It took a prince and princess to do what ordinary human beings have never been able to —make Bollywood superstars come on time and wait for someone. When heir to the British throne, Prince William, and his wife Kate Middleton came to India for a brief tour, one of the events organised in Mumbai’s Taj Mahal hotel was a gala sit-down dinner featuring the most elite of the city, from cricketing greats to Bollywood superstars.
And what do you know, someone like Shah Rukh Khan, who people have to wait hours to catch a glimpse of, was for once on the dot. He had a coveted seat at the head table. Aishwarya Rai and Karan Johar also were at the same table. But there were a string of Bollywood celebrities a little away down the pecking order. Like Madhuri Dikshit, Parineeti Chopra, Rishi Kapoor, Jacqueline Fernandes, Anil Kapoor, Alia Bhatt and Sonam Kapoor.
Both Shah Rukh and Aishwarya had a brief role in felicitating William and Kate and that perhaps explains why they were seated next to the couple. Shah Rukh later said in an interview that he was trying to explain the names of vegetables in the dishes while chatting with William. Meanwhile, at the same time, there was also another dinner happening featuring Bollywood stars in the house of Saif Ali Khan and his wife Kareena.
Apparently the two were invited for the Taj dinner but declined politely. The Saif dinner also saw Kangana Ranaut and Ranbir Kapoor. Many of those who had gone for the Taj dinner later made their way to Saif’s home to party there too. At least there were no rules here like keeping mobile phones switched off which all these celebrities had had to obey when in the presence of the British royalty. They could get right back into their star skins.
Star power
Arjun Kapoor’s is a very intriguing success story. He is not a great actor in terms of talent. Neither does he ooze the kind of charisma that someone like Salman Khan does. And yet he seems to be fast entering a no-fail zone.
Consider his latest release Ki & Ka, which also had Kareena Kapoor. It is a movie that was universally panned by critics as being self-indulgent and full of clichés, something that its director Balki is always accused of.
But while his similarly flawed Shamitabh went on to be a flop, Ki & Ka is a hit and Arjun would have to be the reason for that. That is also the mark of a true star — he can make a bad movie successful. It turns out that Arjun had more than one reason to be happy due to the movie’s success — because he is also said to have co-produced the movie, something that has only been revealed now. So he took a pay cut and opted for a share in the profits instead. Considering the movie has raked in quite well, the move seems to have worked out.
Criticising critics
A movie that Shah Rukh Khan produced and put his whole and soul into was Ra.One, a superhero flick that didn’t do anywhere as he expected. And film reviewers too panned the movie.
It is not surprising that Shah Rukh does not take kindly to critics. In a recent interaction with the media he explained what he expected out of them. He said he was okay if critics said a movie was bad and explained why. But what he couldn’t swallow was them getting personal and making offensive remarks like they dozed through the movie because it was so bad.
Shah Rukh said the only criticism he could take was of his parents and his children because they loved him so much. Shah Rukh’s grouse on critics would probably find an echo from all actors but what they don’t consider is that film reviewing is also an art like the making of movies.
And to just give a dry opinion without putting any emotion into it will be just plain boring. Ironically Shah Rukh’s latest release Fan has got some good reviews. And it doesn’t seem to bother him when critics go overboard when lauding his movies.
Continuing pain
A break up in a relationship can be very torturous and that is what Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif seems to be going through. The hangover of the separation is still dragging on and some news or the other about them continues to make people sit up and wonder when this will finally get over.
According to a Bollywood gossip website, recently Katrina was removed from the Whatsapp group of the Kapoor family that was administered by Ranbir’s aunt. And simultaneously Rishi Kapoor who was not in the group has now become part of it.
Katrina also got out of another Whatsapp group of friends that also had Ranbir in it. Another gossip said that Ranbir and Katrina ran into each other at a common friend’s party. They got talking and Katrina even considered whether it was possible to try and mend the bridges. But she was reportedly cold shouldered by Ranbir who ruled out any possibility of reconciliation, leaving her even more depressed.
The break-up has also had fallouts in their professional lives. With Jagga Jasoos, the movie which stars both of them precariously placed given the new circumstances, its director Anurag Basu had solicited the assistance of their common friend Ayan Mukerji to come onto the sets and smoothen ruffled feathers.
Basu is also have said to have cancelled a shoot in Morocco at the behest of Ayan and shifted it to Mumbai. But the studio that is producing the movie is said to be now furious at such a move and have said that they wouldn’t tolerate any such interference from someone who is not part of the movie. All in all, no good news is coming from that front.
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ROYAL GALA: Prince William and Kate Middleton at the Mumbai’s Taj Mahal hotel dinner with Bollywood actors and guests.
