After a leisurely gap of eight years, Aditya Chopra will wrap up 2016 with his new film Befikre which stars YRF discoveries Ranveer Singh and Vani Kapoor, who is rumoured to have caught the filmmaker's eye. Adi is determined to make a star out of her. Ahem, but with a wife like Rani Mukerji, Adi's interest in Vani will begin and end behind the camera. In fact, right through the shooting of Befikre , Rani was stationed right where the action was, with baby Adira in tow.
By the way, even if the Rani-Abhishek Bachchan chapter is history, the two continue to have something in common: they're hands-on parents to their babies. Just as Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek didn't step out with nannies to mind Aradhya but would take turns carrying her, Rani and Adi don't have a retinue of maids hovering around Adira. In fact, friends and family have been bowled over by Aditya, the modern-day dad, who'll burp the baby and change her nappy as efficiently as he runs his studio.
And just as Aishwarya took her time to shed the post-partum fat but eventually returned to her career, Rani too has begun to get into shape to face the camera again. There's plenty of action in store at Yash Raj as Rani will return to work in 2017. She has green-lighted an emotional story, but this time it won't be her Mardaani director Pradeep Sarkar who'll helm the film. It's Siddharth Malhotra who has been signed to do the honours. Not the actor who's Karan Johar's discovery. This Siddharth also got his debut film from Karan, but as a director when he was given the Hindi version of Stepmom. Siddharth had directed We Are Family starring Kajol, Kareena Kapoor and Arjun Rampal for the Dharma banner.
Like Adi and Karan, Siddharth too comes from good old film stock. He and his father Prem Kishen run Cinevista, a big name on Indian television. Siddharth's grandparents were actors Premnath and Bina Rai and he himself learnt filmmaking as AD to Sooraj Barjatya. Sid has now leaped out of Karan Johar's Dharma and into Aditya Chopra's YRF. To be signed up to direct the malkin of YRF in her comeback project is a prestigious assignment for any filmmaker.
There's a lot of activity in the other Chopra camp - the BR camp - too. After the tragic loss of BR Chopra's son Ravi two years ago in November, his wife Renu and two sons have valiantly kept the flag flying. This Diwali, one of the best-hosted parties was at the iconic BR bungalow in Juhu, where Renu had a bunch of ladies over for lunch and cards. While the dining table creaked with food, the fun table was where the non-professional gamblers had a whale of a time playing a round of flush.
This table included, surprisingly, Neetu Kapoor whose mother-in-law Krishna Kapoor, sister-in-law Rima Jain and husband Rishi Kapoor are all fond of playing cards. But Neetu doesn't while her time away with the 52 set. Poonam Dhillon, Punam Sinha and Padmini Kolhapure also joined the noisy table of non-professionals which irked the serious players who wanted a bit of quiet as they concentrated on their game.
The serious ones were Salman's mom Salma, Prem Chopra's wife Uma, Karan Johar's mother Hiroo, Rishi Kapoor's sister Rima, and Anju Mahendru. While the non-players enjoyed one full round and went home, the dedicated ones stayed on till the sun had set. After that, Hiroo trooped out to watch the first trial of her film Ae Dil Hai Mushkil . And Renu Chopra sent all her guests home with boxes of delicious Bareilly Ki Barfi, which is also the title of the film the BR banner is currently making with Ayushmann Khurrana, Rajkummar Rao and Kirti Sanon.
While he can manage his dil all right, Ranbir Kapoor finds it mushkil to kick the butt. His father Rishi succeeded in giving up smoking years ago. Neetu still can't do without her cigarettes, a habit she picked up when she was barely 18 years old. Ranbir is like his mother.
He has made two trips to Frankfurt where a doctor gives an injection in the ear to make the patient give up smoking. The first time he went there, Ranbir came back and claimed he was completely cured of the habit, he'd forgotten what smoking was all about. A month later, he was back to his cigarettes. A couple of years later, he flew to Frankfurt again and returned swearing that this time the shot had done it. He'd forgotten a habit called smoking. A few weeks down the line, the ciggies were back in his life.
If an injection in the ear gives him temporary amnesia over something he really likes, maybe the next time Ranbir wants to get over a girl, he should fly to Frankfurt, get a shot and bid adieu to his ex.
Bharathi S. Pradhan is a senior journalist and author
