Stardust india TruePDF february 2019

OOOOO Rajkummar Rao and Fatima Sana Shaikh seem like two actors who really know how to have a good time.. Fox Star Studios, one of the joint producers of the film, it is believed, lost

Was Raju HiRani fRamed

so tHat He could be Robbed

of His RigHtful cRedit?

www.stardust.co.in

` 75

“I Was Born For Gully Boy; Only I Can Do This!” Ranveer Singh

AlIA BhATT:

“Both Ranbir and Ranveer are very special to me!”

FEBRUARY 2019

Can Word Of Mouth

Make Or Mar A Film?

Accused or

And Farhan Akhtar

Getting Married ?

2018 was a year of marriages - from Deepika Padukone to Priyanka Chopra; and many other stars got married last year Well, Amy Jackson too is following close at the heels and is expected to tie the knot in 2020 with her boyfriend George Panayiotou Now with her ex Prateik Babbar married, Amy too has moved on and how!

OOOOO

Amy Jackson

A li’l bird whispered that mamma Madhu Chopra

was not happy with Priyanka Chopra and Nick

Jo-nas’ big fat wedding and that made us jump out of

our skins Supposedly, Madhu wanted her daughter’s

wedding to have a longer guest list but the list was

restricted to only 200 (sob) and apparently, now she

wants another wedding so that she can call

every-one she wasn’t able to call for the first every-one…Some

times wedding celebrations just don’t end, do they?

OOOOO

If 2018 was full of star weddings, 2019 too looks

pretty bright on the shaadi front Fron Varun Dhawan

to Arjun Kapoor to Farhan Akhtar… all seem to be

ready to get hitched to their loving partners But who

we would really like to see jump onto the wedding

band baaja bandwagon is our fave Sushmita Sen

But Sush refuses to concur, more so she shocked us further when she posted a picture on social media saying marriages are creepy! Whaaaat!

OOOOO

Hushed whispers doing the ‘rounds say that wood’s super couple Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt’s relationship might be on its last limbs right now Tabloids say that Ranbir is dodging his girlfriend and giving her the cold shoulder, going back to his old aloof ways the way he did with his previous high-profile couplings We wouldn’t really want this union

Bolly-to sour, but if it does turn out Bolly-to be true, sorry folks but we’re team Alia all the way!

OOOOO

The reigning queen of television and all things dramatic, Ekta Kapoor now has another cute li’l thing to look after Apparently, she’s decided to jump onto the baby boom bandwagon and become mother to a baby boy via surrogacy Ekta has called her bundle of joy Ravie after grandpa Jeetu whose real name

is the same Looks like we have another pap fave in the making!

OOOOO

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No one thought that a pairing like Ayushmann Khurrana and Bhumi Pednekar would work as well

as it did But not only did they soar, they are now about to start prep on their third film together, Amar

Kaushik’s Bala Filming reportedly begins in April

and the film will see two individuals come together

in a society that looks down upon their well, looks

OOOOO

But apparently, the Bhumi-Ayushmann pairing was

as accidental as it could be On Koffee With Karan,

Bhumi revealed that YRF casting director Shanoo

Sharma asked Bhumi to ‘mock audition’ for Dum Laga

Ke Haisha when she was just an assistant Four mock

scenes later, Shanoo told her, “You’re being

con-sidered for ‘Dum Laga Ke Haisha’,” which honestly

must’ve been as huge a surprise to Bhumi as much

as it was for us All’s well that ends well!

OOOOO

Rajkummar Rao and Fatima Sana Shaikh seem like two actors who really know how to have a good time While shooting for their Anurag Basu venture

together in Bhopal, Fatima spotted a baaraat nearby

and pulled Rajkummar along with her to gatecrash the party and have some of their own fun It took

15 whole minutes before someone realised that two big Bollywood stars were dancing the night away

Now let’s move on

to a different Kapoor, namely Aditya Roy Kapur After sending the webzines into a

tizzy with his aunty-ji

impersonation on run Dhawan’s Insta-gram about when he’d join the social media platform, he finally did it! All of Bollywood mo-seyed on down to the actor’s Insta profile to welcome him Aditya, all we want now is for you to go ahead

Va-‘n’ post naughty little things for us to gush on…

OOOOO

But be careful or else you could just end up having

a free-for-all fumble quite like Disha Patani did The

starlet put up a paid Instagram post for a mobile

company when she ‘accidentally’ put up a message

for her team, and the internet did what they are

great at… they trolled her on her faulty

‘copy-past-ing’ skills Mercilessly!

OOOOO

at their baaraat And that’s when they got plagued

with selfie requests, by then of course they fled the

scene the price one pays for success

OOOOO

Speaking of fun, we’ve never had reason not to adore

Rekha, and recent events just add a special tizz to

it At Dabboo Ratnani’s 2019 calendar launch, Rekha

candidly posed for the paparazzi when someone

pointed out that she was posing in front of a picture

of Amitabh Bachchan One look at the frame and Rekha hightailed it out of there as if someone had brought on the plague ‘That moment’ made every-one’s night memorable indeed!

