The story of Govinda is one of rags to riches, and relentless ups and downs. From a young teenager who lived in an outlying suburb of Mumbai, he rose to become for a brief while the most successful actor in town. And just as suddenly his stardom vanished. Then he dabbled in politics and failed in that too. 
For many years he was nowhere to be seen until Salman Khan pulled him out the wilderness by taking him in a movie of his and Govinda then had a brief spell of playing character roles. 
That might have been a good groove to settle in, but perhaps because of his own self-image of being a hero and also because a few of those movies too flopped, once again he found himself out of work. 
Now he is back again, this time as the main hero of a soon to be released movie titled Aa Gaya Hero. Who would be willing to risk   producing a Govinda movie when the chances of it becoming a hit is extremely remote? The answer is Govinda himself. Not only is he producing the movie but he is said to have even written its story of an ordinary man who becomes a hero for people following a mistaken identity. 
He says he was forced to write the movie himself because he just couldn’t trust outside writers to do justice to what he had in mind and that they questioned too much. This is the sort of attitude that actors exhibit when they are the top of the league, when scripts don’t matter because their popularity itself can carry a movie. To be wary of writers is not a sign that the movie will have any depth. That essentially is Govinda’s problem: he is stuck in superstar mould whereas the world has moved on ignoring him. 
Recently, in an interview to an online portal, he made unprovoked jibes at Karan Johar. One of Govinda’s quibbles was that Karan had not called him on the television chat show he hosts. He also said that Karan was more dangerous than David Dhawan with whom Govinda had made 17 movies, many of them superhits. After Dhawan stopped casting Govinda the latter made desperate pleas to work together just one more time so that it would be 18 times together but with no luck. His present issue was that Karan was producing Badrinath Ki Dulhania with Dhawan’s son Varun which would release a week after Govinda’s movie thus eating into its profits!

Smart choices

Taapsee Pannu, who starred in many out and out commercial movies in south Indian film, did a drastic change of strategy when she shifted focus to Bollywood. Many actresses have tried to switch from the south to Hindi but very few manage to crack it. They come in a few mediocre movies and then return. 
But Taapsee has managed to find her footing in Bollywood. She took up unusual roles like the one of a deglamourised tough sidekick to Akshay Kumar in the action espionage thriller Baby. The movie was a big hit. And then last year, she was seen in Pink, a movie that once again was not in the commercial milieu but got a great reception. 
She has been getting plenty of offers and a number of movies featuring her are coming out now. Last week saw two of them releasing, Running Shaadi, a romantic comedy, and The Ghazi Attack, a war movie. She is also doing Naam Shabana with Akshay Kumar which will see a similar role to Baby. And there is also a movie with Varun Dhawan. 
Her choice of movies is deliberate based on the reasoning that to succeed in Hindi movies a heroine needs to be more than just the usual element. So even though Baby had just 20 minutes of her, it got her noticed so much that its director then decided to make a movie around the character. Taapsee’s work ethic is also evident in her directors keen to work with her repeatedly.


Why experiment!


This week will see the return of Nana Patekar in a Hindi movie after a long hiatus. Wedding Anniversary is a thriller and a far cry from his last release which was a Marathi movie called Natsamrat. It had got a lot of critical acclaim and also did well in that market. 
Patekar says that it is deliberate that his movies should be so different in character. His theory is that the actor owes it to his audience to keep experimenting and giving something new. Otherwise, it doesn’t take too long for them to discard the actor. 
Of late he has been involved in other issues besides movies. An initiative he started to help people in drought afflicted areas has found widespread appeal. In the same interview, he was also candid enough to say that he doesn’t even know how long he will be in movies!


Bygones


Is there any actress in Bollywood who would dare to refuse a movie opposite Salman Khan? The role might be just of an arm-candy but on the other hand the movie is guaranteed to be a mega blockbuster. 
A big hit means a longer shelf life. But there is rumoured to be one actress who refused to act in a Salman movie, not once but twice. Kangana Ranaut was said to have been offered both Bajrangi Bhaijaan and Sultan, and after thinking about it decided to not take them. 
It is said to have made Salman angry enough to give her the cold shoulder. And Salman’s cold shoulder can go on for a long time. An online gossip magazine however reports that he might actually have made up with Kangana. Apparently, both found themselves at the same studio, Kangana to promote her next release Rangoon and Salman to do an ad shoot. They got talking for some time and the inference drawn was that bygones might now be bygones. Of course, only till Kangana says no to his next movie! 


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