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March 30, 2000
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Life is Beautiful
Madhuri Dixit has rightly seen the writing on the wall. Knowing well that she is no longer in the rat race, she has wisely decided to turn to business. She has entered into a tieup with a beauty products manufacturer (unconfirmed sources say it is Emami) who will add a line of Madhuri Dixit beautycare products to its existing range. Madhuri, who has witnessed the craze for Indian herbal skin care products abroad, has chalked out a strategy for marketing this range abroad and has decided to rope in her sister and sister-in-law as well. And if insiders are to be believed, husband Dr Sriram Nene is supposedly seriously considering quitting his profession. From medicine to marketing beauty products -- is that what Dr Nene is contemplating?
Hrithik, Abhishek in RK banner?
Only the Kapoors could have managed it. The almost impossible task of getting two of the most sought-after young actors, Abhishek Bachchan and Hrithik Roshan together. Though talks are on and in the planning stages, Randhir Kapoor is seriously planning on getting the two together for the RK banner. Being a close buddy of both Rakesh Roshan and Amitabh Bachchan, (he is also related to the Bachchans -- his elder sister's son is married to Amitabh's daughter) Randhir might just manage to pull the coup. And he definitely needs something like this to salvage the banner which is almost becoming a forgotten memory.
All the best, Akki
Must hand it to Akshay Kumar. On one hand, the guy is working hard to prove his acting talent by taking up diverse roles. He has no qualms about meeting up with filmmakers and openly expressing his desire to be cast by them, even if that means he has to pick up the phone or even walk upto them and say it all without mincing any words. And that is not all -- he has also identified his weaknesses and is working on them. For instance, he has taken the criticism about his voice and dialogue delivery seriously, and has started taking voice lessons. Let's see what this does to his career. Here's to wishing that his hard work pays off.
The Devdas merry-go-round
Sanjay Leela Bhansali had better stand up and clear up all the controversies surrounding his film, Devdas. There are strong rumours that Madhuri Dixit is no longer part of the cast because of the diktats of the distributors who don't find her hot and saleable any more. Then, fresh rumours and sources close to Bhansali suggest how finally Shah Rukh too, may not be doing the film and that the director will revert back to his old favourite and repeat Salman Khan in this one too! But one factor, which remains constant through it all, is Aishwarya Rai. Say it Bhansali, give us a clear picture, once and for all.
Playing it too Saif
Saif Ali Khan had been banking on Sooraj Barjatya's Hum Saath-Saath Hain to work wonders for his career. When offers were pouring in, he refused them all because they were either second leads or parallel hero roles. At that time, Saif felt he was good enough for solo-hero films. And that the magic of Hum Saath-Saath Hain would do it all. But it did not. And today Saif's career is where it was -- heading nowhere. If he has to salvage his career, perhaps he should consider keeping wife Amrita Singh away. Since Amrita is officiating as his secretary, filmmakers, who find her troublesome and difficult to handle, are shying away from approaching Saif. So, the truth could be closer home than he believes.
Jealous Juhi
The Juhi Chawla-Raveena Tandon animosity has now turned into an open battle. Juhi does not miss any opportunity to hit out at her rival who, she feels, stole a film -- Ram Gopal Varma's Shool -- from right under her nose. But then Juhi should realise that it was not Raveena's fault. When Juhi injured herself and did not have the requisite dates to give producer Nitin Manmohan, the filmmaker, instead of cancelling the well-planned out schedule, went ahead and replaced her with Raveena who had the necessary dates. Going by this logic, Juhi should be venting her spleen at Karisma Kapoor, Manisha Koirala, Tabu, Mahima Chaudhary as well, among others. Because by the time the insecure Juhi makes up her mind, the filmmakers already decide to replace her. And didn't Juhi, without any qualms, quietly go ahead and accept Arjun Pandit when Raveena had been signed and sealed for the project?
Star power
Star shows are turning out to be rather popular and lucrative these days. At a recent show organised by Hindustan Levers, stars like Akshay Kumar, Anil Kapoor, Urmila Matondkar, Shilpa Shetty and Govinda turned up to take part. What is even more surprising is that some of the stars cancelled their shootings for the show. Anil Kapoor is said to have flown down from his outdoor shooting schedule just to attend it. Considering the amount of money they get to perform at these private shows, this kind of behaviour is not surprising, after all. But then, shouldn't the stars also take into consideration the problems they are causing filmmakers, who invest their time and money, and risk so much to make the stars what they are?
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