy married life, Mithun demanded point-blank that she never use his name for any purpose. He presumed that Helena, like all other estranged filmi wives, would also like to get into films. He was right. For Helena did manage to wangle her way into the industry, but without using her husband’s name. “I was a stage artist when I married Mithun,” she explained, “and so I decided to go for glamour and films. I love glamour and attention. I can’t survive without it.” However, the only time she used the “I am Mithun Chakraborty’s wife,” line was when actor Ranjeet tried to make a pass at her at the airport. “He left me alone after hearing that,” she giggled. 
 
Mithun and Helena have drifted apart physically, mentally and emotionally, and Helena may prefer to conceal her hurt behind her indifference. But she’s still interested in her ex-husband on one score – his career, “I make it a point to see all his films,” she confessed. “He was terrible in Khwab. But I believe he is very good in Sitara.” So minutely does she watch him on the screen that the first thing she observed during Suraksha was that Mithun wore his wedding band on the traditional ring finger in the first half of the film. “That’s when we were married,” she explained. “But in the second half of the film, he wore the ring on the middle finger. That’s when we were separated!” And though she has never met him after walking out on him, she doesn’t seem to have any regrets. “The only thing I want now,” she said, “is to work with him in a film. I want to show him that I’m an actress too!”
Whether Yogeeta will allow Mithun to act with Helena or not is another story. Strangely enough, filmi people rarely believe in clear breaks without hard feelings. First, Kishore Kumar refused to sing for his ex-wife’s lover, Mithun Chakraborty, and then Mithun refused to allow his sweetheart Yogeeta to act with his ex-wife’s former boyfriend Javed Khan! But Yogeeta refused to be personal and took up the film. A bold step, but the right one.
 
Where Yogeeta and her affair with her ex-husband is concerned, Helena only laughed and said, “I really don’t care what he does with whom. Whether it is Yogeeta, Ranjeeta or Padmini Kolhapure, it doesn’t bother me. And though she hasn’t met Yogeeta as yet, Helena sympathised with her. “The poor girl doesn’t know what she is getting into. I only hope she doesn’t get disillusioned a second time.” And then with sarcasm added, “That is, if Mithun really married her. I don’t think he ever will. I was told by Tamanna’s mother that my ex-husband was wooing her daughter as well.”
 Yogeeta Bali refused to take her sauten’s word for the gospel truth. She sat in her house nervously clutching her sari. She looked an Indianised version of Helena Luke. She had the right nakhras and the right touch of coyness, and refused to acknowledge Mithun by his name. “I love him very much and I don’t believe anything anyone says about him.” She said, blushing a beetroot red, while confirming rumours about their affair. “I know people are talking about him and Ranjeeta, but I know the truth. I’ve seen them together. They are very good friends and I like Ranjeeta. She is a very sweet girl.” She said she had also heard and read about Mithun and nymphet Padmini Kolhapure. “I can guarantee that there is nothing of the sort between them. Someone is obviously trying to get publicity out of this. I know Mithun too well.” Yogeeta, however hadn’t heard the Tamanna story. “Let people talk, I don’t bother or care,” she said, looking pretty bothered. 
 
It didn’t take long to discover that Helena Luke is Yogeeta Bali’s sore thumb. She reacted to her name as violently as she would to an attack of double pneumonia. “I hate her,” she hit out. “People say Mithun fell for me only because I look like her. But I don’t think there is any similarity between us. Just because she fell in love with Mithun because she thought he resembled her Javed Khan, does not mean that everyone feels the same way. Mithun does not even care for her.” She paused and added sarcastically, “How can I look like her? I’m not so beautiful!”
But she did admit that she was an extremely possessive and terribly jealous woman. And though, she was well aware of Mithun’s large female following and was prepared for gossip, rumours and even the reality of girls falling for him and he flirting with them (she was certain he’d never fall in love with anybody), she was honest enough to state that she wouldn’t be able to stand it. “I will try to be blind,” she said flatly. “But if I get to know that what I read is the truth, I’ll kill the girl who so much as threatens my happiness. I think that’s the best way to end an unwanted relationship.” That grim, blunt tone in the voice of a girl who’d generally been dismissed off as childish and immature, was unnerving to say the least. 
 
But life and love have not exactly been laughter and joy for Yogeeta. “I’ve had my problems. Though my first marriage with Kishore Kumar broke up, I was not disillusioned with love, for I never loved him,” she explained. “My marriage with him was never consummated and so it hasn’t put me off the institution of marriage either.” And now, that she has found the right man at last, Yogeeta was naturally protective of her property. The only thrill she got when her divorce with her Kishore saab came through in February, was that she was free to marry the man who meant the world to her. “We have been going around for two years now,” she blushed. “We have our fights and we make up. This time it is forever,” she said, touching a piece of wood.
There are many who feel that Yogeeta needs more than wood to make her dreams come true. As it is, she and Mithun share a stormy relationship. But Mithun gallantly took the blame for that, “I’m a fighter-cock. I need just an excuse to pick up a fight, but only Yogeeta knows how to handle me!” Not that Yogeeta had a secret success formula to take Mithun. She is merely sensible enough not to deprive him of the pleasure of having a fight with her! After which she dutifully and lovingly makes the first move to pacify him. Helena might call her dumb for doing it, but Mithun preferred to call her “very understanding”. Yogeeta knew how to feed the male ego and keep her man. “Any girl who can do that is intelligent,” he said, with admiration for his woman.
 
Yogeeta denied rumours that she was already shacking up with Mithun, while waiting for his divorce. “Chee,” she screeched. “It’s a lie. I’ve heard about it too and I would like to know who is responsible for such filth. I live here in my own flat with my brother and my mother. I will go to his house only after my marriage.” She was definitely more conventional and old-fashioned than Helena. Perhaps that’s what Mithun liked in her. “She makes me feel secure,” he said, analysing his feelings. While Yogeeta said, “I don’t know what attracted me to him. I think everything about  Mithun is attractive.”
Her career, in spite of the fact that it’s picked up so much today, rates second with her. It’s marriage that has top priority for her. “I am a very homely person,” she said, “I’d rather sit at home washing nappies and waiting for him to get back, than sit in studios waiting for the stars to turn up. I would give up everything for marriage. Mithun has to just tell me he wants me, and I’ll be there!” To which Mithun retorted with a laugh, “The day she comes and tells me that she’s tired of working, I’ll take her to the mandap.” What else could a man, caught between two women, one who wants to set him free and the other who wants to chain him down, say?  
 
FAST FORWARD
Mithun Gourang Chakraborty entered the Bollywood industry with an art film (directed by Mrinal Sen) Mrigayaa, winning him his first National Award, in 1976. This dusky, unconventional young man went on to establish himself as a leading man in many commercial pot-boilers, and was renowned for his dancing moves. He created desi disco and excelled at it with his lithe-limbed grooving. He earned two more National Awards for his Bengali films. He blazed the silver screen. He is the owner of the Monarch Group of Hotels. He has a production house, is a social worker, a trained martial-arts expert, and a member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha). His chequered past had roots in Naxalism as well, which he gave up after personal tragedy befell his family.
 
Mithun has had many books written about his colourful life. He had more than a 100 releases in the eighties and nineties. Mithun has three marriages (Sridevi, Helena Luke and Yogeeta Bali) to his credit, and four offspring from his third spouse Yogeeta - three sons and a daughter. His eldest son Mahaakshay (Mimoh) unfortunately, despite multiple attempts, has not managed to scratch the surface of success like his father. Awards fill Mithun’s home. His filmography runs into reams of paper.
 
 Mithun continues to be wooed by the industry, albeit lesser. He works in and judges reality shows and dance shows on television even today.

Why Govinda Couldn’t Marry Neelam!

 
“But it was my decision to marry Sunita,” he struggles, “I was committed to her and I couldn’t have dropped her after I fell in love with …” Neelam. The ache lingers. Like petals preserved in brown pages.
“I was never her cup of tea anyway. I am a ghati. An unpolished boor, and she’s a Dresden doll. Clean, pure, polished and dignified. We would probably never have got along.” The knife turns. Memories, so many of them, trickle. Like warm blood from a fresh wound, in spurts.

“I remember the first time I met her. At Pranlal Mehta’s office. She was wearing white shorts. Her long hair falling straight, like an angel’s. ‘Hello’ she said politely, and I was scared to reply because my knowledge of English was embarrassing. It still is. And I wondered how I would communicate with her on the sets. I had never imagined I would work with her. She was a distant dream. I had seen her in ‘
Jawani’, and seen the film again and again only to see her.
“I was very conscious of her. Of the difference in our backgrounds and upbringing. But gradually, we crossed these obstacles, and I started opening up. I would play pranks, crack jokes and she would laugh. We became friends. And we had so many films together. We met so often and the more I got to know her, the more I liked her. There was dignity in her. A kind of piousness in her eyes. And strength of character. There was no vulgarity about her, no loudness. She was the kind of woman any man would have lost his heart to. I lost mine.

“I couldn’t believe that such a young girl, even after attaining so much name, fame and wealth, could be so simple and down-to-earth. I couldn’t stop praising her. To my friends, to my family. Even to Sunita, to whom I was committed. I would tell Sunita to change herself and become like Neelam. I would tell her to learn from her. I was merciless. Sunita would get irritated. She would tell me, ‘You fell in love with me because of what I am, don’t ever try to change me’. But I was so confused. I didn’t know what to own.
“I had never meant to get so seriously involved with Sunita. I was looking for a girl to go around with. I had signed a few films by then, and one day, my elder brother Kirti came to visit me on my sets. I had to do a romantic scene, but couldn’t bring myself to do it. I felt very uncomfortable and awkward holding a girl in my arms. So, later, my brother told me, ‘Why don’t you have an affair just to get some experience of romance? You’ll at least, learn how to hold a girl in your arms’. At that point in time, I met Sunita. I admit that my involvement with her was a totally calculated move on my part. And I paid a heavy price for it.

“I realised too late that one needn’t experience death to perform a death scene, similarly one needn’t experience romance to perform romantic scenes. It came naturally, one only had to let oneself go. But the harm was done. I had already committed myself to Sunita. I am very impulsive.

“After I started getting busier, my relationship with Sunita went through a change. She began feeling insecure and jealous. And I was of no help. She would nag me and I would lose my temper. We had constant fights. In one of those fights, Sunita said something about Neelam, and I lost my head and called it quits. I asked Sunita to leave me. I broke off my engagement with her. And had Sunita not called me after five days and coaxed me into it again, I would probably have married Neelam.
“Yes, I wanted to marry her. And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. I feel love and hatred are two emotions over which a man has no control. If you love somebody and they reciprocate, there’s nothing one can do about it. It is instinctive. What is under our control is our sense of duty and commitment. Neelam was the ideal girl, the kind every man visualises for a life-partner. The kind of girl I wanted. But that was getting emotional. There was another practical side. Just because I had fallen in love elsewhere, I couldn’t overlook my commitment towards Sunita. If there was no sense of duty in a man, this would go on. Leave one for another and another for another…

“My dad was very keen that I marry Neelam. He was very fond of her. She had even visited him with her family. Yes, she had come to Virar. Actually, I took her and her mother to see my father. And he was very happy. But my mother thought differently. She felt that since I had given my word to Sunita, I must honour it. And I knew that if I didn’t do it, it would hurt her. And for me, no relationship can be more important than my mother. Her happiness will always be my primary concern.

“And anyway, Neelam had ambitions of her own to fulfill. Every time I broached the topic of marriage, she would laugh it off. She wanted to become the Number One heroine. She loves this profession and she’s lying when she says so matter-of-factly that she doesn’t much care about what happens to her career. And that it doesn’t affect her. She is very ambitious, take it from me.
“She wanted an intelligent, well-to-do, good-looking man as a husband. And I was anything but that. She belonged to the upper strata and I was a dehati, coming from a lower middle-class family.  We were poles apart in every way. We probably would never have been successful as a married couple. And maybe, Neelam realised that.

“But the actual problems between her and me began when she started working more and more with other heroes. I was consumed with absolute jealousy and insecurity. I was scared that I would lose out on her totally. And that she was the only, one good heroine that I had. And then ‘Aag Hi Aag’ and ‘Paap Ki Duniya’ became hits. She started signing more films with Chunky, Sunny, Mithun, Chintu, I was very
upset.

“In the meantime, my mother wanted me to officially marry Sunita – we’d had one ceremony in the mandir. For that matter, we were husband and wife. But I had not disclosed publicly my marriage to Sunita because I felt it would affect my career. Neither did Neelam know about it. She got to know only after a year. I probably did not tell her because I did not want to break this successful screen pair. And to be honest, to a certain extent, I did exploit my personal relationship with Neelam for professional ends. I played dirty with her. I should have told her that I was married.
“But there was always such a conflict going on in my mind. After meeting a girl like Neelam, any man is bound to lose his balance. I lost mine totally. I was so confused. I liked her tremendously. I was in love with her. I wanted to marry her. But I couldn’t. And yet, I didn’t want to let go. Even today, I feel jealous when I see her working with other actors. I wish she would start signing films with me again. If not anything, we could at least be friends.

“Of course, she’s very cordial to me whenever we bump into each other. But my heart still misses a beat when I see her. I feel like screaming in despair. If only I had not promised to marry Sunita. If only …

“I still care for Neelam. And I always will. I don’t know why she stopped signing films with me. And cut me off totally from her life. Maybe she felt that our pair was going stale on screen. The same old dancing, the same old steps, the same old Govinda.”
Bitterness escapes. Born out of hurt. Tremendous hurt and helplessness. “Sunita loves me. She has changed herself totally for me. Her world revolves around me. And my family has accepted her. There is also Narmada now, my daughter. There’s nothing one can do about it.
“But no matter what happens, I have a clean conscience. I’ve never hurt anyone intentionally. My involvements were not with the intentions of hurting. I could have backed out of my commitment to Sunita. But I didn’t. For whatever reasons, I had fallen in love with Sunita at one time. Love means giving, not taking. I don’t demand anything. Nor do I expect. It’s pure, simple love.
“That is why I hate it when my relationship with Neelam is termed as an affair. It somehow demeans the status of the relationship, the depth of my feelings. And I say my feelings, because I can only be sure of them. What she felt, she knows. Maybe there was nothing from her side. But I will never deny my love and reverence for her. I will always care for her. For me it was love, not lust. Love in its purest form. I know she was too good for me. She probably deserves better. And I do wish her all the happiness in the world. The man she marries will be the luckiest man on this earth.”
Suddenly he breaks links and comes back to earth. “Tomorrow, who knows, I may get involved again, and then, maybe I will marry the girl I get involved with. But Sunita should be prepared for it. Only then will I feel free. And there is a second marriage in my kundali.

