Sunday, June 10, 2001		Movie Magic

MARRIAGES may be made in heaven... but babies are definitely made on Mother Earth! Out to prove this (in a hurry) is none other than the reigning hot honcho of Bollywood — Hrithik Roshan!

Yes, the movieland grapevine has it that the stork is going to visit Suzanne Khan-Roshan sometime in the second week of September this year... making our man, Hrithik, the tinsel town dad of 2001. If Suzanne is indeed carrying, then Mumbai will witness fabulous, fantastic fireworks much before Divali this time, for sure. Right?

What everyone is keenly debating and discussing is: "Will it be a boy...or a girl? Or both...?"

Patience, folks, patience please. You all have to wait — for, only time will really tell...

During the past month or more, Jeetendra has gone into an endless overdrive to promote son Tushaar in any and every which way he can, for laadla beta’s debut starrer — Mujhe Kuchh Kehna Hai. There has been a media blitzkrieg of a magnitude not very often seen before, got it?

However, the unfortunate part is that, in its second and third week of running, the film has witnessed an unexpected meltdown at the box office. Apparently, cinegoers have appreciated the music, the songs and dances... but no such luck for Tushaar. Most viewers are of the opinion that "Iss nave chhokre mein dum nahin" (this newcomer carries no clout) and that papa Jeetu should’ve waited for some good time in order to let the young man mature considerably more vis-a-vis his physique... and emoting... before pushing him into today’s cut-throat competition. You agree, huh?

On the other hand, the film has done leading lady Kareena Kapoor a world of good. She has looked gorgeous and, even if her histrionic reach remains restricted, well, I don’t hear (m) any guys cribbing...!

Girls just wanna have fun, we all know that. So why should the Bollywood babes be any different, yeah? On the contrary, they’re forever ‘game’ for new sportsmanship — literally!

Any wonder, then, that tennis pros are (rapidly) replacing cricket players as the filmi fillies’ latest fancy? (That could, perhaps, more appropriately be termed "fantasy", heh!) Look at what happened to Naghma and Saurav Ganguly: After reports of a "torrid affair" and "an imminent wedding", today, the two openly confess that "it’s all over"! Just like that. Poor Saurav has been royally stumped and sent back to the pavilion. (Not that he’s wetting his shirt with hot tears, though!)

On the other ‘hand’, the love-all match between Shilpa Shetty-Mahesh Bhupathi and Mahima Chaudhary-Leander Paes continues... with the Wimbledon champs’ duo in long, loving rallies with their respectives across the net! Yeah, the ball is in their court, for sure... and the umpires are on (long) leave!

Bill chilled!

Hey! You guys had better believe this: Former US President, Bill Clinton, who was in Mumbai just recently, actually has a (massive) crush on Bollywood’s mast mast ‘maneater’ — the ravishing Ravs, aka Raveena Tandon!

Her name, it seems, was very especially included in the VVIP list of invitees comprising the gung-ho glitterati of this mega metro... at the very personal instructions (insistence?) of Mr Clinton to his lavish luncheon! Needless to emphasise, Raveena turned up in a sleek ‘n’ sensuous black designer gown (courtesy Manish Malhotra or Abu-Jani, what?) and honestly chilled out with Bill!

Terrific Tandon’s coup doesn’t end here. Reportedly, she’s been extended a personal invitation by (bewitched) Bill to visit his home in the USA "anytime... and for any amount of time" — wowsie! Now if that ain’t a drool, what is? Maybe, only Monica Lewinsky can say for sure!!!