Kangana Ranaut

With paeans of praise being heaped upon Saif Ali Khan (some of them even sounding like an obit), it’s hard to imagine that this perfect performer was actually thrown out of his first film.

Sharmila Tagore’s son, Saif`Ali Khan and Tanuja’s daughter, the feisty Kajol, were to be launched together in Bekhudi, a film that was directed by Rahul Rawail and written by reputed photographer Gautam Rajadhyaksha. Sharmila and Tanuja went back a long way. They were among the few filmwallahs who stayed in South Mumbai and if they were going to the same party, like Raj Kapoor’s birthday celebrations in far-off Chembur, they’d drive down together with Tanuja at the wheel (Sharmila Tagore couldn’t drive a car to save her life).

Sharmila and Tanuja had decided that times were different from their own quiet debuts, and they were now in a position to give their offspring a launch with a splash. However, even before the first schedule of the film could wrap up, Sharmila’s son was replaced by someone called Kamal Sadanah. Director Rahul Rawail had found that Saif didn’t have it in him to become an actor.

Today, the actor is in ICU because of his sense of commitment to his work.

When Saif was shown the exit door from his debut film, nobody could’ve predicted how things would finally turn out. Kamal Sadanah, who was Kajol’s first hero, had a weak screen presence and faded away after Bekhudi and a couple of indifferent films. He has now turned producer and is remaking his late father, Brij Sadanah’s Navin Nischol-Saira Banu hit, Victoria No 203.

Saif went on to finally debut under Yash Chopra’s direction in a film called Parampara which co-starred Vinod Khanna and a host of other big names. Today, Saif is an integral part of Yash Raj blockbusters like Hum Tum and Salaam Namaste, but it’s unlikely that many will remember that Yash Chopra was his first director.

Interestingly, during Parampara Yash Chopra had observed, “You may not find Saif impressive just now but when you see him through a camera, he has a very endearing charm which comes through very well on screen”. Parampara flopped but Saif survived and went on to do another Yash Chopra film titled Yeh Dillagi in which he and Kajol finally worked together. This Kajol-Saif-Akshay Kumar film gave Saif his first box-office success and also gifted him with a dance number that proved immensely profitable for him. Saif didn’t make as much money as an actor from Yeh Dillagi as he did as a stage performer — he has danced ‘Jab bhi koi ladki dekhoon mera dil deewana bole, ole ole ole,’ on stage innumerable times.

In fact that ‘Ole ole’ number from Yeh Dillagi was the beginning of an immensely lucrative parallel career for Saif Ali Khan, the stage show performer. Right up to last Sunday when Saif Ali Khan’s 36-year-old body couldn’t take the strain of a two-career lifestyle (acting and stage shows) any more and landed him in the ICU of Lilavati Hospital. A clot ain’t gonna keep him down for long. But Saif’s mantra of, ‘Money, money and more money, I have to pay alimony’, will have to be tossed out of the window. It might also help not to show Saif Ali Khan the box-office figures of Eklavya, a film in which the nawabi actor has once again performed a complex role faultlessly. But, like Omkara proved, performances and reviews don’t impress the box-office which has passed its verdict on Eklavya — it’s a commercial flop.

The fall of Eklavya should be ringing alarm bells for the Parineeta girl as well. After Guru and Salaam-e-Ishq, this is Vidya’s third setback. Worse, her mentors Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Rajkumar Hirani seem to have deserted her too. One knows for a fact that there’s been no discussion with Vidya Balan for Munna Bhai Chala America, the third in the Munna Bhai series.

Hey, psst!

Talk of photo-ops. After abusive Aditya Pancholi assaulted girlfriend Kangana Ranaut on a Mumbai road last week, the new actress called it quits. But at the Stardust Awards last Sunday (the same function for which Saif had rehearsed but had to skip when a chest pain directed him to a hospital bed), Aditya and Kangana were clicked sitting cosily together. The truth, however, is that Aditya was seated two rows away from Kangana. But Stardust publisher, Nari Hira had dragged him from his seat and plonked him next to her just for the shutter bugs. Photographs over, the actor sprinted back to his original seat!

Bharathi S. Pradhan is managing editor of Movie Mag International