No more angelic
By Madhur Mittal

WHAT’s with Himalaya putri Angela Zaveri, anyway? She sure appears to be greying out in a hurry. No,I don’t mean anything to do with her hair —she’s going around wearing a nice maroon tint in her lovely tresses — the hassle is apparently inside of her head!

One ran into her at a party the other night (she’d made her entry at about 11pm when the actual function started at 8.30 sharp!) But really incredible was the way she virtually ran into the venue — wearing a crumpled (gent’s) shirt tucked carelessly into faded jeans and a tiny blouseon tied over her sashaying hips. She looked pale sans make up. Her hair was in total disarray (I don’t recall it being a stormy night). The first thing she did was to plonk herself down amidst some stag group and grab a drink as if her very life depended on it!

All this, mind you, without even bothering to go up to the hosts or the singer who was being felicitated, or so much so as wish them.

The best came when a senior journalist walked up to Angela and wanted her contact number. She looked up with (totally uncomprehending) eyes and, instead, demanded a calling card from the scribe! Done with, the journalist requested hers. And, all of a sudden, Angela went into hysterics, "Look, I have had to change my digs and my mobile tele has been stolen and I really don’t know where I’m going to be next!"

Talk about wayward filmi love lovelies gone wild!

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S(t)age stars!

Never before in the (long) historyof film award functions, have so many top stars agreed to perform live on stage... and readily done so, too! Whether it was Screen, Filmfare or Zee Premiere, the invitees this year were treated to seeing the maximum and the mostest cine idols off and on the stage, believe you me.

Someone happened to comment, in humour, that "our screen stars are probably making more money nowadays as stage stars." However, I personally find absolutely nothing funny about it. On the contrary, performing live on stage is serious business, indeed. It is exhausting hard work all through repeated rehearsals. There can be no calling a "cut!" and going in for a retake, okay? Now that’s one of the toughest, tallest order for any filmstar!

The stars realise very well that the enormous publicity they’re getting worldwide, what with these shows now being telecast globally via the Internet and associate international channels, monetary considerations are of no consequence.

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Aishwarya’s "affair"

Nobody is quite sure if Somy Ali has really left Mumbai — and the country — or she’s still lurking around some dark corner.... waiting for ditcher Salman Khan with a chopper in her hand! However, a whole lot of guys with their ear to the ground are insisting that alluring Aishwarya Rai has already moved into the cosy nook so recently vacated.

"Salman and Ash are having a hot affair!" they whisper (with a sly snigger). "She finds him ‘a real hunk of a man’ and he thinks ‘she is simply too desirable" they go on to add (again in a hush-hush voice). Strange, sounds like it’s true...because those familiar words are exactly the ones Salman once used for Somy who, in all ‘fairness’, definitely deserved ‘em very much more anytime......!

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Akshaye has attitude

Akshaye Khanna has his own preferences and certainly shows that he has attitude — especially when it comes to his heroines!

Like, he reportedly kept rather aloof from leading ladyAishwarya throughout the making of Aa Ab Laut Chalen and was found more in the sensuous company of co-heroine, Suman Ranganathan. It is also no secret that Khanna Jr has a soft spot for Manisha Koirala and Madhuri Dixit — both of whom he feels are "very vital women."

Well, whatever his personal interpretation of that, Akshaye’s in ‘good’ hands !!! And, may I add, beautifully fair ones, at that.

This feature was published on April 4, 1999