“Well, I am a firm believer of destiny. What has to happen, will happen. Yes, I like Juhi a lot. Even Divya Bharati. Divya is a very sensuous girl. It’s difficult for a man to resist her. I know Sunita is going to be very upset with all this. But she should know that I am still resisting Divya’s charms. I haven’t given in to the temptation as yet…” he laughs. He’s back to the future.

FAST FORWARD
Govinda, was, is and will always remain an actor who became a darling of the masses because of  his utter simplicity and straightforwardness about his humble beginnings. He was born and spent his early years in far-flung Virar, and was very close to his mother who passed away in the late nineties. Govinda was known as an all round entertainer whose forte was comedy and dancing. An emotional and effortless actor, Govinda saw many highs and lows, in his Bollywood career which took off with his debut in 1986 with Ilzaam. Politics, many awards, and nearly  200 films and the distinction in the millennium of being voted the tenth greatest star of stage or screen of the last 1000 years by BBC News Online users. Govinda, or Chi Chi as he is fondly called by all, earned the ‘No 1’ appellate due to a series of films he did, ending with the ‘No 1’ tag.  The period post 2000 saw a string of flops and a fading away of this brightest of actors. Till the last three to four years that have revived him in the industry, although none of his recent films have fared too well at the Box Office, no fault of his though.  His wife Sunita, daughter Narmada and son Yash complete the happy family picture.
After a long hiatus, Govinda was recently seen as the lead actor in YRF’s Shaad Ali directed Kill Dil. Govinda was also in Happy Ending along with Saif Ali Khan and Ileana D’Cruz, and in a special appearance in Hey Bro. His films this year include Jagga Jasoos, Afra Tafri and Abhinay Chakra, which he is also producing. Plus he is doing for the second time as actor, a film Avataar, also starring Shatrughan Sinha who he worked with in his debut film Ilzaam, and the remake of the old Hero.

(Contributed by Suguna Sundaram)

Reena Roy: Surviving Sinha!

 “I don’t stand to gain anything from my relationship with Shatrughan Sinha!” When Reena Roy made this statement two years ago, she didn’t know how much she stood to lose!
 
Professionally, she had achieved the impossible! Nobody had expected the Zaroorat girl to rise above the lowly ranks. Yet, in time, she had made it to the No.3, officially. Filmmakers and distributors publicly acknowledged her as a worthy contender for the higher places with Hema Malini and Zeenat Aman, and tripped over themselves to give Reena her due in terms of banners, films, roles, money. The starlet was left behind. Reena Roy had become a star!
 
Personally, she had succeeded in breaking down barriers and prejudices. Initially, the sight and sound of Reena Roy, who she was, where she came from, her lack of breeding-education-self confidence, her inability to speak English, made her a highly questionable character through the industry. With success, however, people grew sympathetic, “So what if Reena comes from a poor family?” they countered defiantly. Overnight the Roys were granted respectability and all the bigwigs of the industry opened their doors to the family.
 
Just when Reena had everything going for her, Shatrughan Sinha walked into her life and brought it all to a standstill.
Sinha was by no means the first man in her life, Reena had been involved with Ranjeet, Jeetendra, etc, earlier, but she had never let any of them overpower her ambition to reach the top. With Sinha however, Reena forgot everything – her career, her family, her friends, herself. In him, she felt she’d found her ideal mate. He didn’t ask for intelligence or humour, since he didn’t possess the qualities himself. He was the only man who didn’t make her feel inadequate and inferior. Reena felt on par with him in every way. She became slavish in her love for the man, and Sinha was all for it.

So many people tried to warn Reena about his intentions. Even his closer friend Subhash Ghai repeatedly told her not to get taken in by Shatru’s ‘weakness for women’. Ghai and Reena  started their acting careers together as co-stars. Ghai wasn’t blind to the fact that Sinha had been completely indifferent to Reena during their first film together – Milap. He’d been equally aloof and unfriendly during the making of Kalicharan, hardly talking to each other on the sets. It was only after the film clicked and gave Sinha’s slipping career a new lease of life, that he began to look at its heroine with new eyes…
“I thought Reena was a good girl, that’s why I tried to make her understand,” explained Subhash sadly. “I knew that Shatru would eventually marry Poonam. These old-fashioned men are all the same. They always come back to the woman at home!” But he could’ve spared himself the effort for all the heed Reena paid to him. But Reena became uptight at his interference and promptly stopped talking to him! “We haven’t been on speaking terms for the last three years!” said Ghai. Reena further tried to work Sinha up by carrying talks against Subhash, but Sinha was too clever to let a temporary fight come between him and a successful director … And at the end of it all, Reena was the only loser – “I won’t work with her again,” declared Subhash bitterly.
 
Even heroes who had, thawed to the of working with Reena, immediately backed out of the films under consideration. Sunil Dutt and Jeetendra had virtually sponsored the newcomer out of the C-grade bracket, but washed their hands off their protégé once she got the ‘Shatrughan Sinha ki heroine ka chaap.’
Rajesh Khanna, for a long time, rejected every offer with her and demanded Shabana Azmi or Tina Munim instead. It was only when he himself reached rock-bottom, and was asked to choose between Reena Roy and Vidya Sinha or Sulakshana Pandit, that he gave in gracelessly. Rishi Kapoor refused to star with her on the pretext that Reena looked ‘too old’ for him. Sanjeev Kumar allowed his old enmity for Sinha to rub off on Reena, and while he didn’t drop her from their signed starrers, he made it clear that he wasn’t open to any new offers opposite her.

Suddenly, Navin Nischol and Vinod Mehra were the kind of heroes she was reduced to, and Reena’s shrewdly planned and painstakingly built-up career slid downhill…
 
But work was the last thing on Reena’s mind those days. For the first time in her life, the actress was indifferent to her professional commitments. Even her helpless family whom Reena was extremely close to, couldn’t stop Reena’s steady progress towards heart-break. They tried nevertheless, Mama Roy forbade Shatru from visiting their home. Brother Raja knocked Sinha out of all his forthcoming productions, and when Barkha turned producer, she too opted for Kamala Haasan, even though Shatru was ready to make concessions for the role.
The Roys hated Shatru, but Reena was blind and deaf to their feelings. The close-knit family was heading for a split. Barkha, Raja and Mrs. Roy moved out of Reena’s fancy bungalow, and went back to their cold poky flat. Reena didn’t relent. She admitted honestly, “I can even leave my family for him!”
 
Only, he never once asked her to do so. According to co-stars who have worked with the couple in a few films, Shatru never made her any false promises of marriage. In fact, one of Reena’s friends had point-blank asked Shatru in Reena’s presence, whether he would marry her. And the actor had merely laughed at the .
 
“Shatru never used Reena in any way,” insisted Pawan Kumar, Sinha’s secretary for nearly 15 years. “At no stage was he a smaller star than her. He didn’t need her to make his career. It was the same with Reena … Shatru-Reena were a hit pair, naturally the producers cast them together in so many films…”
 
Pawan Kumar however, refused to comment on their personal relationship (“That’s too complicated,” he declared). All he gave out was, “Reena is a very balanced person. She won’t let anyone make an emotional fool of her!” All along, Reena was fully aware of Shatru’s commitment to Poonam, but she clung to him in spite of it.
The break-up with Shatru was a foregone conclusion, and when it happened, Reena was quite prepared for it. She’d already organised her dates to give her a timely holiday and barely did Sinha announce his marriage date, than she flew off to London!
 
To be fair to Reena, she seriously intended to make a clean break of it. For three months after her return to Bombay, she plunged headlong into work, but otherwise, kept to herself.
 
She refused all invitations and stayed at home when she wasn’t shooting. She felt extremely gratified when her family promptly forgot all the past enmity and tension, and rallied around to give her the support she needed so badly. She confided to a friend, “All my family has come to sympathise and help me in my troubled days.”Gradually, Reena grew out of her depression. She began to look better, work better. Every one believed she had gone back to being her old self… till…
Till the first time Reena shot with Sinha again.
Reena reported on the sets, nervous and tense. She’d already enacted this scene a million times in her mind, and was word-perfect with her own performance. She greeted Shatru and made the preliminary small talk. She worked well and carried off all the romantic scenes without a hitch. Reena put on a brave show through the day. Nobody even suspected that beneath the façade, Reena’s carefully built-up defenses were crumbling, her resistance wearing down, her strength weakening…”I can’t stay away from him,” she tearfully confessed to a friend that night.
 
It was only a matter of time before Reena stopped fighting her feelings. At first, the reunion was restricted to secret meetings after ‘pack-up’ in each other’s make-up rooms, where they stayed till long after everyone had left the studio. After some time, they started going out together in public. People were shocked to see Reena, not Poonam, with Shatru at the premiere of Dostana. And though Poonam’s friends were quick to dismiss the question of reconciliation, some of Sinha’s own pals insist, “ After his marriage, Shatru has started feeling guilty about what he has done to Reena…”
Recently, the stars were shooting in Bangalore. Because of her pregnancy, Poonam was unable to accompany her husband. But Reena more than made up for her absence. She was like a child playing house. But she knew where to draw the line. Not once did she reproach him, nor did she question him about his wife. “Reena has accepted the fact that she is the other woman,” said a friend sadly. “She says she’d rather be the other woman and be with him, than be without him…” But Reena’s acceptance didn’t take away the indignity of her position. The actress may have felt very martyred when she grandly announced. “I am happy with what I have. Why should I ask for more? What more will I get after marriage? Unmarried women are more in demand today!” But whoever heard her, promptly branded her a ‘shameless hussy”. Reena had taken for granted that the public would glorify her and Sinha as a love couple, a-la Dharam-Hema. But she hadn’t reckoned with certain very important factors of the situation.
 
For one thing, everyone knew that Sinha (unlike Dharam) had been a free man when he’d got involved with Reena and that he had chosen Poonam for his wife, in spite of Reena. Under the circumstances, people were hardly going to believe that what Reena-Shatru shared was true, pure love… Added to this was the fact that Shatru’s wife was pregnant, naturally all public sympathy went to Poonam.
 But Reena’s foolish persistence in clinging to her married man is going to be her undoing. However Westernised and unconventional the filmi duniya may be, marriage is something all film people still respect and uphold.  Shatru’s marriage was hardly a few months old when he and Reena were seen gallivanting all over town!
 
But more than Sinha, it is Reena who is being blamed for ruining another woman’s life. Class will tell, people say scornfully. Reena had taken such pains to become respectable and respected, but this one mistake has thrown her right back where she came from. The sordid affair with Shatru has cheapened her image beyond repair, and even if he were to marry her now, she will still remain the ‘other woman’ in the public eye.
 
Two years ago, Reena Roy had been the film industry’s big hope. Even today, the big-wigs readily concede that she has all it takes to make it to the top. Only one thing stands between her and her
goal – Shatrughan Sinha.  
 
FAST FORWARD
The now 58-year-old Reena Roy, saw a Bollywood journey as leading lady for barely 13 years of glory (1972-1985), but her films number nearly hundred though. She rose above her strained circumstances and created quite a name for herself as a bubbly, yet versatile actress, who was also an excellent dancer. 1975 was the year she met the love of her life, Shatrughan Sinha, but destiny decreed otherwise. Her life took a different turn when Shatrughan married Poonam. But Shatrughan and Reena did many films together, which were also commercially successful. Post her break-up with her married lover, Reena, at the peak of her thriving career, married cricketer Mohsin Khan in 1983. They have a daughter Sanam, but their marriage ended up in a divorce soon. Reena’s last celluloid appearance was in JP Dutta’s Refugee in 2000. She did a few TV serials but has mostly been inactive, also owing to the huge amounts of weight she put on, in contrast to her tall and sleek frame in her youth. Reena did stake her claim as heroine in many a blockbuster from the yesteryears. A number of them were also women-centric film. Ironic, considering the fate she chose for herself was far from emancipated. 
(Contributed by Suguna Sundaram)

Madhuri Dixit : "If People Want To Recommend Me For Their Film, Why Should I Object? …But Let Me Tell You, I Don’t Believe In ‘Pleasing’ Anyone Just For A Role.”

Sugar daddies, affairs, scandals, publicity stunts... Madhuri Dixit is better known for her controversies than her talents. With seven flops behind her, any other heroine would have fizzled out like last night’s champagne, but not Ms. Dexterous Dixit – the manipulative Madhuri has somehow managed to keep in the news. In a COURT MARTIAL with Stardust, Madhuri Dixit handles our questions as cleverly as she handles her men. In both cases, giving nothing away…!

