The statue was unveiled on 7-Mar-2012
A nice gift on occasion of Holi and a big honour
Tag Archives: madhuri dixit
Kaun Banega Mera Pati
Every young woman dreams of a perfect marriage. There is a right time in your life to get married, to become a wife and mother. I am a cultured Indian woman with good values and I have reached a stage where I need a companion with whom I can share my love, joy, sorrow and success with. For me that time has arrived. However I want to solemnize my marriage in the presence of all my fans who have been supportive throughout — Rakhi Sawant
No, this post is not on Rakhi Sawant. In fact, I wanted to write this from quite sometime but her new reality show Rakhi Ka Swayamvar pushed me into writing it without further delay. I was just twiddling my thumb and wondering about all those actresses who are still single and what’s going on in their mind/heart. While we see that the guys entering the industry are mostly committed/married, the girls are still out there looking/thinking/choosing etc.
When Aamir Khan, SRK, Sunil Shetty etc entered the industry, they were married already. Then guys like Akshay Kumar, Bobby Deol, Fardeen Khan, Zayed Khan, Abhishek Bachchan, Hrithik Roshan etc also tied the know. In fact, right now except Salman from yester-years and Ranbir Kapoor from current generation are the only eligible bachelors. But just see this list of actresses and their ages mentioned [social faux pas, we can mention their weight but not their age] and you may wonder too, what are they waiting for!
Manisha Koirala – 38 yrs – Having made her debut in Saudagar, she had a great start to her career. But somewhere down the line she lost her way. She was briefly seen in Company, Lajja etc; but her last best work was a decade ago in Dil Se. She dated quite a few guys, but recently it has been reported that she is engaged to Christpin Conroy, the Australian ambassador to Nepal.
Nandana Sen – 41 yrs – D/o Amartya Sen – She made a late debut in movie industry and no one knows where he career is going. Firstly, I was shocked to know that she is in her early 40’s; I thought she was in mid 30’s. So, there you have it; 40+ and still single.
Tabu – 38 yrs – Her career had a late start, thanks to Prem getting delayed by 5 years. This child-artist who had acted alongside Dev Anand had to wait really long for her film debut. She finally made her mark with movies like Chandni Bar, Maqbool, Chini Kum etc. Yes, the chini is still kum in her life.
Urmila Matondkar – 35 yrs – Another child artist, first seen in Shashi Kapoor’s Kalyug and then in Masoom; she had a great time in the industry. With movies like Rangeela, Judaai, Kaun, Indian etc she had a nice run in BO; sh also earned critical acclaim for Pinjar and Maine Gandhi Ko Nahi Mara. But off-late looks like her career is ending the same way it started, spate of flops.
Lisa Ray – 37 yrs – She never belonged here, although she did rise to fame with Afreen video and movies like Kasoor, Bollywood Hollywood and Water. Wonder who her supermodel hubby is gonna be!
Preity Zinta – 34 yrs – She is one brave woman, coming from army background and not back-tarcking on her statements in court, she has lived the life she has wanted to. She was really good in whatever she did, even IPL. She is in a long relationship with Ness Wadia and she has never hidden that, hats off to her. But, we all are waiting for the official ceremony.
Nagma – 34 yrs – She tried her luck in Hindi movies, when it did not work out well she went down-South and created waves with Kadhalan, Love Birds etc. But she too lost her way, joined Art Of Living; she is still somewhere learning to live, living to learn.
Sushmita Sen – 33 yrs – One of the most out-spoken actresses and she started the trend of not hiding anything and being open to the world, whether it was the relationships she had with married men or the adoption of a girl-child whom she named Rene, meaning ressurrection. Wish she finds a nice guy and ressurrects her life.
Shilpa Shetty – 33 yrs – I have already written about here, click here. All I can say is that, its not over till the official ceremony is performed.
Rani Mukherjee – 31 yrs – She was a winner all the way, starting with KKHH. She did some fabulous work in Black, Saathiya etc, but now she is struggling with her last few movies not doing well. She also had to come clean on Adi Chopra when people/media suspected that she secretly married him. Hope she finds someone the way her cousin Kajol did, and settle down.
The list is quite long and it will get boring if I start listing out everybody. But I do think that there is a right time for everybody when they have to make a call. Madhuri Dixit, Sridevi, Meenakshi Shehsadri etc have done it in the past; retire gracefully or at least retreat and take some time off for themselves and concentrate on personal life. By the way, I am not getting judgemental or overly concerned about it. It was just a thought, so please do take it the right way.
Ths post was first published on PFC
ajab sanju ki gajab kahani
Today is Sanjay Dutt’s 50th birthday. Wish him a very happy birthday.
The day I learnt that Sanjay Dutt is stepping into politics I was a little confused; I was wondering if it is his cup of tea or will he be just tasting it to add yet another experience in his already mired life. From what I have seen and heard about him, he is supposed to be a very emotional person who does things for friends, who takes decisions on the spur, and who can be frivolous at times. But, on the other hand he seems to be the ideal political candidate or guinea pig.
