New chapter for Ash?
Rakhee Gupta

Bollywood is abuzz with rumours of Aishwarya Rai cutting down on her acting assignments so that she can take time out to marry her beau, Salman Khan. The gossip press is even speculating on the couple having already tied the knot and not owning up, lest it should affect their standing in the box-office.

The truth is that like any other busy star, Aishwarya needs a breather and for a while, has chosen to chill out. It is a crucial phase for the former Miss World who has come up with a series of hits from ‘Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam’ and ‘Taal’ to ‘Hamara Dil Apke Paas Hai’ and ‘Mohabbatein’ in the past two years.

Among the films under production, there are two big budget multi-starrers, Sanjay Bhansali’s ‘Devdas’ and Feroze Khan’s ‘Tujhpe Qurbaan Meri Jaan’. Yash Chopra has signed her, as also David Dhawan. And then there’s mama Vrinda Rai who is writing a script, which Ash will execute as producer.

So it is not as though the girl is sitting idle at home twiddling her thumbs. It is just that she has slowed down after five years of globe trotting, keeping erratic schedules, battling uncertainties and in general, coping with success.

It all began in 1993 when the architecture student and upcoming ramp model was crowned Miss India and in the following year, Miss World. That she was a porcelain beauty, nobody doubted — whether she would be able to relive her success on the silver screen was what everybody doubted.

There were of course, several points of reference like Zeenat Aman, Juhi Chawla and other beauty queens making it big in Bollywood. But the immediate comparison was with her contemporary, Sushmita Sen who walked away with the Miss Universe crown, only to plunge headlong into films.

Ash screen-tested for Mansoor Khan on a rainy morning at Bombay’s Film City and made her debut in ‘Josh’. It took time in making and eventually flopped. But Mani Ratnam, the biggest name going among south Indian filmmaker, sensed her potential and cast Ash in a Tamil potboiler, ‘Iruvar’ in 1995.

It was a clever career move, though the idea initially was to be distanced from the rat race in Bombay and take stock of her life, away from the glare of the media. Bollywood started missing her and soon, she was back shooting for Rahul Rawail’s ‘Aur Pyar Ho Gaya’’ with Bobby Deol.

Shankar’s ‘Jeans’ followed in 1996 and by the time it was released in 1998, Ash had entered the big league with films like Sanjay Bhansali’s ‘Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam’, Rishi Kapoor’s ‘Aa Ab Laut Chalen’, Rahul Gupta’s ‘Hum Panchi Ek Daal Ke’ and Subhash Ghai’s ‘Taal’.

She became so busy that she turned down some equally big films like Sooraj Barjatya’s ‘Hum Saath Saath Hai’, Sunny Deol’s ‘London’ and Indra Kumar’s ‘Mann’. The media accused her of being impulsive and headstrong as stories about her scraps with co-actresses like Sushmita Sen and Raveena Tandon did the rounds.

That was also when her name was romantically linked with people like Sunil Shetty and cameraman, Sameer Arya. She responded by saying she would not allow rumours to get in the way of her friendships, but filed a Rs 200-million defamation suit against a glossy for linking her to Akshay Kumar.

By then, she had become Heroine No 1. Critics, who accused her of being fake and a non-actress, sat up and took notice of her in ‘Taal’. ‘Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam’ got her awards by armfuls. ‘Dhai Akshar Prem Ke’ flopped but she was applauded for her acting.

From that point, there was no looking back.

— MF

Bachchan does it again
Asha Singh

After more than a decade, Amitabh Bachchan returns to the music studios as a playback singer. He has recorded a duet with Goan pop star Remo Fernandes in Vipul Shah’s film, ‘All the Best’. The music is by the well-known composer duo, Jatin-Lalit.

Based on a hilarious stage play of the same name, the film is about three friends — one deaf, another dumb and the third, blind — in love with the same girl. Akshay Kumar, Paresh Rawal and Sushmita Sen share the lead.

"Before recording for ‘All the Best’, Bachchanji had a gruelling 12-hour session for his TV show," narrates Jatin. "He came at 10.00 p.m. with a stiff back, wolfed down half-a-dozen bread toasts and got down to recording. The session lasted beyond six in the morning!"

Clearly in awe of the "living legend", Fernandes said he was most impressed by his devotion and humility. "For those eight hours, he was a picture of complete concentration, voluntarily giving retakes and following the instructions of the recordist very obediently."

The song with Fernandes, ‘A Dangerous Game is About to Begin’ is reminiscent of another Bachchan duet, rendered with the late playback singer Mukesh, ‘Kabhi Kabhi Mere Dil Mein Khayal Aata Hai’ in Yash Chopra’s ‘Kabhi Kabhi’ in the mid-seventies.

"Yes, the two songs sound similar," Bachchan acknowledges. "But isn’t that beautiful? I was very happy to take part in a song recording after so many years. All the credit goes to Vipul for making the film and Jatin-Lalit for composing that wonderful song."

Producer Gaurang Desai says that while finalising the storyboard of ‘All the Best’, Vipul Shah hit upon the idea of roping in Bachchan for a song recording. Jatin and Lalit worked on it from there on and with Fernandes consenting, the rest fell into place.

— MF

BOLLYWOOD BUZZ

Desperately seeking roles

Guess who’s been trying to catch the eye of big banners? It’s none other than Bhagyashree who is scouting around for ‘meaningful’ roles without the ‘Himalayan’ baggage she was carrying around with her. Bhagyashree who gave up a promising career for the sake of her marriage and motherhood, is determined to get back into the Bollywood scene. The demure lass of yesteryear has now been replaced by a daring and gorgeous young woman. What’s more, she is even ready to take on negative roles. How’s that for a comeback?

Fall guy

The high-flying Akshay Kumar is now coming to terms with gravity. After a series of flopped movies and another series of flopped romances, the ‘khiladi’ has finally settled down to domestic bliss with Twinkle Khanna. Those in the know say that had Akshay paid as much attention to his career as he paid to his alliances with heroines, he would have been several notches higher on the Bollywood barometer. But all that he has to show are a string of flops — ‘Hera Pheri’, ‘Dhadkan’, ‘Khiladi 420’. All these films turned turnip at the box office, pushing Akshay into his shell. Though the kind of projects he has on hand give no reason for confidence, Akki is now saying he’s coming back with a bang. Poor guy. He needs a big hit. And he’s hoping that the new twinkling star in his life will bring him some much-needed luck.

 —NF