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Bouncy baby

V S Srinivasan

Pooja Bhatt. Click for bigger pic!

It seemed like the end of the line for Pooja Bhatt, the actress. But going by the promos of Priyadarshan's Kabhi Na Kabhi she's bouncing right back!

This, of course, is a triumphant return for the girl who zapped the populace in Daddy, Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin and Sir and then had fans feeling a trifle ambivalent with some controversial statements and her reported promiscuity.

When fewer roles came her way, she turned producer, to national acclaim in Tamanna. There's also Tanuja Chandra's Dushman, starring Kajol and Sanjay Dutt in the wings. And what better director to come back as an actress with than Priyadarshan? Her co-stars in Kabhi Na Kabhi are Anil Kapoor and Jackie Shroff.

Besides her ability to emote, Pooja has a big advantage in the catchy music of A R Rahman who, if memory does what it's supposed to, along with designer Manish Malhotra brought Urmila M back into the reckoning with Rangeela.

A feisty girl, the Bhatt babe.

Duh?

Akshay Kumar. Click for bigger pic!

Akshay Kumar, nice guy and action hero that he is, has some communication problems though. Also rumour has it, 90 per cent of his brain is devoted to taekwondo and other basic needs and the remaining 10 per cent for involuntary functions.

He apparently had just one thought in his head when he landed at Hyderabad airport recently, all ready for an encounter with ex-girlfriend, Raveena Tandon. Till Amitabh Bachchan came up to play havoc with Akki's neural circuitry.

"Hello Akshay," he heard being said in a deep and urbane baritone. And before him stood the big B in person.

"So," continued the affable Bachchan, "You have come to Hyderabad for a shoot as well?"

Akshay did some sharp thinking and, looking Bachchan straight in the eye, said "Duh," following that up with a yes and a no.

Bachchan looked at him a moment, grinned sympathetically and wished him luck for whatever reason he'd come there and breezed off while Akshay was still trying to sort his priorities out again.

Sridevi to return

Sridevi. Click for bigger pic!

Another heroine, whom we thought had left the battleground altogether, is returning. Happily, that's Sridevi.

After hubby Boney Kapoor gave his nod for what after all is a home production, she okayed a film which is to start in 1999, about the time daughter Jahnavi can be left alone, for some time at least.

The hero? Brother-in-law Anil Kapoor. Poor man, imagine having to woo Sri under big brother's watchful eye. Kind of embarrassing, no?

Sound and fury

Aamir Khan. Click for bigger pic!

Alka Yagnik got a small shock recently during a chat session with Aamir Khan, with whom she has just sung a ditty.

No, it wasn't his voice that rocked her -- that, apparently, was musical enough -- but a story he told her about the recording of a song for Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak:

There was a young brat standing in the corner making sassy remarks. Finally, an exasperated Alka gave him an unmusical earful and threw him out -- you may have guessed it -- on the same auditory equipment.

The punch line -- you may have guessed that too though Alka didn't -- is that the brat was Aamir himself.

And as Alka sat mortified, Aamir chuckled away in quiet satisfaction.

Humko Shabana mangta!

Shabana Azmi. Click for bigger pic!

Ismail Merchant is on the prowl, seeking a cast for his upcoming movie, Cotton Mary, about an Anglo Indian community caught in a time warp. No, no, not one of those sci-fi flicks, this is the introspective kinda intellectual thing. Expect nothing less from the Merchant-Ivory stable.

Ismail, we hear, was all smiles about Shabana Azmi's performance as an Anglo in Anjan Dutta's Bada Din and is apparently trying to lure her -- and Naseeruddin Shah -- into Cotton Mary.

Ghai gets Gere

Richard Gere. Click for bigger pic!

Subhash Ghai can drive a shrewd bargain, all right.

For when Hollywood actor and Tibetan activist Richard Gere came to Bombay on Sunday to aid the anti-AIDS campaign, the Great Showman asked him to do a small role in return for which Ghai would make a film on the ravages wrecked by the HIV virus.

"It's a deal," Cindy Crawford's ex said. Or, you know, words to that effect. And so details are being worked out.

Gere is also planning a series of small ad films on AIDS, in which Bollywood celebrities -- including people like Ghai, Jackie Shroff, Salman Khan, Sanjay Dutt -- are to tell people how not to get it and what to do if you do.

A brilliant head

Anupam Kher. Click for bigger pic!

We nearly forgot to include his name up there, but among those starring in Gere's ads is Bollywood's most famed shiny top, Anupam Kher.

Don't know how he'll find the time for it, considering that just after playing Rajiv Gandhi in R K Selvamani's Kutra Pathrigai, he's to tog himself up as Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in an Indo-Japanese venture.

Anupam is also jet-setting between cities to promote his Media Entertainment Company after its celebrity management section reportedly ran into some problems. He thus puts in more work than most of his contemporaries do in a day.

As far as work goes, that man really has a brilliant head, wot?

-- V S Srinivasan