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June 5, 1998

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Jinxed

Sunny Deol. Click for bigger pic!
Shootings being cancelled are part of the grind in Bollywood. But anytime Sunny Deol's London muffs up a schedule, eyebrows rise across the industry. For rumour has it that the movie is jinxed.

We've covered the various convulsions the film went through. Initially, it was Gurinder Chadha who was the director, but soon wasn't. Rahul Rawail too underwent a similar conversion till Sunny himself decided to direct the movie.

Meanwhile, Sunny was also having personal trouble going with Dimple Kapadia and Raveena Tandon. Then Karisma dropped out, to be replaced by Urmila Matondkar.

Now the shooting of the film has been delayed by two more months... Heads shake pessimistically in the industry -- this film will never make it.

And it's up to Sunny to prove them wrong.

Bad scene

Shah Rukh Khan. Click for bigger pic!
So Shah Rukh Khan is not likely to become a director after all. At least Duplicate has bombed after what seemed to be a good start.

A decent initial saw the film narrowly escape financial trouble, but the Khan has not improved his standing by much.

Apparently, he had great expectations of the film since he had directed a major portion of it, for those who care to remember, the bits about Babloo, the goggle-eyed good guy.

With this, he must have shelved, at least for the present, any plans to turn to direction. For few in the audience have been appreciative of his efforts this time.

Meanwhile, the Khan is working off his frustration, driving around his new Hyundai. Yup, the same one he was endorsing on television and which he was going around in Dil To Pagal Hai.

Apparently, he got the product as payment. Good thing, it wasn't a cure for balding or something he was pushing...

Bhatt seeks an alternate career

Mahesh Bhatt.
Getting back to Duplicate, it may finally force Mahesh Bhatt keep his promise to quit direction. Bhatt had recently announced he would not make any more films after the film on his mother Shireen. But he's made similar promises quite a few times before.

Anyway, the film about momma stars Pooja Bhattand Ajay Devgan with the former playing the mater. Which means Ajay plays Mahesh Bhatt himself.

Bhatt, meanwhile, is considering taking up creative writing as a career. Not a bad idea, as long as he doesn't do another agony column. In one of his classical pieces, he had diagnosed post-partum depression as an existential crisis.

Major trouble

A still from Major Saab. Click for bigger pic!
So what is Virendra Raaj Anand aka Tinnu Anand saying when he said Amitabh Bachchan was playing his age in his upcoming film? The same one they shot at the National Defence Academy. We quote his relevant line before we plunge on: "Amitabh is 55 and playing his own age in Major Saab."

Now here's our argument. According to army regulations, an NDA cadet becomes a commissioned offer around the time he is 20, 22 years old, thereafter turning captain. About 11, 12 years after his first commissioning he turns major and, if there is no mishap, a lieutenant colonel in another four years. A major is given three chances for promotion; if he flubs up those, he's doomed to retire as a major.

So is Tinnu Anand suggesting that Amitabh at 55 is a sorry failure in his role? If so, the filmi patriots won't like it, wot?

The price they pay

A still from Lal Badshah. Click for bigger pic!
If anybody has doubts that a film can ruin you, they can assure themselves by seeing K C Bokadia's plight -- his financiers have taken over his house and he now lives in a rented flat.

All thanks to Lal Badshah. He has to pay Rs 45 million to Amitabh, Rs 8 million to Amrish Puri and Rs 7 million to Manisha Koirala. The film itself costs another Rs 120 million.

Seeing the shooting costs, the financiers stepped in and took over his house.

Now Bokadia is praying the movie will be a hit. Only then can he hope to own his own house again.

In search of that pot of gold

Bobby Deol. Click for bigger pic!
Another film personality who would love to see the turnstiles ticking is Bobby Deol.

His Barsaat flopped and so did Aur Pyar Ho Gaya, despite all the hype surrounding them. Only Gupt salvaged some pride for him.

But the Jat hasn't thrown in the towel, galled that he hasn't made it yet when his illustrious father Dharmendra and national award-winner brother Sunny has.

"This year I have three releases," he tells you. "Vidhu Vinod Chopra's Kareebis a love story, Abbas-Mastan's Soldier is a fast-paced thriller and London is a love triangle in which my role is very different from the kind of roles I have done so far. All these films will be released this year. Let us hope for the best he says."

Absolutely.

-- V S Srinivasan

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