OOOOO

While Akshay Kumar

has his own Good

News to shoot for

with Kareena poor, it seems like he’ll be bringing

Ka-us another piece of

‘good news’ pretty

soon as Hera Pheri 3

might finally go on floors by the end of this year with Ak-shay, Suniel Shetty and Paresh Rawal

Finally, of course, is

an understatement! Amidst months of reports of the film being back on, stalled and shelved, it seems like the third part of this hilarious franchise might get to see the light of day after all! Hallelujah!

OOOOO

Some times, trolls are nasty In a recent chat show interview, Sara Ali Khan was sub-jected to some of her online haters for her suppos-edly ‘skimpy’ outfit choices But Sara being a chip of the ol’ block like Dad Saif laughed her head off at a little

hatke comment

‘Nawab gareeb

ho gaye’ and that

cooled all the hate trolls Sometimes a li’l sense of humour helps

OOOOO

The internet trolls have been hav-ing a field day lately, their recent target being the ever present Karan Johar KJo revealed that he killed off Anushka Sharma’s

character in Ae

Dil Hai Mushkil

because ‘she didn’t love Ranbir, so she got cancer and had to die’ He later called himself

‘God’ and said that

it was her ment’ The ladies

‘punish-of the web did not take to it kindly and promptly

pro-ceeded to tear KJo apart for his twisted views on love

and karma Not a good month for Karan Johar, no no

OOOOO

Another superstar left unappreciated was Sanjay

Dutt Sanju Baba decided to put up an adorable post

celebrating Iqra, his daughter with Maanyata on

National Girl Child Day But instead of going ‘aww’, every one started bashing the star for completely ignoring the fact that he has another daughter who

he ‘conveniently’ forgot to wish - his first wife Richa Sharma’s daughter Trishala Dutt He brushed them

under the carpet in his blockbuster biopic Sanju too

But then again, some ghosts just don’t go away

OOOOO

As far as frosty relationships are concerned, let’s talk about Sushant Singh Rajput and Ankita

Lokhande Well, the muphat Ankita straight up

ad-mitted that she wasn’t on talking terms with her ex

On being asked whether she would work with him,

the Manikarnika actress said that if the script was

good, then ‘I have no choice’ Ouch! Well, it seems like the two have some sorting out to do in the con-geniality department

OOOOO

From one cat to another, Meeeoow till next month!

Priyanka Chopra is all set for her next Hollywood

project which is a biopic on Ma Anand Sheela,

Osho’s right hand woman PeeCee revealed that

she is developing and producing this project with

American director Barry Levinson Priyanka will be

playing the lead Incidentally, our Mrs Jonas was

last seen in the controversial documentary Wild Wild

Country, which blew everyone’s minds off This one

too seems to be heading the same way

OOOOO

Rajamouli’s team ap-proached Alia

Bhatt for RRR,

a Telugu film

KJo who is the co-producer supposedly suggested Alia Bhatt’s name for the film Ap-parently, Kiara Advani and Ram Charan are also part of this project Well,

we are ing with bated breath to watch Alia Bhatt play

wait-a Telugu girl

OOOOO

CAT’S CROWN

This month goes to

Recently, Sara Ali Khan was asked to reveal who she was dating, she said, “Nobody! The only person I have ever dated is Veer Pahariya.’ So what happened

to Anil Kapoor’s son Harshvardhan Kapoor? Wasn’t she seen getting very cosy with him at many dos?

OOOOO

Talking about Sara, she and Janhvi Kapoor are said

to be the debutants of the year Obviously, Sara Ali

Khan has been successful in creating more buzz than Janhvi So it doesn’t come as a surprise when Janhvi was mistakenly called by Sara’s name by the pap’s Could have been an honest mistake, but Janhvi insisted that the media called her Sara deliberately

Ah well!

OOOOO

Deepika Padukone For being appointed as the Chairperson for MAMI (Mumbai film festival) This did come as a surprise to many, however, we are told that there was a strong reason behind it and that was they were hoping Deepika’s star power could get the investors flocking in Kudos to our power gal Deepika!

Sumita Chakraborty finds out more about this unsavoury incident…

In fact, that’s what fuelled the entire buzz – was it a typo or an obvious omission… the media questioned, the film fraternity wondered… Well, the truth behind the omission was so shocking that it left everyone gasping in shock…

The Man On The Pedestal

…Put up high on a pedestal, revered by one and all, he is the genius director just about everyone in Tinselville looks up to And, he was and still is on the wish list of every actor – big

or small

Incidentally, they called him the gentleman director mostly because of his humble and

an almost self-depreciating demeanour In fact, if you weren’t

an avid film goer, it surely would come as a surprise to learn that this ordinary man is the one responsible for an extraordinary repertoire of Bollywood’s top-of-

Sexual

Raju Hirani Than That What

Meets The Eye?

t was the second edition of the poster of Ek Ladki Ko Dekha

I

PhotograPhs: Maajid Khan;

assistants: VaibhaV PurarKar &

Mayuresh MahadeV sawant

iMage Processed by:

FourKoholics

ranbir & raju hirani: styled by:

eKa laKhani, assistant stylist:

Manda narawade

14 stardust february 2019

the-line heart-warming films - from

the super remarkable 3 Idiots to

the incredible Munnabhai series

to now the super hit Sanju That’s

right… we are talking about

Rajkumar Hirani

With a career spanning a few

decades, this man has seen many

stupendous successes In fact,

everything he touched turned to

gold Until… a catastrophic turn

of recent events cast aspersions

on his character and tarred his

hitherto squeaky clean reputation

…It was indeed ‘breaking news’

and every media house had the

same headline ‘Rajkumar Hirani

Accused of Sexual Abuse’ in big,

bold sized fonts

#MeToo Again?

