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Journalism of Courage
Star sign
At the premiere of Ghulam, on Friday, the usual bunch of celebs turned up. From Subhash Ghai to Ramesh Sippy to Dharmesh Darshan, they were all there to keep the Ghulam team company. As were representatives from all the music companies. The Jains from Venus, people from HMV 8230; basically, the who8217;s who of the audio business. Except for one glaring omission 8212; no one from Tips 8212; the company that has the music rights of the film 8212; wasn8217;t there. Now, is there some static in the music frequency between the two parties? Are they no longer on the same wavelength? Tune in here for more.
Westward ho!
Well, it has finally happened. The small screen can no longer contain MTV veejay Rahul Khanna8217;s mega ambitions. The hunky son of film star and now MP, Vinod Khanna, is leaving the music channel for Hollywood. Yes! Hollywood. After all if brother Akshaye can take Bollywood by storm then why cannot his elder brother blaze a trail in the West. Apparently, he has two or three offers from foreign film-makers and Rahul has decided to take the plunge. Critics who have seen the previews of Deepa Mehta8217;s Earth are full of praises and let8217;s face it 8212; he is by far India8217;s best presenter. Rahul is a natural in front of the camera and his easy, relaxed demeanour comes across like a breath of fresh air. I mean, can we really stomach another skinny veejay, with a pseudo-phirang accent waving her stick line arms around, talking completedrivel.
Well, we will really miss Rahul and so, it seems, will the city8217;s most hip and happening. At a glitzy party thrown at Casbah, at the Khyber restaurant by MTV, the city8217;s model brigade turned up to sing Happy Birthday 8212; it was Rahul8217;s birthday on June 20, 1998. Alisha Om8216; Chinai actually did the honours by singing the world8217;s most-sung song. Her chorus was a whole set of known names 8212; Sanjay Maroo, Sheetal Malhar with boyfriend Gautam Kapoor, Sabah Khaleeli with her beau Kamlesh Shah, Anu Ahuja, Anu Aggarwal, Malaika Arora, Shenaaz Treasurywala and Nafisa Joseph. Music makers like Hariharan, Leslie Lewis, Hema Sardesai, Rajeshwari, Penaaz Masani and Vikas Bhalla were also present. Needless to say that the party went on till the wee hours.
Incidentally, this high-profile bash was MTV8217;s way of telling the world that the parting 8212; after four years 8212; was sans controversy. quot;He is going to pursue other interests in life,quot; say MTV sources. And they insist that he is not leaving themfor Hollywood. Right! Who should we believe: the official line or the grapevine?
Style guru
Speaking of stylish presenters, designer Arjun Khanna8217;s name is among the first to come to mind. A picture of avante garde chic, Arjun is now going to make a perfect picture 8212; literally. This fashion designer enters the movies to dress the stars. He is doing the clothes for the film Takshak. Govind Nihalani8217;s first commercial project, the film stars Ajay Devgan and Rahul Bose. Arjun is working closely on Rahul8217;s look and he is really enjoying his first foray into Bollywood. While, he is also doing another mega film 8212; the name he will not mention, yet 8212; Arjun is really enjoying the crazy deadlines Nihalani sets. If you recall, Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Ma took under 60 days from start to finish. While Takshak, being a commercial venture, is taking a little longer, the quot;demandingquot; director still has crazy deadlines that Arjun loves to meet. He is also really enjoying working withRahul. So much so, that Arjun now wants to act in the movies. Given the panache with which he presents a new range 8212; and his superbly stylish appearance 8212; we think he might just make a great hero. But can he be so cruel to the worldof fashion?
Deejay8217;s dance
On Saturday night, Smirnoff held yet another of their promos at the Crystal room. Though it was packed, most of the people there looked very bored. With different deejays competing against each other for a prize of two free tickets to London, all the deejays however were having a blast. But the rest of the guests were just squashed in a room and had to listen to some awful music. The only consolation was the winner: Ryan who looked like a phirang was a rather good looking chap and the girls thought he rated fairly high on the letching chart. But he was not the only beauty there. Also spotted was Gautam Kapoor with girlfriend Sheetal Malhar and Sabah Khaleeli.
Perfect pair
Chunky Pandey held a bash on Saturday night forhis wife Bhavana, at his Bandra house for her birthday. Bhavana looked radiant and seemed to fit into the world of Bollywood with ease. She was seen socialising with Jackie Shroff, Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan and wife Gauri. Chunky is well known for throwing some of the city8217;s wildest parties, but it seems after marriage he has calmed down and this was a quiet and an elegant affair. In fact, Chunky was not even the centre of attraction. The couple who got the most attention was Sohail Khan who is now married to Chunky8217;s cousin Seema. All these newly-married couples looked like they made perfect pairs.
And finally8230;
Canada8217;s most illustrious citizen 8212; she even has a day named after her 8212; was quite the traffic-stopper last week. Dressed in a slinky black number she was shooting for UTV8217;s Yeh Hai Raaz at the suburb of Saki Naka. An area where slums sit cheek-to-jowl with upmarket corporate houses, a girl dressed in an evening gown was reason enough for activity to come to a grindinghalt. The bubbly ex-veejay must have loved all this attention 8212; after all, ever since she quit Channel V, Ruby seems to have disappeared from the face of the ground. Other than this Karan Razdan serial, Ruby seems to be getting no new jobs and all the talk of her joining MTV seem to be on hold. Is that why her husband Nitin Bali is taking to music? Someone has to sing for supper if those bucks need to come rolling in.
