Naya Jhamela of the Week

Ask Kangana Ranaut what she found funny this year. It would undoubtedly be Soha Ali Khan getting the ‘Sabsey Favourite Nayi Heroine’ in the Sabse Favourite Kaun International awards. Soha still a nayi heroine? But funnier is that Kangana was told she was getting the award. Caught in a traffic jam coz of which she reached the venue a little late, the award had already been given to Soha! A clueless Kangana kept waiting the rest of the evening.

Neha’s New Year numbers

Neha Dhupia

Neha Dhupia has decided to bring in the New Year a little differently this year. There will, of course, be a NY bash for her but it’s by the Country Club and she is their brand ambassador. Neha is gearing up to sizzle for the CC members from all over India. So is she so hard-pressed that she’ll now dance for a club’s party? Neha has a different take on it. “Performing on the silver screen is undoubtedly great but I want to do something on the stage.” Now you know the reason. But how lame can an excuse possibly be! Neha is all set to gyrate to a medley of hit Bollywood numbers. And she is practising hard whenever she gets time out of her ‘busy’ schedule, which must be always. She has completely surrendered to her choreographers — Pappu and Malu — since she doesn’t like to ‘boss over’ her gurus. So this obedient student isn’t taking any chances with numbers like Crazy kiya re from Dhoom 2, which she will be performing. All this hard work — is she trying to better Ash? “Oh! I cannot be anywhere close to her exuberant performances but I will try to dance to the best of my ability,” says a modest Neha. For Neha this New Year is arriving a little early too. She has planned a trip to Goa with her current squeeze, a certain Hritwik Bhattacharya, a squash player.

John now thinks in Hindi

John Abraham

There was a time when John Abs was looked at sceptically for his feeble command over the Hindi language. In fact, some of John’s earlier films were dubbed by professional dubbing artists. All that has changed. John has been working ferociously towards getting rid of any remnant of an anglicised accent. Says the hard-working actor, “I admit it was one of the areas that I needed to work doubly hard on. I’ve been consistently working on it. But Baabul has truly made me confident of the way I speak my dialogues. First of all, the words were very shuddh. Dr Achala Nagar’s dialogues were a bit complex for all of us, expect of course Mr Bachchan. I had two options open in front of me. Either I asked the words to be simplified. Or I worked on the language. I opted for the latter. And believe me, if the impact of a role can be gauged by spoken words, then Baabul is the most influential film of my life. It has changed my thought process. Now I’m actually able to think in Hindi….come to think of it I didn’t have to speak so much in any of my earlier films.” Dr Nagar, who has written other socially relevant films including Raj Kapoor’s Prem Rog and B.R. Chopra’s Nikaah, was present on the sets of Baabul to make sure that the words were correctly spoken. “The way she narrated the script was in itself a work of beauty and a joy forever. I fell for the words hook, line and sinker. I wanted to absorb her words and use them as though they were mine,” says John. Post-Baabul producers are actually eager to let John speak onscreen. (SKJ)

SPOTLIGHT

‘It isn’t necessary to work every single day of the year’

Bipasha has come back from Toronto a richer person. “After a long time I made a really close friend. She’s actually John’s friend. But after a long time I made a truly good female friend with whom I can remain connected without a sense of rivalry. One can’t do that in Bollywood. We’ve made big plans to meet and have fun. I’ve my own equation with John’s friends, as he has with mine. It isn’t as though we have to be friends with each other’s friends. It’s just fortunate that we like each other’s friends.”

Bips misses Calcutta. “I enjoy my vacations there. But I can’t live there. Of course, Puja in Mumbai isn’t quite the same as Calcutta. But, yes, I did enjoy Puja in Calcutta earlier. Now it gets too crowded and my dad gets tired out. The crowds are uncontrollable. So it’s no longer fun. But now I’ve my entire family in Mumbai, including my elder sister whose husband has just got a job transfer from Bangalore. So my entire family — parents and siblings — live just a stone’s throw away from where I stay.”

Bips grows reflective. “As you grow older you really look for your roots. At 17 I felt great travelling alone and making my way around the world. But then family begins to catch up. I’ve been away from them for too long. I need my family close to me especially since I don’t allow too many people to come into my inner circle.”

A new development in Bipasha’s life: she has been, in her words, rewarding herself with vacations. “For years it was just New Year’s. But now I indulge myself on holidays whenever I feel like. I just went to the Toronto film festival with John. It was a lovely experience. Toronto is such a beautiful city. I had been there earlier for work only. Of course, I went because I got to spend quality time with John. But I got a chance to make some genuinely great friends in Toronto.”

Tell her that John hopes to make loads of money to pay for their wedding and honeymoon and Bips smirks. “Oh, please! I don’t believe in lavish weddings. It’s a criminal waste of money to call so many people who are genuinely not interested in my life . Better to invite only my genuine circle of friends…However, there’s loads of time before the wedding happens. And trust me, everyone will know when it happens.” Right now Bips is scared of marriage! “I love kids. But right now my nephew whose parents are setting up house in Mumbai, is staying with me. And I’m scar-r-r-e-d to even think about having my own kids. Right now parenthood seems like the most difficult job in the world. I’ve told my sister my nephew is enough. I don’t think I can have a child of my own for a long time.”

Speaking of Omkara, Bips lights up like a naughty bidi. “I really enjoyed my bit in Omkara. I got to work with a great director. I love Vishal Bhardwaj. Omkara will always be special to me. I haven’t signed anything. I’ve two films with Abbas-Mustan, one with Sunjay Dutt and Ajay which is almost complete, the other with Saif which will start soon. There’re three other offers that I’m considering seriously. There’re 20 other offers which I could’ve taken up at this time of my career. But I don’t want to. It isn’t necessary to work every single day of the year. I don’t want to have 11-12 trashy releases per year. Whatever is offered is not what I’m always happy with. For now it’s Dhoom 2, spending time with family, my boyfriend and just relaxing.”