Deepa created Water row to cash in on it — Hema Malini

It certainly was a press conference with a difference. With guests dressed in their Sunday best grouped around angeethis, singers belting out film songs and bulbs twinkling in the trees, it looked like a gaudy set for some Bollywood wedding extravaganza. Apt perhaps, considering it was a former Bollywood star doing the promotion.

Talking about starry airs, Hema Malini took the concept of being fashionably late to soaring heights by arriving four hours behind schedule.And was arrogantly unapologetic to boot. “You should appreciate the fact that I have come at all. I have just flown in from Madras and I am tired,” she frowned.

To add to this was the politically correct scenario of Jagdish Tytler, a staunch Congressman felicitating Hema Malini, a BJP supporter, with the ubiquitous bouquet.

Elegantly clad in a sari and accompanied by her daughter Esha, Hema Malini was the epitome of the arrogant star. Looking visibly irritable, she refused to be photographed “till there is proper lighting”.

Talking about her support for the BJP, the Dream Girl, whose smooth cheeks had drawn an antithetical comparison to the roads of Bihar, says: “I like their ideology. Vajpayeeji and Advaniji are the right people to rule the country.”

Talking about her myriad responsibilities as a dancer, television producer and honorary editor of New Woman and Meri Saheli, she says: “I have such a busy schedule. But I want to give back to the society, to the people who have given me so much.”It happens when you get a Filmfare Award for Lifetime Achievement.