Even before karva chauth rolled along this year (on Friday, October 17), Amitabh Bachchan was sitting up on his hospital bed, watching a movie on telly and meeting friends spiritedly. The tubes had been pulled off and he was on a liquid diet. If the doctors at Lilavati hospital kept him for a few extra days, it was to give him the rest he badly needed.

With Amitabh just back from hospital, Jaya Bachchan had even more reason to observe the karva chauth rituals this year. It’s an annual fast that Jaya has religiously kept all through the 35 years of her marriage. Unwavering in her devotion, 26 years ago, when Amitabh Bachchan had been seriously injured during the shooting of Coolie and he was at death’s door, it was whispered that it was Jaya’s strong horoscope that had seen him through the crisis.

Meanwhile, Ambika Hinduja (yup, from ‘The’ Hinduja family) who is producing Teen Patti, the film that got disrupted by Amitabh’s hospitalisation, has decided that it’s high time she shifted attention to her personal life. Ambika had put off even her marriage date to wrap up Teen Patti first. But with her shooting schedules thrown once more into a tizzy (earlier, AB had reshuffled her dates and Arshad Warsi had walked out of the film at the eleventh hour) and the release date a question mark, Ambika has announced a December wedding with her restaurateur fiancé.

Twenty-six years ago, when beefy actor Puneet Issar had inadvertently landed a hard, near-fatal blow on Amitabh’s solar plexus on the sets of Coolie, co-star Shashi Kapoor had been a regular visitor at Breach Candy Hospital. Shashi Kapoor’s daily bulletin would have a typical Kapoor bite as he’d announce, “Everybody’s standing ready for the maatam (funeral). But Amit will pull through.” If the crowds outside Lilavati Hospital are mayhem today, you should’ve seen Breach Candy then, especially when Mrs Indira Gandhi flew down to visit him. The only difference was that TV channels were non-existent two-and-a-half decades ago and the dailies didn’t devote all their headlines to entertainment news.

Of course, there is another major difference today. Shashi Kapoor no longer visits Amitabh in hospital; in fact, he doesn’t visit anybody. Friends and family of the once-charming actor are actually alarmed that Shashi has gone into a shell. Even to get him to a hospital bed for a pacemaker was a tough task for daughter Sanjana Kapoor.

Last month, the Kapoor khandaan managed to pull him out of the Prithvi Theatre compound (Shashi Kapoor lives there in an apartment) and join the family for lunch at Krishna Raj Kapoor’s house. While Shammi, Randhir, Rajiv, Rima and all the noisy Kapoors had a great family day, each was secretly worried that Shashi was physically present but had withdrawn into his shell.

Shashi’s older brother, Shammi Kapoor turns 77 on October 21. There’s such a contrast in their personalities. Shammi has severe diabetes (two of his toes were recently amputated) and is on kidney dialysis three times a week. But, while Shashi has a death wish, Shammi’s spirits are as yahoo! as always. He went to London and Paris recently, and even if it was no longer An Evening In Paris but a dialysis in gay Paree, Shammi remains stoic. He’s ready to travel again...Switzerland, here I come.

Hey, psst!

* If nothing else, at least his astrologers will turn Himesh Reshammiya’s Karzzz into a goldmine. October 17 is his lucky day — the release date was fixed by his team of crystal-ball gazers. Two days before that, Himesh went to Ajmer Sharif for divine blessings — he’d gone there before Aap Ka Suroor too, but this time he didn’t wear a burkha. And, while many wondered why HR didn’t make it to his own premiere in Abu Dhabi, the whisper is that he stayed away because it was on October 15. His ‘advisors’ had clearly told Himeshbhai that 15 wasn’t his lucky number!

* The star kid of 2009 will be Sonakshi Sinha for sure. Shatrughan Sinha’s daughter has lost 30 kilos and will be making her debut in public by walking the ramp at the Lakmé Fashion Week. Smashing looking Sonakshi will be the showstopper for Calcutta designers Dev and Nil.

Bharathi S. Pradhan is managing editor Movie Mag International