Salman Khan Eid ke baad bhi subhanallah

MS Sathyu has designed sets for more than four decades and also made so many memorable films. Mumbaikars were happy to hear from Sathyu what role design plays in theatre. To an eager audience interested in set design, Sathyu shared what it takes to transform a stage into a world of fantasy. He shared the journey of a sketch on paper into a tangible, elaborate set! It was an unusual evening because while the audience has often been treated to the experiences of other technicians, rarely has a set designer spoke about the highs and lows of designing sets and films, or at least not as articulately as MS Sathyu. As the silver-haired shared instances of ‘Garam Hawa’ and ‘Kanneshwar Rama’, the ambience brightened with questions. The woman responsible for this was Sanjana Kapoor who insisted Sathyu travel from Bangalore to address the crowd in Junoon Mumbai Local.

It was a memorable week for Madan Mohan’s family as they put together a short film commemorating the maestro, celebrated as the gazal king of cinema. Singer-composer Madan Mohan was born on June 25, 1924. If he were alive, he would have been 91 years old. He passed away at the young age of 51on July 14, 1975; the same year emergency was imposed on the country.

While the present government is celebrating the 40th anniversary of emergency, Madan Mohan’s older son Sanjeev Kohli is putting his genius father’s career on the digital world. The website was launched six years ago and today www.madanmohan.in is on the top charts for music lovers.

The best thing about the site is the personal audio message in Madanji’s voice on the homepage, followed by his most popular ghazal, ‘Aap ki nazrone samjha pyaar ke kabil mujhe’ written by Raja Mehdi Ali Khan and sung by Lata Mangeshkar. Kohli organised a small and intimate event at Yash Raj Studio to showcase the 75-minute film on Madan Mohan that was received with a standing ovation.

Hema Malini may have had a rough week in Rajasthan and then on the social platform, but daughter Esha it seems has found an alternate career besides acting and dancing. Playing a judge with Roadies has in a way changed the game for the actor. Esha is now the owner of a cricket team called Box Cricket League Punjab, along with other Punjabi actors like Geeta Basra linked to cricketer Harbhajan Singh’s hometown team Jalandhar. Geeta confirmed saying, “Yes, I own the Jalandhar team in Box Cricket League Punjab. Jalandhar has always been close to my heart as my family is from there. I am very happy to be associated with them and looking forward to an amazing time.” Box Cricket League launched last year, brought together 150 of the biggest television celebrities in a potent mix of drama, cricket and celebrities. This year they are adding tadka to that mix and taking the concept to a completely new level.

Other winners of the week were Abhishek Bachchan and Rishi Kapoor entertaining the media at the trailer release of “All is Well” with stories of the past and present, and Sanjay Leela Bhansali for releasing the trailer of “Bajirao Mastani” six months in advance. Premiered with Salman’s Eid offering “Bajrangi Bhaijaan”, few people remember that Salman Khan was the original choice of “Bajirao Mastani”. At that time Kareena Kapoor was to play Mastani and Rani Mukherjee, Bajirao’s wife role played by Priyanka Chopra at the moment. The list of films that Salman did not do that were done by other actors who became stars is endless, and Salman has never bragged about them.

Other winners of the week were Naseeruddin Shah, director Anurag Basu and writer Javed Akhtar associated with Epic channel for different shows. Amitabh Bachchan for rendering and composing “Kabadi” song and two set of star parents namely Sunil and Mana Shetty and Zarina Wahab and Aditya Pancholi for the launch of Suraj-Athiya in the Salman Khan produced

“Hero”. So it was a double whammy for Khan as he launched his second film and released “Bajrangi Bhaijaan” to a roaring box-office collection. While no other producer dared to release his film with Khan, SRK’s heroine from “Raees”, Mahira Khan, last seen on the Indian big screen in the controversial film “Bol” was set to release “Bin Roye”, but the film was banned in the last minute due to political pressures.

We all know that festival releases have a great opening but “Bajrangi Bhaijaan” has broken all records and proved Salman Khan’s biggest hit internationally over the decades. While the weekend collections were a given, it was the highest single day and the fastest 100 crore film in the first week. What is celebratory is the galloping second week collections. Day 5 Tuesday brought 21.40 crore and day 6 Wednesday brought in 18.02 crore with a house-full still.

After making his two brothers and brother-in-law as Crorepatis, Salman Khan turns a bigger Crorepati with his home production SKFilms. Isse kehte hai bassi eid bhi subbanallah!

- Bhawana Somaaya/@bhawanasomaaya