With barely four years in the industry, you have the dubious distinction of having the maximum number of Godfathers. Subhash Ghai plainly admits he is your sugar-daddy, and others like Anil Kapoor and Sunjay Dutt have been secretly recommending you to various producers! The Deadly Dutt appears to have taken over from where the Kapoor has left, as your ‘Guardian Angel’. No wonder you’ve landed so many films (Zameen, Mushkil, Thanedaar, etc.) with him. Don’t you think it’s a dangerous game – bartering yourself for the sake of a role?
If people want to recommend me for their film, why should I object? I see no harm in it. But I don’t believe in ‘pleasing’ anyone just for a role. It’s preposterous! And producers aren’t fools. They won’t accept me blindly just because a hero has promoted me. Recommendations alone are of no use. It’s not so easy. One has also to prove oneself as a good actress, only then can you land a role. And though some of my films were acquired through recommendation, I think my work has also been appreciated.
You say producers have taken you on the basis of your work. And yet, every single film of yours, from the unheard of Abodh to the much-publicized Khatron Ke Khiladi has flopped miserably. Shekhar Suman has gone on record saying that you are the only heroine who has signed so many films without even a single hit. How do you account for this?
Yes, all my previous films were flops. But I was new, and because I was anxious to get started soon, I made some foolish choices. I accepted films where I was offered only a tiny part, only because they belonged to big banners – like Prasad Banerjee’s Swati, Sohanlal Films’ Awara Baap, and of course, Abodh.  These films went by without anyone noticing me. After that, I signed some good films without realising that they were all ‘routine’ roles, the usual masala Hindi film, with a lot of action and melodrama. Most of them were hero-oriented, so I never had scope to really perform. However, it’s become imperative for me to have a hit release. Success, in industry parlance, means having a single hit. Never mind how good an actress is, until she gets that, she’s a nobody. So, now I’m anxious because some of my films are slated for release soon. These next few months are going to be the most crucial period in my career.
 
Govinda hasn’t forgiven you for walking out of T. Rama Rao’s Sada Suhagan because you did not want to be paired with him when he was going through a lean period. Today, he is at the top and you need him desperately. But he has refused to even look at you, though you keep sending him feelers to work with you.  How matlabi can you get?
Gawd! I’m fed up of giving explanations about this controversy. I had signed Sada Suhagan along with Swati and Awara Baap. Simultaneously, I was also being signed for heroine roles in films like Uttar Dakshin. Big producers like Boney Kapoor had also began approaching me. So I explained to T. Rama Rao that I did not want to act in a small role when I was getting ‘heroine’ roles. I did this for my career, not because I had anything against Govinda. In fact, he was still quite a big hero (despite a few flops) after Ilzaam, and one wouldn’t shy away from working with him. So I don’t know why I’m not being paired opposite him.
 
Like all star-mamas, your mother too is pushy, dominating and ambitious. But while most of them stop at chaperoning their star-daughters to studios, your mother escorts you even to parties and is often seen goading you to make ‘contacts’ with producers and directors. She even sits through your interviews with the press! Isn’t this the limit? You’re old enough to manage your own life and career. Or doesn’t your mother trust you enough?
My mother is not the pushy kind. Of course, she wants only the best for her children. But she definitely won’t push me into anything I don’t want. She’s just there by my side when I need her. Ours is a typical ‘tightly-knit’ joint family set-up. When I’m not shooting, my mother is at home, playing ‘housewife’. But otherwise, she always comes with me. You see her on the sets when I’m shooting, and when I’m home, she too is there. I’m attached to her and feel comfortable with her around, even now. That’s why we’re seen together so often.
An industrywalla had once remarked that Rupa, your older sister, is a better looking girl than you, and she should have been in films, not you. Rumouredly, you have even discouraged her from making any attempts at becoming a star, simply because of sibling jealousy and the fear of competition!
I am proud that someone thinks my sister is better looking than me. But I believe a lot in destiny. See, she’s an architect and she’s good at her work. I’m an actress and I have acting… I believe I was destined to be an actress and she, an architect. And anyway, looks are not the sole criteria to become an actress. There are so many pretty girls around, but not all of them are successful. I think whatever is chalked out for you in life, you go by that path. That’s destiny!
 
You may have fooled people earlier about your affair with Anil Kapoor. But everybody has seen through your game. Why don’t you admit once and for all that the whole thing was just one big publicity stunt, started to promote you?
I was not the one who made it a publicity stunt. It was other people.
 
It’s amazing how stardom can change even the most quiet and unassuming persons. Insiders claim that ever since you hit the big time, you have become arrogant and snooty, and have forgotten your old friends and well-wishers. Considering success is yet to come your way, don’t you think such behavior (which you appear to have copied from Ice Maiden Meenakshi Seshadri) is not only foolish, but misplaced?
I don’t think I’m arrogant or snooty at all. In fact, friends and relatives who’ve known me and my quiet and withdrawn nature are quite happy to see me now, mixing and mingling with people. Now that I know quite a few people in the industry, I’m much more open and friendly than I ever was in the past. And of course not, who says I imitate Meenakshi Seshadri? It’s all rubbish.
 
Your coy and demure act doesn’t fool anybody in the least, not after all those uninhibited scenes in Tezaab. How could you wear such absolutely obscene and revealing clothes for a song sequence in the film, and gyrate vulgarly in front of a two-hundred strong audience? Have you no sense of shame at all? Not only that, your dress sense has also made you the laughing stock of the industry. Aren’t you aware of the ridiculous figure you cut?
People attach a naïve and innocent image with me because of the character I played in ‘Abodh’. But in Tezaab, my role is a total contrast. I play a very modern and liberated kind of girl, a pop singer. So, I had to sing and perform in front of an audience and do all those things. But it doesn’t mean I’m like that in real life. I am still a very shy and demure girl. I haven’t changed. As for my dress sense, I know it’s bad. People have been telling me about it. All I can say is, I have a lot of learning to do.
 FAST FORWARD
Dancing Queen Madhuri Dixit’s onward journey reads thus… Husain’s muse in 2000 in Gajagamini, marriage to Dr Shriram Nene in 2001, moving to the US, the classic Chandramukhi portrayal in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Devdas in 2002, becoming mother to two sons Arin and Rayan in the next few years, the Padma Shri in 2008,  felicitation for 25 years in the industry in 2012, UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in India in 2014, and renewal of the Dance Show Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa with Madhuri Dixit as judge for the fourth time. 2014 was also more eventful in that Madhuri had two releases. She got a thumbs up for her Begum act, bringing an old-world charm to her character in Dedh Ishqiya, and had everyone swooning at her Hamari Atariya Pe dance. Gulab Gang in 2014 was similar to her earlier Lajja act. Ironically, Gulaab Gang was criticised due to the presence of Dixit’s songs in a serious social film.

 Madhuri Dixit-Nene has recently been appointed the brand ambassador of the Beti-Bachao-Beti-Padhao campaign by the Haryana government, an initiative launched in Panipat by PM Narendra Modi. Of the many roles being offered to her daily, she has yet to take her pick.

(Contributed by Suguna Sundaram)

JUHI CHAWLA: Getting serious about fun

She giggles non-stop as if a thousand tentacles were tickling her funny bone (which is probably every bone in her body). ‘Bubble-brain’, ‘giddy-head’ are just some of the nicknames playfully tagged on to her by her co-stars. Everyone loves her, says Juhi Chawla. And beneath that jovial facade lurks a wicked sense of humour that just hasn’t been tapped to its full potential. So here’s Juhi, getting serious about fun for the first time as she takes potshots at everyone from A to Z literally. They don’t call her chirpy Chawla for nothing!
If Amitabh (Bachchan) became the P.M. of India…
“I would become the opposition leader and make things so hot for him, that he would go ‘weepie weepie’ (VP, VP) all the time.”
 
If he offered you a movie…
“That would be a real Ajooba. But Hum khush honge that is Radha Ka Sangam hoga. Is baat ka Khuda Gawah hai.”
 
If Aamir (Khan) grew taller…
“You mean he can actually get heels higher than the ones he wears now?  But seriously, I will be able to look him in the eye and talk then.”
If he suddenly became nice to you…
“I would ‘statue’ him forever (That’s the game we’ve been playing nowadays) and put him in a museum, as a rare, almost extinct species.”
 
If Anil (Kapoor) became Number One…
“Plus One or Minus One? Please specify.”
 
If Amrita (Singh) invited you to go horse-riding with her…
“I would be more than pleased to meet her brethren.”
 
If you were in a boxing ring with her…
“Hey, I’m in the women’s category, remember?
 
If Aditya (Pancholi) wanted to possess you...
“I would have to call that great medium Pooja Bedi to exorcise that green-eyed monster.”
 
If you were the bridesmaid at his wedding…
“My life would be ‘maid’. So long as he didn’t want to make the ‘maid’ his bride instead.”
 
If Anupam Kher came to you for a job…
“That Jack-of-all-trades? I would gladly give him one. As a make-up man, he wouldn’t have to carry a mirror at all. His shiny pate would do, and cracking it wouldn’t bring me bad luck. Also, he would make a great light man with his natural ‘reflector’. ”
If you were in Bhagyashree’s boots…
“I would open a kabutar post-man, sorry pigeon) dept, and put the postal department out of business and make millions. Then I would make myself comfortable Himalay ki god mein and rename myself Kanchan Junga and my baby Nanga Parbat.”
 
If Chunky Pandey invited you to the zoo…
“Oh, he does that quite often. Whenever he wants me to see him, that is. The only problem is all the other monkeys chatter up a protest-storm because he was granted freedom earlier than they were. So sad! Especially since all of them have much higher IQs than monkey Chunky bhaiya.”
 
If Chimpoo (Kapoor) were to get sozzled and fall over you…
“I would know how a crushed grapefruit feels like then. However, I would play reformist and try to ‘elevate’ the ‘fallen’ star to new ‘heights’. Of course I would need a crane to do it.”
 
If  Danny (Denzongpa) wanted to make you an ‘aunty’ for all his beer addas…
“Why else do you think I’ve been calling him ‘uncle’ all these years? Maybe then I’ll meet my He-Man and become Mistress of the Universe.”
If he wanted to play table-tennis with you in his garden…
“I’m such a bad player I would probably knock all his (ping pong) balls into orbit.”
 
If you were Dimple(Kapadia)’s neighbour…
“I would feel that I’m in the land of the midnight (also mid-morn, mid-day, and mid-evening) Sun(ny). Also, miraculously, I would be able to see the Sun(ny) rise and set at the same place.”
 
If Dharam(endra) wanted to drink from your eyes…
“I would be eating out of his hand. Except that my eyes are so intoxicating that Morarji Desai might be recalled for prohibition.
 
If neighbour Deepti (Naval) invited you for an exclusive tea-party with Nana (Patekar)…
“Whose nana (grandfather)? Hers or mine? Listen, we have to be ‘exclusive’ about this, or every nana in town might get invited to this exclusive party.”
 
If  Dilip Kumar wanted to give you some tips…
“I’d show him my ‘toes’ and we could create a new brand of nail polish called ‘Tipsy Thespian.”
If your hips were as slim as Ektaa’s…
“Then I would get some really BIG roles and become Awwal Number in the Tun Tun category. That sure would be my ‘gateway’ to ‘greatness’, for I would become a ‘colossus’ in the film world.”
 
If Farha ( Khan- Tabu’s sister) were you language teacher…
“I’ll have to ‘mind my language’ all the time.”
 
If Vindoo (Dara Singh) ditched Farha for you…
“I would quickly sidestep to avoid falling into that ‘ditch’.”
 
If Govinda opted for another ‘Radha’…
“I would see that their sangam never took place.”
 
If he confessed his great love for Neelam to you…
“I would quickly get them together and have Bobby all to myself.’
 
If Jeetu (Jeetendra) asked you to teach his Polly how to talk…
“I might go crackers with the effort. But I’ll manage to teach it enough to be able to propose to Chunky’s parrot. Then once they’re married, there will be a lot of pretty pollies around.”
If Jeetu wanted you to go on the pill…
“Spare me. I’m only twenty-plus. I’ll just have half a pill. But for Jeetu, I suggest two ‘thirty-plus’ capsules. Isn’t ‘sixty’ closer to the home truth?”
 
If Jayaprada juggled places with you…
“Then she’ll have youth on her side while I’ll have experience on mine. And then I’ll prove that ‘Shree’ can’t go wrong if Jaya is by his side.”
 
If Jackie (Shroff) took you for a ride…
“I’ll have to get into top ‘gear’ and ‘clutch’ myself before passions ‘accelerate’ too much. Then I’ll have to put on the ‘brakes’ and stop him before he goes all the way.’
 
If Kader Khan was your professor…
“I’d probably have to take ‘private tuitions’ from Shakti Kapoor. Don’t ask in what.”
 
If you became the next sex-symbol after Kimi (Katkar) quit…
“You mean I’m not one now? How symbolic! But I’m happy with my innocent smouldering sensuality any day. Aren’t black eyes sexier than green?”
If Kamal Haasan went down on his knees for you…
“I still wouldn’t be able to look down on this larger-than-life actor. His stature is too high. But I will quickly make a film with him called Appu Rani.”
 
If Lalita Pawar, Nirupa Roy, Tun Tun and Manorama fought over which of them you’ll replace…
“I would put them on to Janki Das, Bharat Bhushan, Rajendranath and Manmauji respectively. And while they all sing songs around trees, I would try and snatch baby Guddu’s roles instead.”
 
If  Mithun (Chakraborty) got bitchy with you…
“I would take him a doggy bag and we would share puppy-love together. And we could play with his dogs. But if not, we’ll go to the dogs. After all it’s a dog-eat-dog industry where you must let sleeping dogs lie. So why don’t you just quit barking up the wrong bark (sorry, tree)?”
 
If he cried on your shoulder…
“Knowing Mithun and his sob-stories, I’d probably have to start a flood-relief fund for my poor shoulders.”
 
If you had to make a comeback at Mumtaz’s age…
“Comeback? I would rather play with my great, great, great, grand children at that age. Who knows, I may even be a ‘mummy’ (the embalmed variety) then.”
If Mandakini took you for a dip in the Ganga…
“Listen, I thought I was going there for ‘purification’, not ‘vice’ versa.”
 
If Madhuri (Dixit) was your girl guide…
“We would make ‘fortune’ cookies, learn about survival in the jungle, and probably go ‘camping’ in the Kapoor household.”
 
If you were Meenakshi (Seshadri)…
“I would probably be put in cold storage and refrigerate (plus air-condition) my house. I could also, like that cartoon strip character, Li’l Jinx, start an ice factory in my neighbourhood. Now isn’t that the coolest one?”
 
If Neelam invited you for a double date with Bobby…
“I would become a double agent and try and double cross Neelam. Unless of course, my date was Sly Stallone.”
 
