Sunday, January 13, 2002		Movie Magic

Meghna in top gear
Madhur Mittal

Meghna Gulzar: Competent director

HONESTLY, there’s a whole lot to be said of and for Meghna — the beautiful daughter of actress Raakhee and filmmaker Gulzar. No, she isn’t another wannabe heroine... but a star in her own right as a super sensitive feature film director!

The entire Hindi film industry is awed by her debut venture, Filhaal, and cine-buffs are very eagerly looking forward to the movie’s completion. And release. Quite understandable, really, because the story is rather interesting... And so is the cast. Tabu, Sushmita Sen, Palash Sen and Sanjay Suri in stellar roles. Wow!

Centered around a surrogate mother, Filhaal is packed with emotional content. And, having seen some of the rushes, I must confess that Meghna’s delicate directorial nuances left me absolutely amazed... and, frankly, quite speechless! That a bubbly young girl can be capable of reaching such eminent heights of intense objectivity, is truly incredible...........

Watch out for Filhaal — you won’t have long to wait. And for long you’ll remember it!

Well, I guess everybody knew that Simi Garewal’s top-rated starshow — Rendezvous — wouldn’t be off the small screen for too big a gap. Yes, the stunning lady in all white is back! On a new channel and with a new format that fascinates even more than the original one, believe me.

"I realise very well that I have a reputation to live up to," Simi smiles as only she can. "Viewers are in for some scintillating surprises as I bring the biggest superstars into their livingrooms this time. So it’s going to be fun many times over now, trust me! C’mon, catch up with me and all, but all, your fave rave celluloid celebs.............."

Yeah, hit the remote, guys. Quick!

After Feng-Shui, the latest (filmi) fad to overwhelm Bollywood stars, is the name game. Like, just about every hero and heroine is looking to change the spellings of his or her name... by either removing an alphabet or adding one!

Two prime examples are Kareena Kapoor who is now Kareina Kapoor. And Sunil Shetty who has become Suneil Shetty! In fact, even Sanjay Dutt has reverted to his original Sunjay Dutt, y’know. A long list of other similar aspirants is growing even longer every week and it probably won’t take too much time for scribes and Editors to start climbing the walls trying to remember whether they’ve got the new spellings right!

I mean, does the "i" come before the "e" or does the "e" go after the "i"........??? Help!

Success has (finally) gone to Aamir Khan’s head, folks. While doing a scene for a new picture the other day, he was riding a horse cart with the reins in his hand... and the script required him to mouth the dialogue: Arrey yaar, yeh toh sab lagaam ka kamaal hai. But, in his overful feeling (or whatever) Aamirbhai, during the final ‘take’, yelled out: Arrey yaar, yeh toh sab Lagaan ka kamaal hai! Giggle.