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May 14, 1998
BILLBOARD
QUOTE MARTIAL
MAKING WAVES
ROUGH CUTS
MEMORIES
ARCHIVES
MOVIES CHAT
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Proof of the pudding
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Karisma Kapoor. Click for bigger pic!
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So there it is. Proof of the pudding as it were. Karisma Kapoor wins the best supporting actress for Dil To Pagal Hai while Madhuri Dixit isn't among the two women who bagged the best actress award.
Of course, detractors could say that national awards are hardly representative, and they could be right too. But it just affirms what we and others said about her popularity when we told you she was No 1.
And, note, with this Karisma has done what her famous uncle Rishi Kapoor, grandfather Raj Kapoor and great grandfather Prithviraj Kapoor couldn't.
Raj and Prithviraj have won the Dadasaheb Phalke award for lifetime achievement. But Lolo has time for that, doesn't she?
Up with big brother
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Aditya Chopra.
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When DTPH did well, all Bollywood bristled with rumours about Aditya Chopra casting around for his next cast.
Happens Adi is not going beyond his own home, nursing plans to launch younger brother Uday soon.
Rumours about the script being planned vary -- one suggests it's a two-hero theme, another that it's a young love story, the third...
Whatever be the story, rest assured, there's a lot of interest in what and how Uday will do.
Tandon's trials
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Raveena Tandon. Click for bigger pic!
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Things could get worse for Raveena Tandon -- she could fall out of a plane or be felled by the plague. But for the present, she has enough to deal with, thank you.
When she started off she had this image of being a jinx -- a terrible label in Bollywood, one that could even render you jobless -- when Dilwala and Mohra thankfully clicked. But now she's back to square one.
Ziddi was her last hit and then there was a big drought, Keemat, Salakhen, Aunty No 1, Vinashak and Ghulam-e-Mustafa disappearing like leaves in a hurricane. Then she fell out with Akshay Kumar to whom she was allegedly married and fell prey to meningitis.
Finally, she was reduced to cabaret numbers with only Anari No 1 with Govinda and Barood opposite Akki to look forward to.
Raveena is in desperate search of a big hit, something that will keep her going. But then, the lady isn't actually helping fortune's hand, is she, by screaming at the press, as she did during a recent shoot?
The choregraphy craze
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Urmila Matondkar. Click for bigger pic!
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Mamta Kulkarni did a self-choreographed jig in Raj Kumar Santoshi's Ghatak, and rumour has it the eyes of front benchers had to be scraped of the screen so that they didn't hang around for another eyeful. And now its Urmila Matondkar's turn. In mentor Ram Gopal Verma's Satya.
The director put a few songs in to jazz up the film and what better way than call for the wiggly numbers of Ms Rangeela in at least one of them?
Meanwhile, her performance has been appreciated by all those who saw the rushes. But then she had her heart in the film from day one. And perchance it and others fail, she still has a career ahead in dance direction. And it won't be just those in the pit who go for it.
...And the other way
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Farah Khan.
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If Urmila can direct a dance, why can't choreographer Farah Khan turn to direction? Well, she has, with a film to be produced byYash Johar.
Meanwhile, right now, after the release of Duplicate, Yash Johar is concentrating on his next film, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, starring Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol, directed by his son Karan.
Farah is working hard on a script with Johar's team. But the film is slated to be more of a musical than an action film. Yash Johar didn't mind at first but was aghast when he learnt there was to be no villain. And promptly sought that a nasty element be pencilled in.
Doesn't make sense, does it? First write in a nasty and then rub him out at the end?
Censor Sinha?
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Shatrughan Sinha. Click for bigger pic!
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Shatrughan Sinha has denied reports that he is lobbying for the post of head honcho of the censor board.
The incumbent, Shakti Samanta has already indicated he'll be most happy not to have the job he's held for seven years. For every time he snips a shot, he's dragged up into the dock. All those liberals, he but mocks, and upon the critics he casts a pox.
Sorry, we got carried away by doggerel. Happens when you read too much into advanced Bollywood criticism. Sinha claims that if he met Minister of Information and Technology Sushma Swaraj it had only to do with the weather, the nuclear umbrella and suchlike. Besides, of course, Bollywood's claim to industry status.
Would you take his word on that?
After denims, Thais
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A still from Love You Hamesha. Click for bigger pic!
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They've hardly released Jeans, India's most expensive film but Amritraj Solomon Communications is already halfway through their next venture, Love You Hamesha.
Starring Akshaye Khanna, Sonali Bendre, Amitabh Nanda and Riya Dev Verma.
Written and directed by ad man Kailash Surendranath with music by A R Rahman, the movie seems to have promise. Or, if nothing else, oomph.
This time the cast and crew moved east, shooting in Thailand. With some very pretty local women. Worth a dekko, you think?
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