What is Sri’s secret?
By Madhur Mittal

WITHOUT doubt, Sri Devi is hiding some secret. While scribes and magazines have been generally going overboard with their wildest conjectures and just about all sorts of inane imaginations, it’s still anybody’s guess whether the hush-hush happening is linked to her personal or her professional life.

Asking the pretty lady herself proves pointless; she merely smiles, adjusting her designer Cardin glares... and says: "Oh, I’m afraid only he (Boney) can accurately answer your question." Big deal, huh? Considering that media hounds are competing so keenly to be the one to draw first blood and splash it all over the Coverpage in bright crimson.

However, what I gather from a close friend of the actress is that she’s gonna be seen on the big screen once more — in ‘99 itself. Apparently, a new home production is in the offing. But the entire enterprise is still on the storyboard stage and actual studio/location shooting shall start only after mid-March or early April. Reportedly, per my source, it’s a high-voltage cine scorcher — a heroine oriented film with the thematic backdrop of corruption in the top levels of bureaucracy, which may even strikingly resemble a very famous (and controversial) case history taken from the Punjab Secretariat!

Like, it’s believe it or not, as of now...

Does Mithun mean it?

The other day, while talking to journalists informally, Mithun Chakraborty was in a great mood. In spite of repeatedly being bombarded with the persistent poser as to why he keeps doing all kinds of indifferent, even inane movies, he didn’t lose his shirt and scream!

On the contrary, he simply smiled and shrugged: "I guess I just like to remain professionally active, guys. Because if I started being selective in accepting new films simply because I want to only act in author-backed stories and power-packed scripts... then, my friends, I’m afraid I may not be seen on the screen even once in a year."

All the same, while defending that it was no crime to be the leading man with the maximum releases year after year, Mithun did agree that he could be, perhaps, "a wee bit more discerning in future". But, does he really mean it...?

A chance for Sanjay

The press preview of Raj Kanwar’s Daag made one thing succinctly sharp: This film could be the great breakpoint that Sanjay Dutt has so eagerly been looking for in order to become a winner again. For, believe you me, the Dutt is deadly!

Of course, by the time this appears in print, the movie would’ve been viewed worldwide and the peoples’ verdict would be delivered loud ‘n’ clear in finality and totality. What is gonna make the biggest difference for Sanju is that the filmmakers have once again got their writers working on scripts — especially with Sanju in mind, you know. And, for any star who’s on the comeback track, this sort of a development is good news, indeed.

So, whatever the box office eventuality of Daag, I’d say the resurrection of Sanjay Dutt has begun...

"Hey! why me?"

Poor Govinda! Since his (chaotic) release of his song album, he’s been under fire. There are some music critics who’ve literally lambasted the whole effort as "a cheapy, gimmicky stunt off screen".

I, for one, do think that this swinging, singing star has indeed been roped in for a tongue-lashing (in print) that he’s done absolutely nothing to deserve. I mean, when even the top, regular playback singers are bringing out their solo albums in an obvious dash at cashing in on the remix mania that the music industry is going through... surely, Govinda should be complimented on having the guts — and the courage of confident conviction — to compete with the professionals in the music market on his own terms, right?