A paparazzi culture has been gradually beginning in India but it is still something Indian movie stars are not quite used to. Two of the leading actresses of Bollywood — Deepika Padukone and Katrina Kaif — found themselves at the receiving end of being shot by photographers at moments that they probably didn’t want publicised.
The more amusing case was of Deepika’s who is currently doing a movie out in Hollywood. But the strange thing was that the photographers were actually not after her. In fact, when a UK tabloid ran the photos that had her in the frames, they didn’t even name her. The man they got on camera coming out of a nightclub was the world tennis number one, Novak Djokovic. And they reported that he was seen with a leggy brunette before the two got into a car and went away. They described her as wearing “a pair of towering stiletto sandals which further heightened her willowy frame”.
What got people astonished in India was that the paper had no clue who Deepika was. Soon following the frenetic online activity over this ignorance, the paper corrected the headline and added Deepika’s name to it and the copy. There was really nothing surreptitious about Deepika and Djokovic’s meeting. They have known each other and even took part in an event in India a couple of years ago. So there is no reason for Deepika’s boyfriend Ranveer Singh to start getting worried.
Katrina Kaif was the other actress under the lens but in her case she was definitely the target. She is going through a difficult period and one of the thankless tasks fate has foisted on her is to find a new place to stay. After break up with Ranbir, she has to find her own place to stay in instead of the house they shared. And the house she used to stay in before, according to one media report, had structural and plumbing issues. So she could not return there.
It was during one such visit to a potential flat, that Katrina noticed photographers trailing her. Film stars usually ignore them but, perhaps due to the stress she is under, Katrina stormed over and said that if they continued to tail her she would report them to the police. Paparazzi also evoke another painful memory for her — it was when she was with Ranbir at a beach in Spain, that someone had clicked photos of them together in beachwear and it got splashed in the media.

End of the acrimony

In 2003, it was almost immediately after Karishma Kapoor broke up with Abhishek Bachchan, that, in what surprised many, she married Sanjay Kapur, one of elites of the Delhi social circuit.
They had two children together and then the marriage collapsed some years ago; Karishma moved out and divorce proceedings began. It was not a secret that they had been having issues but just how sordid those were became known when the matter went to court and both started raking up the skeletons of the other.
Karishma’s lawyers charged Sanjay with living with another woman and her child in their house. But that was not all. They said he had harassed her for dowry and that even his mother had been part of it with him asking her once to slap Karishma.
Sanjay’s lawyers told the court that Karishma had married on the rebound from a failed relationship and it was not love but his money that attracted her. The other side retaliated by saying that he had married Karishma only because she was famous. And so on it went getting more and more bitter. In between Karishma’s father, Randhir Kapoor, also spoke angrily, saying that the Kapoors didn’t need to marry anyone for money and that his son-in-law was a third-class person and he had always been against her marrying him. But despite such acrimony, there might be peace between the two after all now.
In the latest submission to the court, their lawyers have said that an amicable understanding was being reached soon. Also indicating a compromise has been arrived at is the fact that Sanjay will attend their children’s birthday parties, something Karishma is organising.

Fan building

If Shah Rukh Khan is an expert in anything other than making blockbusters, then it is in marketing them. While many movie stars do promotions reluctantly, Shah Rukh revels in it and starts on the publicity of his movies months before they launch.
Right now that movie is Fan, which hits the screens mid-April. Shah Rukh manages to eke out every bit of mileage possible and that is how a tweet to him became headlines in newspapers.
Fan has him playing two characters — a middle aged superstar and a teenage fan. The trailer of the movie has been out for some time. One of his real life fans, Shivam Jemini, made an exact same trailer with one difference; instead of the younger Shah Rukh, Jemini put himself into the clip using special effects software. It was tweeted to Shah Rukh who then replied to Jemini offering him a job with his production company! It was a small gesture but sure gladdened the hearts of millions of his fans.

The casting tiff

Sanjay Dutt is back home after his jail sentence but there has been an odd reworking of equations. One of his best friends in the industry is Salman Khan but he wasn’t one of the many people who came visiting Dutt after he got his freedom.
The gossip mill says that Salman is peeved over something involving the biopic that is being made on Dutt by Rajkumar Hirani. The man playing Dutt is Ranbir Kapoor and Salman has an issue with that. He thinks Ranbir is responsible for the break-up that has left Katrina Kaif, Salman’s ex and good friend, in pain. He reportedly even asked Dutt to ask Hirani to not have Ranbir do the movie. Ranbir is still on it as far as anyone knows and that reportedly has led to Salman sulking.

Send your feedback to
bollywood.eye@gmail.com