Shocking! …And the film industry

which was already reeling under

the devastating #MeToo movement

buckled further under the weight

of such a huge accusation Agreed,

the #MeToo movement had netted

the likes of Sajid Khan, Vikas Bahl,

Kailash Kher, Anu Malik and so

many others But undoubtedly Raju

Hirani’s name in this infamous list

sent shock waves throughout the

industry And why not? There’s

never been a whiff of misconduct in

his entire career – in fact, all the stars

who worked with him rave over him

So this was indeed a biggie

Timeline

So what exactly happened? …

Supposedly, Rajkumar Hirani

was accused of sexual assault

by a woman who worked as his

assistant at RHF (Rajkumar Hirani

i have offered my full support and recommended that she take the complaint to a legal body or a neutral party since we cannot be arbitrators or judges on this.”

— anupama chopra

february 2019 stardust 15

Films) while working on the Sanjay Dutt’s biopic

film Sanju An email addressed to Sanju

co-producer and Hirani’s close business associate

Bollywood producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra dated

November 3, 2018 by the lady claimed that

Hirani had sexually abused her on more than one occasion over a six-month period between March and September 2018 Supposedly, the assault and abuse took place during the post-production work

of Sanju starring Ranbir Kapoor which released on

June 29, 2018

According to a media report, the woman in

question has allegedly said that on April 9, 2018, Hirani first made a sexually suggestive remark to her and then sexually assaulted her at his home-

office

In the email, she claimed, “I remember forming these words on my lips - “Sir This is wrong

Because of this power structure You being the

absolute power and me being a mere assistant, a nobody - I will never be able to express myself to you.”

Until the assault, the woman wrote in her email, she saw Hirani as a father figure “My mind, body and heart were grossly violated that night and for the next 6 months,” the email said of the period

that followed

The woman also said that she was intimidated

by Hirani, who was her boss at the time, and

nearly 30 years older than her She said she took great pains to conceal Hirani’s actions towards

her and maintain a facade of normalcy as her

father was suffering from a terminal illness, and

she desperately needed to hold on to her job

“I had no choice but to be polite to him,” the

woman told in an interview to HuffPost India “It

was unbearable but the reason I endured it all,

until I couldn’t, was because I didn’t want my

job to be taken away from me, and work to be

as a family friend and most importantly, as a woman.”

— raageshwari loomba

Rajkumar Denies

Rajkumar Hirani, responding through his lawyer Anand Desai, categorically denied the allegations

“At the outset, our client states that the allegations made against him are false, mischievous, scandalous, motivated and defamatory.”

Reactions

Throughout the decades, it was said that Raju Hirani and Vidhu Vinod Chopra were as close

as two peas in a pod Their relationship synced extremely well However, this unsavoury incident jolted their relationship totally out of sync In fact, Raju Hirani himself agreed that his relationship with Vidhu Vinod Chopra was “crumbling under pressure.” And though Vidhu Vinod Chopra declined to comment, Anupama Chopra, Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s wife and partner at Vinod Chopra Films (VCF) confirmed that the woman had shared an account with her, and that VCF has since set up a committee to address complaints

of sexual harassment

Anupama confirmed, “I have offered my full support and recommended that she take the complaint to a legal body or a neutral party since we cannot be arbitrators or judges on this.”

raju hirani is one of the most decent human beings i have ever worked with and i think it would be grossly unjust on my part to speak on this as i do not know the details.”

— dia Mirza

“We also offered to set up an ICC

at VCF (which we have set up

since then) even though a VCF

ICC could not have taken up

the case since she was an RHF

(Rajkumar Hirani Films) employee

at the time These are two

separate companies,” she said in

an email dated December 5, 2018

Anupama said that the woman

told her she needed time to

think about how to take things

forward She added, “I did not

want in any way to pressurise her

or steer her in any direction As

Vinod and I told her then, she has

our full support and we are fully

respectful of whatever decision

she has taken.”

But what was a little strange

was that despite there being no

third party arbitration or a legal

complaint, Rajkumar Hirani was

ousted from the credits of Ek Ladki

Ko Dekha which was co-produced

by Vidhu Vinod Chopra and him

Writer Abhigyan Joshi who was

also very close to Raju Hirani too

proclaimed that he stood by “her”

(the lady who accused Raju Hirani

of sexual abuse)

On the other hand, actors like Dia Mirza, Sharman Joshi, Arshad Warsi came out in support of Raju Hirani Sharman Joshi asserted,

“Raju sir, is a man of immense integrity, character, honour, compassion and truthfulness, all the virtues one would imagine are non-existent in people today, someone I am absolutely inspired

by and have learnt from and because of whom I believe I have gone onto being a better person.”

