Sunday, July 15, 2001		Movie Magic

Fortune smiles on Fardeen
Madhur Mittal

FORTUNE is one funny (and fickle) fantasy in filmland, my friends. Like, you can never tell whom it’s suddenly going to favour ... and whom it’s going to unceremoniously dump! You want an excellent, eminent example? Okay, let me give it to you all — our (now) very own, Fardeen Khan!

Remember the awkward, unsure youngster who, despite being successful (and debonair) film-maker Feroz Khan’s only son, who shied away from acting in Hindi Phillims like a hounded rabbit, yeah? Well, whether he wanted to or not, Fardeen was presented to the cinegoers on the silver screen with all the tinsel trappings that film-maker Ramgopal Varma could conjure up, in his debut movie Jungle (but ‘naturally’ with the sexy, semi-clad Urmila Matondkar!)

Well, the film was neither a superhit nor a miserable flop ... but, for (the jittery) newcomer, it was way ahead from the pathetic picture, Prem Aggan, that dad Feroz had made for him! That’s one rusty reason I didn’t call it his debut; I mean, nobody wants to remember it or be reminded of it at all!

Cut to today. The here and now. Fardeen Khan is scorching hot property ever movie mania mined after Hrithik Roshan, imagine that! So what if he was nabbed by the narcotics cops buying cocaine past midnight at a deserted bank’s ATM? His personal ATM (attitude, testiness, morale) is doling out crisp monies by the multi-millions even as I type this! Big banners, big films, big (ger) bucks are all chasing Fardeen — phew! Pyaar Toone Kya Kiya, Hum Ho Gaye Aapke, Love Ke Liye Kuchh Bhi Karega — the prized offers are simply pouring in, hey! (Self-appointed emperor, no, not Pak’s Pervez Musharraf, but badshah Shah Rukh Khan, had better scamper off into oblivion!

Daddy Bobby

Adding to the population bomb in Hindustan is none other than Bobby Deol. He’s going around joggin’ ‘n’ jumpin’ these days, ever since pretty wifey Tanya "gifted" him with their first kiddo — a miniature of curly-haired Bobs! The guy is going around grinning as if he is the first man to have invented posterity ...! Yo!

The li’l one is fair, with light brown eyes ... and a mop of matching hair with curls within curls! Sho shweet, really. Pretty wifey (and now mom) Tanya is overjoyed too, with her warm, sweet bundle of love ... although she mock grumbles: "I think I must be a masochist; imagine, hardly being able to cope with Bobby — and now it looks like I’ve just added a (typical) Bobby Jr to keep my hands completely ‘n’ totally full! Help!"

Bollywood is on to a new trend: Piling on three to five heroes in a single movie! Only sometimes an equal number of girls are signed on to "make love couples" (sic) ... but, more often than not, the guys are given a free hand (please, don’t take that literally!) with just one solo leading lady ........

So, Hindi cine buffs now have to contend (and cope!) with multiple macho combos like, Arjun Rampal-Aftaab Shivdasani-Sunil Shetty in Pyaar Ishq Aur Mohabbat, Anil Kapoor-Abhishek Bachchan-Fardeen in Om Jai Jagdish, Saif Ali Khan-Akshaye Khanna-Fardeen in Dil Chahta Hai, Fardeen-Aftaab Shivdasani-Saif Ali Khan in Love Ke Liye Kuchh Bhi Karega, Hrithik Roshan-Jackie Shroff-Anil Kapoor in Yaadein ...

And, to ‘top’ it all, Sanjay Gupta’s Kaante which (at last count) had Amitabh Bachchan-Sanjay Dutt-Kumar Gaurav-Sunil Shetty-Lucky Ali and Mahesh Manjrekar!

I remember vividly that fateful day when Prem Kishen decided to switch tracks from acting to making television soaps ‘n’ serials . For, it was in my editor’s cabin at Film World magazine that Junior (as we fondly called Prem) signed up brother-in-law Sunil Mehta to launch Cinevista — today a household name for some of the most superbly scripted and presented teleserials. It was hard work ... but he did it!

And now, Junior is all set to launch his (beautiful) daughter — Akaanksha — as a gorgeous looking leading lady! If Prem reminds you of his dad, the late Premnathji — then Akaanksha is going to remind you even more of her ‘grand’ mum: The very very beauteous Bina Rai! So, watch out, guys ... you got a great happening coming!