The October heat is soaring and consequently, the goings-on in tinsel ville have had the temperatures soaring even higher.
As always, the sleuths of your favourite magazine ’Dust Of Stars’ have been all over, on the lookout for gossip which you can relish. Humaare jaasoos ... chaaron taraf faile hue hain!
This month, we present to you three shocking scoops. Don’t be shocked at our sleuthing skills, lovelies. It’s nothing new that you are reading something shocking here first.
Firstly, it is the turn of King Kong ... er ... King Khan. Shah Rukh Khan, after having consulted a back specialist some months ago has now consulted a speech specialist. The speech specialist is supposedly one of the best in the world, but the poor soul gave up his profession because he could not stop Shah Rukh stuttering K-k-k-k-k-k-k-k ... at the rate of 60/minute.
Tusshaar Kapoor’s unemployment has reached an all-time low. He got so desperate that he volunteered playing an alien in Rakesh Roshan’s next movie, which Roshan refused on the grounds that he didn’t want to invite the wrath of the real aliens by subjecting them to the abuse of being compared to Tusshaar. Tusshaar, tusi haar gaye!
And now for the shocker of the month! Here is a damsel, who is barely out of college, which it is rumored, she didn’t complete. Her surname has got her until here, but it seems that the Bollywood glitz has swallowed Esha Deol. She is all of 21, unmarried, single and here is the result of her mingling ... Esha Deol has a secret daughter!
Although we haven’t been able to get hold of scientific evidence as yet, the resemblance is crystal clear. Esha Deol’s daughter looks quite similar to her, but to compare them is like comparing Sachin and Sehwag. Esha Deol is merely Sehwag, while her daughter is way ahead! Moreover, her daughter knows how to act! It is rumored that Esha’s daughter is named Hema Malini ...
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I am still regretting the fact that I wrote a review on ’Five Most Beautiful Actresses’ before seeing Baghban. People have not been able to prove the existence of God, but after seeing Hema Malini in Baghban, I can ascertain that whether God exists or not, a goddess surely does ...
Frankly, I didn’t want to watch this movie. Prior to this, I have enjoyed Hema only in Khushboo, Kinara and Seeta Aur Geeta. No, I did not like Basanti! When I heard that the Big B was in this flick, all I could think was not ’Big B’, but ’Torturous B (oom)’. And when a male stripper called Sallu Lallu hounds the screen, all I can say is ’’Hey! Ram’’ (which was incidently Hema’s last movie).
But, reviews on MS enlightened me on to the screen names of the principle characters. And then, who could miss a movie which had Raj and Pooja together!
The story of Baghban is as old as the hills. Which hill, did you ask? The hill is called Mt. Avtaar. As in Rajesh Khanna’s Avtaar, Baghban shows a man who lives for his children, and then experiences the bitter truth that the children are not living for him, but his wealth. But, is there anything more to Baghban? Read on ...
Baghban opens with beautiful titles. Amitabh Bachchan, playing Raj Malhotra (Why does Raj always have to be Malhotra and not Lalwani?) is walking on the beach with a cute child. The title song haunts in the background and explains the significance of the title, wherein ’Baghban’ i.e. gardener, refers to the head of the family, who takes care of the entire family, i.e his plants.
But, the more prominent premise of Baghban is Raj’s love for his wife, which is alive and kissing, oops, kicking even at 60. A vibrant, gorgeous dream called Hema Malini plays Pooja, Raj’s wife. Sigh! I now know how their love was eternal ... one cannot blame Bachchan, when his wife is as beautiful as Hema! Another reason to Raj & Pooja’s eternal love would be their respective names, but that’s a different matter ...
Although Baghban is not the kind of movie you would have a blast watching, it is a well-made flick. A simple story, although not amazingly executed, is given the kick by brilliant performances by the lead pair.
Amitabh Bachchan is back, and how! After the disgusting piece of garbage called Boom, Amitabh regains his fans’ trust with Baghban. He is the life of Baghban. Although I think he tended to go over the top in the first half an hour, his performance is brilliant from the moment his sons decide to shelter Raj and Pooja separately, turn by turn. Watch out for the scene after that, when Hema gives him the proverbial ’kasam’ and he displays a plethora of emotions without uttering a single word. Shock, disappointment, anguish and rage manifest as he wears his coat, while the couple are leaving. The manner in which he wears the coat and his body language in that sequence are simply brilliant! Amitabh’s interactions with his costar for the Pepsi ad, the young, cute kid, Yash Pathak are beautifully shown. And the clincher is when he gives a speech at the end of the movie. Bachchan brings back the era of KBC where he buttons his blazer, rubs his palms and bellows, ’’Devion sajjanon.’’ I half expected him to rattle off fifteen questions! Although he refrains from asking questions, the speech which he gives is mind-blowing. The theatre where I saw Baghban may have had merely 40 people in the hall, but I daresay atleast 30 of them had whipped out their handkerchiefs. The others, I guess, must have forgotten to bring their kerchiefs along ...
Hema Malini, as I would love to repeat a thousand times, looks immensely gorgeous! Although she plays a grandmother to Rimi Sen, they looked like sisters! She puts up a good show in the acting department, again acting best through her expressions. Her dialogue delivery has improved, too.
Sallu Lallu ... er ... Salman Khan was last seen in Tere Naam (Ram Ram!). The titles of Baghban proclaim Salman Khan (in a very special appearance). Now, I don’t know whether I missed something, but the only special thing was that he was completely dressed throughout! Performance and Salman? What’s that ?! Mahima Chaudhari (Mahima who, did you ask?) plays Salman’s wife, and has only one job. Whenever Salman says ’’Babuji’’, she repeats ’’Sasurji’’. Whenever he says ’’Maa’’, she says ’’Maaji’’. I was wondering whether I was watching Mahima or watching a parrot, but concluded that it must be Mahima because parrots don’t look that bad ...
Among the avaricious members of the family, sadly, none of the roles are well sketched. However, Aman Verma, Sameer Soni and Divya Dutta do a reasonable job in whataver role they have.
Yash Pathak is immensely cute and does a good job. Rimi Sen acts well, but pray, how can she play Aman Verma’s daughter? Did he do it when he was twelve ?!
Sorry, continued in the comments section ... Please check it out!