He also started the hashtag

— richa chadha

In The Words Of Film Information

Halt Action

“The #MeToo movement

in Bollywood got another

injection when an assistant

on Sanju two weeks back

accused Rajkumar Hirani

of sexually harassing her

Fox Star Studios, one of the

joint producers of the film,

it is believed, lost no time

in deleting the name of

Hirani from the publicities

of Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh

Aisa Laga, the next joint

production venture of Fox,

Hirani and Vidhu Vinod

Chopra, like Sanju was It

is being said that Fox takes

matters of sexual harassment

very seriously and, therefore,

the Indian counterpart of

the Hollywood studio lost no

time in striking off the name

of the accused producer

The industry was shocked

to learn that a simpleton

like Rajkumar Hirani’s name

could be dragged into a

controversy as serious as

the #MeToo one The trade

was even more shocked that

Vinod Chopra and Fox took

the immediate and drastic

action of deleting the name

of Hirani from the publicities

of the forthcoming film Just

a thought: if the studios and

producers are so upright about

their association with a person

who has been accused – as

against proven guilty – of

sexual harassment, shouldn’t

the said studio and producer

first and foremost return the

profits of the previous film to

Hirani because if they can’t

allow his name to adorn the titles of their next film, why should they also partake in the profits of his previous film

And, more importantly, the girl who has accused the numero uno filmmaker and sexual harassment has said that the alleged harassment took place

on the sets of Sanju (and not on

the sets of Ek Ladki Ko Dekha

Toh Aisa Laga) Or probably,

the uprightness comes into play when it’s time to give the accused credit for something, not when taking the profits from the film which was made (directed and co- produced) by the accused

Double standards, we say.”

february 2019 stardust 19

Arshad Warsi further insisted, “I

have never seen him (Raju Hirani)

behaving badly or doing anything

incorrect So, suddenly hearing this,

you think, ‘How is this possible?’

I cannot say anything till it is all

100 per cent there One cannot

jump to a conclusion It is not fair

I personally don’t like to jump to

conclusions and pass my judgement

and suddenly start looking at a

person differently I cannot do that

It’s not right to do that What I feel

about Rajkumar Hirani? I think he

is a fabulous gentleman He is a

lovely guy My association with him

is so long and I have never seen one

wrong thing about him.”

Actress Richa Chadha who

has been one of the most vocal

proponents of the #MeToo

movement in India, says, “It isn’t

power structure I think everyone

is tentative because they don’t

know the facts of the case Legally,

a publication is allowed to run a

story because they vet it with their

legal team But it’s an anonymous

allegation I’m not defending him or

the girl either I’ve learnt it the hard

way A friend of mine was falsely accused This is the only reason why I feel people are tentative.”

She added, “He (Hirani) is one

of the directors with the cleanest image, you must not forget that There have been others who were accused but nobody said anything.”

Dia Mirza also reiterated, “I am deeply distressed by this news

As someone who has known and respects Raju sir for 15 years I can only hope that a due official enquiry is conducted He is one of the most decent human beings I have ever worked with and I think

it would be grossly unjust on my part to speak on this as I do not know the details.”

Sonam Kapoor avers, “I am a huge supporter of the #MeToo movement and this is a very important question… I know Raju Hirani very well I have known him for many years and I have huge respect for him as a filmmaker and as a man I think we all should reserve judgement and be very responsible before we say anything more on this subject Because we don’t need to derail this movement,”

Boney Kapoor too further claimed, “I don’t believe this allegation He can never do something like this.”

Foot Note

We too endorse the #MeToo movement completely However, there are things that definitely rankle in Raju Hirani’s case Like for instance, why was Raju Hirani’s name removed from the credits of

Ek Ladki Ko Dekha without any

proper enquiry? Why was no formal complaint made against him?Lots of questions, but only time can tell what the outcome

of this case will be In the meantime, we hope and pray that justice prevails and the truly guilty gets punished

what was also a little strange

was that despite being no

third party arbitration or a legal

complaint, raj Kumar hirani

was ousted from the credits on

the poster of ek ladki Ko dekha

which was co-produced by

Vidhu Vinod chopra and him.

in good times

was a new phase in my life

There were no difficulties and I worked smoothly In fact, I started

to feel that I wasn’t working very hard but people were still

paying me (laughs) Aur kripya

diya kare So the work people

usually found difficult I never did

And I delivered hit films for 15 years that created history And this history would never have happened if I hadn’t listened to

Dilip sahab back then

As an actor how do you perceive Pahlaj Nihalani as a producer?

Whoever you are, you always need a producer who can present you well I’m very confident about his presentation He is presenting Mishika and the two other young

girls who are working in Rangeela

Raja It is similar to how he

presented me too back then Look

at him sitting like a Don! (laughs)

Rangeela Raja is our fourth film

and we have always given hits We are working after 25 years now

Shola aur Shabnam, Aankhen, Jhoota Ilzaam and now this We

have given super successes in the

industry Pahlaj ji has mastered giving hits with me in it (laughs)

There are people who make films with the stars, then there are people behind the stars He is the latter Half a dozen actors have entered the industry because of him and I’m lucky to be one of them So I’m very thankful to him

Who do you consider your friends in the industry?

The term ‘friends’ is very tricky

I never really found the time to make friends in the industry And when I do find time, just like two stars in the sky, we never seem to stick together But, as an artiste,

I feel the entire film line is one family They’re there throughout your life, so the term ‘friends’ is very underwhelming I never got the time to party in the evenings with people from the industry

or spend much time with them

I was too engrossed in my work But now is a good start is what I feel I think I have the time now and maybe, you all will see me more often at parties

What are your next projects?

I have finalised two films but

I don’t want to announce it right now

Why are you doing lesser films

than before?

