At the press show of Wake Up Sid (received well at multiplexes over the weekend, before collections began to drop) at Yashraj Studio, young director Ayan Mukerji could’ve passed off as a cub reporter. One knew he was young (26 years old) but he looks like he’s about 19. With his baby face, jeans and a shirt tucked in clumsily, Ayan — grandson of S. Mukerji and son of Deb Mukerji — has the casual, friendly approach of a teenager. It was evident in his film too. He took his time telling his story, which dropped the pace of the film, especially in the first half. There was also zilch chemistry between Mumbai’s Richie Rich and the grounded Kolkata girl. But an endearing freshness prevailed in the air, making it not a hit but a safe film for Karan Johar to have backed. Incidentally, Ranbir Kapoor continues to be a strange phenomenon — thumping approval from critics and right at the peak of stardom with not a single hit to his credit.

Karan is on a mission to make Dharma Productions a banner under which an array of wide-ranging films will be made. In this he has succeeded far more than his close friend Aditya Chopra has. From time immemorial to Dil Bole Hadippa, Yash and Aditya Chopra have been stuck in the mustard fields of Punjab, refusing to acknowledge that there is an India outside their home state. The flavour of Punjab works in Hindi films but not an overdose of it, and not always, as proved by the failure of Dil Bole Hadippa. It would be refreshing to see the father and son team at Yashraj step out of their sarson ka saag world and taste the other flavours of India.

Hadippa has mercifully come and gone, and with it, so has Rani Mukherji. What utter cheek that girl has to use the media so extensively and unrelentingly to promote her film, and to simultaneously harp on her overused pet line that she cares a damn for the press!

This strange mix of contradictions doesn’t seem to bother Mumbai’s celebrities. Poonam Dhillon who went into the Bigg Boss house last Sunday, told Amitabh Bachchan that she’d always been a private person and so she was going into this show where the cameras would be on her 24/7! Admirable endurance test to do something so contrary to your nature, except that it was a big fat cheque that ultimately tilted every contestant’s decision to go for it.

One hears that with Dara Singh’s son, Vindu, on the show, Bigg Boss tried to get his ex-wife, actress Farah, into the same house for some crackling fireworks. But Farah’s younger sis, the formidable Tabu, put her big foot down and said, nothing doing.

How does a single mother go on a show like this, leaving behind two kids who’re still studying in school and college? One knows for sure that Poonam Dhillon, who is a very well-organised mother, sat her kids down and discussed the offer. Seventeen-year-old son Anmol has exams and classes to keep him busy while daughter Paloma has been packed off to Poonam’s sister’s house. Plenty of friends and family have pitched in so enthusiastically to look after Anmol and Paloma that, Poonam laughed, the kids would probably ask her to stay put in the Bigg Boss house. Poonam is the kind of person who’d herself have gone out of her way to do the same for anybody else’s children.

Two nights before she drove to Amby Valley to shut herself in the Bigg Boss house, Poonam was partying at China Garden’s Piano Bar, to celebrate her sister, gynaec Rishma Pai’s birthday. “At the party, I was dying to tell you about the Bigg Boss offer but I was bound by my ‘no disclosure to the media’ clause,” she confessed, before going into the house that Amitabh locked up on Sunday.

On Wednesday night, Aftab Shivdasani and girlfriend Aamna Sharif locked themselves up inside the preview theatre (along with the executive producer of his first production), during the interval at a private screening of Acid Factory. While everybody, including his parents, waited outside, Aftab screened something personal for himself and Aamna and then threw open the doors. He had a surprise for his folks — the first promo of his own film Aao Wish Karen, co-starring Aamna of course. It’s another film that has a distinct freshness about it. Aftab’s parents were thrilled to see their son’s first efforts at production, before the screening of Acid Factory resumed.

For those who’ve seen the slickly made Acid Factory, recognise the girl who plays Aftab’s wife in it? She calls herself Shabana Reza in the credits. That’s the girl who had the screen name Neha (she did films such as Kareeb with Bobby Deol). Neha alias Shabana is now better known as Mrs Manoj Bajpai.

Bharathi S. Pradhan is managing editor, Movie Mag International