No privileges

Life is full of ironies since Sanjay Dutt went to jail after his conviction for possessing illegal arms in a case that goes back almost two decades. One of his movies is about to release and he plays the character of a policeman in it! The movie is called Policegiri and he had finished shooting for it in the brief time the Supreme Court had given to him to finish his projects before surrendering.
Meanwhile, his life inside prison is nothing like he is used to. He had asked for a few comfort items but prison authorities rejected them citing that special privileges could not be given. And for someone who’s only done acting in his life, he is now learning to make paper bags.
Recently, it was the anniversary of his late father Sunil Dutt’s birthday. Usually, on the day he offers alms to the poor by way of sweets. Since he was in jail, he wanted to cut a cake and give sweets to the other prisoners. Again, the jail authorities told him that this would be an unacceptable privilege to provide.
He has three years to go before for his sentence to get over. All this will take some getting used to.


Six pack in question

This was the time when six packs were in vogue. Shah Rukh Khan had got himself one for Om Shanti Om. And then had run an entire marketing campaign around it to great success. The movie was a superhit and for a while everyone was discussing six packs during casual conversations.
The next year it was Aamir Khan’s turn in Ghajini. He toiled hard in the gymnasium and then flaunted his abdomen’s cuts. This too was milked for all its worth and Ghajini too went on to be a superhit. At the time when these two Khans were suddenly the toned bodies of the country, Salman Khan was asked for his opinion on six packs.
He had smirked and said that it is only a novelty for those who had never had it. For someone like him or Sanjay Dutt who has been gymming hardcore for decades it was something they always had. And it would be an easy thing to develop them again after a little time in the gym.
All said and done, a six pack was not something that impressed Salman. Ek Tha Tiger released and you saw Salman and his six packs in it. True to his casual approach to it, the filmmakers didn’t make such a big deal. But now comes news that is bound to surprise a lot of Salman fans.  Turns out despite all his confidence, the six packs in Ek Tha Tiger were actually somewhat made up. There are now reports which say that some enterprising reporters managed to get a look at the original stills of Ek Tha Tiger in which there was none of the biscuits in his abdomen.
It was later added using special effects. All we can say is, assuming it is true, Salman could have avoided this needless issue by putting his money where his words were and pumped up the iron to get some real six packs.

The Kapoor magic

With the release of Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani, Ranbir Kapoor has firmly entered the big league. It’s plain to most people that he is at the level of the three Khans. In the first three days of the film’s release, it garnered business worth $11mn and that is as much as any Khan has managed to do.
The magic number in the box office is Rs 100 crore or somewhere above US$ 17mn.  That’s what separates the big boys from the small fry in Bollywood. And Ranbir’s latest movie came within breathing distance to that figure in six days flat before going on to break it.
Already trade pundits are saying that he’s a superstar with just the smallest of rider that we need still to watch some more time. One of the things that Ranbir has managed to do is to make hits from both offbeat and hackneyed plots purely on the basis of his screen presence.
For example, Barfi in which he played a mute person was as well received critically as commercially. Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani has not got any rave reviews and there is consensus that it is ordinary fare. But unfailingly even in movies like these, Ranbir’s acting always gets compliments.
Recently in an interview Ranbir explained the secret of his success and it was very simple — piggyback on good directors. He said that he would never do a movie just because it was “safe” to do it. What working with good directors did was making him evolve in his acting and creativity. No one’s doubting him anymore and if he continues in the same vein, he might become the sole superstar after the Khan generation becomes outdated.


Block the fan

Obsessed fans are not anything unusual for Bollywood stars. There is a girl who has for months been coming outside Ranbir Kapoor’s house for a couple of hours daily. Her obsession has made her famous enough that magazine articles have been written about her.
In the recent release Bombay Talkies, Anurag Kashyap gave a first class insight into how superstars have god-like status among their fans. The story is about the adventures of a man sent on a mission by his father from Varanasi to Mumbai to feed a little part of a sweet to Amitabh Bachchan.
But there is also a limit to what actors can endure and Hrithik Roshan found that out recently. One fan of his, a Russian woman, was persistent that she be let in to his home in the high rise that he stayed in. When the security personnel refused, she apparently started screaming and created a scene. Some days after that they once again found her trying to sneak into his office. A police complaint had to be filed against her. When obsession turns crazy then, as they say, precaution is better than cure.

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