I do work that comes to me where

I feel satisfied I used to do a

lot of movies back then - I hope

the aura is the same when I do

a movie today But I’ll not do as

many films as before - I couldn’t

possibly be able to, not anymore

So whatever movie or work that

comes to me, I’ll do it with utmost

sincerity and passion That’s the

aim, not the number of films

You are constantly asked why

you don’t do genres other than

comedy What is your response

to that?

I used to feel this initially that

I was stuck doing comedy or

scripts that came to me were of a

comic nature During the filming

of Izzatdaar, Dilip sahab ji told

me that I should do subtle and

light cinema This was because

my health was a little off track

as the movies I was doing then

were mostly action films That’s

when I realised that those kind

of films suited me more and I

started giving hits I felt that

Pooja Kesavan chats up Govinda to find out about

controversies, equations and his film Rangeela Raja

Read on to know more

“ I Never Really Found

The Time To Make

Friends In The Industry ”

AliA BhAtt continues to take the Bollywood film industry by storm with her memorable performances

From Highway to Raazi, this actress has proven herself

to be one of the biggest finds of the last decade and has already positioned herself at the top of the chain Nothing seems to be slowing her down as an actress, and she’s also

as happy as can be behind the scenes as she continues to

date Brahmastra co-star Ranbir Kapoor Here, she talks to

Ahad Sanwari about her relationship with Ranbir Kapoor and Ranveer Singh and her films, including her latest release

Gully Boy Read on

“ Both Ranbir And Ranveer Are Superb Human Beings And Outstanding Actors ”

How was it working on Gully Boy with Zoya Akhtar?

I keep talking all the time about how brilliant my experience was working with Zoya and Excel Entertainment, I couldn’t have asked for a more efficient and

punctual team And Gully Boy as a film is so raw, it comes straight from the stomach

to the heart to you I really felt all of that on the sets It was a crazy experience

What kind of character are you playing in Gully Boy?

I can’t talk too much about my character right now, I don’t know how much I’m allowed to say People have asked me if she’s a doctor She’s just a medical student and as the trailer showed, she, in this case, I, can do a liver transplant on you I don’t guarantee that it’ll be successful but I can do it (laughs)

Your character says ‘Aisa dhoptungi na usko!’ to a girl who she thinks is

making a move on her man Have you done or would do the same thing with Ranbir?

Not yet, at least, aisa koi situation aaya toh nahin hai And I don’t think I ever will because I’m a very non-violent girl But dimaag mein zaroor dhoptungi I’ll just

stand far away and think about it

What major similarities and differences do you see when working with Ranbir and Ranveer?

There are quite a lot of similarities, actually Both Ranbir and Ranveer are superb human beings and also, outstanding actors And they’re both also very special to

me The only difference would probably be that I’m doing Gully Boy with one and

Brahmastra with the other

“ I Was Born For

RanveeR Singh can only be described as a ‘filmi enigma’ He has energy that could sustain a village for a few days and channels all of that into his films The actor has given blockbuster after blockbuster this past 2018 with two gigantic

hits under his belt with Padmaavat and Simmba Not only that,

he’s also been adding a variety of layers to India’s fashion game with all those bright colours, big sunglasses and poofy jackets And let’s not forget the fact that he provided one of the year’s biggest moments when he finally married his on-screen and off-screen rani Deepika Padukone Ahad Sanwari chats

with the Gully Boy star on looking forward to repeating his

success, rapping for his new wife and how he feels about being

at the top of his game Read on Only I Can Do This! ”

Gully Boy,

Gully Boy,

Gully Boy as a film for you is

something really close to your

heart because rap is something

that you’re extremely fond of.

When people first asked me about

this film, I told them that yeh meri

hi film hai Yeh film aur koi karta

toh main jal ke raakh ho jaata

Only I can do this and I was

born for Gully Boy! It’s a coming

together of many things that are

really dear to me Rap and

hip-hop music, which I’ve loved since

I was a kid My hometown, the

streets of Mumbai Zoya, who’s

more than just a director to me

She’s a friend, confidante, so

extremely special as a person

Ritesh, someone who’s family is

very close to my own and there’s

Farhan, a man who’s like a force

of nature who I’ve been fielding

to cast me in one of his films

for eight years now (laughs)

Hopefully he’ll consider me someday And then Alia, I really don’t know what to say I think we’re all just really lucky that Alia Bhatt is a part of our cinema Too many special things in one film!

How was the process of preparing to play a street rapper for Gully Boy?

What can I say, it was the most fulfilling process Just to be among the real boys and rappers themselves, guys with such raw talent There’s a lot of emotion in this film and we’re really happy to present it to you All of them have contributed to it Just interacting with them was one of the fondest

memories I’ll have for the rest of

my life The preparation process, doing workshops with them, working on dialogues with them, collaborating on music It was the experience of a lifetime

Do you think that having money makes it easier for you to put your talent out there to the world and shine brighter?

How rich you are, how poor you are, it’s all religion Even a rich person can have struggles that you and I don’t know Every person on this Earth is struggling and going through the agonies

of existence That’s why the best thing you and I can do is

be kind In context to this film, invariably you’ll find that some kind of struggle gives birth to

art, artistry and kalakaari And

we have that in this film

Yeh film aur koi

karta toh main jal ke raakh ho jaata.”