If Pooja Bedi had to summon a spirit
for you and if she taught you voodoo tricks…
“I would introduce the ‘spirit’ to either Dharamji, Chimpoo or Dabboo (Randhir Kapoor) who would drink it up in no time. And with the voodoo, I would make a doll of everyone in the industry and manipulate them to my own advantage. Thus giving all the other ‘calculators’ a complex.”
If Rishi were single…
“It’s high time he was. With all the weight he’s put on, he’s not just double, he’s quadruple.”
 
If Chintu (Rishi Kapoor)and you were locked in one kamra and chaabi kho jaaye…
“So far so good. As long as Neetu na aa jaaye.”
 
If Rajesh (Khanna) invited you for a screen test and offered to share his toothbrush…
“I would screen him first. And the tooth brush will have to be one of those foreign, electric ones with rounded bristles and – What! Did you say Rajesh Khanna? I would rather use black manjan (tooth powder) with my fingers.”
 
If Raaj Kumar wanted to make you his jaani…
“I would rather introduce him to my neighbourhood nani who becomes pani pani at the very thought of his jawani! Yaani? They make a better pair because she’s quite dumb. Which means that he can have the ‘dialogue’ all to himself.”
If you were caught in a nudist camp with Randhir Kapoor (Dabboo)…
“Dabboo would be covered in fat, and the tube around his waist would save him the nudity. He’ll probably look so cute that I’ll pinch his cheeks. Don’t ask which.”
If  Rekha renamed Pisti as Juhi…
“You can’t get a pedigree higher than that. Though that would be crossing the rekha of decency.”
 
If  Raj Babbar propositioned you in the Queen’s English.
“Queen’s English or King’s English, with that accent of his, I still wouldn’t understand.”
 
If Sunny( Deol) invited you for an exercise session in his gym…
“It would be an exercise in futility. Though, the gentlemanly way in which the macho guy does it will bring a ‘dimpled’ smile to my cheeks.’
 
If you were Sridevi’s best pal…
“I would rather be her mummy’s best pal since she ‘asks her mummy’ everything in any case.’
 
If she asked you to be her tennis partner…
“We could ‘throw’ a racket on court. Until Ashok Amritraj coached her and Boris Becker coached me. Who’s talking about tennis now?”
 
If Shakti Kapoor wanted to dirty-dance with you…
“That would be his ‘last tango’. I’ll give him such a ‘lambada’ that he’ll ‘fox-trot’ away real fast. After I jive talk’ him, he’ll never ‘waltz’ again. And if he does, I’ll knock out his ‘disco’ lights.”
 
If Shashi Kapoor pinched your bottom…
“I’ll imagine I’m in Italy and keep quiet, but he must draw a line somewhere.”
 
If Shatru(ghan Sinha) aimed his ‘Shotgun’ at you…
“I would tell his home-minister (Poonam) to become my defence minister, and tell him to ‘go for’ (not Bofors) others instead.”
 
If Sanjay Dutt grabbed you in a dark room and wanted to play strip poker with you…
“There would be so much electricity generated that it would ‘turn on’ even the lights. As for the game, I shall become a card-sharp and keep a ‘poker’ face while Sanju stripped to bare necessities.”
 
If Sangeeta (Bijlani) told you her real age…
“I would tell her that I was of the same age – In a previous lifetime.”
 
If Bijli struck you…
“I always said that she had a very ‘striking’ personality. Though of course, I would give her a ‘thunderous’ reply.”
If Salman (Khan) challenged Aamir over you…
“I would say Maine Pyar Kiya to both of them and sit back and enjoy the fun while they fought qayamat se qayamat tak.”
 
If Sonam challenged you to a mud-wrestling bout?
“I would take a gold-diggers pan and look for some sona in all the mitti. But don’t forget, she comes in the lightweight category while I come in the heavy weight class.”
 
If you were as fat as Shilpa (Shirodkar)…
“I would never have to worry about drowning. For then, all that ‘buoyancy’ would keep me afloat. Uh oh! Can you sense a ‘sinking’ feeling?
 
If you were the Pandit at the Vinod (Khanna)-Kavita wedding…
“I would charge overtime because V.K would eventually come in the evening for the morning shift.’
 
If  Zeenat (Aman)smelt a rat between you and Mazhar (Khan)…
“I would say the rat was Chunky and quickly spray the surroundings with Zeenat’s new perfume ‘Zeenat’, to avoid her smelling something again. Phew! I must tell the ‘Gang’ to have a bath!”
 
FAST FORWARD
Miss India 1984, Juhi Chawla made her debut in films in 1986 and still continues to act. She got married to industrialist Jai Mehta in 1995, and has a boy and a girl. For many years, she and her good friend Shah Rukh Khan ran their production house together along with her brother Bobby, who recently lost the fight to cancer. A trained Kathak dancer, Juhi has always held an interest for Classical vocal music and has been training in Hindustani vocal as well in the last decade plus. Her most recent work as a negative character in Gulaab Gang in 2014, won her a lot of praise. Juhi was best known for her comic timing and her bright as beans and syrupy sweet roles in the nineties. To play a calculating politician was totally out of character for her but she pulled it off with great aplomb. Juhi, also in keeping with the current trend amongst actors-turned businessmen, is the co-owner (with Shah Rukh Khan) of the Indian Premier League cricket team Kolkata Knight Riders.

(Contributed by Suguna Sundaram)

Sanjay Dutt: “I lied about my drug addiction, even to my own family”

Vulnerable and charismatic, Sanjay Dutt has been the industry’s favourite target ever since he joined films. Lambasted as a wayward son, errant lover, queer buddy, boozard, drug-addict, etc., etc., the star bares all (pro and anti-himself) in our COURT MARTIAL and leaves you to decide whether he is really controversial or merely persecuted!
 
For a newcomer, you have really run the whole gamut of controversies and scandals. In the face of your present badnaami, isn’t ridiculous of you to claim that you are more sinned against than sinning?
I don’t know why, but the press had a very biased attitude towards me. Everything I did was exaggerated – whether it was my boozing, a tiff with my father or just anything. I was made out to be some kind of a problem-person. It hurt to read and hear all kinds of false stories about me. I’m not saying that there was no truth in them. But the way they were exaggerated and blown out of proportion, they were far from the truth. I certainly didn’t deserve this kind of treatment. And the reason why everyone kept on lambasting me and taking a kind of pleasure in doing so was only because I did not retaliate or hit back. They took advantage of my silence. Personally, I have never given any reason to anybody for behaving so ruthlessly with me.   
 
Why did you keep on denying your drug-addiction when even your father and girlfriend publicly confirmed the rumours? The truth was obvious when you overnight cancelled shootings and flew off to Germany for treatment.
If I consistently insisted that I was not on drugs, it was only because I was scared of the repercussions my confession would have on my career. Maybe my father and my girlfriend didn’t think the same way. I lied not only to the industry and the press, but even to my own family. It was  only when I realized how much tension and problems I was causing at home due to my addiction, did I break down  and confess the truth  to my father. I needed his help to get out of the mess I was in, I wasn’t on hard drugs, but I was quite deep into them.  What I started out of sheer curiosity and style became a serious addiction with me. I was pushed into it by a few friends who were using me to satisfy their own cravings because I had the money. One of them became so very pally with me, that he was as close to me as a blood brother. He used to make me buy the stuff everyday. The experience I went through was a terrible one. I don’t ever want to repeat it. Drugs not only spoilt the peace in my home, but it had even begun to ruin my relationship with my girl. I knew that it had to stop. It was on the 28th of December last year and I had to really use all my will power to stick to my resolution. Besides, the after effects of giving up drugs are terrible. One gets high fever, restlessness, insomnia, loss of appetite, etc. I was prepared to go through anything to save my relationship with my family and Tina. I was quite against the of going to Germany, but it was my father who insisted. I didn’t want to cancel my shootings and ditch my producers, but Dad was adamant. There, I was given a course of intravenous injections to kind of clean my system. I was told that my liver looked like that of a seventy-five year old man. However, the doctor could not guarantee that the treatment would stop me from touching drugs/alcohol forever. It is my will power which was and still is stronger and more powerful than all those foreign medicines.
Was  drugs the only cause of the fights and misunderstandings between you and your family? Didn’t Tina Munim work  you up against them because your father and sisters  never liked her?
Tina has never ever tried to take me away from my family. She has always been the one to guide me and force  me to go back home to my Dad and sisters even after a fight. Frankly, every family has its problems. And since ours is a very close-knit family, we do have our occasional tiffs and arguments – nothing serious though. And all of us take turns to sulk. After my mother’s death, we all were quite shattered and each one of us we trying to get out of it in our own way. All of us had become ultra sensitive and very vulnerable. Actually, there was no major misunderstanding between us. It’s just that a lot of bullshit was being spread about me fighting with my father and him breaking my jaw bone, etc. To date, I have yet to have to guts to fight with him!
 
Industrywallas mock your father’s Sheriffdom as a fruit of Nargis Dutt’s past work and political connections. Do you agree that Sunil Dutt doesn’t deserve the honour on merit?
This is very, very unfair. Dad was certainly the man of the year. He deserves the Sheriffdom. I know of a lot of industrywallas who are dying to be in his shoes, but can’t. They are the ones who are talking like this. It is a cheap thing to say.  My Mum got what she got on her own merit. And my Dad deserves every little recognition and power that he is getting today.
Is it true that you expect your girlfriend Tina Munim to fill the gap and let her dominate and dictate in your personal and professional life? 
I am an emotionally weak man. I have always needed a strong influence over me. My mother was that influence. After her death, Tina has taken her place. She dominates my life, yes, but I have not allowed her to have any say in my career. Tina has never tried to stop me from working with any of her rivals. I have only one film with Poonam because I have been offered only one film with her. And where Ranjeeta is concerned, I would love to work with her too, but no one has wanted to pair us together so far.
 
Tina claims to have sacrificed many good films to give you a chance to work and play with different heroines. Isn’t that just a cover-up for the fact that it is Sunil Dutt who has rejected every Sanjay-Tina offer after Rocky?
I don’t think my father is petty enough to refuse films starring me and Tina only because he did not approve of our relationship. And I refuse to believe that Tina has ever claimed to have sacrificed good roles only because she wanted me to work with other heroines. She is very possessive about me and I don’t think she would like me to experience life at her expense!
 
Isn’t it foolish of you to turn a blind eye to Tina’s continuous link-ups just because you can’t give her up?
My girl has been linked with so many men that it is physically impossible for any woman to cope with so many of them in such a short time. I have not defended her blindly. Each time I’ve heard or read about her, I’ve gone insane with anger – but most of the time, she has managed to convince me that what I’ve heard is not true. I love her too much not to believe her. One has to trust somebody sometime, and I trust her. I always tell her, ‘Today, I am quietly taking everything I hear about you because I don’t want you to start screaming and getting suspicious the moment you listen to stories about me.’ I obviously expect her to be as understanding  with me as I am with her today.
 
Tina has been made out to be the vamp in the Rajesh-Dimple divorce. Do you believe she is innocent?
This is one affair I refuse to believe. A few days ago, someone approached me and informed me that Dimple has a tape with Rajesh and Tina’s love-talk, which she carries in her bag. I asked that person that if this is true, why doesn’t Dimple get the contents of the tape published? Why doesn’t she give it to me to hear? Why does she carry it with her in her bag? I had always warned Tina not to get friendly with any of her heroes. Just because her Fifty Fifty with Rajesh clicked and she is now doing a couple of films with him, doesn’t mean she is responsible for the Rajesh-Dimple break-up. Why the hell is she being dragged into this mess? Dimple seemed to be such a good friend of Tina’s. In fact, when they were in Mauritius, they used to go out shopping and swimming together. Dimple even used to talk to me over the phone each time I spoke to Tina. If Dimple is the one who is spreading these stories, then she is using my girl as a cover-up to save her own face!
Insiders insist that you are the happiest person because Tina’s career is in the dumps now. Do you want her out of the industry so that you can stop worrying about her image, affairs, etc.?
Frankly, I have never interfered in my girl friend’s career, except in the matter of her clothes. I am very possessive about her. She is mine and I don’t like her to expose herself on screen. That’s exactly where my interest in her career ends. If I am indifferent to her flops and hits, it doesn’t mean that I am selfish enough to be delighted when her career is not doing well, only because that would make her sit at home. If I wanted her to stop working, I can ask her to do so. I don’t want her to quit for another three years, for that’s when intend to get married. I want her to enjoy life and do whatever she wants to do till then.
 
You and Gaurav have overplayed your friendship so much (always hugging, kissing, engrossed in each other) that people are getting queer ideas about the two of you. Comment.
My relationship with Gaurav is very normal. Anyone who sees it differently has a dirty mind. I don’t think we are exaggerating our friendship, others are doing that. We are not homosexuals, if that’s what you are hinting at. We share a healthy normal friendship, which incidentally might be shocking people because true friendships are kind of rare and unheard of in this industry!  
 
FAST FORWARD
Much has happened in the life and times of Sanjay Dutt since 1982. There have been tremendous upheavals and tragedies. In the same theme- his addiction and resultant behavior wrought upon him the TADA when he was working on the ironically titled Khalnayak. Tina Munim went out from his life, moving to greener and more promising pastures. Marriage to Richa Sharma who died of cancer, left him a daughter Trishala who he lost in the custody battle with Richa’s family. Trishala and he have been estranged ever since, with very little bonding them over the years. Another short chapter was his marriage to Rhea Pillai. 

Dutt was convicted by TADA court in Mumbai in April, 2013 after the Supreme Court convicted him in the Mumbai 1993 bomb blasts and sentenced him to imprisonment for 42 months. He is currently serving his imprisonment in Yerawada central prison from May, 2013.  Last year He celebrated his 55th birthday in Yerawada jail in July. His wife Maanyata and two children Shahraan and Iqra visit him occasionally. Barring the jail story, his marriage to Manyata seems to have brought some semblance of consistency and steadiness in his turbulent and unfortunate life. Films are something that he can only think of after he has served his sentence, at which time he will be close to 60. For all his bad boy image, he remains the guy with the childlike, golden heart. And fans would still hope and pray that he find his peace and happiness and light at the end of the otherwise joyless tunnel that spanned Sanjay’s life in the last five decades and a half.
 
