Bharathi S. Pradhan
With Virat Kohli in poor form, the jokes have started. This one's an old chestnut: Virat's cellphone rang. Dhoni picked it up. 'Hello, this is Anushka. May I speak to Virat, please?'
'Oh, Anushka? This is Mahi here. Virat has just gone to bat.'
'Ok, I'll hold on,' she said, knowing as the world did that Virat's wicket would fall and he'd be back within minutes.
At any given stage, this joke has stuck to whichever cricketer happens to be dating a film star. The same used to be said years ago when a former cricketer was seeing actress Nagma, the Congress candidate who lost the 2014 Lok Sabha elections from Meerut. Whether he was her boyfriend before or after Rajeev (Chimpu) Kapoor, I forget, since Nagma has led such an eventful life.
The mutual attraction between the film and cricket fraternities has existed for so many generations that it's easily older than the Sharmila Tagore-Pataudi nikaah. It's difficult to imagine but even the stiff and starchy blue-eyed boy of the BCCI, Ravi Shastri, was once formally engaged to wild child Amrita Singh until she moved on to Vinod Khanna and then to Saif Ali Khan with whom she had two children, before he moved on to Roza and then to Kareena (phew).
It's a chemistry that touched cricketers from different states including paaji Kapil Dev. His friendship with actress Sarika was so talked about that it figured even during his marriage to Mumbai girl Romi. That was, of course, before Sarika moved on to Kamal Haasan. Kamal was then married to Vani Ganapathy, and he had two daughters from Sarika before he dumped her and began his live-in relationship with actress Gautami. Gautami, meanwhile, had ended her marriage to someone in the US and returned to Chennai with a baby girl. Her daughter, his daughters — Kamal and Gautami currently have this happy 'you, me, mine and yours' family. The live-ins don't have a child together.
Complicated but never a dull moment when it comes to cricketers and film stars.
Right now, there's no dull moment in the much-animated Rani Mukerji's life either after her Mardaani has found commercial acceptance. When I gave a thumbs up to the film for veering away from crude, paan-chewing villains and presenting a suave, English-spouting menace who looked at child trafficking as a healthy business plan, many tore into my review. But women have more or less rooted for Rani Mukerji although this was not a gender war story. That was what was refreshing about CBI officer Shivani Shivaji Roy.
After directing Laaga Chunari Mein Daag and Lafangey Parinday, two flops for Yash Raj, understandably, the success of Mardaani is is an emotional moment for Dada Pradeep Sarkar. On Wednesday, during a spate of interviews to the media, there was a glint of a tear in his eye which moved many a scribe.
After taking on the box office, Rani's decision to take on the censor board is justified. Since they had already chopped off the abuses (there's barely one left), Rani's demand for a new above-12 category is a constructive move, irrespective of how Aamir Khan feels about the words used in the film. Jubilant Rani's text messages read, 'Yeah to woman power'. But I think Mardaani rises above gender; it is simply a slick cop film for me.
The shift in gender perspectives was in full display at Nari Hira's Manhunt last Sunday (organised by Mandate, the magazine for men), which kicked off with 14 well-toned hunks in micro-mini briefs strutting their stuff before they got into formal suits for the next session. After the bikini rounds female beauty contestants normally go through, so much of bare beefcake competing for a title was a real change. Filmmaker Ramesh Sippy, a pucca ladies' man (his flings were legendary) who was one of the judges, kept a straight face, but obviously preferred pretty Evelyn Sharma who sat next to him. On her part, Evelyn pertly announced, 'I didn't know we'd be seeing so much chaddis!'
Nari Hira mixed the old and the new. By his side sat Aditya Pancholi who has been a friend since he acted in the video films that Nari used to produce in the 1970s.
On stage was energy unleashed by new actor and super-dancer Saahil Prem whose film Mad About Dance has just been released. A cocky, confident kid with unconventional appeal, Saahil too has a strong connection with Nari Hira. He is the son of Nishi Prem, former editor of Stardust, one of Nari's many publications.
