 |
The Sinha family is in a tizzy. With jet-setting daughter Sonakshi’s social and work commitments and husband Shatrughan’s constant flying in and out of Mumbai, Delhi and Patna, Punam Sinha has her work cut out for her to meet the Diwali deadline. Punam Sinha is the adhesive that keeps together all the different temperaments and pursuits of this close-knit family of five. After a disheartening debut in Sadiyaan nearly two years ago, son Luv spends a lot of time keeping in shape and meets people to work out his next course of action. Kush, the calmer twin, will assist Abhinav Kashyap when he’s ready to direct his next film after Dabangg. Meanwhile, he is working for an ad filmmaker.
But the busiest one in the family is undoubtedly Promi (as Punam is called by friends and family) as she is involved in each of their activities and has single-handedly shifted residence twice when the Sinhas moved out to get their dream bungalow ready. Ramayan, their bungalow in Juhu, has been completely rebuilt and this time each member will get a floor to himself. “For the first time Soni (Shatru) will get his own space,” laughs Promi as she bustles around to get at least one floor ready for the entire family to shift into. “Can’t wait anymore for all the floors to be ready. I’m getting just one duplex floor ready, so we can all shift in this Diwali.” Diwali is the deadline Promi set for herself and she is meeting it. Which also means that it’s once again back to getting all their bags and baggage packed to move out of the apartment they’re currently renting. It also means that reports of daddy’s little girl Sonakshi moving into her own space are a bit premature and misleading. The Sinhas will all live under one roof in one apartment for the time being until each one gets his own floor.
For some more inside news, Yash Chopra turned 79 last month with two cakes, two celebrations. With one daughter-in-law (Payal) still on the scene despite being divorced from son Aditya Chopra, and one aspiring daughter-in-law (Rani Mukerji) very much on the scene despite not being officially married to their son, Yash and Pam happily end up cutting a cake with each of the girls. Adi does not live with his parents but the family is still together for professional work and personal celebrations.
That way, Yash Chopra has managed to keep all his equations intact. He may have been estranged from his older brother B.R. Chopra for several years, but once they called truce, Yash would regularly visit BR House to spend time with his ailing sibling. After BR passed away, the visits have continued. Yash has healthy, familial ties with BR’s son, Ravi Chopra. Ravi has been ill for a while now and Yash is a regular visitor. Which is why a report sometime back that Yash Chopra offered to bail Ravi out of a financial tangle in return for the rights to Waqt (a hit film that he directed for the BR banner before the estrangement), is patently untrue. Yash would never ask for something that holds sentimental value for the entire family. That would not be a business deal but would amount to vindictiveness and that’s not something you would associate with a self-made man like Yash Chopra who is a rare legend in his own lifetime.
There’s another well-known, and very close film family that’s also in the news. Every year, Hema Malini loves to holiday in the US with her daughters but the hurly-burly of making Tell Me Kkhuda kept her too busy to take a break. Once the film was shot, edited and ready, Hema found that the marketing and release was another project by itself. It was disheartening when the release took its own time, but Hema has a way of making the most of any situation. So she and the girls happily used that period and took off for the US for their much-looked-forward-to vacation. Back home, Hema went into marketing-and-release zone again. Tell Me Kkhuda, which has been a turning point for daughter Esha Deol who has got completely mesmerised by the behind-the-scenes activity, will be in the theatres, competing with RA.One this Diwali.
