Sunday, February 18, 2001		Bollywood Bhelpuri

HE’S changed and how! The guy used to be awkward and less than good looking ... and walked with an exaggerated swagger during college days — just to (try pathetically) let everyone know who was boss! Today, barely a few years later, he’s the model-turned-actor all the girls are swooning over. Welcome the latest Hindi film hero Arjun Rampal!

Arjun is going to take (at least) another couple of months before unleashing his machismo on the silver screen in filmmaker Rajiv Rai’s Pyaar Ishq Aur Mohabbat. Our man has been given every opportunity to ‘show’ off his proficiency in singing, dancing, fighting ... and romance. What more could a newcomer want, huh?

Rampal is still a newcomer, despite having done two films already! Shantanu Sheorey’s Jadh (with Kimi Katkar) and Ashok Mehta’s Moksh (with Manisha Koirala). But whether either of them gets released before PIAM remains to be ‘seen’. In the meantime, Arjun has linked up with the Bollywood beam and is quite (exasperatingly) casual about the filmi fuss being made over him. "Look, don’t go around with an abrasive, aggressive attitude. If Rajiv chose me for his film, well, he must’ve seen some spark in me. So, why not ask him about it, hey?"

Honestly, I can’t believe it ... but my (highly reliable) source informs me that Abhishek Bachchan, who was shooting for two films together in parts of New Zealand and Australia very recently, was swamped ‘n’ mobbed by the girls there!

I mean, I think Abhi is a darned charming charmer and all that ... but to be actually chased by the firangi, fair-legged comelies is stretching things too far. Don’t you agree? No ...? Well, you should. It really happened down under because the (over) zealous babes mistook him to be Bobby Deol (who’s done a whole lot of shoots out there)!

The devastating earthquake in Gujarat has sent alarming after shocks in Mumbai’s film industry, too. No, I’m not talking about people rushing out of their flats/bungalows even when a pranky kid bellows "Earthquake" now ... weeks after the terrifying morn. Nor am I referring to the huge number of film folk who’ve mobilised cash, clothes and medical stuff etc for the innumerable victims ...

That’s terrific support from filmdom, as in any other national calamity over the decades. But the main reason why Bollywood is quaking is because a major (and profitable) film distribution territory has been reduced to rubble, literally. Producers have had to pull out as many as 70 per cent prints of their new, just-released multi-million offerings since many cinema houses simply ceased to exist ... or, the ones that were (miraculously) still standing, could manage only a 10 per cent viewers, at best! Depressing, to say the least.

Let’s talk about something lighter, livelier, love-lier — Aishwarya Rai! It appears from a TV survey that she is the (young) woman a majority of desi males desire. And fantasise about the most! Males from 6 to 60, mind it!

Not surprising, really. Because right from the time she appeared in that soft drink ad with Aamir Khan ("Hi. I’m Sanju. Got a ... ?) Ash bulldozed all other contenders right out of the race! And, after becoming a film star, she struck paydirt with Taal and Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam — big, big box office mega hits.

Repeatedly referred to as "a Ray of hope", the stunning Lisa Ray has done (and proved) much more than that in her debut picture, Kasoor. Quite frankly, she has demonstrated (delightfully) that she can act and that too convincingly. And, as for her beautiful face and body, there really was never any doubt, was there?

Of course, the "A" certification was inevitable for Kasoor — "a dangerous passion" — but leggy Lisa is thrilled that her hard work has ‘paid’ off, very literally. No wonder director Vikram Bhatt is repeating her in Raaz!