 
(Contributed by Suguna Sundaram)

Karisma Kapoor Bites Back!

You tell me, what was my fault? It was Pooja Bhatt who said something derogatory about my mother and I obviously reacted strongly to that since she had no business talking about her. Manisha (Koirala) called me a mixed-up kid without any reason, so I gave it back to her as well. As for Raveena (Tandon), well she’s herself said that as long as we live, we’ll always have a problem. I really don’t know why she said that since I’ve always tried to sort things out between us. But in the final analysis, what happened? I was accused of being brash and conceited.”

Forthright she definitely is, like a true blue Kapoor. Only when it comes to Ajay Devgan, she prefers to deny their love story. “Believe me, we’re just friends yaar,” she tries to laugh it off.

“I don’t k know if he feels that way about me because he’s not told me anything. But I don’t think that’s possible. People are only coming to
this conclusion because it’s the most obvious one. Firstly, he saved my life and secondly, we’ve signed so many films together. Some stupid fools have even gone ahead and written that we’re getting married. C’mon, I’m
a kid myself; how do you expect me to get married at this age? It’s so funny really. You know Jeh (Wadia) called me up from London and screamed, ‘What’s all this I’m reading about you? Did you get into the film industry for all this?’ he asked me angrily. Now he’s coming down in a couple of weeks’ time. Wonder how I’m going to face him. See, all this tension I’ve to face due to no fault of mine,” she states loudly.

The child-woman has grown up indeed. And she’s realized that life is
a bed of roses only in fairy tales. “Let people take digs at me; let them taunt me. It’s only going to make me work harder now. I’m going to fight them all tooth and nail. I’ve silenced them before and I can do it again if the time comes. I only need the blessings of all my well-wishers. And Stardust come first on that list, isn’t it?” she asks. Does Stardust need to answer that?
 
 
Fast Forward
Karisma Kapoor reigned at the box-office till the late 90s, winning awards and accolades for one of her last films, Zubeidaa. She was engaged to Abhishek Bachchan, but the engagement broke off after a mere four months of announcement. She then married Delhi-based industrialist Sunjay Kapur. Karisma and Sunjay had two kids, daughter Samaira (2005) and son Kiaan Raj Kapoor (2010) and separated in 2012. After a long hiatus from showbiz, Karisma got back in the game with Vikram Bhatt’s Dangerous Ishhq in 2012, but the film failed to make a mark at the box-office. She is currently living with her mother Babita and allegedly fighting for the custody of her children as part of divorce proceedings.
(Inputs by Nihit Bhave)
 When other small little babies curled up in their quilts and cuddled up with teddy bears, she forced herself to sleep with the sound of parental fury echoing in her ears. When the rest of the gang bogeyed round moonlit Manhattan, she got ready with her grease paint for the third shift in a dingy film studio. When other giddy-headed teenagers waltzed with life on a slapdash sonata, she took lessons from pain.

At 17, she was the most boisterous newcomer with a devil-may-care attitude. At 18, she was the most mature child-woman of them all. All it took was just 365 days for life to do a swift somersault on Karisma Kapoor.
She never thought she would change so much. Nor did I. “I feel as if I’ve grown up overnight,” she says smilingly. “Sometimes, it becomes very difficult for me to even believe that I came into this industry only two years ago. I feel I’ve already been through so much. I admit, I’ve gained a lot from this place, in terms of name, fame and money. It’s taught me lessons I’ll never forget. But then, at the same time, I’ve lost so much as well. I really miss all my friends, my carefree days, going out in the nights, everything. It used to be so much fun earlier. I mean, those were the days when I could travel with ease in second class 
compartments of local trains. “Tell me, can I even dream of doing that today?” she questions innocently. And then adds in the same breath, “I’ve realized one thing. In this quest to achieve something in life, I’ve lost what is considered any person’s prime necessity – Freedom. And I know it’s one thing I’ll never get back.  I’ll never be able to be my real self ever again. I will always have to be the Star.”   

Then, almost sounding regretful, she continues. “Even my lifestyle has changed so drastically. I’ve become almost like a villain in my friend circle. They’ve started distancing themselves from me. They complain that I do not have time for them these days. But am I doing it deliberately? Why don’t they understand? They think I’ve become a busy star now and that’s why I’m behaving in this manner. Honestly, the biggest regret I have today is that nobody understands me. I’ve not changed for them, they’ve changed for me. Today, due to my star-status, I have a lot of limitations and they should realize that. For instance, I can no longer stay out till very late if I’m shooting early morning; I’m bound to get dark circles. I expect them to understand this. Is it wrong to expect that much out of friends?” she asks vulnerably.
I still remember the first time I met Lolo two years ago. She was doing her first ever full-fledged interview with me. I’ll never forget that shy girl who made her mother answer all calls made by anxious producers. That’s why the change in her, though for the better, seemed too drastic to me. “Yeah,” reminisces Karisma.

“I was so shy earlier, remember? In the beginning, whenever anyone came to sign me, I would send my mother to meet them. That’s why initially, everyone thought I was not serious about my work. It’s so bloody frustrating when people refuse to take you seriously. Especially frustrating at a time when I was beginning to feel so complex and confused. I had just walked out of Dharamji’s film and I really don’t know whether I’d done the right thing or not. I was very disturbed because despite walking out of the film and despite all the curiosity I had generated, I had merely five films in hand. It makes you feel so insecure, things like these. I used to be depressed all the time. Those days, my dad used to pacify me saying, ‘It’s not how many you sign, it’s what you sign’. I was convinced. And then slowly, instead of doing every film that came my way, I signed only selected ones,” she explains.
By Stardust Team

Karisma Kapoor Bites Back! (продолжение)

The mere mention of Raj Kapoor brings a glow on his favourite grand-daughter’s face. His memories are enough to give her the inspiration she needs so dearly. “How do you know I was his favourite grand-child?” she asks quickly. And then adds in the same tone, “He loved me most because only I have his kind of eyes. It’s so strange you know; I remember, once I asked him, ‘Dadaji, why don’t you make a film for me?’ And he just turned around and said, ‘Because I won’t be here till then.’ At that time, I’d just laughed it off. But today, when I look back, it means so much. Sometimes,
I really wish he was around. If he was by my side, do you think all these people would’ve dared to say anything about me,” she questions angrily.
Lolo isn’t bitter about life. Maybe she is, about people though. She realised very late that honesty surely doesn’t pay in this world of make-believe. Like Lolo herself admits, “This industry deserves hypocrites. Honest people like me find it very difficult to exist. Out here, if you’re honest and if you voice your opinion freely, however critical it may be, people say you’re a loudmouth. Yes, I used to react in a brash manner earlier because I said what came to my mind first. I said what I felt. But people don’t appreciate that over here. I’ve learnt not to react so impulsively anymore. It doesn’t pay, you know. 
After a brief pause, she adds, “You know, Bebo (her younger sister) gets very upset when she hears people saying nasty things about me. I can understand her situation because
even I’ve been through the same hell.

I remember I used to get so disturbed when people asked me about my parents. I mean, I know things weren’t hunky-dory between them but I wasn’t mature enough to understand. And then, all those articles I read about them… I was as old as Bebo is now and even I never understood what was going on. And yet, I would be in tears all the time.”
In the same melancholic tone, she continues, “That’s why I say I’ve grown up amidst pain. I’ve learnt to live with it now. When I came into this line, at that time itself, people were waiting to pull me down at any given opportunity. Like for example, if another newcomer did a particular scene well, they would say ‘Wah, wah’. But when I did something equally well, they would smirk, ‘So what? That’s expected of her’. I never quite understood why there was so much of discrimination. Even when I was in college, there was this psychology professor who couldn’t stand me one bit. Every time she held a class, she would taunt me without any reason. According to her, I was a dumb girl. So one day, I decided to teach her a lesson. For one particular exam, I really studied hard on that subject. I put all my efforts into it. And you know what; when the results were declared, I’d got the highest marks in the class. She was dumbfounded. She checked my paper again and again to see whether 
she had made a mistake. But this time,
I knew I’d won. This is one quality I admire about myself. When I’m cornered, I really give it back. When I’ve got to prove a point to the world, I’m like a wounded tigress. I think that’s one important trait I’ve picked up from my grand-father. When he made his favourite film, Mera Naam Joker, the audience rejected it. But he didn’t lose hope. Before people could say he was finished, he gave them what they wanted. He gave them Bobby which turned out to be one of his biggest hits. Nobody called him any names after that,” she smiles.   But then, where did she go wrong? Why had her career come to a grinding halt all of a sudden? Karisma reasons, “I admit, I gave a spate of flops before Police Officer and Jigar. But I don’t think I signed the wrong films. I would rather say my luck ran out for a couple of months. So, why blame me for it?
I signed Pramod Chakraborty’s Deedar and I don’t think it was a mistake. After all, he was already a big name. So was Salman Khan when I signed Jaagruti and Nischay opposite him. In fact, he was at his peak then. How was I to guess that circumstances would change by the time these films released? I know a lot of people even started calling me names just because I gave a couple of flops. But no problem, with Jigar proving to be one of the biggest hits of the year, I’ve silenced them all. To tell you the truth, what people say really doesn’t affect me anymore. I don’t get upset by what they have to say about me. My grandfather used to tell me, “Let people talk about you. Good, bad or ugly. As long as you’re spoken of, it doesn’t matter.” And frankly, I would really like to see, who out of them all, has the guts to say the same things at my face,” she says firmly.

Well, that’s the price you have to pay for being a star. “But I’ve been paying a price for being a star-kid, that too, right since my childhood,” she adds. “Didn’t I tell you about this teacher we had in school who always used to pick on me? I think she detested star-children because she thought we were nothing but spoilt brats. She used to shout at me, humiliate me, and deliberately give me lesser marks in my exams. I could take it for some time, but later, it started getting to me. Until one day, when I finally asked her, ‘Why’re you doing all this to me? Come on, even I am human. I mean just because my parents are in the public eye and going through a personal crisis, am I to be blamed?’ How much I cried that day! And thankfully, the lady understood,” remembers Lolo ruefully.
 By Stardust Team

“I have never been a womanizer. I’ve never jumped from one bed to another.”

 After more than a decade of mutual warring, petty-picking and stony silences, Stardust meets Shatrughan Sinha over a lengthy tête-à-tête showcasing his famous confidence, spirit and humour.
 
For an egotist, isn’t it ironic for you to be so resentful of any criticism? Why did you react so violently to being tagged the ‘Double Bore’?
Because the tag was given to me out of vengeance, and by people who I’d believed were my friends. How can a magazine that used to call me ‘Our man Shotgun’ address me as ‘Double Bore’? It was pinching where it hurts most. In those days, I was more sensitive and I hurt easily. You don’t expect a Mahatma Gandhi out of Shatrughan Sinha! I am anything but a bore.
 
Your friendship with all your colleagues has gone kaput — from Sanjeev Kumar to Subhash Ghai. Do you blame yourself for it?
I’ve been given the impression that I am well liked in the industry, and I’ve no reason to believe otherwise. With Sanjeev, we have sorted out all misunderstandings and retain our mutual fondness. Regarding Subhash Ghai giving statements against me, all I can say is that my intentions were to guide him and help him. I had even called producer Nari Sippy and convince him to let Subhash direct Kalicharan. I know that God will never put me in a position where I will accept help from Subhash Ghai. I don’t expect anything from him professionally. Personally, we are family-friends, and he is referred to as the ‘ladki-waala’ because he did kanyadaan of Poonam (my wife) during our marriage.
Why are you constantly spotted praising Raj Kapoor and his cousins? You think this ‘chamchagiri’ will fetch you more work?
And why would you think so? Everyone knows Raj Kapoor makes films only for his sons, so I could hardly be hoping to get roles from them. I get on with the Kapoors because I have the ability to get on with most people, we vibe well.
 
Apparently Pallavi Jaikishen lost out her self-respect and industry because of her involvement with you. Does merely voicing your gratitude and obligations acquit you from blame?
Not really. I needed an anchor badly because my lifestyle was in total chaos. I did not intend to use anybody or make them lose their respect. Pallu knew it, and that is why we are still friendly with one another. I have never been a womanizer. I’ve never jumped from one bed to another.
 
There is a strong buzz that you get along really well with Zeenat Aman, and you both are having an affair. Can you clarify?
She was one of the most interesting women in my life, but our year and a half long relationship had to end. There was no question of anything serious coming out of it because we were too alike. She is a female Shatrughan Sinha; we both have the same bad habits and could have ended up driving each other mad. Now, of course we are great friends. She says, ‘Your Luv and Kush are so sweet. I want to cuddle them’. And I tell her, ‘You cuddle their father first …’!
You think Parveen Babi is using you to restablish her fame, in her latest comeback movie?
Parveen is more of a boy friend than a girl friend to me. She is certainly not using me; she is the last person to use anybody. I am learning a lot about the profession and how to behave from Parveen.
 
Classy heroines like Tina Munim and Poonam Dhillion stay miles away from you. Why?
Classy by whose standards? I am fine with Tina and we are doing films together. As far as Poonam is concerned, once she was glaring at me and I told her. ‘Don’t do it.’ One Poonam (my wife) looked that way at me and she is still suffering! But now things are fine, she is playing my sister in Qayamat.
 
Were you in love with Poonam when you married her?
My strongest emotion at that time was fear. I was very scared. I was happy being a bachelor, but I had reached a point where I was compelled to make the decision. Till the last moment, I wanted to back out. The wedding was in Bombay, I was in London. I caught the last flight which just about brought me in time for the wedding. Poonam was in a state - she thought I was backing out. Poonam has been good to me. If there are any flaws in this marriage, then the drawbacks are mine, not hers.
 
