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December 16, 1997
BILLBOARD
QUOTE MARTIAL
MAKING WAVES
ROUGH CUTS
MEMORIES
ARCHIVES
MOVIES CHAT
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Going south
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Bhagyashree. Click for bigger pic!
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Remember Bhagyashree? That snub-nosed, crinkly-eyed, blue-blooded girl in Maine Pyar Kiya. Well, she's seeking southern pastures now.
Mind you, after that sensational debut in MPK, she would have found it tough to measure up to the hype. And when she decided that she would act opposite no one else but husband and childhood sweetheart Himalay, she signed her career away.
The one film she starred opposite hubby bombed so badly they couldn't find the fragments. The Bollywood badshahs backed off and she was relegated to television for some time.
Now she is acting in a Telugu film produced by Meenakshi Naidu and starring her son -- Naidu's, not Bhagyashree's -- Balakrishna as the hero.
But wait, Bhagyashree isn't the heroine. She plays second fiddle to sex siren Heera Rajgopal, since she's only the hero's sister. And you know what a sister in Indian flicks usually does -- be loyal and dutiful and get bumped off when the script tires of her. But Bhagyashree loyally defends her director.
"Actually it is a nice role. The hero has taken the law into his hands. When he realises that I am his sister (Oh, so he didn't know it!) and that what he's doing is wrong, he surrenders to the cops."
That may sound like a pot-boiler to you, me and anybody but Bhagyashree obviously suggests that this role was the next best thing after Charulata.
"I have decided only to do meaningful roles and I am being very choosy!" she says. Wouldja believe it?!
Sushmita. Finally a sensation
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Sushmita Sen. Click for bigger pic!
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Bhagyashree may or may not make it, but there's been many a heroine who's made a name south. Now, along with neophytes like Monica Bedi, Lana, Deepti Bhatnagar making a mark there is India's own Ms Universe, Sushmita Sen. She has got rave reviews for her performance in the Tamil film, Ratchagan (Rakshakudu in Telugu).
Sush may have wowed an international cast of judges, but Bollywood audiences had rejected the tall woman with skinny legs, a big mouth and an excess of artificial assets.
But the same combo seems to have done wonders down south. Even Telugu superstar Nagarjuna found reason to praise her performance in Ratchagan.
Phool Khile Hain
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Tabassum. Click for bigger pic!
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Here, we mention a lady who's completed 50 years in the public eye, name of Tabassum.
No relation of the modern Tabu of the same name, Tabassum, whom Indian television audiences would remember for her chirpy presence in Phool Khile Hain Gulshan Gulshan has completed 50 years in cinema, radio and stage shows. She's also completed 25 years in television and theatre.
The jolly and plump lady with that prattly wit, who made her debut in films at three, grew up to playing an endless succession of younger sisters, many of whom were molested by the villain so that the hero would have reason to do as much damage to the nasty as he wished, thus satiating the audiences lust for blood.
Sick of playing patsy, Tabassum moved to radio, television and stage shows. Nowadays, she moves around the world with her group, the Tabassum Hit Parade, drumming up a great deal of business.
Dropping all those niceties about a lady's age, we'd tell you that it's been one great run for a 53-year-old. Keep it up, Tabs!
Salman can
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Salman Khan. Click for bigger pic!
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Salman Khan is feeling good. News has been trickling in that he is indeed acting in Sooraj Barjatya's next film Hum Sab Saath Hain again with Madhuri Dixit. And Khan likes it, not just because the movie comes from the Rajshri stables.
"It is like working with your family," says the Khan whom dad Barjatya paid pocket money -- Rs 51,000 -- for his role in Hum Aapke Hain Kaun. Madhuri got the same amount. That, of course, was because Rajshri had launched her in its Abodh.
Back to Salman, he seems to have this yen for guest appearances. First, he did one in Mehmood's Dushman Duniya Ka where he impersonated Kishore Kumar. Now he's doing another one in a film with Naseeruddin Shah and Manek Bedi and a third in a film called Kuch Kuch Hota Hai with Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol. And there's this juicy one he had in Deewana Mastana.
With this new venture and the decent runs of Sajid Nadiadwala's Jeet and Judwaa, the Khan appears to be in clover.
Strange as fiction
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A still from Khamoshi. Click for bigger pic!
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You believe in deja vu? That I've-seen-this-before feeling? Well, let us tell you about it.
We'd been to this recent film festival at Bombay, we saw a German film by Caroline Link called Beyond Silence. That's when we got that odd feeling. That feeling has a name, whasit? Ah, Khamoshi, that's what it's called.
Beyond Silence was a dead ringer for the Hindi film. Now both the movies were made in 1996. The question is whether Links, who showed the film at two film festivals the same year, was inspired by Sanjay Leela Bhansali or vice versa or did both get the material from the same source?
The silence of music
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Raj Kumar Santoshi. Click for bigger pic!
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Is Raj Kumar Santoshi cutting his nose to spite his face? He has scrapped every song from his film China Gate which, being a pot-boiler, could hardly be expected to do without music. He's dropped the songs after recording four of them.
The move's apparently irked the film's heroine, Mamta Kulkarni, who had earlier accused him of sexual misconduct. Later, of course, she denied that she'd ever made the accusation, which gave rise to some more speculation on the subject.
But Santoshi has not taken this step to spite Mamta who otherwise would have had the opportunity to flaunt her stuff. At least, that's not his only reason. For, right from the times of Ghatak, he's been cribbing about the inadequacies of Bollywood's lyricists.
It will be interesting to see if a commercial film without songs runs. We'll just wait and watch, wot?
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