The Rani of hearts
By
Madhur Mittal
WHEN Dame Luck decides to
smile on any star, there can be no stopping him
or her. The boons rain down non-stop. This is
precisely what is happening with the Aati Kya
Khandala heroin — Rani Mukherji.
Virtually written
off a couple of years ago, today has an entirely
different (and delightful) story to tell about
this light-eyed lass from the renowned filmmaker
S. Mukherji’s family. She is in hot demand
and, notwithstanding the box office fate of her
next release — Kuchh Kuchh Hota Hai
— in which she has Shah Rukh Khan as a
hero and Kajol as competition, there appears to
be nothing, to hold her back from flying high.
Thanks to the Khan
Brigade, mind it. Rani started her film career
with Shadaab Khan in Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat, and
followed it up with Aamir Khan in Ghulam. This
fair, lissome lass has also been signed up by
producer Sohail Khan for Hello Brother with
not just one... but two Khans — brothers
Salman and Arbaaz.
Shantanu
strikes
After his bitter
experience with Bollywood producers (in
particular, Kamal Haasan in Chachi 420; the
ace lensman-turned-director is now having the
last guffaw: He has reportedly signed up with
Hollywood’s Columbia Trister for global
distribution of his own movie, Jadh!
"The whole
concept in Hollywood is so refreshingly different
from Bollywood, thank God! My contract and deal
and terms were worked out in record time. So,
come January 99, the entire world will get to
view Jadh simultaneously. Oh, sure,
I’m elated and as pleased as Punch".
Trying
to gang up against Asha
While it’s
rather passé to be anti-Amitabh Bachchan for the
ridiculous roles he’s doing in his current
bunch of films, another "AB" Asha
Bhonsle — is also receiving flak.
An independent
poll-cum-survey carried out recently has a whole
lot of music lovers trying to clean bowl Asha
— not for overstaying at the (crooning)
crease, but for trying to garner glory by
slipping into the Indipop scene with
"forced" promos and albums. This is
definitely not in keeping with her dignified
image of a senior songstress. As a Bandra
collegiate put it: "Why can’t she
(Asha) leave the hep stuff for the hip generation
of singers?"
 Rumour has it
... that sparks
are flying between Arshad Warsi and Namrata
Shirodkar, to the extent that they’re being
constantly seen together on as well as off the
sets.
... that Gulshan
Grover has ensnared yet another overseas girl.
Some bad guys have all the good luck, it seems!
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