His father’s son
By Madhur Mittal

EXPECTEDLY, the entire shoot of producer-director Rakesh Roshan’s debut film for sonny Hrithik Roshan was carefully kept under wraps. After all, there wasn’t just one but two much hyped new stars (in the making) to guard over, you see — Hrithik and his leading lady, Amisha Patel!

But the film-maker has no option but to expose and introduce the duo to the flashbulbs of the photographers and the (often) awkward questions of the scribes invited to the audio CD release of Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai, hosted lavishly by the upbeat guys at HMV. Held at the stylish happening place — The Club — it was one of the better filmland bashes organised with aplomb... starting from the imported booze, through the audio visual show and down to the dinner! But then, the Roshans always do things in style, right?

However, I found it a trifle strange that the Press made a beeline for Hrithik — requesting him to flex his terrific muscles and pose or talk, instead of ganging up on the femme fatale of the evening, Ms Patel, as is invariable the habit. Perhaps, it was because Amisha was almost constantly surrounded by the film ‘n’ trade bigwigs...leaving little room (literally) for the lensmen to compose an attractive frame in their viewfinders! The film has aroused tremendous pre-release interest; let’s see how much good Guddu (Rakesh) can do.

Khanna and Khanna

Subhash Ghai’s Taal has certainly worked wonders for Aishwarya Rai...but the same can hardly be said of Akshay Khanna. No doubt the movie was tilted very obviously in favour of the heroine, script wise. Even so, I did expect (like lots of other people) that Akshaye would get to share some of the kudos ‘n’ credit.

As a matter of fact, co-hero Anil Kapoor has come in for rave reviews a plenty, and even the cinegoers have unanimously appreciated his cameo performance. Well, a little bird tells me that dad Vinod Khanna has taken time off from his busy political touring and tinkering in order to supervise the scripting of a (very) special story for Akshay! And the comely leading lady VK has picked is none other than Twinkle Khanna. Aha, should be exciting to see the box office, combined clout in color of Khanna and Khanna.

Manisha’s foray into arty films

Believe you me, the one thing that must be said of Manisha Koirala is that she definitely has knack of wangling the nost sought after films and roles. She has managed to show the door to other heroines by bagging the prized portrayal in Deepa Mehta’s next — Hater!

The reputed (and controversial) film-maker’s trilogy which began with Fire, followed by Earth, has been a cogent cinematic journey marked by milestones of rare creative honours. And, for Water, Bollywood had been seething with the most intense sentiments amongst contending hopefuls, you know. And boy! Am I glad I didn’t venture any guesses to the identity of the eventual winner... because, in all frankness, Manisha would never have figured in my soothsaying at all!

Co-starring with her will probably be the likes of Akshay Kumar and, of course, Ms Mehta’s perennial pet — the sensuous Nandita Das, in this scintillating offering.

Millennium mania!

Trust me, our desi filmland has become humongously hung over the New Millennium — the year Y2K or 2000 AD. Any function, any party, any new movie being launched is prefixed with the Millennium buzzword, you know. So, that even the promising newcomers are being saddled with this mania.

Bollywood has suddenly become abuzz with "The Millennium Hero", The Millennium Heroine", "The Millennium Villain", "The Millennium Movie", "The Millennium Music", "The Millennium Singer", "The Millennium Blockbuster" etc etc.

ow about "The Flop Of The Millennium", huh?!