Isn’t it a folly to bring your stormy past into the smooth, settled present? Shouldn’t you give Reena Roy the breathing space to forget you and seek happiness elsewhere?
What makes you think I did not give Reena the breathing space? But if Miss Reena Roy cares only for Mr. Shatrughan Sinha, why should anybody else have any objections? She and her family seek me for companionship, guidance, advice. Just because I am married, does it mean I should ignore them and cast them aside?
 
If you loved Reena, why didn’t you marry her?
Marriage is not and has never been the solution to a problem. In fact marriage brings about fresh problems. I meet Reena openly. We are working in many films together, including Maati Mange Khoon, Kali Basti and Dharam Shatru. Recently, I met her at a party and media wrote about it. It was not our first public appearance together, but the press caught us. They mentioned that I didn’t get my wife along for the party because of Reena. That’s stupid. I did not think that it was right to take Poonam along, because media would have made a huge tamasha out of it. And the three of us would have been guinea pigs for the photographers! I am not quite sure where all this is going to lead up to. It is not society which is preventing me from making any decision. I just need time to make up my mind about what I want to do. I’m strong but not strong enough. I’m bold but not bold enough.
 
If society permitted, would you take a second wife?
I repeat. Marriage solves nothing. There’s more to all this than just marriage.
 
Why did you talk so much about your twins in the media? What’s so great about it?
Just for your information, I didn’t do the talking. Media went ahead and declared that for first time in the Asian film industry a couple had twins. Even before I could think of names, media had already christened my sons Luv and Kush. I felt blessed.
 
A section of the media feels that you tried cheap gimmicks to take away the attention from Amitabh Bachchan’s accident, and floated stories around that even you were unwell, while you were shooting in Bihar around the same time?
I did not try to upstage Amitabh’s illness. That is not my style. In the last ten years of my life, this was the first time I took ill due to Dingo fever and viral infection. The people of Bihar were anxious and worried and they were the ones who released it in UNI. They said, ‘You are the son of Bihar. We are anxious about your health and welfare.’ Unfortunately, the timing of my illness was not in my hands, otherwise I would have tried to fall ill before or after Amit’s accident!

Those who’ve seen Chor Police insist that you have copied Amitabh from Zanjeer. And certain section of media feels that it’s vice-versa?
I think we both had some stupid third rate American actor in mind!
 
STATUS UPDATE
The Bihari Babu is currently pursuing his second calling- Politics - which he does with as much flamboyance as he did his films. He is BJP leader and Lok Sabha member from his home town Patna and is all set to bring about a wave of reforms in the system there. For more than three decades he is married to Poonam. His daughter Sonakshi has become one of the frontrunners amongst the latest crop of actresses. Shotgun underwent a bypass surgery a couple of years ago and is trying to keep his health in check for the long haul ahead as he has much to do yet. The 68 year old actor also received a special award from IIFA earlier this year. His last work in films was being the voice cast for Krishna in the animation film Mahabharata. His son Luv Sinha acted in Raj Kanwar’s Saadiyaan, the film tanked at the box-office. Apparently Kush is trying to direct a film under the family banner.

 (Contributed by Suguna Sundaram)

REKHA: I WAS DISILLUSIONED WHEN I SAW ALAIN DELON – HE LOOKED SO SHORT, UNIMPRESSIVE AND HORRIBLE!

It took almost five years for Rekha to clear the misconception that was created by a certain section of the media, who termed her as someone who likes to dominate and take upper-hand on everything. “I never wanted to be one-up,” she rubbishes the allegation. “This was just made up by the press. Competition can ruin a person. I always believe that one should compete with oneself, be better and improve on what she was, what she did yesterday. You yourself are your greatest judge. Muhammad Ali is not being conceited when he says. ‘I’m the greatest’. He’s being confident. That is what he feels.”
After debuting in Sawan Bhadon, she was tagged with adjectives like voluptuous, sex-bomb, thunder thighs and dark damsel. Unlike her contemporaries like Hema Malini and Jaya Prada who never wanted to be known as ‘sex symbol’, Rekha was very sporting. “In Sawan Bhadon, I was covered from head to toe, yet people said I looked sexy. I can’t help it. Who doesn’t like to be noticed by the opposite sex? I’ve always said that I like to be called ‘desirable’. But I agree that sex-bomb sounds quite cheap. But today, I don’t accept any roles that take the advantage of my sexy image. I don’t agree that Rekha hai, so bathing scene must be there! I’m not ashamed of what I did – just that I overdid it! There should be some limit to how far one should go… Anyway, today I’m not bothered about what the world thinks of me. I just want to be the best woman for my man!”
Though most actresses feel that they should never be spotted without make-up at public events, Rekha feels just the opposite. “I feel the other artistes are making a mistake by being so conscious of their public appearances. I wish they would come out of their shells and be themselves. I myself was disillusioned when I saw Alain Delon – he looked so short, unimpressive and horrible! But nowhere in the world do the stars bother so much about their public image, like in Bombay. Our fans should restrict their admiration for us only to the screen. After all, we’re not living for others. We only live life once so why not live like a normal human being?”
REKHA makes for an interesting read, only when Rekha is interested in the conversation. And trust Lord, that’s a task. If you are lucky, you might get her to speak. But if you are luckier then you might just be able to decipher what she spoke. Otherwise, try luck another day... We present Madame Re’s one of the rare interviews with Stardust, conducted way back in 1979. Read and decipher…
When she joined the film industry, she got the worst possible compliments from her colleagues. But that never let her moral down. She survived in this industry, on sheer merit of her talent and ambition. Perhaps, those derogatory comments spurred Bhanurekha Ganesha aka Rekha on to prove herself once and for all. She has probably never been as serious about anything, especially herself, in her life before. “People look upon them as my mistakes. Whatever I did was most natural and normal under the circumstances. My one and only mistake was that I was too genuine,” says Rekha.

Some of the goof-ups, she admits, were stupid and could have been avoided, but there are others she doesn’t mind and will happily commit again. “Yes, I did goof-ups. But I was very young,” she says. “Thirteen is no age to be an actor. I was too childish and stubborn. So much was happening to me; I didn’t know how to react. I was just not bothered about my career. I was too impatient to sit for the story sessions. But today, I have developed a fondness for my work. I love it.” Rekha feels good when her colleagues and directors praise her work. “Because what they are saying today, the world will say tomorrow. I can never 
take my career as a joke anymore. I have realized that nothing can be more important than one’s work. I can have the greatest guy in the world – like Omar Shariff, but if I am nobody, he’s not going to bother too much about me,” she explains.

Incidentally, Rekha blames her managers for not keeping her in the loop and offering her films which didn’t help her in growing as an actor or a star. She recollects, “There were about 10 thousand people handling my work. As a result, everybody had a different advice to offer. I was a minor, and I just did what I was told. Others decided what films I should accept. I had no of what I earned. I didn’t bother about my financial matters. Nothing was in my hands. There was a lot of char-sau-bisi – but that happens with every star. I realize now that it is important to have just one person to look after your career. Today, I manage my affairs myself, though I have a legal adviser to guide me on legal matters. I’m trying to organize things better. I’m not so careless about money – in the sense that I like to be aware of how much is coming in and how much is going out.”
Most of her colleagues felt that it was her bindaas (carefree) attitude that created an impression, which was getting difficult to erase from public memory. “I wouldn’t say that I went out of my way to be overly frank or free or open or bindaas. I was just normal,” she argues. “My only mistake was that I was genuine. I was so pure inside that I did not even differentiate between men and women. They were all friends for me! Today, people say I’ve become more reserved and subdued. It’s a natural change that’s come over me. I have realized the importance of ‘acting’ off-screen. I’ve just grown up,” she says.
Like every second woman on planet earth, Rekha too, is a sucker for sob stories. She would get emotional at the drop of a hat. “I’m far more emotional today than I was in the past. But I react differently now,” she explains. “I used to promptly burst into tears whenever I would get upset; today I try to do something about it. Either I divert my mind by listening to music, going for drives, concentrating on my new house and relearning the air with the other party involved. Previously, if someone was rude or gave me a gaali, I’d talk back. But now, I’m more objective. I ask myself if I have that burai (evil) in me. If the answer is yes, I try to improve; if not, I forget about it immediately.”

Rekha would get perturbed with silly things, but gradually, she realized that she was getting unnerved on issues which were not in her control. “There are times when I ask myself why do I get so upset over things? And I realize that, that is not really me. It is a hereditary trait, something I have inherited from my mother and so I can’t help it. Like my hips, I can slim my arms, legs and my waist – but I can’t do anything about my hips. Even in my dreams where the rest of me becomes so beautiful, my hips remain big. I have no choice but to accept both – emotionalism and hips – as they are,” she laughs!
When you start your career at the age of 13, you are not matured enough to chose your friends. Rekha was a victim of the same situation. She would use everyone’s shoulder to cry and that again created a wrong impression of her in the industry. “This is one mistake I am determined never to make again. I will never cry in front of anyone,” she says with confidence. “I never showed my real self to anybody. I never made anyone a confidante. I have always been a loner. Even in school, I used to go behind the Chapel and think by myself. My sister once made a very good point about me. My name Bhanurekha – means Sun (Bhanu) and rays (Rekha). She said, everybody happily makes use of the light the Sun gives, but nobody wants to go to the Sun out of fear that they’ll get burnt. Similarly, nobody comes close enough to see what the inside of me is like. They’re content to watch the outer side of me. They can be appreciative at times – like enjoying the sunrise in the morning and the sunset in the evening, but complain that the Sun is too hot during the rest of the day.”   
She is also known for giving unsolicited advises to her colleagues and call them as her best buddies. Incidentally, most of her co-stars dread to share screen space with her because of her interfering nature. Ask Rekha, and she would defend herself like any solicitor. “For me, the whole world was my friend. I realised it’s the way you look at people that’s important. People feel I meddled too much in other people’s affairs where I should have minded my own business. Perhaps, I should have kept my big mouth shut. But I never meant anybody any harm. I genuinely wanted their good. I’ve taught make-up to 10 thousand girls – does anyone even know? I don’t mind sharing my secrets or revealing my tricks to the other actresses. It gives me great pleasure. I am not selfish; I want the whole world to look beautiful. Even a naali ka kida can look khubsurat, if you try.”

Shatrughan Sinha batters the industry!

TOPIC NINE: Success that went to Shatru’s head.

I’m glad it’s gone only to my head and nowhere else. And where is it supposed to go anyway, to my boots? Success is, however, nothing new to me. Maybe it’s multiplied in terms of degrees after Khudgarz. Thanks to yoga and meditation, I’m balanced enough to take things in my stride. And for your kind information, it’s not the success or failure that changes. It’s the attitude of the people around which changes. And even if the allegation that success has gone to my head is true, why do people bother with me? Say hell to Shatrughan Sinha if you can. 
 
TOPIC TEN: Banning the press. 
People who say these are the ones who run most after publicity. They are stupid people who don’t have their priorities right. As long as the press is falsely writing good things about them, they are happy. The moment the press gets on to the truth they become defensive. And industrywallas who come up with such stupid ideas themselves know that it’s not possible for them to ban the press. And first of all, they should bring unity amongst themselves. Every time they declare they want to ban the press, they fall flat on their faces because they are themselves divided in their decision.
I think this should not be brought up till the industrywallas achieve unity and discipline. And why don’t they improve their behaviour first? They want to sleep around but they don’t want anyone to talk about it. And if you want to do it, do it discreetly. You are a public figure, a subject to scrutiny. You choose to be public and expect privacy, that’s funny. We are entertainers, surviving on the adulation of the very public. The duty of the press is to expose as much as they can. Don’t do the wrong things if you are scared 
of being exposed. Don’t pass the buck on to the press and say they are filthy.

You spread the filth when you indulge in scandalous activities. Press goes by the demand of their readers just like any producer goes by the demand of the audience. It’s very well for a Subhash Ghai to take a stand against the press but isn’t he doing the same thing? What was he doing when he picturised a song like ‘Saat saheliyaan khadi khadi…? You break all norms of decency and blame the press for writing about it. You work in movies like Toofan and Mard. You spend all your life and all that great talent, only to make money. You do not bother to do one good film, and you talk of substance in film journalism. You’re doing everything in life keeping the public in mind and then you talk of your right to privacy. A prostitute standing on the window cannot stop a passer-by from looking at her. Nor can we!
 
TOPIC ELEVEN: Black money!
I don’t even touch it. This statement of mine is as true as Rajiv Gandhi’s statement in Parliament that police doesn’t take bribes, politicians don’t harass businessmen, ministers aren’t debauched and Rajiv Gandhi rescued a whale not a dolphin. And last but not the least, my statement is as true as the fact that Rekha is a one-man woman!
 
 
THE CURRENT STATUS

Shatrughan Sinha’s daughter Sonakshi is a leading actress in Bollywood today. She’s the only one who has successfully managed to work in big budget movies with the condition that she won’t wear bikinis and she won’t kiss on screen. His son Luv is ready to revive his father’s production company this year. His younger son Kush is preparing to become a director. The actor hasn’t been seen in a movie in a long time now, though he hosted the Bhojpuri version of Kaun Banega Crorepati titled Ke Bani Karodpati two years ago.
Asking Shatrughan Sinha to talk is like asking an eagle to fly. He does it instinctively and voluntarily, and with the keenness and craftiness of the metaphor used. We spent two days with him during which he talked and talked and talked, while we just listened. He spoke on almost every topic under the sun right from the Rajesh-Dimple reunion to Rajiv Gandhi’s very talked-about rescue of a whale. It’s next to impossible to jot down ALL that he spoke but we have reproduced at least as much as we can in the given space and time. Over to Shatru:

TOPIC ONE: Amitabh Bachchan’s willingness to contest elections again if his party wants him to.
I think he should treat politics like Rekha, and give up both. But if he does stand for elections again, it would be foolish of him. It has been proved that politics is not his cup of tea. Like Rekha, it’s more than he can handle on his own. But let me make myself clear that I have nothing personally against Amitabh. So many people who are making such a hoo-haa about him are not angry with Bachchan because of what he has but why he has – that is, why don’t they have it too. I’m sure all those who are screaming, shouting against him are not doing it out of any patriotism but because, leave alone Swiss banks, they don’t have enough to store in the local banks. They would all love to be in Bachchan’s shoes. They would love to have such big contacts and so much influence with the Prime Minister. I think it is plain case of grapes being sour. But, if what they say is true, then I have a request to make. If he can look after all that money, why doesn’t he take care of my little money? After all (chuckles) what are friends for? I also don’t like income-tax. And if he’s really done it, I have another suggestion. Why doesn’t he just adopt me? He won’t even have to keep me in Switzerland.    
TOPIC TWO: His chances if he stands for elections himself.
Shatrughan Sinha knows for sure that leave alone standing, even if he sleeps, he will sweep.
 
