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Storm in a teacup

V S Srinivasan

Mahima Chaudhary. Click for bigger pic!

Big spat and all that behind them, Mahima Chaudhary and Subhash Ghai, actress and director of the hit Pardes, have mended fences.

Bit of an anti-climax after all that acrimony, Mahima then claimed betrayal; Ghai alleged that it was a case of a swollen head. A dispute which ended in the courts.

"Yes, we have patched up. It was just a misunderstanding. But now everything is fine," says Mahima now.

According to one person close to Ghai, the issue goes beyond the issue of broken agreements and borders on the personal.

"They were emotionally involved with each other. It could have been any relationship, but the way they went hammer and tongs at each other suggested they had hurt each other's sentiments," claims this person, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Ghai said Mahima had waved the white flag, and that the climbdown was expected.

Subhash Ghai. Click for bigger pic!

"The first day I spoke about the matter, I said she was being very childish... There were a few things she had to adhere to and which she didn't.... But now she has apologised for what happened and we are back to being good friends. Everything is fine between us. Even she has realised that she was being childish."

The patch-up occurred the day after Mahima returned to Bombay from a long tour, the genesis of the trouble.

Ghai's grouse was that according to her agreement with Mukta Arts, his production company, Mahima had to pay 35 per cent of all her earnings from ad commercials, feature films and tours, to the firm's staff fund. She refused to play ball.

The director had earlier taken major decisions on Mahima's behalf, asking her not to sign Ram Gopal Varma's Satya wherein she was to play a deglamourised role. Urmila Matondkar, Varma's first choice, then came back into the film. Ghai is still protective about his protege. "It's fine. Why are you going into the controversy again?" he asks. Quite a changed man from the day he contacted Rediff On The NeT and other publications to tell them his version of the squabble.

A still from Pardes. Click for bigger pic!

Ghai and Mahima had a closed door meeting at Sun 'n' Sand, the hotel on the Juhu beachfront, the day the actress landed in Bombay.

"There was a common friend who intervened and made sure we patched up. It took quite an effort but then it is nice to forget and forgive," smiles the director.

Mahima, on her part, is guarded about her reactions.

"I've told you what I wanted to, that's all," she says.

Some Bollywood insiders insist political pressure was involved. Says one of them, speaking on condition that he would not be identified, "Both Ghai and Mahima will never admit it since they have agreed not to talk about the details of the settlement."

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