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Bharathi S. Pradhan
Going to the ladies' restroom during the interval at PVR, Juhu, was a dwarfing experience last Sunday. We were at the cinema hall for a special show of Finding Fanny and Sonam Kapoor in high fashion and full make-up had come to cheer cousin Arjun Kapoor. When we bumped into each other in the restroom, she had to bend double to greet me with her usual exuberance. Sonam is 5'8' and was sporting 5-1/2' killer heels and she had to come down from that height to greet all 5'2' of me, wearing flat sandals to boot.
'I'm coming straight from another event,' she explained with a huge grin, as she looked down on me quite literally. 'And didn't bother to change.' One second later, she added, 'Anyway, no excuses. I love high heels. I just think they make you look so much better.' Oh yeah, style over comfort. But inside the hall, she didn't need the beefy security guys who were throwing a ring around all the big names. Once Sonam put on her specs, the diva vanished; she became unrecognisable.
Among the many watching Fanny was Hrithik Roshan who mingled happily with everybody. He was particularly kicked because his Bang Bang trailer — which was shown before the main film — drew 'oohs' and 'aahs' from many around him, some of whom didn't even realise that he was sitting right there in their midst. To those who told him that they were waiting to see his film, Hrithik laughed, 'I'm dying to see it too.' The first copy wasn't out yet and the cast and crew trial show was still many days away.
Hrithik's heroics and handsomeness are out there for everybody to see. But there's one little gesture of his that topped everything else. He recently stood up for his estranged wife, Sussanne, and put a public full stop to the zeroes that were being added every day to the figure she was apparently seeking from him as alimony. 'She has asked for nothing,' he said and stemmed the figure from climbing any higher. Whatever her demands, this was one true macho act by Hrithik because there's nothing more manly than protecting your woman, irrespective of the current status of the relationship.
After the screening of Fanny, the PR team came up and whispered, 'Please come and say 'hi' to Arjun and Deepika.' They were inside a circle manned by uniformed guards and only a few were escorted to where the lead stars stood.
Arjun, who has earned the tag of the new Emraan Hashmi for smooching in every film (he does it in Fanny too), has a likeable screen presence. 'I hope the movie has more than just my presence,' he remarked, flashing his dimples.
Naseeruddin Shah, who plays a Goan called Ferdinand in the film, is as wacky as a Parsi in real life. No wonder he gets along so famously with director Homi Adajania, with whom he also did the full-fledged Bawa film Being Cyrus in 2005. Naseer's memoirs titled And Then One Day was to be released three days after this screening (on September 9). Unlike other authors who hard sell a new book, Naseer was his normal unpredictable self when he warned me with a chuckle that he had his doubts whether I'd enjoy reading it. Or maybe that's his way of selling it because his comment did raise my curiosity.
Two nights later, it was a special screening of Vikram Bhatt's Creature 3D. Why was a gun-toting guy sitting inside the small preview theatre? It turned out to be the security provided for Bhushan Kumar, owner of T-Series, who has produced the movie. If one remembers how Bhushan's dad Gulshan Kumar was brutally gunned down in broad daylight, one will understand the need to protect the T-Series boss. By the way, Boney Kapoor too walks around with a security guy following him like Mary's little lamb.
Vikram Bhatt's colourful days of dating Sushmita Sen and Ameesha Patel are either over or he has turned very discreet. Because the only girl who is a constant in his life and work sphere is daughter Krishna, who assists him with all his films. Krishna made herself useful even at the screening by ushering friends into the hall and making sure they were provided with 3D glasses.
In the past, Vikram has often dubbed the dialogues on behalf of his leading men. He voiced Aftab's part in Kasoor and it was he who delivered the Hanuman Chalisa that was picturised on hero Rajneesh Duggal in the film 1920. But in Creature 3D he has gone one step ahead. It was Vikram's eyes and face that were photographed, measured and fed in to create the creature on the computer. Since Vikram is always charming, he's currently happy to be labelled a nice creature.