TOPIC THREE: The Rajesh-Dimple reunion.
Mr Khanna is a good friend of mine. I know him better than many others, and I can say that Rajesh Khanna is a much glamourised version of late I S Johar. He loves to remain in news at any cost. His hits, his flops, his comebacks, his going backs, his joining politics, his leaving a wife, his finding a girlfriend, girlfriend leaving him, him running after the girlfriend, he sees to it that everything becomes news. Even the most unhygienic detail of his life becomes news. By the way, why doesn’t Mr Khanna give away that toothbrush that he shared with Tina Munim to an antique dealer? Tina is already history. I think that brush will have a lot of antique value. However, I think it’s foolish of Rajesh Khanna to pass such childish remarks like, ‘Dimple blackmailed me into giving her the role’. Whatever happened between the husband and the wife is their private matter. Rajesh is being stupid. I don’t know when he’ll rise above his false ego. I mean he could have easily said that he was touched when Dimple expressed her desire 
to work in his film, or something like that. But Mr Khanna thinks he’s too high for all that. Actually, it will do Dimple and him good if they come back together. She has gone through her flings, he has had his misfortunes. This is their chance to lead a respectable happy life. He’s not going to get a better wife than her. She won’t get a better husband than him. Not now, after all that she’s been through. And as I can foresee, Rajesh Khanna’s future is bright. It may be far away, but it’s certainly bright. I don’t judge an actor by his bad phases. Bad or good, they are all temporary. You never know what happens in this industry. Even Premnath can come back. And Rajesh is such a good actor, one of the few good actors we have. He can definitely try to make a comeback. And why only films? I think his future is very bright even as far as politics is concerned. That is if he remains in the party and the party remains in power.
TOPIC FOUR: Anil Kapoor, the latest big mouth of the industry.
I’m happy and relieved that the great, so-far unchallenged title has been taken over. I think Anil deserves it more than me. But I do feel sad for Anil for two reasons. One is that he should have been given the title a long ago. The other is that while I sustained a monopoly over the title for two decades, I’m afraid Anil might lose it in just two weeks. With due respect to Anil’s caliber, capability and capacity of holding the title of a big mouth, unfortunately, he’s already got competition. Two candidates are running neck to neck for it. Chunky Pandey and Shekhar Suman. And if the industrywallas care to take a vote from the ex-president of the big mouths, I’ll vote any day for Shekhar Suman since he comes from my own Bihar.
TOPIC FIVE: The new breed of newcomers.

Most of them don’t want to learn, they just want to earn. Without meaning any offence, most of the newcomers – the boys as well as the girls – are more models than artistes. They are happy as long as you talk about their sexual conquests and their already-exposed sex-life. But if you talk of acting with them, one gets diarrhea, the other starts taking drugs, another takes to sex, as if these are all confidence-making machines. Some, of course, are unfortunately misguided. Like Saaniya. In spite of everything, she seems to be a nice girl. I would personally request that the industry gives her a second chance. She wanted to attract attention which she has managed but to such an extent that everyone is now scared of her. Every newcomer tries to attract attention. There’s one whose name I won’t take. She thinks she is a karate queen, Bruce Lee’s younger sister. By wearing black 
clothes and a band on your hand and a cigarette in your mouth, you don’t become a karate champion. I’m sure she’ll run a mile even if a dog barks. She is the same actress who had gone over to a producer and taken away from his hands the glass of whisky he was drinking. She said a good Muslim doesn’t drink. But a good Muslim can smoke, can abuse, can use obscenities, and can indulge in four lettered activities? If only she would use the stamina she uses in screaming all those f***s and c***s for acting instead. Like Dharamji (Dharmendra) once told me while talking about her, “Why doesn’t she show her karate or whatever she wants to show, to me?” Some newcomers are really desperate to get publicity. Probably, they think it’s a compensation for their lack of talent.
 
TOPIC SIX: Vinod Mehra’s fourth shaadi.

We can give Vinod the authority on Indian marriages. 
He’s now not only a record holder like Sunil Gavaskar, but can also give expert comments on the topic like Lala Amarnath. But jokes apart, there’s a general tendency in the film industry and our society to always blame the man in matters of divorce whereas it’s not always that way. Vinod first got married to Rekha. And knowing Rekha, (by now I’m sure everyone knows her from very close quarters) the inevitable was expected. If nothing more, at least a divorce! The marriage lasted for one-and-a-half years and one wonders how it lasted even that long. The credit must go to Vinod for holding the marriage. Of course, Rekha may deny that she was ever married but I’ve had dinner with them after their marriage, where they were posing as husband and wife. Anyway if she is to be believed or if one has to go by what she says, then Rekha is still a virgin. About Vinod’s second marriage, I don’t know much but I’m 
told Meena is a nice girl, but then so is Vinod a nice man. And if I know for sure, Vinod has compensated and literally paid the price for his second shaadi. About his third marriage, the less said the better because Bindiya is now someone else’s wife. However, at least he’s got the right partner. Vinod went through hell after his third marriage broke off. I have seen him crying once at Subhash Ghai’s house. It had really shaken him up. I really wish Vinod all the happiness which he doesn’t only need but deserve. And I hope this marriage is not the least but the last one in his life.
 
TOPIC SEVEN: The second marriage syndrome in the industry.

I condemn it. It’s deplorable, abhorring, loathsome, despicable, hateful, revolting, repugnant, unforgettable, senseless, and stupid because I couldn’t do it. It makes me feel gutless, meek, stupid and coward. There are so many like me in this 
industry. So many who would love to do it, but they don’t have the courage. Of course, sometimes a man becomes totally helpless like I was. Then there are also those who marry second time, only because it’s become a fashion. Like a star-wife has so rightly said that a mistress hanging on the arm is a status symbol. There are some who don’t see beyond women and sex. It’s just sex, sex, sex for them. A new girl every night. I wonder what will happen to them when they grow old. Only in cases where the wife cannot live up to a man’s expectations, when she is a rag and she is all the time demanding that a man has a right to marry again. If a man doesn’t find happiness at home he’s bound to look for it outside. Only he shouldn’t try to have his cake and eat it too. He should break free of one marriage before getting into another. It’s better to live separately than die together every day.
 
TOPIC EIGHT: Shatru at 70!
I will be wholly, solely and physically at the mercy of the likes of Saaniya.

FARAH: I SWEAR CHUNKY PANDEY IS A DEAD MAN IF I EVER CATCH HIM!

How do you catch a cloud and pin it down? How do you find a word that means Farah? A bawling bundle of nerves, a brawling dare-devil, unusual and unpredictable, spewing obscenities and cooing sweet nothings in the same breath, she loves and hates with equal intensity. She has an insatiable lust for life, yet she can be suicidal. A paradox, that’s what she is. So, how do you solve a riddle like Farah? Stardust makes an attempt!

Once, you were close to Yash and Pam Chopra. But after being launched by them, you accepted every other offer without even consulting your godfather. No wonder they speak bitterly against you.
It’s a pity that relations between Yash Chopra and me have soured. I owe my big break only to him. Whatever I am today is because of Pam and him, but let me make one thing clear, I didn’t go begging to them to give me a chance. They spotted me and made me an offer. Dev Anand had offered Tabu a role in Hum Naujawan. I used to accompany her. Some pictures of mine were clicked, and a screen test taken which Devsaab sent to Yashji. He took me under his wings and groomed me, but his chief assistant Deepak Sarin turned out to be a rat. He only does chamchagiri. I fought with him, so he carried tales about Yashji and me to Pam Chopra. Till then, she treated me like her daughter, but once she got influenced by Deepak, she became jealous. I don’t have anything against her but she’s old enough to realise Yashji is older than my father.  
 You sacked your secretary Pran Airy. He claims that you haven’t paid him his dues. That’s why he’s not returning your book of dates and accounts which is his way of getting back at you, right? 
Once a secretary stops being efficient, he’s no longer useful. Pran is nothing but a money-crazy madman! He went to my producers, and asked them for R 5000 and more, in return for which, he would give them preferences for my dates. Maybe this was a small amount for the producers, but it still wasn’t, right? This would have gone on but a producer friend of mine told me, and I put a stop to it. He used to take huge amounts from me to pay various household bills and make money on that too. So I got fed up and decided to throw him out. He tried to create problems by not returning my date diary but it didn’t affect me. All my producers also have similar diaries, and I simply called a meeting with them and made a new diary. And as for him saying that he hasn’t received his payment, let him come and say it in front of me, and I will show him. I’ve paid him every paisa. Pran’s barking doesn’t affect me because everyone knows jo chor hota hai wohi bak-bak karta hai!
 
When it suited, you played the impulsive, foul-mouthed, fiery miss but now that it’s backfiring, you’ve conveniently chosen to be diplomatic. Doesn’t that make you a two-faced hypocrite?
I’m the only person who can proudly say I’m not a hypocrite. I will break anyone’s face who calls me that. I treat people as they treat me. I’ve nothing against those who are nice to me but those who are not, better keep their distance. I’ve always been an outspoken, blunt and straightforward person. People misunderstood me and got frightened. I realised a lot of people kept away only because they were scared. That’s when I decided to become diplomatic. This is not a front. I’m just trying to fit in with the others. I’m still the same old Farah.
It’s said you’ve started neglecting your mother and you don’t give her money though your account is swelling. Isn’t this unfair?
Those who say that must be crazy. It’s just that I don’t like giving her too much at once. We’ve gone through hell in the past and that has left a mark on us. That’s why I’m careful with money. There’s nothing wrong in increasing my bank balance, is there? I am only doing it for my family. My mother is not just my mother, she’s my friend. Together, we’ve seen difficult times. It has brought us closer. Now, I want life to be comfortable for her and my sister. Even when I get married, I won’t take a single rupee with me. I’ll leave it all to them. They are the only reason I’m working hard.
 
Your younger sister Tabu hasn’t signed a single film after Dev Anand’s Hum Naujawan because you refuse to allow her. You fear the fact that your sister might pose a threat to your career.
It’s true Tabu gets a lot of offers and I don’t let her accept them, but it’s for her own good. I know what I am doing. I want Tabu to complete her education. It has always been my dream to complete my education but I could never do it. That’s why I want Tabu to make my dream come true. Besides, she’s not an ordinary student, she’s brilliant. She always ranks first or second, so why should she give it up for films? She’s only 16, and has a life ahead of her. Tabu may be tall and pretty, but she’s just a bachchi. She has got her brains in her knees and I might break the bones of anyone trying to take advantage of her. Let her complete her education and get some sense. Then, I won’t stop her at all.
 Anil Kapoor recommends Madhuri Dixit and not you to his producers, doesn’t mean you should hate him so much? Or is it because he’s the rival of one of your favourite co-stars Jackie Shroff that you refuse to work with him?
I don’t need anyone to recommend me. I get films on my own standing, name and reputation. I’ll break the face of anyone recommending or even trying to recommend me. I don’t need anyone’s support or help. Who cares whether Anil Kapoor recommends Jaya Prada, Sridevi or Madhuri Dixit! I dislike him because I find him a little repulsive. Like audiences have their likes and dislikes, so do I. And I don’t refuse offers with him. If I get a good enough offer opposite him I’ll do it. After all, I’ve come here to work. The rest is kismet.
 
Chunky Pandey says that you just talk big, and given a chance, he would prove his manhood to you. Only you don’t oblige. What do you have to say to that?
Chunky Pandey’s tongue is going to cost him his life. Earlier too, he’d said a few things, and when I confronted him, he cried like a baby and begged on his knees for mercy. I forgave him but this time I won’t.  If I meet him I’ll cut him and his pride into little pieces. In fact, the only person who goes around shouting, ‘Chunky is a man! Chunky is a man!’ is Chunky himself. Maybe he’s insecure about his manhood.  He’s no he-man. If he was a real man, he wouldn’t go around shouting for the world to know. I swear Chunky Pandey is a dead man if I ever catch him!
 
You go out of your way to hit out at Poonam Dhillon, and industrywallas say it’s because you’re jealous of her. Is that true?
When Poonam Dhillon came to the industry, she created a storm but her time is up. Now, it’s my turn. I think I’m far better off than her. She had 10 years to prove herself and she won’t be given any more chances. Everyone worships the rising sun. Poonam is the setting sun. So why should I be jealous of her? We are different. She is a Sardarni and I’m a Muslim. She’s old. I’m young. She’s the past, I’m the present. She says a lot of things about me because it’s she who must be jealous. So please don’t insult me again by comparing me to Poonam Dhillon!
 
It’s said that you can’t get along with any heroine, be it Mandakini or Neelam.
It’s not true that I don’t like the other heroines. With Mandakini, I had a misunderstanding earlier, and we even fought, but today, it’s all sorted. Now, we’ve become good friends. I consider Neelam a kid. Whenever I see her, I tease her a lot about her accent and her childish way of talking. I call her doodh peeti bachchi, and ask her where her milk bottle is. She almost starts crying when I tease her like that but actually I find her quite okay. We worked together in Love 86 and have known each other since then. I don’t believe in fighting with anyone. I like most of the heroines and am friends with them except for Poonam Dhillon whom I hate.
 
