Aishwarya Rai Bachchan lost her father recently. He had been not keeping well for some time and even the famous annual Holi festival celebration of the Bachchans had not happened this time because he had been bedridden and was in the hospital. 
His passing away might not have been a shock considering his condition but that did not make the grief of his passing any lesser for Aishwarya. Virtually the entire industry came to offer their condolences to her. Among them were many of her former contemporaries, like Kajol, Rani Mukerji and Twinkle Khanna etc. 
There was also the new generation. Naturally the media was present and photographers looked for opportunities to click the stars. An interesting reaction to this was a post by Alia Bhatt’s sister Shaheen questioning such a practice during the occasion of sorrow. She wrote, ‘Death is traumatic enough without pictures of you at your most broken being circulated all over social media. And why does anyone want to see that? Does anyone really want to click on links that promise us photographs of grief-stricken celebrities crying over the loss of their parent?’ 
The point is well taken but the answer to the last question is that fans do want to see such photos and is the reason why photographers do what they do. But that was not the only insensitive thing going around. 
There were also gossip reports speculating on the absence of Salman Khan at the prayer meet. He and Aishwarya’s father allegedly had a bad history. During the last stages of their relationship when she alleged he was abusing her, her father reportedly got her to break up from him. Some reports said the reason he didn’t come for the prayer meet was because he still harboured ill feelings. That was perhaps unfair. It would be uncomfortable to both Aishwarya and Salman if he were to turn up to offer condolences. Often it is better to stay away. 
Another person whose absence was noted was Karan Johar’s and this time it was blamed on a falling out he had had with Aishwarya. The reason reportedly was that after the making of Ae Dil Hai Mushkil she had wanted to be part of the promos but he didn’t agree to it because it might mislead the audience about her being the movie’s main lead. But apparently there was no ulterior reason for him being missing because Karan was tied up looking after his new twin children. There were also reports that he had in fact visited her later.  


No parties


Poor Nawazuddin Siddiqui, you would think. The most sought after character artist in Bollywood. Equally loved by the art brigade as well as the commercial ones. Someone who has worked with all the three superstar Khans, and has got meaty screen times along with Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan. Clearly, one of the most beloved of the industry.  And yet, not getting invited to parties that get thrown with clockwork regularity by everyone in the industry. Even Salman does not call him when he has a bash. It is actually not any of their fault, says Nawazuddin. He is just not a party person and kept turning down invitations, even those by Salman. And at some point the industry realised that since he won’t come, there was no point in asking him. Nawazuddin revealed this to the media recently. And he seemed quite content being the recluse! 


Star producer 


Twinkle Khanna, who has lately developed a reputation as a writer with columns and books to her name, is now returning to movies in a different avatar. She is producing Padman, which stars her husband Akshay Kumar. 
The story is based on an inventor who made low cast sanitary napkins, addressing a great necessity among poor women in the country. Twinkle read about the person while she was researching material for her column and she wrote a short story inspired by him. And then she decided that it merits a movie. 
One would say that this is the advantage of having a superstar as a husband. It will at least be certain that the movie will get made, released and, if it is any good, even become a hit. That might then set her off in an entirely new career path as movie writer, quite an achievement for someone who left Bollywood so many years back. 
Twinkle believes that Padman will also create awareness about a social issue and therefore it is worth making movies on subjects like these. But it will probably not be serious or staid in tone. Her writings are recognised to be funny and she has many fans on that score. One thing we can probably safely guess is that movie will have dollops of humour. 


Celebrating 30 


Last week Kangana Ranaut turned 30 and she celebrated with a gift to herself: a brand new house. And not a very ordinary one either. It is all of three storeys and that is somewhat big for one person but she might also have an office in there. She brought in her birthday with a visit to a pilgrimage spot to seek blessings for new beginnings. 
At 30, her career still has a long way to go and chances are she will mould herself in the Aamir Khan approach that treads the border between art and commercial. Whether she is equally successful, only time will tell. 
Meanwhile, she is certainly not making any new friends in Bollywood. The list of those who have an issue with Kangana Ranaut is long but those who admire her unreservedly believe it is because of her candour in standing up to the bullying of male stars. In any case, one more person who has acted with her, Shahid Kapoor, was asked to respond to Kangana making some acerbic comment on him and said he would not speak on topics like these in print. He however said that he wished her well and hoped that she gets along with ‘some co-stars’, a statement that could insinuate she didn’t get along with any of them!  


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