The no-hassle star

By Madhur Mittal

BELIEVE me, one thing that must be said of Saif Ali Khan is that he happens to be perhaps, the most cordial heroes around today. Despite being a rather busy leading man, he has absolutely no airs about him... which is saying a lot!

Very friendly and chirpy — that’s Saif Ali Khan for you. At a recent party, the contrast between him and the Kachche Dhaage co-hero, Ajay Devgun was only too obvious. I mean, it was difficult to catch Devgun sporting a smile — even when the cameramen were shooting group pictures. Worse, at one point, God knows what came over our macho brooder. He was standing by the bar quietly one moment and the next, he flung his arm across his face and angrily screamed at the photographers: "Will you fellows lay off this very minute? I’ve had enough of this circus! Get away from me!

Boy! what was biting him, anyway? I mean, when everyone else was in such terrific "spirits" and enjoying a great happening, his sudden out-burst had all the people staring at him incredulously. That’s where good Samaritan Saif stepped in with a big grin and, putting his arm firmly around Ajay, whisked him away to the beachside garden outdoors.

Not enough!

You know, some folks just don’t know where to draw the line, must less stop. This could apply to their chatter, there (stale) non-veg jokes, or simply their liquor intake. And, more often than not, the result is inevitably, something that could best have been avoided altogether.

I would prefer not to name the heroine .... but, may be, some of you reading this would be able to make the correct identification.She came to the party in a slinky black velvet outfit (black is indeed her favourite colour of late, be it a dress, a saree or even a bikini!) with a l-o-n-g slit at the back that displayed her fair legs to admirable advantage. But she was soon making strange faces and grimacing (as only she can), while looking over her co-stars and acquaintances’ heads. Apparently, she was trying to show utterly bored she was feeling. She had been brought to the venue by the producers’ limo to add glitter and glamour (and gladness) to the lavish function.

In any case, the last I saw was her being carefully escorted out of the banquet hall by the villain of the movie... holding her high heel sandals in his hand since she was tottering and lurching. Not enough? Jesus, I’m willing to bet she’d had more than enough, literally.

No publicity, please

There was a time, not too long back, when the fear of underworld had dimmed out all the brightness and glimmer from Mumbai. However, today, things are relatively much better, what with the city cops cracking down heavily on hitmen and mafia master planners and also eliminating them in deadly encounters and chases.

So, there are visible signs of ostentatious celebrations — filmi or otherwise. Like, a well-known Sikh industrialist recently arranged the mother of all marriages for his son at Mira Road the blazing light decoration extravaganza could be seen from miles around and literally lit up the night like scud missiles! Or the new slimming centre inaugurated by a popular heroine in the (late) evening in Bandra where a special show of mindboggling fireworks marked the big event.

Yet, they all plead to the scribes and photographers invited: "No publicity, please; we don’t want the right signals to reach the wrong people, you’ll appreciate. "Appreciate"? Good Lord, who can understand this kind of a crazy logic, in the first place, huh? Karna bhi, darna bhi, marna bhi!.