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If all goes well, it will be our very own Aparna Sen who will be the chosen one to give Ahana Deol (Dharmendra’s sixth child and Hema Malini’s second daughter) a dream launch as an actress. Unlike older sis Esha Deol who always dreamt of acting, Ahana was the only one in the family who shied away from it. One has personally known of instances when a script would be sent for Ahana’s perusal but she’d return it without a glance because she was just not interested in an acting career.
Ahana did enjoy dancing on stage with her famous mother and her sister when they did their Parampara act together. But she showed no predilection for acting; in fact, she shunned it. Was it the water purifier commercial she reluctantly did with Hema and Esha that changed her mind? “I don’t know what it was but suddenly one day she told me she wanted to act in a movie,” shrugged Hema. “So I said, okay.”
The offers have been plenty. There were even write-ups that she’d been signed by Vikramaditya Motwane (of Udaan fame). But if all works out, it will be her mother who will produce Ahana’s first film. Hema Malini has a Romeo & Juliet script in mind for Ahana which Aparna Sen will direct. If this comes through, it will be an all-women Hema-Aparna-Ahana project.
With this, Hema Malini shows more woman-power than even Babita who stood by and launched both her daughters as actresses with no support at all from the Kapoor men. Babita herself retired as an actress after marriage to Randhir Kapoor and she never worked professionally after that in any capacity. On the other hand, Hema never hung up her boots. She danced, she acted, she went into politics, she produced software for TV and got into film production and direction, besides being a hands-on mom.
Personally, I can’t wait to see what Aparna does with Ahana since she has done such splendid work on her own daughter Konkona Sen in films like Mr & Mrs Iyer.
In Mumbai, the Chakarbortys are exulting after Mimoh’s revamped launch as hero in Vikram Bhatt’s Haunted 3D received box-office acceptance. Mimoh (now known as Mahaakshay) stood tall at the party on Tuesday night to celebrate the success of the film and received guests with a big grin. “You believed in me and I didn’t let you down, na?” he happily said, bending down to touch the feet of seniors like his dad has taught him to.
Mithun Chakraborty also wore the relieved look of a parent whose son has finally learnt to stand on his own feet. Yogita Bali, a rare bird at parties, occupied one table with all the little Chakrabortys. Let’s see if we can get their names right. After Mimoh, there’s Rimoh, then Namoshi and finally their daughter Dishani. Such tough names? “All Sanskrit names,” Yogita beamed proudly.
Mimoh’s big thrill right now is that he’s getting a lot of female attention. If Mimoh chooses his assignments carefully and is not in a hurry to play hero in B-graders, he has the flamboyance and the screen presence to pull off an interesting career as an actor. Yes, his voice is a downer and Vikram Bhatt had to lend his own voice for Mimoh’s lines in Haunted 3D. But if Rani Mukherjee (whose voice was dubbed in Bhatt’s Ghulam), Farhan Akhtar and Akshay Kumar with their strange voices could be accepted so wholeheartedly by the audience, perhaps Mahaakshay too will gain total acceptance as the days go by.
Also being readied for a debut as an actor is Vinod Khanna’s third son, Sakshi. Rahul and Akshaye, Vinod’s sons from first wife Geetanjali, have already made their place in the film industry. “Tell me which is a good acting school to send Sakshi to?” Vinod enquired a few months ago. Sakshi is tall like his dad, has long hair and is raring to go.
“Just one more year,” promised Jackie Shroff about his son Tiger. When Tiger was born, Subhash Ghai had “signed” him with Rs 101 and promised to launch him 20 years later. As a student, Tiger was more interested in football and hockey than films. “But he’ll come here only, where will he go, jaan?” Jackie remarked. So, is Tiger finally interested in an acting career? Yes, he is. “He’s learning dancing, fighting, riding, acting. He’s going through the grind, taking lessons. Next year when he’s 22, he’ll make his debut as an actor,” Jackie revealed.
With so many new progeny being launched, star sons like Hrithik Roshan and Abhishek Bachchan have already moved into senior category.
