Sunday, December 16, 2001		Movie Magic

NAMRATA Shirodkar has decided to move into the fast lane in filmland. She says she will no longer accept tiny roles and that, henceforth, the film industry and the filmmakers, had better start giving her "due respect as an actress of high calibre... with prime lead roles to match!"

Well, can’t blame her outburst, really, considering that she happens to be one of most gorgeous heroines of Bollywood — and a terrifically talented one, at that. With rave reviews coming in for her latest starrer, Tera Mera Saath Rahen Namrata can’t understand why co-heroine Sonali Bendre should be given more importance, more footage, more hype than her.

The 4th International Film Festival of Mumbai (IFFM) organised by the Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image (MAMI) that concluded after five days of festivities at the Nehru Centre here, couldn’t quite be called cinema paradiso... but it sure had its moments of celluloid glory.

To be honest, the movies screened didn’t exactly live up to the literal implication of the word "international". After all, a handful of interesting films with an attitude don’t quite make for a much-publicised film fest, right? For the media covering such events, it’s always easy to pick out a few "sensational showpieces" and, consequently, keep writing on those. Or their makers.

So if Mira Nair’s award-winning Monsoon Wedding was included in the entries, what’s the big deal?

Trust me, it looks as if our filmfolk have nothing better to do these days than host and attend parties! I shudder to think of the millions that must’ve been splurged on a few big bashes during the past couple of weeks... And then the same guys can’t stop talking of "recession"!

Let me give you just one example: To celebrate the completion of producer-director Sanjay Gupta’s Kaante the other evening, all roads (and bylanes and potholes!) led to Hotel Regency in Bandra bandstand. The car parking could not possibly cope with the hundreds of gleaming cars and it was eventually a free for all!

Inevitably, this left many a car knocked up from the sides, the front... and mostly from the rear!

Not that it bothered the decked-up stars inside the banquet hall and on the terrace: They were far too busy hobnobbing and flowing with the caviar, scotch and champagne, you see! From Amitabh Bachchan and Sanjay Dutt to Namrata Shirodkar and Farah Khan... everyone was partying like there’s no tomorrow! So what if there was more booze wetting the carpet than the obviously parched throats of the VIP guests?

"I hate the film press — particularly the glossy mags and their absolute lies, the so-called scoop stories and the vile, vindictive approach to making each edition sell just that a tad more! They (the scribes) are total yellow journalists who will do anything... anything at all to spoil relationships and wreck friendships. I tell you, they are the Devil’s own. Sadistic. Satanic!"

Uh, oh... what’s biting Ms Bendre now? Simply a blown-out-of-proportion "report" (sic) that noted film financier Jhamu Sugandh has dumped Sonali, after going around for rather a long (intimate) time and promising her the sun, moon and stars!

Okay, granted that the story is only half-baked and half-true, but Sonali’s snarls have made every-one sit up and take more notice than they would ordinarily have — if Ms Bendre had the good sense to just keep her mouth shut!