For the next few days – till I launch my novel – this blog is going to be your window seat to the exciting happenings around it. Getting a film star to launch one’s book or a magazine, as I have always got done, is an interesting experience. It is not easy if you have labels like ‘controversial’ and ‘maverick’ stuck to you.
Ajay Devgn had launched my book ‘Feng Shui for the Bold & Beautiful, the Rich & Famous’. Raveena Tandon inaugurated ‘Nehru & the Tantrik Woman’, the controversial play that the Government of Maharashtra did not permit to be staged. Shekhar Suman unveiled ‘Eurekha!’, which created a storm, and Manisha Koirala did the ritual for ‘Simply Scandalous: Meena Kumari’, which remained on Page Three longer than any Indian book during that period.
In anycase, I always end up thanking my stars that I am not the editor of a film magazine, who has to organize a cover story interview every month or even every week. A mainstream magazine can get away even with piles of garbage on the cover – like Khushwant Singh did as the editor of The Illustrated Weekly of India when he carried, “Why are Indians dirty?” or “Are the Indians dirtiest people in the world?”
I too had got ‘Island’ to run my story “Bombay’s 100 Worst” list with an ugly picture!
To return to film magazines, it must be a tough job for those who edit magazines like ‘Stardust’ and ‘Cine Blitz’ to organize photo-sessions with the same half-a-dozen stars after abusing them / exposing them. It would be like walking on a tight rope, or worse, a slippery, oily tight rope.
I also thank my stars that I’m not a producer – these days producers are only ‘executive producers’ though as the stars insist on a partnership and the corporate sector has taken over the job. The very thought of matching the dates and moods of temperamental stars leaves me cold. I have always admired the patience and tact of people like Ramesh Sippy, Subash Ghai, Manmohan Desai, Yash Chopra, and even Rajkumar Kohli who made multi-starrers like ‘Sholay’, ‘Saudagar’, ‘Naseeb’, ‘Kala Pathar’ and ‘Nagin’. Just see ‘John Johnny Janardhan’ in ‘Naseeb’ and you’ll see the biggest star-outing, with rivalries forgotten.
As a waiter, Amitabh mouths the lines and dances with his co-stars, and the guests include his then rival, Rajesh Khanna, with Sharmila Tagore, Raj Kapoor with Mala Sinha, Shammi Kapoor with two heroines on his arms, Dharmendra with Simi Garewal, Rakesh Roshan, Randhir Kapoor, Vijay Arora and some more.
Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJjMtDxGPMo
I have seen Subash Ghai running breathlessly between the makeup rooms of Dilip Kumar and Raaj Kumar when he was making ‘Saudagar’. Yash Chopra would add one more ‘dishum’ to placate one of the two heroes (Amitabh Bachchan and Shatrughan Sinha) of ‘Kala Patthar’.
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