I don’t like it when someone else’s film doesn’t do that well.”

I grew up in the mean streets

of Bandra, Pali Hill represent!

(laughs) Yeah, I think it’s correct

to say that we’re really hoping it’ll become an inspiration to the

youth Apna time aayega

In 2018, all three big Khans delivered movies that didn’t

do so hot at the box office, like Race 3, Thugs of Hindostan and Zero But you did amazingly with Padmaavat and Simmba

You’ve learned so much rapping

for this film, did you make

any up for your wife Deepika

Padukone? And how did she

react to the film?

Woh unke liye toh special solo

show dunga (laughs) When she

initially saw the teaser, she loved

it and was extremely excited

about the movie It was a very

novel approach, Zoya madam ne

khud apne haathon se kaata hai

And she’s very proud of me

As someone who grew up as a

gully boy in the streets of Bandra,

do you think this film will be an

inspiration to the youth?

Do you think your time has come now to rule the roost?

I can only say that for myself and the people I’ve worked with and worked for, I’m really happy that it was such a good year for us I don’t like it when someone else’s film doesn’t

do that well I’m a part of the industry as well and industry

se ham sab ka pet palta hai

Everyone works hard So when someone’s film doesn’t work that well, I feel bad And when

a film does do well, then I’m happy Especially if it’s mine (laughs)

The king of the Bollywood comedy, Anees BAzmee director cum

writer just can’t stop pumping out the hits Read on as Ahad Sanwari

talks to him about the ups and downs of the comedy line, future

scripts and writer’s woes.

You’re called the ‘comedy hit

machine’ because of how well

your films do What’s your

winning mantra?

I’ve written about 50 films, mostly

comedy All 14 of David Dhawan’s

hit films, I wrote Govinda’s

hits You could say I have that

inherent sense of humour But

it’s not like I’ve only written

comedy I wrote Pyaar Toh Hona

Hi Tha, which was a love story

I wrote Deewangee which was

a suspense-thriller Uske baad

comedies hi aati gayi Now if the

people are watching and having

fun, it’s never made me feel like

I shouldn’t do comedy But that

doesn’t mean I won’t do anything else I can do other things It’s just that people are really sad nowadays, I don’t really see

people laughing Public has rahi

hai, 2-2.5 ghante maze kar rahi hai, toh why not?

Is there any point when you feel that you’ve run out of gags and fun elements for your films?

Touchwood, that hasn’t happened yet But if you’ve seen my films, you’ll notice that there aren’t a lot

of gags, punches or buffoonery

Mine’s very situational I always give my actors one restriction

- please don’t do comedy I’ve

written a good script and you just have to perform it seriously My films always have these really

tense scenarios In No Entry,

three men are hanging off a cliff and they’re not trying to be funny They’re scared because

they could die In Welcome, all

of them are in that cabin which could fall and kill them all The Don of the movie, Nana Patekar, cannot get his sister married, which is a serious issue - no matter who you are - for any brother That’s where the comedy comes from And I create the kind

of situation that brings it out I don’t like the kind of buffoonery where people are falling about, making faces, hitting each other, double-entendres, I don’t believe

in having that kind of stuff in my pictures

What’s the status of Welcome 3?

I have no clue, there’s nothing going on as far as I know I’ve made two and I think that’s

enough for me I don’t know

kya karenge, paise-waise denge, baithenge, baat karenge It’s a

great franchise The first film was

a big hit, the second film was a big hit The third could also be a

big hit but the producer sahab has

to decide that now

Would you like to give the franchise treatment to more of your films?

There are innumerable films for which I could just make sequels and I don’t have to do much else

in life I won’t have to worry about losing gags or punches But I’m not only a director I’m first a writer I’ve written about 10-15 nice scripts I still have to think about which of them can become good films But yeah, there’s still

It’s just that people are really sad nowadays, I don’t really see people laughing.”

a lot of excitement, there are a

lot of stories I haven’t thought

of franchises but all of my films

could become franchises Aap

choti se choti picture le lijiye,

like Gopi Kishan, which I made

with Suniel Shetty It was a super

duper hit You could get a super

hit film out of it, the criminal

and the hawaldar But I’ve never

thought of it

As a writer, do you think it’s

hard for writers to gain the

same amount of recognition

for their work as compared to

actors and directors despite

the growing appeal of content

driven films?

Yeah, that is there But the

conditions of writers are better

now They’re demanding

money, people are giving it to

them Content-oriented films

are working now and I think

their value will go even higher

Because I believe that if the

script is good, then everything

goes smoothly If everything is

perfect and the script isn’t, it still

won’t work When a film becomes

a big hit, the script has a major

role to play in it Whenever we

go to sign actors, the biggest of

big superstars, the first thing

they also say is ‘Acha chalo story

sunao’ They wouldn’t ask if it

wasn’t that important If they’re

excited about the story, that’s

where the journey starts The

story is the first seed

There were reports on the

sequel for No Entry Apparently

Salman Khan was supposed to

return for the sequel but isn’t

What’s the actual scoop there?

The story is ready and I believe

it’s a great script What the

position of it is, Boney (Kapoor)

ji will be the better judge of that

We’re just waiting for Boney ji to

tell us what to do and we’ll start

The cast and all, nothing’s been

finalised yet

There are some actors that you’ve had in your films multiple times But people think it’s hard

to maintain relationships in Bollywood What is your take?

