Deadly Dutt stalks again
By Madhur Mittal

THE original, sensuous, macho guy of the decade, with the devastating eyes and drop dead good looks, is on the prowl again. After being in and out of the industry for reasons purely personal — but all too well publicised — Sanjay Dutt had initially made some tentative forays into Bollywood with some entirely forgettable films Daud, Vijeta, Mahaanta et al. Somewhere along the line, he married Rhea Pillai Dutt and evolved into a lovely human being with his acting talent intact, plus mega doses of vivid versatility and maturity. Career-wise too, first it was Dushman (a special appearance in which Sanju crackled), then the fiery Daag followed by the rib-tickling Haseena Maan Jayegi. And then his scorching act in Vaastav left everybody — the media and the masses — agape!

After this hat trick of hits, next in line is the fun-filled, frothy Khoobsurat (with Urmila) and the searing Khauff (with Manisha). There are another half-a-dozen major productions which Sanjay would prefer to keep under wraps until everything is ready to go on the sets or has ample footage canned.

Sensible, smiling, superstar Sanju, you have entered the territory of super stardom yet again!

Attaboy Akshay

Yes, close on the footprints of Sanju is Akshay Kumar whose first innings on the celluloid were awesome — but then the law of averages caught up and the last year or thereabouts, he was stumped with a string of flops and a reputation of being a non-actor, a beautiful body with a face to match!

Then Sangharsh happened and everyone was surprised and shell-shocked by his acting prowess — he was absolutely brilliant. And with rave reviews of his emoting excellence in Jaanwar already making spin-top rounds, I think Akki’s on the right track. After all, you cannot keep a genuinely good guy down, can you?

Play games

For the life of me, I cannot understand why Manoj Bajpai and Neha are so desperately playing the cloak and dagger stuff with the media as far as their involvement is concerned. Initially, they were going blue in the face denying their live-in relationship and now they are turning a shade of purple, refuting the fact that they have got married — secretly of course!

As far as their respective careers are concerned, marriage cannot be a stumbling block. After all, the saat pheras have never caused even a dent in a male star’s popularity! And as far as Neha goes, where her career (what career?)is concerned, she has done just two films — Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Kareeb and a multi-starrer Hogi Pyar Ki Jeet. Both box office duds, and there’s nothing new on the horizon either!