Who’s Juhi trying to fool?
By Madhur Mittal

JUHI Chawla is Ms. Goody-two-shoes — this everybody knows. She lugs around this aura of a virgin maiden (even after marriage!) this also everybody knows. And she’s a diplomat to the very core, this too everybody knows! And that everybody accepts and believes (well, almost everybody) all this, makes it all the more incredible.

But then, believe me, Chirpy Chawla — with her cute camaraderie and pert prettiness (plus of course, those infectious giggles) — could sell snow to the eskimos! It’s only when her natural chutzpah starts keeling over into an obvious act that one wonders: like, what’s she trying to pull? I mean, like her confiding (?) to all and sundry that she refused Mahesh Manjrekar’s recently released Vaastav opposite her "favorite" (but then, who isn’t her favorite?) Sunjay Dutt ... "Because I didn’t want to play a street walker as I wouldn’t have felt comfortable and consequently, it wouldn’t have been convincing." Sheesh!

Actually, what isn’t convincing Juhiji, is your excuse! Especially when you were scampering around in all those itsy-bitsy bod revealers with the same Dutt in Safari released just a couple of moons ago! Remember?

A case of diplomacy taking a skid into hypocrisy, huh?

Are jinxes hereditary?

When the icon of Bengali cinema, Suchitra Sen, made a tentative foray into Hindi cinema in the 50s with Bambai Ka Babu and didn’t cause even a flutter — everyone just conveniently forgot. It was only much later with Asit Sen’s Mamta and Gulzar’s Aandhi that Madam Sen gave the national movie goers a searing, scalding taste of what acting was all about!

So when daughter Moon Moon sashayed into Bollywood, expectations were at their skyscraping best. But alas! Some big banner films followed by mediocre ones, and coupled with rather plebian acting put paid to Moon Moon’s ambitions. Case in point: Sensuality does not an acting career make.

Then came daughters Ria and Raima, and once again everyone waited with bated breath. But after the initial furore, everything went quiet on the Sen front.

While elder sister Raima after signing Godmother, did a couple of videos for timepass, younger and more-about town sister Ria bagged Love You Hamesha, and again passed time doing a lot of commercials and endless videos for Indi-pop.

Meanwhile, Godmother released and garnered a bunch of national awards and is best remembered for Shabana Azmi Raima didn’t even get a mention! Ria, on the other hand, is still waiting for her debut film’s release while she paints the town in rainbow colours with boyfriend Akshaye Khanna.

Makes me wonder if there’s a jinx lurking somewhere.

Kajol versus matrimony

I just can’t believe it. Here we are, heading towards the end of ‘99 and Kajol has had just two (yes, you read right) releases — Hote Hote Pyar Ho Gaya and Dil Kya Kare. And the uncannily unbelievable part is that both films have sunk — rather drowned — at the box office!

But a rub of salt in the wound is the fact that the film everyone is awaiting is Sooraj Barjatya’s Hum Hain Saath Saath, which has Kajol nowhere on the scene, no not even in a surprise appearance. That territory is already taken by Neelam.

Does this really prove that heroines lose their magic with matrimony — terrific talent and superb spontaneity notwithstanding?

Chandrachur grows up

On the flip side, marriage seems to have done Chandrachur Singh a lot of good. Not only has he matured and become more responsible, he has also discarded the haphazardly childish way he was going about his career.

Most importantly, he has acquired an excellent secretary-cum-PR man Peter Maris to handle his affairs — the professional one’s, obviously! Peter Maris has been doing a superlative job as Kamal Hassan’s secretary, that too with a lot of success.

Me thinks we’ll soon be seeing more of Chandrachur in the right kind of roles and the attendant media exposure. At least he won’t be cribbing anymore of having been "sold short" — I hope!!