That depends on how you are

as a person Taking myself as

an example, I have really good relationships with a lot of people for years and they love me My entire point is that I want to make a super hit film and I talk with complete honesty I won’t try to sugarcoat something or pander to someone I’ll say it

straight out, “Sir, yeh scene

mein aapka kuch nahin hai, inka hai.” They know that I’m a very

straightforward, simple person without any ego or problems

My personal connections have always stayed great I’ve made films for years with such big star casts, it’s not easy making films with big names But this only happens if you have love, trust and a good body of work

I’ve always tried to maintain

a good work environment Let

me tell you, making films at the level I do for so many years is not easy at all For anyone, for big or

small directors and producers Getting them all together even And they’re all excited I’ve never taken actors to get better posters Look at any of the films I’ve done

Look at No Entry, Anil Kapoor

has a big role, so does Salman, Fardeen is very important, so are

Bipasha and Lara In Welcome

also, everybody is good! Akshay, Katrina, Feroz, Nana, Anil, Paresh, even the people standing

in the background Even with

Pagalpanti, I wanted to originally

have four villains But while I was writing it, I reduced it to two because I realised I probably couldn’t do four justice I never

thought ke poster mein aur do

naam chahiye They come on to

my sets and they know that it’s a typical Anees Bazmee film, very commercial, lots of fun and lots of comedy, with no buffoonery A lot

of good actors get uncomfortable with buffoonery and being over-the-top They just have to act out a script well Like Nana was

unbelievable in Welcome and he

acted very seriously I’ve never had problems on my sets, no ego, everyone is sitting together, because they all know that my motivation is to make a nice good film where everybody is happy

You’ve worked with many big actors for your films Which actor would you say you cherished your experience with and which you had an experience with that you’d never want to relive?

There are 5-7 actors like that, to

be honest Salman for one Ready was a super hit film No Entry, he

has unbelievable comic timing

We have great tuning and have a lot of love, friendship and respect for each other I love to work with him and we work on the same

wavelength Uske alava 11-12

filmein karli Anil Kapoor ke saath

Nana is there, Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn, a lot of people with whom

I’ve never taken actors to get better posters.”

I’ve had a special relationship and

I’ve enjoyed working with The

journey has been great

I’ve never really had actors I

haven’t enjoyed working with

because I’m very honest In the

beginning itself, when I narrate

the story, I don’t tell them

something I won’t do and clarify

everything at the start itself I’m

not very stubborn or anything, but

I’ve written something till 4 am

so I have a good understanding

of what I want to do with it I

might be doing something wrong

but other directors direct the way

they want to, and I’ll do this the

way I want to Toh aisa mera kisi

ke saath koi major problem hua hi

nahin hai.

Do you think that with the

amount films are making

nowadays the whole ‘xxx crore

club’ concept has become

redundant?

Numbers are very important Look

at the films nowadays that are

becoming such big hits having

been made with such little money

Us making films is a business,

even if you consider all the art

and creativity Everyone gets so

happy when the movie works well

and considering how many people

have worked hard for it, it should

do well 100 crore mein aadmi

khush hai, 2 mein zyada khush hai

aur 5 mein bahut zyada But woh

hona chahiye You don’t keep the

money in your mind when you’re

making the film, but as a director,

as a writer, your goal is to make

a good film When we made No

Entry, we didn’t think of any

numbers at all We worked hard

to create a beautiful picture that

12-15 years later still has people

telling me ‘Sir, jab bhi hamein

depression hota hai ham wahi

picture dekhte hain.’ Shelf-life for

these movies is also important,

which I think a few of my films

have Haan, I will say that even if

it does a little less business and

people appreciate it, I’ll be really happy My film could be a super hit, but if people just think it’s okay, I won’t feel that great

What is your opinion on the influence of Western and international cinema on Indian films? Do you think we end

up losing the desi touch in our films?

I’ve been seeing over the past few years that people have been adapting and introducing a lot

of new techniques and styles without working on the script

But we’ve seen films with really good scripts do well without needing the fancy techniques

They all look very ‘cool’ on screen,

a scene with the blue curtains and a blue cup of tea to match

But it’ll only work well if there’s some good dialogue with that

blue cup A film like Dangal is so

desi, Sultan itni desi picture hai

Granted, we’re all watching a lot

more foreign cinema But agar

ham Hindustan mein Hindustani hain, hamari picture mein hamari mitti ki khushboo nahin ho toh kya matlab hai? Movies I make abroad

are all very Hindustani films

I made Welcome in Dubai, but

the Don wants to get his sister married and that is such an Indian concept

How do you react when a film of yours doesn’t do well?

Bahut takleef hoti hai, bahut zyaada Because we can’t afford

a bad film after the amount of work we put into it and the expectations people have from us It’s shocking, it’s disheartening But it happens The biggest of big directors go through failure,

take Mehboob Khan Mother India

ke baad bhi Son of India aati hai

There’s no such director who’s only ever given hit films There are always 1-2 misfires Your intentions may be good and you may know what you’re doing, but some things just don’t work out

Ab nahin hoti toh kya karein? But haan, dukh toh hoti hai

From 2002-2011, you were making films at breakneck speed But since 2011, you’ve only released two films Why did your trajectory slow down all of

a sudden?

