The Deols’ Dillagi
By Madhur Mittal

I ‘BET’ the stakes are bound to be strong on Dillagi — "The first box office blasting jubilee possibility of the new millennium." The film trade pundits are (excitedly) elaborating its commercial clout: Will Dillagi be a super hit ? Or will it be an eminent flop?

This home production from the house of the Deols’ —Dharmendra, Sunny and Bobby— has been in the news (for one reason or the other) ever since Sunny donned the mantle of the director and started shooting for it under its original title, London. After much reconsidering (as well as much reshooting) the lavish film is now before the public: To see, evaluate and pass verdict. Just what will the final judgement be..?

Dharam is pretty garam in his opinion."There can be no two ways about it; the film will be a big success." Bobby is even more upbeat- "Believe me, we got a solid winner in Dillagi." It’s only actor-director Sunny who is all nerved up! Could it be because he now realises his faux pas in selectively inviting only a handful of the film press persons to his party at the Taj, eh?

And so, will the Deols delight with Dillagi...?

What a letdown!

Or should we say comedown. I am talking about Madhuri Dixit here—does the name ring a bell? I mean, for the past almost two years—post Dil to Pagal Hai to be precise-she has been dragging her feet doing films with all the new kids on the block and giving flop after flop. The only glisten was her vivacious guest appearance in Bade Miyan Chhote Miyan with the super hit song Makhna-soon to be eclipsed by the hungama of the yet to be released (Thank Heaven’s!) Gajagamini and her "relationship" with M.F.Husain.

Come Divali week, after shouting hoarse denials for the last five years about her engagement to a certain doctor, Ms Dixit had all the newspapers splashing her wedding to the very same doctor, Dr Shriram Nene, a Maharashtrian Brahmin settled in the U.S.A. The wedding was a quiet affair attended by family, her parents, her siblings, loyalist-cum-secretary-cum-advisor-cum-cum... Rikku Rakeshnath and some friends was solemnised in Los Angeles with typical, traditional Maharashtrian rituals and rites. The industry took the entire news with a yawn!

Come to think of it, it seems silly when the newly wed dulhan returns to Mumbai "to celebrate Divali" and to announce grandiosely "though I’ll be settling down in America with my husband, I am always open to good roles in Hindi films and will be visiting Mumbai frequently."

Is anyone interested? Naa! If everybody gave you a miss as a Miss, who’ll care for a Missus!!

Ash has appeal!

Aishwarya Rai has oodles of sex appeal. Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam and Taal or the long line of filmmakers queuing outside her door is ample proof of this. It seems even the Southie directors are under her spell! This despite her forays into Mani Ratnam’s Iruvar and Ashok Amritraj’s Jeans being damp squibs. Ash is starring in a Telugu film Raavoya Chandamama, a remake of Mann (which was a remake of An Affair to Remember) starring Nagarjuna and Anjana Jhaveri. So where does Ash fit in? In Rani’s sexy one song appearance for a fat sum!

Nursery rhymes like Sing a Song For Sixpence seem like a juvenile joke, eh?

Moon Moon’s problem?

Moon Moon is the daughter of a really gorgeous mother, Suchitra Sen and the mother of two beautiful daughters, Ria and Raima. But this is not her problem. The real hassle is that all those young, eligible guys who come home to visit her daughters do a double take when they see the mother. All of them find her arrestingly attractive and can’t help mooning over her.

Mama mia! Knowing Moon Moon’s penchant for attention-seeking and male company, I’d say the problem lies at Ria’s and Raima’s threshold rather than Moon Moon’s — she seems to be quite enjoying it!