If we observe Sanju’s life and career graph and put it in a book or a movie, it will be an instant best-seller. The tough times that he has gone through and the happy days that he has seen have almost always been like a zebra-crossing, starting with his debut movie Rocky to joining Samajwadi Party.
With a successful father and a great dad-mom duo at home he was a much pampered child and he did get his dream debut in the movie industry with ‘Rocky’ which released in 1981. But he started off on wrong note, the movie bombed. His next movie Vidhata fared much better, more so because it had Dilip Kumar being directed by Subhash Ghai. After the success of ‘Vidhata’ he did a whole lot of forgettable movies like Mera Faisla, Jaan Ki Baazi, Jeeva etc.
Sanju shot to fame for his depiction of a guy who goes to Dubai to earn quick bucks and ends up becoming a drug peddler in ‘Naam’. I really loved this movie and this is one of the finest performances that he has given. It may have come naturally to him since he had been through a similar struggle in his personal life. His drug addiction and rehab stories are legendary and then his mother was fighting cancer and finally succumbed to it. All this may have added to his performance. He went on to act in a few more movies which fared in the box-office like Kabzaa, Mohabbat Ke Dushman, Imaandar, Kanoon Apna Apna etc.
Just when he was peaking in his career with hit movies like Sadak, Yodha, Krodh and Thaanedar; and just when he was in the league of Anil Kapoor, Sunny Deol and Jackie Shorff, he got arrested under TADA for illegal possession of arms and ammunitions[AK-56 was recovered from his house] and he was also charged in connection with the Bombay bomb-blasts of 1993. Soon after his arrest, Khalnayak released. The movie was about a boy Ballu who had lost his path and ends up on the wrong side of the law. The movie was surrounded with controversy, firstly because of the movie title and secondly because of the content and of course the infamous song choli ke peeche. The movie portrayed an ideal father who wants his son to come up on his own and live with honesty, whereas the son wants instant success and luxuries of life which lead him to wrong company. People equated this portrayal to his real life scenario, thereby creating a wrong perception of Sanju.
Sanju spent 1.5 yrs in Arthur Road jail. He did confess to the fact that he possessed the arms and his companionship with the other co-accused but he denied any knowledge of the bigger conspiracy. He was finally granted bail, and so started his tryst with jail visits on and off. After getting released from jail, he made a great comeback with movies like Daag, Dushman, Vaastav, Mission Kashmir. He also tried his hands in the comedy genre with movies like Haseena Maan Jayegi, Khoobsurat, Jodi No.1 etc.
Finally, he had his best-time ever in movie industry with success of movies like Kaante, Munnabhai MBBS, Parineeta, Dus, Zinda, Lage Raho Munnabhai. It took him a lot of time to change the image from Baba to Munnabhai, from a guy who had been through rehab to a guy who rediscovered Gandhi; from being careless and ruthless to being sensitive and caring; from being a vagabond to finally settling down.
Sanju’s personal life is also zig-zagged with lots of happy and sad moments. He lost his mother and first wife, Richa Sharma to cancer. His daughter Trishala, from his first marriage, lives far away in US and he does not get to meet her often. While he was in jail, his fiance Rhea Pillai stood by him and she even led quite a few movements asking fellow actors to come in support of him. Once Sanju was out of jail, he married Rhea but that marriage did not last long. They finally called it quits and she is happily married to Leander Paes, the tennis star. Now, Sanju has involved himself in another controversy – marrying Manyata Dilnawaz Sheikh. Manyata’s previous marriage has not yet been declared null and void and she has hopped onto another one, thereby attracting media attention.
He has also estranged his sister Priya Dutt in the process. Firstly he did not inform her about his marriage with Manyata and she got to know of it through a media scoop. And now he has declared that he will stand for election on a Samajwadi party ticket because of his newfound love for Amar Singh whom he calls his elder brother.
People get involved in controversy, but in Sanju’s case he has invited controversy, befriended it and thrived on it. But what is admirable about him is the fighting spirit, never-say-die, never give-up or give-in. He has been through the toughest of situations and come out unscathed; be it his drug abuse and rehab, loss of mom and first wife, jailed under TADA … he has seen it all.
Here is a short summary of events which has finally culminated into him joining politics:
- 1. a bollywood superstar
2. son of an illustrious and well respected actor-cum-politician[Sunil
Dutt was staunch congressman and a great example of man with Gandhian
principles and of course a brilliant actor]
3. a drug addict who has been through rehab
4. twin tragedies like losing his mother and wife to cancer
5. languished in jail under TADA on charges of abetting terrorism
6. second innings of film career as Munnabhai, thereby making a new
place for himself in people’s heart
7. marrying somebody else’s wife in a controversial manner
8. estranged relationship with sisters and daughter
9. finally taking a plunge into politics
The first 8 points don’t necessarily lead to the 9th point, but he probably is destiny’s child.
This post was first published on PFC
most memorable filmfare awards of 1992-93
Most awards, you know, they don’t give you unless you go and get them – did you know that? Terribly discouraging.