I’ve never really planned term, like I’ll make this film now, this film after and so on I just focus on one film at a time The film releases then I think of a new film, sit down with actors, work

long-on it and move long-on I dlong-on’t want

to be the kind of guy who makes two films a year or four films in three years I’ve never tried to do that and I never will I think I’ll just get burned out It’s not like I’m in some rush to make money,

I like to take things at my own pace We’ll probably wrap up

Pagalpanti in about four months

and I have Aankhein 2 after that

This is probably the first time that

I have films lined up like this I’ve never rushed with my films There were a couple of films that I made that didn’t get released I made

My film could be a super hit, but if people just think it’s okay, I won’t feel that great.”

this film called It’s My Life, which

didn’t release and another film

called Naam.

Why haven’t we seen more

female-centric comedies on your

roster?

I’ve never understood the concept

but I’m open to it People are

making such good films with

actresses nowadays, like Alia

Bhatt’s Raazi and Kangana

Ranaut’s Tanu Weds Manu The

actresses are doing a good job

nowadays and they’re making good

money I’d love to make this kind of

film But there needs to be a story

for it I’ve discussed it before but it

didn’t work out The current crop of

girls are really good, Alia, Kangana,

Deepika, Anushka, Priyanka,

they’re all doing a fantastic job

with the roles they’re being given

Why haven’t you climbed on

to the ‘launch’ bandwagon

by launching star kids in the

industry?

I’ve never really wanted to do

that because, as you can see,

I usually have about 4-6 actors

taking centre stage in my films

and I don’t think any star would

want their kid to debut in the

middle of all the actors in my film

If I ever think of something like

a love story, then maybe I could

approach someone But so far, I’ve

never really thought of doing it

The #MeToo movement

continues to rock Bollywood Do

you think that the industry has a

habit of protecting its own from

such allegations?

I don’t think anyone’s been

protecting anyone, they’ve all

been very supportive of the

movement Whether it’s Akshay

or Aamir, everyone’s been openly behind the movement And I think they’re doing the right thing

Could you tell us more about your upcoming film Pagalpanti and about some of your other upcoming projects?

I’m making Aankhein 2 with

Amitabh Bachchan I’ll finalise the cast in another month or two and we’ll start work on the film this year itself It’ll be a hardcore crime thriller It’ll be a different

I don’t think any

star would want their kid

to debut in the middle of

all the actors in my film.”

movie, like Deewangee

Pagalpanti, as the name says,

is complete madness John is doing some great comedy and his character is amazing He’s really excited and I hope and believe that it’ll go well We

did Welcome Back as well, but

there wasn’t a lot of comedy for him to do there since he

was playing that dada But

whatever comedy scenes he had, he did well This picture’s going to be a really different one for him as well

Hold

Up

The sleuths are at it again, and this time they’ve unearthed some extra juicy, extra spicy details about one of Bollywood’s newest romances But what’s really the ‘T’? Ahad Sanwari dredges it up for you, read on…

Are Farhan Akhtar

& Shibani Dandekar

Already

Engaged?

february 2019 stardust 35

dDespite the fact that it’s been

close to two months now,

Bollywood still isn’t over the wedding shablam that happened

in November-December

Ranveer-Deepika, Nick, Isha-Anand, three high profile weddings that took over

Priyanka-the nation and left Priyanka-the shehnais

ringing in our ears and brains for

a little too long And it doesn’t seem like it’s going away any time soon because of all the reports circling of celebrity couplings that could just be tying the knot this

2019, like Arbaaz and Giorgia and Malaika and Arjun

But one of the fresher unions

to hit the streets is that of Farhan Akhtar and Shibani Dandekar, who

wasted no time playing coy with

the rest of the world As innocent

as they pretended to be, their

social media told no lies as the two

were frequently snapped together

and didn’t mind putting up some

adorably cozy selfies and family

snapshots The two celebrated New

Years together with Farhan’s family

and were officially ‘couple spotted’

at the ‘DeepVeer’ reception The two still haven’t come out of hide ‘n’ seek mode, though, and aren’t openly declaring their love for one another

At least, not yet! Although, if rumour mills are to be believed, things are about to get a lot more interesting,

to say the least

The mills are churning, and they’re saying that not only are Farhan and Shibani super serious about each other, but they’ve apparently already decided to get hitched! Sit down,

‘cause things are about to move real fast Sources say that the couple is completely head over heels in love and have even been living together for a while now Farhan’s kids have warmed up to Shibani and the couple has already said their ‘yeses’ and are now on the hunt for caterers and decorators They could be getting married as soon as March or April We told you it was going to be a dizzying

one!

It seems like just yesterday that our Instagrams lit up with candid shots of Farhan and his

‘mystery girl’ and we all eagerly waited to see where that would take us And it’s been three years since Farhan’s split with Adhuna Bhabani, so, we think it’s safe to say that it’s about time Farhan moved on The two were seen together as recently as Dabboo Ratnani’s 2019 calendar launch, where they seemed extra chummy The question really remains that whether it’s actually true what’s being said and the two are really ready to walk down that aisle and say their ‘I Dos’ Whatever it may

be, folks, unpack your lehengas and dig up those mojris, it’s about

to get real festive up in here

february 2019 stardust 37

38 stardust february 2019