Twinkle twinkle busy stars!

Every week is another film and another destiny. Paresh Rawal must have never imagined that ‘Leela - Ek Paheli’ would fare better than his film ‘Dharam Sankat Mein’ at the box-office just as Yash Raj Films must have not anticipated ‘Fast & Furious 7’ to take over ‘Detective Byomkesh Bakshy’ but this is show business and destinies alter every week. And in the meantime artistes continue to work hard and when they have time they party hard as well.

Shah Rukh Khan has been rushing through the final schedule of his film ‘Fan’ and has managed to shoot at Madame Tussauds that no film unit has managed so far. Zoya Akhtar is all set to release the trailer of ‘Dil Dhadakne Do’ and Anil Kapoor hosted a party for the team at his home. The event was attended by Shefali Shah, Vipul Shah, Priyanka Chopra and others.

It was a hectic week for Abhishek Bachchan. He started shoot for ‘Hera Pheri 3’ in Dubai and rushed back to be with his father at the Padma award ceremony in the capital followed by his cousin’s wedding to actor Kunal Kapoor.

It has been months now since Varun Dhawan relished a cup of tea with his parents and the only time he comes home is to pack his bags to leave for yet another location shooting. Now he is in Panaji for Rohit Shetty’s ‘Dilwale’ with Kirti Sanon. Varun’s parents Laali and David Dhawan decided to give a surprise visit to their son while attending a wedding in Goa.

Life is on a roll for Siddharth Malhotra as well. He is currently shooting for ‘Brothers’ and signed up for Excel Productions next with Katrina Kaif and yet another project of Karan Johar ‘Kapoor & Sons’ with Aliya Bhatt.

When Emraan Hashmi came into films he said he will do only selective films and for some time he kept his word but now even Hashmi is caught in the rat race and perhaps that is the only way the film fraternity operates. You are either over worked or out of circulation. Hashmi who is wrapping up ‘Humari Adhuri Kahani’ with Vidya Balan directed by Mohit Suri is said to be a part of Karan Johar’s next as well.

Wonder how he will juggle so many projects because after the release of ‘Mr X’. Emraan Hashmi is busy with ‘Azhar’ a biopic on the life and times of cricketer Mohammad Azharuddin produced by Ekta Kapoor and Balaji Films. Sonam Kapoor is consumed by Neerja Bhanot the brave airhostess who saved many hostages on the ill-fated Pan Am Flight 73 hijacked by terrorists; directed by the very able Ram Madhvani the film will start shooting as soon as Sonam is free from her last film.

There is one more actor obsessed with his subject for a biopic. Paresh Rawal who has the permission of the Prime Minister to tell the world his story in a film aptly titled ‘Namo’. Call it a phase but filmmakers are either making sequels like Akshay Kumar’s ‘Singh is Bling’ after ‘Singh is King’, directed by Prabhudeva or Remo Fernandes’s ‘ABCD 2’ or it is a hit pair shooting with a hit director like Ranbir Kapoor – Deepika Padukone in Imtiaz Ali’s ‘Tamasha’ for which the lead pair has traveled all around the world.

The week had some surprises. Preity Zinta said she is not selling her team. Riteish Deshmukh said Marathi films must be given an opportunity in multiplexes. Rishi Kapoor said he will tweet what he wants. Rupa Ganguly said she was attacked by opposition. Singer Arjit Singh declared that he will pursue direction. Sonakshi Sinha agreed she will judge a musical show and Lisa Ray, unwell for a long time, announced she is coming back to films.

Old controversies came to an end. The State declared Marathi films will be screened at multiplexes in any show between 12 and 9 pm. The Bombay High Court quashed Anita Advani, actor Rajesh Khanna’s live-in girl friend’s claim to his property thus putting an end to a long fight.

Tamil star Surya’s new film ‘24’ is similar to US TV series ‘24’ for which Anil Kapoor has the rights. Rather than fight with Surya in a legal or a media battle, Anil Kapoor called up Surya, and explained the problem. Surya promised to talk to his team and get back, and now the matter has been amicably settled.

Last but not the least, Indian International Film Festival has always attracted controversies but now since this year it is going to be a smaller and cleaner festival, lyricist Prasoon Joshi hopes it is for the better. Joshi says Goa as a venue has great potential. “It needs changes and if we work together the changes can be implemented.”

- Bhawana Somaaya / @bhawanasomaaya