Question: Who is the original Hungama ho gaya girl? The answer, as you must have guessed, is not Kangana Ranaut who hijacked the number and renewed its popularity in Queen . Even Mahendra Singh Dhoni and R. Ashwin ogled Kangana as she did a frenzied Hungama ho gaya on their mobile phones for a recent commercial.

But the correct answer is yesteryear screen vamp Bindu. It was the voluptuous actress who first danced to the chartbusting Hungama ho gaya way back in 1973 with Sanjeev Kumar in Anhonee.

It was nostalgia time on June 11 when a band of musicians played Laxmikant-Pyarelal's famous hits at a private party hosted by Sun-n-Sand's senior VP Gulshan Arora and Shaila to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. It turned truly golden when Laxmikant's wife Jaya, the hotelier's close friend, arranged live music and the band struck up Hungama ho gaya with Bindu (who is Jaya's older sister and Laxmikant's sister-in-law) sitting among the guests. The number revived old memories for many especially when a very sporting Bindu got up and shimmied like old times.

Coincidentally, one of the guests watching Bindu was her Anhonee co-star Shatrughan Sinha, who came with his entire family. Anhonee was one of the films that helped Sinha shoot to stardom in the early 70s.

The ambience that evening was inspirational because soon after Bindu, Shatru too did an impromptu number. He sang a full-throated Sharbati teri ankhon ki... from his film Blackmail which had music by Kalyanji-Anandji, to much applause.

When he planned his party, the hotelier host couldn't have guessed how momentous it would turn out to be but it was here that the beleaguered chairperson of the CBFC, Pahlaj Nihalani (on June 11, the high court verdict on Udta Punjab was still awaited), met his old friend Shatrughan. Although there is a general feeling that Shatru is Pahlaj's political mentor and patron, the truth is, the censor chief hasn't been on chatty terms with the BJP politician for over a year. Even at this party, Pahlaj met him very perfunctorily, choosing instead to discuss Udta Punjab with Ramesh Sippy, Subhash Ghai and me on the lawns outside. But Subhash's ear wasn't tuned towards Pahlaj. He itched to go back inside where the band was playing his numbers from Karz .

Interestingly, Pahlaj's wife Kantu is an equestrian and two of their sons are also professional riders and polo players. While Pahlaj went home early from the party that evening, Kantu stayed back. Later, she said with wifely concern, "I don't know why he takes on so much tension. I hope all this doesn't affect his health." The next week, the controversies around him escalated especially when the censor copy of Udta Punjab (without the cut) was leaked online two days before its theatrical release.

However, this premature leak is not new to Anurag Kashyap. Remember his last film Ugly , which was also available online before its release? Or, more scandalously, how the frontal nude shots of Radhika Apte from his short film were also similarly "leaked"? Makes one wonder if there's much more happening than meets the eye which keeps Anurag and his cinema in the limelight.

Meanwhile, his next release, Raman Raghav 2.0 , is around the corner. Sometime ago, Anurag told me that he had spent sleepless nights after his film Bombay Velvet tanked. "The only way I could get over it was to make another film quickly and quietly. So I shot Raman Raghav 2.0 , a quickie with Nawazuddin Siddique within 30 days," he said. Nawaz, he pointed out, hadn't changed since his Wasseypur days, and that's why he continued to work with him. "Otherwise, you know how these actors change the minute they taste success and become stars. And I hate working with them," he remarked. "Nawaz is still grounded. He doesn't insist on only lead roles and continues to do films like Raees where Shah Rukh is the main hero."

A little bird tells me that Nawazuddin's role in Raees was initially offered to Emraan Hashmi. SRK and Hashmi would have been an interesting combination to watch. But although it was as important as his role was in Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai with Ajay Devgn, Emraan had to turn it down. The offer had come to him when his son Ayaan was ailing and he wasn't sure if he'd be able to give the required dates to the producer. Fortunately, Ayaan is on his feet and back to school, and Emraan's book on him The Kiss of Life has turned into such a hot seller that the actor is already thinking of doing another book.

Meanwhile, the musical chairs of who gets an offer and who ultimately plays the role, can be an interesting enough book by itself.

Bharathi S. Pradhan is a senior journalist and author