Madonna to wed tomorrow
MARRIAGE, it seems, is the flavour of the month. Pop-diva Madonna will once again try her luck at achieving marital bliss when she ties the knot with boyfriend Guy Ritchie on Friday.

Sanjay and Mahesh to work together again
THE partnership between Mahesh Manjrekar and Sanjay Dutt has been a fruitful one. After directing Sanjay in the award-winning Vastaav and the recently-released Kurukshetra, Mahesh is all set to work with him once again.

Mahima now back in limelight
By Asha Singh
MAHIMA Chaudhary is turning out to be quite a survivor. As a Subhas Ghai discovery, she had her dream debut opposite Shahrukh Khan in Pardes two years ago—only to be drawn into an unseemly controversy with the filmmaker over a restrictive clause in her contract.

Two of a kind
EVERY TIME TWO promising stars make their debut at the same time, a rivalry between them, real or imagined, is expected to ensue. The case was no different with Hrithik Roshan and Abhishek Bachchan. 

Madonna to wed tomorrow

MARRIAGE, it seems, is the flavour of the month. Pop-diva Madonna will once again try her luck at achieving marital bliss when she ties the knot with boyfriend Guy Ritchie on Friday. Her outfit is, as is the norm with whatever Madonna does, attracting a lot of attention. She will wear a tiara worn by Princess Grace of Monaco at the wedding of her daughter Caroline in 1978. Her dress has been designed by Stella McCartney, daughter of Paul McCartney. The wedding will take place at the Skibo Castle in Scotland.

Keeping in mind Madonna’s penchant for the unusual and unconventional, it hardly comes aas a surprise that her wedding ceremony will be way out of the ordinary. Even though it will be conducted by Rev Susan Brown, who is the first woman minister in a British cathedral, it will not be a conventional church ceremony. In a dramatic departure from tradition, the couple have chosen to frame their own vows.

The surprise doesn’t end there. Madonna's wedding might also include Hindu prayers. After sporting henna on her hands, reciting Sanskrit shlokas in her video Ray of Light (much to the chagrin of the priests of Varanasi) and being an ardent yoga enthusiast and practitioner, Madonna’s interest in Hinduism and Sanskrit, became well-known.

So for once, East and West might well meet. And with happy results, we hope.

THE partnership between Mahesh Manjrekar and Sanjay Dutt has been a fruitful one. After directing Sanjay in the award-winning Vastaav and the recently-released Kurukshetra, Mahesh is all set to work with him once again. He has cast him in Pitah opposite Tabu and in Ek Ajeeb Prem Kahani opposite Kareena Kapoor. While Pitah is a family tale, Ek Ajeeb Prem Kahani is about two people who fall in love, one much older than the other.

Interestingly, Sanjay and Mahesh will also act together in Sanjay Gupta’s Kaante. Mahesh will play one of six characters in the film. Maybe his foray into acting is not really surprising because acting is nothing new for him. He has spent many years in theatre and has acted in and directed a number of stage productions. Let’s hope the Mahesh Manjrekar-Sanjay Dutt combination on screen will be a winning one.

MAHIMA Chaudhary is turning out to be quite a survivor. As a Subhas Ghai discovery, she had her dream debut opposite Shahrukh Khan in Pardes two years ago—only to be drawn into an unseemly controversy with the filmmaker over a restrictive clause in her contract.

She survived a lawsuit, but earned the reputation of being a troublemaker. Anybody else would have packed her bags and quit in the absence of work, but Mahima stuck on in Mumbai. She had to start her career afresh with only a few stage shows to keep her going.

And then the offers started trickling in. She had bit roles in films like Dhadkan and Deewane with Sanjay Dutt, she shared the lead in Kurukshetra. And now there are three big ones in a row — Lajja, Yeh Tera Ghar Yeh Mera Ghar and Khiladi 420. Mahima is back in the limelight!

"It’s been an uphill task," she reflects. "The fact I have survived all odds only means that there is some talent in me. But then, this struggle is not peculiar to the film industry alone. In any other profession, you would face similar challenges. Only if you have genuine talent, would you be able to overcome them."

Mahima belongs to the generation of starlets with absolutely no roots in the film industry. Like Priya Gill, Aishwarya Rai, Pooja Batra and others, she ventured jinto Bollywood with a modelling background, almost by accident.

"I had never thought I would become an actress," she narrates. "At school, in Darjeeling, I was just an average girl who liked films and never faancied anything beyond that. I remember Nargis and Naseeruddin Shah to be my favourite actors. I used to watch all their films."

In high school, Mahima bagged the offer to model for a soap commercial. It opened the doors to the glamour world and in time, brought her to the notice of Ghai. The media hype that accompanied her launch made her a star even before Pardes was released.

"It was the first time I realised how special a Hindi film actress can be," she recalls. "And this was when I had not professional knowledge of acting behind me. So I began to study the performances of my contemporaries and seniors. In a sense, that is all the training I have in acting."

Having decided to be an actress, there was no turning back for Mahima. She concedes she committed a few mistakes at the initial stages of her career and has emerged "only wiser and stronger" from them. If she has any regrets, it is of setting standards, which were not always realistic.

"I wanted to be the best," she explains. "You see, for a fresher it is not always easy to handle the kind of success Pardes was. More than the expectations others had of me, I was challenging myself no end to excel. Had I kept the pressure on, I would have broken down under nervous tension."

So what stopped her?

"The realisation that an actress alone cannot make or unmake a film. A film is the result of collective effort and its fate depends upon so many factors. So why drive yourself crazy when you are not in control of other factors? So long as my performance is noticed, I guess I should be satisfied with myself!"

Mahima is now anxious to experiment with newer "shades of characters so as to outgrow the image of a suffering romantic". This, she says, would enable her to work with filmmakers who value versatility and flexibility in acting, rather than a fixed star image.

— MF

Two of a kind

Every time two promising stars make their debut at the same time, a rivalry between them, real or imagined, is expected to ensue. The case was no different with Hrithik Roshan and Abhishek Bachchan. As soon as these two star sons appeared on the horizon, the media went to town with stories of their supposed rivalry. And never mind the fact that they had been friends since childhood and vehemently denied being insecure or jealous about each other.

Now that Rajshri Productions has signed both Abhishek and Hrithik for Main Prem Deewani Hoon, hopefully any lingering doubts about their so-called rivalry will be put to rest. What’s more, both of them seem eager to take on each other. Of course, the industry will be waiting with bated breath to see who comes out on top. Here’s wishing Abhishek and Hrithik the very best. — Glitzy