“Why are the Bachchans behaving like Aishwarya is the first woman ever to get pregnant in the country,” demanded an irked media person.

Jaya Bachchan had just shooed away the cameras that were trained on Aishwarya as soon as she took her seat at Amitabh Bachchan’s well-organised launch of Hanuman Chalisa. Imagine AB’s baritone in meditation, with several other wonderful voices like Shankar Mahadevan, Shaan, Babul Supriyo, even Bhojpuri actor Manoj Tiwari, all chanting the praise of Lord Hanuman to Aadesh Srivastava’s raag-based music — heavenly. And Shiamak Davar came up with an extremely energetically choreographed backdrop of dancers to give it visual appeal too.

Renowned for his punctuality, Amitabh didn’t even wait for Jaya and Aishwarya to reach as he started the launch of the CD on the dot. Of course, when the two women from his family slipped in five minutes later, there was the usual bustle of security guards with the photographers suddenly swinging their ware from the stage to the front row. It was the same when the function was efficiently wound up within 20 minutes and there was a scurry for photographs of the pregnant actress who had cleverly come wearing a kurta and a dupatta that covered half her frame. Jaya wouldn’t stand for it and was at her curt best in asking the photographers to keep away.

That’s when the cribbing started. “Why do they come for a public function if they don’t want to be photographed,” a few questioned.

True, but it wasn’t a public function on Tuesday (October 18) when the Bachchans had a ladies’ do, a baby shower at their bungalow. But the photographers were still out in full force (including TV crew) and Jaya was still frowning at them!

Come to think of it. It’s easy to whine, “Is Aishwarya the first woman to get pregnant?” But aren’t we the ones who’re chasing her and giving her a special status not accorded to other pregnant women?

With the Bachchans avoiding the glare on Aishwarya’s baby bump and the media doing everything in their power to get up close, one couldn’t help thinking of how starkly different it was when Jaya Bachchan herself was pregnant. I remember going over to her Juhu bungalow (not Prateeksha but a rented one) when she was almost ready to deliver Shweta, and Jaya had been most welcoming. In fact she even said, “Why do you people disturb us when we’re working? It’s so much nicer to talk like this at home when I’m not doing anything.”

Times were different. Jaya didn’t hide from the media, and the media didn’t chase her, although the newly-married Bachchan couple was much in demand. You could simply call up, make an appointment and go over. But then we were only a handful, not a complete platoon like the media circus is today. It’s not the Bachchans who have changed, it is the whole atmosphere that has become unrecognisable.

Someone close to the Bachchans said that many photographers have been sending messages to the family to ask Abhishek and Aishwarya to pose a la Hollywood with the baby at the hospital entrance in November.

Knowing that the flashbulbs are going to give relentless chase, the Bachchans have already planned how to make a quiet getaway from the hospital with the baby (or babies, as one rumour insists).

Come Diwali and Rajkumar Hirani is moving residence. He has finally succumbed to the lure of an independent house in a different suburb and is bidding goodbye to the apartments he owned in the more modest Bandra East. “It’s peaceful and quiet and ideal for writing my scripts,” the low-key director of 3 Idiots said. “Besides, the new place will be closer to my son’s school and to the airport for Manjeet to take her flights.” His wife, as is now well-known, is a pilot.

Known for her easy, wacky humour, the half-Parsee, half-Muslim Farah Khan moved into three independent storeys in a swish building on Dussehra and sent out her new address with this typical text: “We have moved to our new home. All Diwali gifts to be happily sent to...”

Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s sister Bela Saigal has done some perfect casting by getting Farah and Boman Irani for her Parsee comedy Shirin Farhad which is scheduled to start this December.

By the way, where’s Boney Kapoor? In the US where partner Sridevi is shooting for her comeback film English Vinglish. Sri may be the mother of two children, Jahnvi and Khushi, but she still plays the damsel in distress well. She was so nervous about going solo without her man that he decided to fly out and be by her side. At one time Sri was famous for her “ask mummy” line every time anybody asked her a question. It’s now “ask Jahnvi’s daddy”.