More the Merrier

Iftaar promotions and Eid releases, parties and promos, there’s never a dull moment in Bollywood. For more gossip and news, read on…

The last days leading to Eid festival is always boring in movie theatres. This is the month when all the small and struggling films find exhibitors and distributors not sure which one will click at the box-office try to package as many releases as possible, more the merrier. Last week was 11 releases and film critics went into a tizzy hopping theatre to theatre. At last, the month of madness is over and all eyes are on ‘Chennai Express’. Trade pundits are anticipating a minimum 85 percent opening and confirm they have received block bookings for the Shah Rukh-Deepika starrer. The buzz is on and not to be intimidated forthcoming film producers like ‘Once Upon A Time’ have initiated aggressive promotion campaigns to grab their share of limelight.

A few days ago filmmaker Rakesh Roshan and son Hrithik Roshan unveiled the first look of ‘Krrish 3’. Roshan said the trilogy (‘Koi Mil Gaya’, ‘Krrish’ and now ‘Krrish 3’) is a long labour of love and he has relished and cherished every stage of all the films. He said films with special effects call for patience and it was a conscious decision to shoot all the VFX scenes in India, ‘When enormous talent is available in India why look outside?’ Hrithik listened to his father attentively and said that it is not easy to make a film like ‘Krrish 3’. It has been possible only because his father is diligent and flawlessly organised, he said. Hrithik admitted that his recent hospitalisation due to a blood clot in the brain had put him out of work for a while but he is fit now and taking adequate rest to be fully charged during the promotion.

Balaji Films announced an iftaar party on behalf of ‘Once Upon A Time Dobbara’ unit to promote their film. Jeetendra, Akshay Kumar and Sonakshi Sinha went out of the way to make sure that they got great attendance and they did. There was the gorgeous Dimple Kapadia to show her support for son-in-law Akshay Kumar. Shatrughan Sinha was present for his daughter. Kangana Ranaut, Tabu probably there for director Milan Lutharia.

At the ‘Once Upon a Time Dobbara’ Shatrughan Sinha appeared unfazed after his controversial remarks on party leader Narendra Modi and fortunately nobody questioned him on the same. Akshay Kumar too was spared questions on his court case. Strangely there were no questions on Sanjay Dutt spending a lonely birthday in jail not visited by a single film person. I guess the mood was of celebration and nobody wanted to be reminded of what went wrong and why. Nor should Katrina Kaif who is still upset about her bikini picture leaked into print and has announced to producers that she will not wear swim suits in any of her films in future.

Most of her colleagues feel that Katrina is over reacting and must not give undue attention to the controversy. Deepika Padukone has issued a statement that celebrities don’t have a right to complain about lack of privacy and it is up to the stars how to protect their private lives from the camera. I wonder how Ranbir Kapoor will react to his ex commenting on his current girl friend. Knowing Ranbir he would not stress over this but hyper sensitive Kaif is not going to take kindly to Padukone remark for sure.

It is an old adage that there are no permanent friends and no permanent enemies and this is most applicable in show business. Sonam and Deepika were not friends but became one, when discussing Ranbir Kapoor on a reality show together.

Ranbir’s father Rishi Kapoor objected to the two heroines bashing his son on a public platform the girls withdrew and resumed their cordial relationship. Everybody knows that filmmaker Ram Gopal Verma made a star out of Manoj Bajpayee after Satya and then the two fell out and never worked together again. Now after so many years, Bajpayee and Verma met at the wedding of Verma’s daughter who met Bajpayee when she was a little girl and retained contact with her father’s hero over the years. Bajpayee was part of her wedding celebrations and father Ramu had no choice. Now this story is better than any story Verma has ever portrayed in any of his films, what say Ramu?

For a long time now the grapevine has it that things are not the same between Karan Johar and best friend Shah Rukh Khan and even though the two have retained a dignified silence it is evident to those around them that there are undercurrents between the two. Johar has always said that he is more of Gauri’s friend than Shah Rukh, but he has also made dramatic statements like he’s the Godfather of their children. These days though such statements have become rare. Shah Rukh has not commented on any of Johar’s recent successes and Johar has refrained comment on ‘Chennai Express’. Today’s papers say that Johar’s next will be a tribute to Shah Rukh’s ‘DDLJ’. Wonder why he would do that because ‘Chennai Express’ is an extension of ‘DDLJ’ where an older SRK plays a mature Raj/ Rahul romancing Deepika in Rameshwaram instead of Switzerland.

Before I sign off, congratulations to Nandita Das for opposing endorsements of whitening creams like Fair & Lovely. Thank you for reminding us that it is patronising to refer to the wheat complexioned ones as attractive and dusky. We are with you Nandita and so is the entire nation because majority of us have been victims of colour discrimination at some point in our lives.
Bhawana Somaaya/ @bhawanasomaaya