A new TV actor from Delhi sat puffing in my no-smoking room, flicking ash into the dustbin as there were no ash trays around. He dimpled happily that “Hemaji” had signed him as the hero of the film she was directing for the first time. It was the big break and it had come to him easily — like stardom did by the time he was three Hindi films old in Mumbai.

Two decades later, it was the same Hemaji’s turn to beam happily when the TV actor she had given a break to strode into the music release of her new film Tell Me Kkhuda. The charismatic boy on TV had evolved into reigning superstar Shah Rukh Khan and it was payback time for him as he walked in, albeit very late, to add to Hema Malini’s cup of joy.

There is an inexplicable connection between Hema Malini and Shah Rukh Khan that has lasted over the years. Esha Deol will never forget that when she was 11 years old she cut her birthday cake on the sets of Dil Aashna Hai, the film her mother was directing with the new boy from Delhi. Esha had cut it along with Shah Rukh way back then since both of them share the same birthday: November 2.

And now, both their films, Shah Rukh Khan’s RA.One and Hema-Esha’s Tell Me Kkhuda are colliding at the box office this Diwali. Fortunately, there isn’t a repeat of what happened during SRK’s last Diwali release Om Shanti Om when he and opponent Sanjay Leela Bhansali had almost gone to war with Saawariya also being released on the same day. This time SRK and Hema have maintained their bonhomie with a David and Goliath scenario — RA. One is clearly the giant here with a budget that has touched Rs 150 crore while Hema Malini has produced her own modestly budgeted film and never intended to clash with SRK.

A clash with Salman Khan was, however, neatly avoided as he was back in Dublin shooting for Ek Tha Tiger. If he had been in town, Salman would definitely have turned up at Hema’s music release, especially since he has done a fleeting guest appearance in Tell Me Kkhuda. And SRK would have also been a guest since he too has a special equation with Hema Malini. So even if she missed her favourite hero (she recently went on record to say that out of the younger lot of heroes she would’ve liked to have starred opposite Salman), Hema could relax that there would be no awkward collision of the bristling Khans at her function.

What does Shah Rukh do for that high energy he exudes even way past midnight? Let’s not discuss what keeps him on a high but for sure he does not subscribe to the early-to-bed theory or on the mandatory eight hours sleep. He retires almost when the milkman arrives but he does not sleep like a log till late morning. If there’s work, you’ll find him looking daisy fresh and raring to go even at 9am, no matter what time he went to bed. As for eating, he himself once told me it was “almost Islamic” because he is such a frugal, simple eater with no fancy wants.

His IPL partner Juhi Chawla is pretty similar in her needs and can be found happily scruffy in the huge mansion she lives in. Juhi had a bit of a bad déjà vu moment when ghazal maestro Jagjit Singh was hospitalised two weeks ago after a brain haemorrhage. Although Juhi knew him well and had even sung a verse from the Granth for one of his devotional albums, she couldn’t bring herself to go and see him comatose because it reminded her too much of her own brother Bobby Chawla. It’s been a year-and-a-half since Bobby had a brain haemorrhage and went into a coma. He is still unconscious in hospital and it has been a heart-wrenching period for her. The case with Jagjit was so similar that Juhi was concerned and sent across a kind note. But she couldn’t make the trip to the hospital.

Eighteen years after he lost his 21-year-old son Vivek in a road accident, Jagjit Singh had sat in my office for hours and recalled the moment as if it had happened the day before. “I ran to hospital as soon as I got the message in the same clothes I was in,” he had said to me. The death of his son took its toll on both Chitra and Jagjit. While Chitra went into a shell and terminated her singing partnership with Jagjit (they sang as Chitra and Jagjit at one time), Jagjit was forced to go solo. He turned philosophical and made more devotional albums towards the end of his life.

What few know is that Chitra had begun to take an interest in singing again. “Now Chitra wants to start singing with me but I’ve got used to performing solo,” Jagjit had said to me two years ago. Since then, his stepdaughter Monica (from Chitra’s first marriage) also had a tragic end. With the wonderfully affable Jagjit too no more, it will never be a duet for Chitra again.

Bharathi S. Pradhan is editor,The Film Street Journal