The passing away of Vinod Khanna is one more signal of the end of the generation that defined Bollywood. It was in the 1970s onwards that Hindi movies and stars began to get cult status across the country. No-one had seen stardom like Rajesh Khanna’s until it happened. Then, Amitabh Bachchan replaced him as an even bigger star. The only other actor who held his own against Amitabh was Vinod Khanna. There was much speculation on what might have happened if Vinod had not dropped everything and left to become a sanyasi under the godman Rajneesh. By the time he returned to Bollywood, the Amitabh magic was on its last legs. But seamlessly Vinod reasserted his stardom, even if it was not as huge as when he left. 
After his death, Amitabh wrote a touching blog that spanned the decades of his relationship with Vinod. It went back to the time when both of them were struggling for a foothold in the Hindi film industry. And then how Vinod, despite becoming a star, continued to be a considerate friend to Amitabh for whom success had not arrived. When they both became big, the camaraderie went on. 
Amitabh wrote of meeting Vinod when he had moved to the US with Rajneesh and the latter explaining why he was part of the movement. Almost every other star that Vinod had been acquainted with had only warm memories of him indicating just how popular he was. 
As against the superficiality of actors, Vinod had an additional layer to him — the ability to renounce and remain disconnected from the trappings of fame and wealth. An unusual aspect of Vinod’s death was that it happened on the same date that Feroz Khan died. Both had been good friends still remembered for their movie Qurbani and coincidentally it was cancer that claimed them.  There was however, one sour note in the events following his death. Rishi Kapoor pointed out that almost everyone who came to the funeral were from the older generation. He tweeted, ‘Shameful. Not ONE actor of this generation attended Vinod Khanna’s funeral. And that too he has worked with them. Must learn to respect.’ He also compared it to how he had seen so many of them at a party Priyanka Chopra threw the previous night and rued that they could make time for it but not to the funeral. 

Not out of the woods yet

Now that Sanjay Dutt has served his entire prison sentence, one would think the days of court appearances are behind him. Not so. Recently, he was forced to go to court again and almost got arrested in the process. The case relates to a movie that he had signed on in 2002. 
According to its producer, Sanjay had dropped off halfway into the shooting leaving him stranded. Even the advance paid had not been returned.  A few years ago the producer made a complaint that underworld was forcing him to compromise with Sanjay. Since then the court had been issuing summons to Sanjay but he had not come. The court then issued an arrest warrant. This seems to have set the alarm bells ringing and Sanjay had promised to come and got the warrant cancelled. He did go to the court on the given day. It must not have been a pleasant experience for someone who had suffered so many legal anxieties in his life. And apparently, according to a news report, on that very day he had to do a court scene in a movie that he is currently shooting for. Talk about coincidences!


Bytes don’t add up


The overhaul of the people around Salman Khan continues unabated. First it was his longtime manager. Recently, it was reported that he had sacked three of his bodyguards, too. Apparently, they were leaking information about him. More details aren’t available but the information would presumably have been leaked to the media. One wonders how did he come to know that it was these three that were doing the leaking. The leaked information might mainly have to do with the goings-on within the family and his romantic relationships, because that is the kind of spice that sells. Salman’s action however, has a precedent by someone close to him. Sometime back, his former girlfriend Katrina Kaif had also sacked someone because of the same reason. All in all, it begs the question that if so many employees of stars are leaking information then why does the media learn so little about them? Much of what becomes public is very tame stuff. There have not been any sensational scoops about Salman for a long time now. And, of course, so much lies and rumours get passed around that no-one knows which information is genuine.


What do the images tell?

Katrina Kaif finally got on to Instagram, which is fast becoming the favourite social networking arena for young actors and actresses. She put up a photo of her on a beach with the line ‘new beginnings ... coming from my happy place #helloinstagram’. At the time of writing this, she had made two posts and had already got close to a million followers. So not a bad bargain at all. 
But what made bigger news was another photo that had her in it. This was an unexpected selfie by ex-boyfriend Ranbir Kapoor that had Katrina in it. It was taken at the sets of Jagga Jasoos, a movie whose shooting had been plagued with problems because of break up between the two. When they signed on they were lovers, and when shooting started they were bitter exes.  This was said to have brought a host of conditions by them as to what they would do and would not do. There was even said to be a mediator in the form of a common friend whose duty was to iron out the issues so that movie could be finished. 
Does the selfie then indicate that peace has been called — that the two are now ready to be in the friend zone? Time will tell but it is also possible that it is just a promotional stunt to garner publicity for the movie.

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