Why is it that you model yourself on Rekha and copy her in every respect? You claim that she’s the only actress you like. Is it because it’s considered fashionable for every actress on the rise to behave this way?

I don’t need to copy Rekha or anyone else. I’ve my own standing. I agree though that I like her a lot. She’s a lovely person and we have a lot in common. We are both Librans and we are from the South. But we’re different. I don’t do what everyone else does. I am Farah not Rekha, and people come to me for that, not because I am someone’s copy.
 
It was strongly rumoured that you had a raging affair with Sanjay Dutt and Jackie Shroff, and that even after their marriage, you continue to meet them. Is that why their wives, Richa Sharma-Dutt and Ayesha Dutt-Shroff can’t stand you and vice-versa?
I like Sanjay and Jackie. They’re real men and nice people. That’s why I’m doing a lot films with both. I’ve met Ayesha a couple of times, and she has been nice to me, so I like her, but I don’t like Richa. We fought because of something that happened a long time ago. We had done a photo-session together and we got quite friendly. I don’t get close to anyone, so it was surprising that Richa and I did. Then 10 days later, I attended a function where Richa was also present. I was so happy to see her that I rushed up to her and said, ‘Hi Richa! How are you?’ To this, she said, ‘I don’t know you. Who are you?’ I got angry, and replied, ‘Come out and I’ll show you who I am.’ Then, I walked away. Who’s Richa? I’m better known than her. Anyway, I haven’t spoken to her after that, but Sanju and I still meet nicely. Me having an affair with him and Jackie is useless talk. If I was, I’d tell you first and then announce it to the world. I’m not like Poonam Dhillon who has secret affairs, and then denies them. I’m not a hypocrite. My affairs are like my life, open.
It’s said that every time you want to attract attention, you attempt crazy things like suicide. And worse, you do it when your family is visiting your aunt Shabana Azmi, so that the whole khandaan panics and rushes to your side. 
It’s true I’ve cut myself and burnt my hands and electrocuted myself several times, but it’s not for attention. It’s just the frame of mind that I happen to be in. I get angry at times and I normally want to beat up the person who makes me angry. If I can’t, I take out my gussa on myself. Only the sight of blood can cool me down. I take my own blood out. That’s why I say, be nice to me so that I can be nice to you. My anger can cause nervous breakdown. I’ve not really attempted suicide. Who wants to die? I know just how much to cut myself so I won’t die. And let me add, the only people who are concerned are my mother and sister. No one else pays attention whether it’s Shabana or Baba.
 
Why don’t you clear your love-hate relationship with your boyfriend Rajesh Sethi? Inspite of your frequent fights, you take up for him to the extent of even antagonising your family. Industry insiders insist he’s using you to gain publicity, and makes films using your contacts and money. 
Why don’t people mind their own business for a change? Earlier, I fought with my family about Rajesh because they hadn’t accepted him but today they have realised I love him, and I’m entitled to make my own decisions. So now, there aren’t so many fights. It’s totally untrue that he uses my money or me. I’m now doing only one film Jeene Do for him. I don’t give Rajesh even one paisa. He uses his own money. He’s from a rich family. My money is for my family. Rajesh has done a lot for me, and I don’t know how to repay him. I didn’t know things like bank balances. He taught me all about investments. If after my family, I have truly loved any one, it’s Rajesh. Of course, we have a lot of arguments. We fight and make up all the time. There’s no fun without fights. They make it so interesting.
 
What happened between Faroukh Nadiadwala and you? The poor chap claims he cracked a joke and you let loose all the fury of hell on him. Aren’t you carrying your firebrand image a bit too far?
Faroukh Nadiadwala is a low-down, good-for-nothing person. At J P Dutta’s birthday party, he came up to me and offered me beer. I refused because a drink doesn’t go with a sari which I was wearing that day. It’s un-ladylike. I told him that. He said, ‘Then take off your sari and have it.’ I could have killed him. Doesn’t he know how to talk to a lady? I attacked him but he was saved. I still don’t talk to him. I don’t talk to creeps.
 
Once, you were close to Rajeev Mehrotra, and some even said that you were having an affair with him. Now you don’t even ‘hello’ him. What happened?
I was extremely fond of Rajeev but I certainly didn’t have an affair. He was like a brother. In fact, I even tied him a raakhee but he misunderstood. He’s trying to become big as a producer and he thought the best way of getting publicity was by linking his name to mine. He tried to promote his career by using my name. Some people don’t respect even a raakhee. When I found out what he was up to, I broke off my friendship. Then, people blame me for being suspicious of everyone!
The Current Scenario
Farah was active on the film scene till 1996. She worked in a slew of unflattering films between 1993 and 1996, after which she digressed into television. The small screen was overflowing with roles for actresses like her. She acted briefly in shows like Amar Prem and Andaaz. She quit those too. She was married to actor Vindu Dara Singh for a few years, but she split with him. The couple has a son, Fateh Randhawa. The actress was last seen in Priyadarshan’s Hulchul in a small but pivotal part.

THE PARANOIAC AND PHOBIAS OF SMITA PATIL!

Late one evening, Mahesh and Kiran Bhatt were surprised to find Smita Patil pounding at their door. They were even more horrified to see the star standing there trembling and almost in a state of shock. They took her to the bedroom, softened the lights and while Mahesh held her hand and tried to calm her down, Kiran dialed the doctor’s number and rushed into the kitchen to boil some food for Smita. The doctor after a thorough examination pronounced the star physically fit. It took a couple of hours for Ms Patil to recover. Till today, no one has been able to understand this phenomenon.


“It happens to me too,” explained Mahesh later. “But that’s because I have low blood sugar. Smita’s case is however different. She is a very intense person and she has a lot of fears which she feels as intensely. I have a feeling that Smita is a very chemically disturbed person and the moment she gets disturbed, she lets it out.”
Having studied his heroine of Arth rather well, Mahesh elaborately explained the kind of phobias and paranoias Smita suffered from. “She is scared of loneliness,” he said emphatically. “This is a fear which every woman who is involved with a married man has. Smita is afraid that her man will leave her. Then,” Mahesh continued sympathetically, “She is frightened of younger girls replacing her in the industry. She keeps on thinking and worrying about it. Actually, Smita is like the Queen in Alice in Wonderland who keeps running on the same spot to stay in the same place…”
Smita’s good friend Johnny Bakshi too, to a certain extent, agreed with Mahesh. He narrated a similar experience he had with Smita on the sets of Ravan. They were to shoot a dramatic scene and Smita was so nervous before the shot that she looked a bundle of nerves. “I told her that she could continue being nervous,” explained Johnny, “but not to rub off her tension on to the rest of the unit. For seeing her like this, I was very nervous myself.”

“Another of her fears,” laughed Johnny, “is Shabana Azmi …” Dark, sultry, sexy, sensitive and too complexed for words – an opinion most people share about Smita Patil.

When the incredible Ms Patil heard this, she was furious. “These days, it’s become a fashion in the industry to call people complexed,” she said heatedly. “I am simple, honest and straightforward, that is all.” She relaxed, and added softly. “Tell me, who doesn’t suffer from complexes? Everybody does.”

I told her that’s what I wanted to know – all about the various phobias and paranoias she suffered from. She was angry all over again. “Look here,” she shouted. “I don’t fear anything or anybody. I am a very ‘don’t care’ type of a girl. I am too bindaas, I’ve always been that way, full of life.” However  when I tried to explain to her how impossible it was for a person to be fearless, Smita honestly confessed  that she was full of fears, and insisted that it was like giving herself up if she revealed them all.
For a couple of minutes, the actress contemplated in silence and then arriving at a decision, she said, “Okay, let’s start. Tell me, do you think I’m successful?” Not waiting for an answer, she continued, “Maybe yes, if you evaluate my success by my performances. Maybe not if you judge my success by the success of my films.” Her first fear was obviously of the box-office. I asked her if I had jumped to the right conclusion. “I think as an actress, I have been successful,” Smita plodded on. “I’ve done the best roles, more than anybody else has. But then, in spite of so much of hard work, when it comes to the box-office, it may not be the same. That upsets me. I get very angry when I am forced to assess my success in terms of the running of a film. When people evaluate your performance not by its quality, but measure it according to the number of people who go to see it, I get very upset. I worry a lot when I think about these things. I try not to, but I do.”

Fear of failure is one phobia Smita has not been able to overcome.  Much as she hated living up to the expectations of the box-office, she was forced to accept it as the only way of being known as a success. “Only personal satisfaction of having  done a good role is not enough, it does not get you anywhere. One has to feed upon success,” she sighed. One has to manipulate, and I for the life of me, cannot.”

Power scares Smita. Especially misused power. “Being a daughter of a politician,” began Ms. Patil, “I’m aware of all these underhand games. I’ve seen power and how it can be misused.” Her not being able to use and manipulate power is something else which frustrates Smita. “I’m too idealistic,” she explained. “I can’t play games. I can’t handle all that goes with being an actress – like meeting producers, chasing them, sending feelers, keeping track of uska kya hua and iska kya hua. Tell me, why should I do all that? Why should I fight for something I deserve?” What confuses her also scares her. Smita queried. “I cannot understand why people believe in fighting to get roles. I’ve seen actresses scheming to get roles. I’ve seen them playing up to producers. I cannot see myself doing that.    

“So many times,” she continued sensitively, “I ask myself, what is it that I want? If I want a film and if I am not the kind who can manipulate like others do, I should not feel bad or cheated when I don’t get a particular role. I tell myself so often that either join those who manipulate, or stop getting hurt. What’s the point in getting hurt each time I lose a good role or a good film of mine flops? I chide myself, ‘Smita, if you are all that idealistic and sensitive, go sit at home. What are you doing in films?”

Taken aback by her own emotional outburst, Smita laughed. Opening up and quite enjoying this session of confessions, Ms Patil revealed that she was paranoid about competition. Not that she hates it, but that she is scared when she tries to compare her performance with that of others. “You know,” she said quietly, “I feel great doing a good role and giving a good performance, but the moment I start comparing myself to 10 other people, my performance to 10 other performances, I get tensed up. And yet, if you go to see, I am a talented person. I’ve had a very controversial career, but I sailed through it all only because of my talent. In spite of so many ups and downs in my personal and professional life, I don’t think I have missed the boat. I am even confident that I’ll make it.” And yet, the fear persists.

Smita looked depressed. “Why is this world constantly striving for survival?” she asked. “Is survival so difficult? I am trying to make my life
simple. But the more I try, the more complex it becomes. I am a person of simple tastes and simple living. When I say I know I’ll make it, please don’t misunderstand me. I do not mean monetary-wise. I want to be a success, but not for its materialistic values. I am not fond of money. I am not crazy about clothes and jewellery. I have a certain kind of contempt to an absolute materialistic living,” she paused. “It could be my middle-class back-ground,” she continued. “Maybe it’s the way I was brought up. My father was involved with the socialist party. Even amongst my friends, I don’t have any Richie-rich ones, and most of them are from outside the industry. But I am losing out of them as well. The industry has taught me not to trust people or take them at their face values.”

Smita admitted that her personal phobias and paranoia were too many, but she was not ready to talk about them. “I shall not talk about my personal life. I do have personal insecurities and fears, lots of them because I am a very sensitive person – hypersensitive in fact. I can’t take things lightly. But these fears keep coming and going. Where is the time to brood over them or nurse them?

“I have a deep fear of being misunderstood,” she said as if in a trance. “When I say something, I am most of the time being misinterpreted and misquoted and that makes me very upset. I don’t want people to have wrong impressions about me. People take me for a snob. I guess I am a sort of a snob. In the sense, I have strong convictions in what I do. I know I am right and when I am right, I shall not compromise. In fact, that’s what gets me into trouble most of the time.” Twitching her nose, Smita said,

“I fear dishonesty and dishonest people. I feel very strongly about honesty.” She explained how she was paranoid about disloyalty too. “I am myself a very loyal person.” She smiled, “boringly loyal. I have very old, Victorian ideas about loyalty and honesty. I always keep away from dishonest people.”

Unlike other film stars and inhabitants of the world of beauty and glamour, Ms. Patil didn’t fear age nor death for herself. “I am not going to grow old for a long time yet,” she laughed teasingly. “Our family has God’s gift of looking young for years. And I am not bothered about my future too. I know I’ll be remembered by my performances. I’ve had success as an actress. And since marriage is not at all in my future plan, I am quite prepared to die as an old spinster.” The smile vanished from her face when Smita spoke about her worst fear the one which has been haunting her ever since she was a kid – death of the ones who are dear to her. “I fear death, not for myself, but for my dear ones,” she whispered. “My family is the most beautiful thing that has happened to me. They are the most precious part of my life. I feel very guilty for not being with them very often. We all live together; you know we are a very close-knit family. The stress of being an actress, and all that goes with it, the hard work, putting on a front, not being able to be oneself, and all that tells on me and has repercussions on my personal life. I bring it out on my family. I feel terrible. I fear I’ll lose them.” 

Her eyes turned misty and she said, “As a child, I used to take the names of my five family members in my prayers and wish that we would all die together. Till today, I have an unknown fear of losing them. They matter so much to me, no one is as close to me as my family. I value my family more than anything in this world, so I fear for them.”

“It is my work that finally keeps me going,” she said. “It is my work that helps me to forget my inner fears,” I saw ambition written on her face and as she got up to go on the sets (she was shooting for a film) a famous saying crossed my mind – The bitch goddess. Success demands strange sacrifices from those who worship her.
Smita Patil died on December 13, 1986, two weeks after delivering her baby (son Pratiek), owing to complications in childbirth. She was
just 31. Filmmaker Mrinal Sen was of the opinion that she died due to gross medical negligence. Smita’s sister Manya raised her kid, away from media glare. Years later, her son made his acting debut in 2007 with a small but powerful role in Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na. He dropped his surname Babbar a few years later, which he had inherited by virtue of being actor Raj Babbar’s son. He’s known to be cordial with Raj and his first wife Nadira, and also his step-kin, Arya and Juhi. He continues to be an actor, and his last release was Issaq.