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Fresh from a month-long adventure shoot in South Africa, Pooja Bedi was at her peppy best. Her mom, Protima Bedi, may have been renowned for boldness of a different variety — like flaunting her live-in status with Kabir in the 70s, or streaking stark naked for a film magazine shoot. But Pooja is going to exhibit her brand of boldness in Fear Factor, the reality show that Akshay Kumar is hosting.
Clearly, facing the scariest of situations on camera has given Pooja a renewed rush of adrenalin as she gushed over what an incredible month it had been, far away from her kids, without even a mobile during the day. The rules included no family, no friends, no chaperones, but lots of bruises and cuts. “We’d shoot from 4 am to 10 pm at a far away location. Every day we’d compare our bruises, all of us sported legs covered with cuts and swellings. My shoulder is still undergoing physiotherapy,” she grinned, not grimaced.
Pooja says she did the show as a motivation for others, especially her kids. “When my kids see their mom being so fearless, they’re really going to think, mom is so cool!” And while we’re gushing, let’s not forget the big moolah that came with the adventure.
Of course, the month-long shoot was topped with the presence of hunk Akshay Kumar as the host. “You have to watch Akshay to believe what a fantastic host he makes!” Pooja said excitedly. “He is simply superb. He is loads of fun, he did some stunts himself, and the whole package was so entertaining. He’s easily going to be the best TV host in town!” Hit machine (as he is now called) Akshay Kumar seems to have gradually evolved into the most bankable celebrity around. Whether it’s his screen moves, stage shows, energetic commercials or his new role of television host, Akki slogs till he gets it pat. Additionally, surrounded by eight young women who are participating in Fear Factor, Akshay had to be in his element!
Pooja Bedi had come with boyfriend Hanif Hilal to Delitalia, the swank new Italian eatery in Juhu where Kangaroo Kids, the upper crust school run by Tina Ambani’s Australia-trained niece, Lina Ashar, was celebrating its 15th anniversary. In the Ambani family feud this one has gone unnoticed. Tina’s niece succeeded in giving a classy, new touch to school education long before Nita Ambani stepped into it with her premium institution The Dhirubhai Ambani International School to which all celebrity kids go, including Sachin Tendulkar’s and Shah Rukh Khan’s kids. Shekhar Kapur’s daughter Kaveri is also at the Ambani school but did her kindergarten years at Lina’s. Which explained ex-wife Suchitra Krishnamurthy’s presence at the Kangaroo Kids party. Suchitra has been signed by Penguin to do a book for them. She says it’s going to be fiction. But if there are any references to her own life, no prizes for guessing who just might figure in her book. Last year, on her blog, Suchitra had directly accused Preity of coming between Shekhar and her and wrecking their marriage!
Talking of prizes and awards, the National Award this year has gone to two really grounded film-makers. Lage Raho Munna Bhai, made by the gentle Rajkumar Hirani deservedly got four plum awards, including one for wholesome entertainment.
What Raju did not get was the Best Director Award which has gone to another well-deserving man of the soil — Madhur Bhandarkar for his gritty Traffic Signal. On Tuesday morning, Madhur was as usual walking to Siddhi Vinayak temple, a ritual that doesn’t change even as the number of cars in his garage go up. This is the director who stayed on in his one-bedroom apartment and didn’t act like an upstart after the success of Chandni Bar. The same evening, he won the National Award for Best Director. Reality shows may be a hit on TV but reality films work for Madhur.