– Barbra Streisand
The topic of awards is quite a sensitive one. But, at the same time its also a topic of much controversy when the right people do not get it and the wrong ones are awarded, for whatever reasons.
Like the practise goes, of giving away awards a year after they release, obviously; here too the awards were given away in 1993 for the films that released in 1992. This awards night was the last time that I saw the entire show. One of the reasons being that, I had started losing respect for them.
Anyways, this award night was quite remarkable in more ways than one. This was also the last time that Aamir Khan attended the show. Not just attended the show, he performed too. Aamir and Juhi danced to the Ghoonghat Ki Aad Se Dilbar Ka song from the movie HHRPK. In fact, Filmfare awards was a kind of platform to promote upcoming movies and stars usually performed songs from their to-be released movies, thereby reaching a wider audience.
Shahrukh too performed, alongwith Kajol, to the songs of Baazigar. It was great to see Aamir and SRK on Filmfare podium. It just looked like the future of Indian movies was bright, in safe hands and heading in the right direction.
Coming back to the awards distribution, let me start with the last award of the night. The previous year, in 1992, Dimple Kapadia was called on stage to give away the award for Best Actor. She had pulled open the envelope with great enthusiasm and she shrieked into the mike with all her energy ‘Amitabh Bachchan for Hum‘ and had handed-over the award to Bachchan with great excitement. This being 1993, and Bachchan being nominated for Khuda Gawah, it seemed like it was more than a coincidence that Dimple Kapadia was asked to give away the prestigious award again. When she came onto the dias, she seemed to be so unexcited and disinterested. She did not even pull open the envelope, she just held it up in the air, against the light, and calmly declared ‘Anil Kapoor for Beta‘.
I felt Dimple was being teased, she herself might have felt that. That aside, when there were more worthy nominees like Aamir for JJWS and Bachchan, the award went to Anil for a movie that was carried entirely on Madhuri Dixit’s shoulder. Not just this award, Beta swept the awards with Best Actress for Madhuri, Best Supporting Actress for Aruna Irani, Best Female Singer for Anuradha Paudwal for Dhak-dhak number, and of course the Best Choregraphy for Saroj Khan for the same song.
JJWS won just 1 award for Best Film. JJWS did not win any awards in acting categories, what was more disappointing was the way in which JJWS was deprived of awards in music category. There was a minor goof-up on the stage, while the nominess were being read out for Best Lyricist, Majrooh saab heard his name and mistook it for the announcement of the winner and he just walked onto the stage. The award was very undeservedly given to Sameer for Teri Umeed Tera Intezar Karte Hain, and Majrooh’s fantastic lyrics of Pehla Nasha Pehla Khumar was swept aside. It took Simi Grewal’s experience that she handled, what could have become an utterly embarassing situation, by asking Majrooh to hand-over the award to Sameer.
After that, the Best Music Director award went to Nadeem-Shravan for Deewana, and Jatin-Lalit’s wonderful tunes of JJWS were side-lined; that was really disheartening. The worst was not over yet. The nominations in the Best Male Singer was read out and again the award went to Kumar Sanu for Sochenge Tumhe Pyar Karen Ki Nahi from Deewana. I was so disappointed that Udit Narayan did not win the award for Pehla Nasha Pehla Khumar. Not just disappointed, that was the first, last and only time that I cried for an award not being given to the most deserved one.
That very moment I told to myself, lets see 10 years down the line which song will be remembered. I did not have to wait for 10 years because within 2-3 years people forgot the tunes and lyrics of Deewana while Pehla Nasha became the anthem for all lovers, for everyone who is in love, for everybody who has romance alive in their hearts. The song has become immortal and there is hardly anyone who has not heard the song Pehla Nasha.
Pehla Nasha … a song that pushed an entire generation to fall in love, a song that resonates in our ears whenever we hear about a new budding love-story, a song thats present in every compilation of love songs and Valentine’s Day celebrations. Udit’s mellifluous voice, the simple and melodious piano sequence, the wonderful lyrics…the song is just pure magic.
There onwards, the trend continued and awards were being doled out to all the undeserving people. It turned into a popularity award instead of an award being given for talent or achievement. I soon lost faith in the awards as the sanctity of awards was being destroyed.
I was reminded of the celebrations that took place when the founders of the awards had called upon Gregory Peck to inaugrate the first Filmfare Awards. It was all so promising that we had an awards show on the lines of the Academy Awards [Oscars] and that awards would be given to recognise the contribution and talent of film-makers and as an encouragement to do better work ahead.
And here we had the institution of awards becoming a machinery being oiled by the celebrities whom the panelist/jurist/trustess favoured. The more I hated awards, the more number of awards ceremony sprung up from all quarters. We soon had Zee, Star, Screen, Stardust giving out awards. Anyways, coming back to Filmfare Awards, it was saddening to see the awards being celebritized.
To end the post on a bright note, this year the awards that were given away for movies in 2008 was much better and more fairer. I even wrote about it here. I hope they are in the right track on their way to recover lost glory.
crazyrals 