Sunday, August 26, 2001		Movie Magic

IT was bound to happen sooner or later. Because, a talented (and voluptuous) leading lady like Bedi— Monica Bedi — can’t simply go away and disappear. So there’s renewed hope for all her fans‘n’ admirers as the charming lady makes her bid for a successful second innings in Tinsel town... already kicked off with her alluring presence (and performance) in Rajiv Rai’s Ishq Pyar aur Mohabbat (IPAM).

Monica Bedi: Facing the future beautifully

Monica’s portrayal of Maya— a cogently creative and captivating ad film-maker—has won her not only rave reviews, but innumerable cine buffs’ hearts, as well! Yes, despite a relatively brief footage and more than her ‘fair’ share of comely competition, Bedi has put out nicely to make filmgoers as well as filmmakers sit up and take a good, appreciative look at her assets and the terrific things she can do with them, hey! Which makes it rather understandable why she is being chased by the media and the moviemakers, alike.

No, Monica isn’t morose that she wasn’t given to enjoy a bigger, lengthier role in IPAM. On the contrary, our girl is quite (genuinely) thrilled that she was able to do full justice to her role ... and that it has brought her so very many bouquets "from the most unexpected people!" Look, I realised only too obviously that this film was ideal opportunity to shake my claim for a second coming in Hindi filmdom and that it could, in totality, just break me or make me..."she says ,and adds with a big, beautiful smile: "I"m so happy that it’s turned out to be the latter!"

The names of all those prestigious pictures she’s busy signing now ...? Hey, give me a break, will you? I just may be able to put the list together in a couple of weeks!

Ms Nene’s nakhras

Once a heroine, always a heroine. Once a star, always a star. Once used to nakhras, always making nakhras! Basically, this applies to virtually every Bollywood (or, for that matter, even Hollywood) actress, you know! But the level or extent or degree of those feline tantrums do differ in ‘creativity’ (sic) and clout, okay?

For instance, take the case of Madhuri Dixit aka Mrs Nene. Now, for all practical intents ‘n’ purposes, she is history so far as desi showbiz is concerned. As in gone with the Lufthansa flight to San Francisco, if you dig what I mean, right? Yet, it’s so glaringly obvious that she still considers herself the queen bee of Bollywood! If you please, she apparently gave a tough time to Deepak Shivdasani—producer-director of the recently released Yeh Raaste Hain Pyar ke, in which she co-stars with Ajay Devgan and Preity Zinta.

Like, seems there was merely a teeny-weeny bit of patch work and dubbing to be done, but Mrs Nene said "No, no" and continued to hang out in the USA, refusing to budge even though all her ticket and travel arrangements had been made and the docus duly couriered to her ! Finally, Shivdasani had to resort to some arm-twisting tactics to bring "madam" to Mumbai. And down to earth, I’d like to add...

I wonder what’s with the two, young Khanna brothers? They seem to be tripping over each other to corner the attention of dusky Nandita Das, imagine! Eagle-eyed informers insist that both Akshaye and Rahul happen to be solidly smitten by Das and have only one ardaas (fervent prayer) on their lips: "Oh God —let her be mine alone!"

Reportedly, this is one of the most weird infatuation triangles in which one or the other party is always flying around! I mean, either it’s Rahul catching a flight to Mumbai or it’s Akshaye airborne to Cannes or Nandita herself zipping off to be in the company of at least one Khanna to chill out ! Whether all this flurry flying is likely to result in anything tangible is a moot point. But, one thing is sure—the airlines people are making moolah by the heaps... and getting a ringside (or should I more aptly say window-seatside?) view of cheap thrills — CTs!

When Karisma Kapoor went on to rule the roost, everybody was amazed and declared that she was simply and absolutely "awesome" in her approach to her profession... guided and mentored by mum Babita. I honestly wonder who should be given the credit for tutoring sis Kareena for her (inimitable) careercraft, huh?

Wow! This girl is so frisky, so clever and so cunning when it comes to bagging the best offers going that I bet no other girl could ever compete, leave aside beat her. As a matter of fact, she is giving the heebie-jeebies to seasoned strategists like Preity Zinta, Lisa Ray and Namrata Shirodkar all put together ...Watch your backs, girls— Bebo is on the prowl!