A few days before the release of Dhadak I had met up with Ishaan Khattar and Janhavi Kapoor and both were excited about their forthcoming film, a month after the release of the film I bumped into the two separately and they told me that life had more or less turned out the way I had predicted for them.

Not as an astrologer but as a senior journalist and to understand what that means here’s recapping their enthusiastic chatter over the next few days…

Within a few days your film will be in cinema halls, what are you feeling?

Janhvi Kapoor: I am very excited about the release and cannot wait for it to hit the cinema halls we have worked very hard and want the film to be appreciated by everybody.

Ishaan Khattar: I am relishing every bit of the promotion process, every question asked and our answers is a journey of self-discovery but the release moment will be magical as well

Once the film is released you will not be spending as much time together as you are now?

Ishaan: We may not be spending time together but we will always stay connected, this bond is too special to fade out.

Janhvi: Exactly, both of us knew from the beginning that we will eventually travel our paths but we can remain friends forever.

Does it worry you that the film will be compared to Sairat?

Janhvi: On the contrary, I am proud to feature in the remake of an iconic film which has redefined box-office figures and hopes to find the same love from the audience.

Ishaan: See, all films cannot be originals and not all originals have the potential of a remake so you choose from what comes your way. I am overwhelmed to have been given the opportunity to play the hero in this one.

What was more fun, shooting with each other or having the camera entirely for self?

Janhvi: Honestly, shooting with Ishaan never seemed like work because we are so well co-ordinated but I loved my solo scenes as much because I love the camera.

Ishaan: We were comfortable together but when I was facing the camera alone I wanted to surprise myself all the time.

To be continued…

@bhawanasomaaya

I have been going to Ahmedabad since I was a little girl and even though I am a senior citizen today my eyes light up every time I visit my favourite city. The city has always proved a cathartic experience. It absorbs all my eccentricities and fills me with a new energy to face life.

Every year we take a road trip and do the same things and love the familiarity of it all. We visit our family temple in Rajkot followed by a stop at Gondal’s Khadi Plaza where we relish jalebi fafda with masala chai.

In the evening we stop at the mall and have an early meal and reach back home before midnight.

Next morning, over tea in the garden we discuss our darshan and our shopping followed by our regular meal comprising dhoklas and theplas.

On the third day when it is time to leave for Mumbai, it is painful to say goodbye to the Champa tree. The Red and the White Champas know that I will soon be back…

 @bhawanasomaaya

“He is very keen that I write poetry, from the time I was a little girl he has been asking me to give him 100 poems so he can publish me but I never did, not because I don’t like poetry but because my poetry is private and not for everyone.”.

Gulzar says that while lyrics and filmmaking is a part of a creative process only books are solitary possessions of the author and therefore most satisfactory. I tell Bosky books should be a way of life, should be written like a routine.”

Meghana smiles again to say her father has a way of making her do things he feels strongly about. He has pushed me as a creative artiste, as an author, not as a filmmaker because I always wanted to make movies.  I am blessed to have lived a fascinating life because I was privileged to have an enriched life because I was privileged to have enriched parents”.

To be continued…

 Bhawana Somaaya/ @bhawanasomaaya

Meghana says her book is about what she has seen and experienced and not what she has heard about the man and the myth, for instance, she reveals that “I know my father has hobnobbed with the greats but this book is about his real friends and associates who came home and I interacted with them as people be it his barber or his favorite actor”.

Gulzar says she had many questions to ask and he gave truthful answers whether it was details of his lineage, his separation with wife Rakhee or his personal vulnerabilities. “We switched roles from parent-child to professionals for this book and also when I write songs for her films. No director has had the guts to ask me to rewrite mukhadas after I have submitted the song but my daughter has made me rewrite the same song not once but many times in all her films –Filhaal, Talvar or Raazi and I abide by her suggestions because she is the boss.”

Meghana smiles at his expression and says these are small liberties she takes as a daughter and attributes her strength to Gulzar who brought her up fearlessly, without the slightest inhibition.

“He included me in every facet of his life, introduced me to every creative medium he was exposed to and said it was okay to try and fail but not okay to regret never having tried so as a child I learned to play the sitar, the piano, I learned to swim and dance ballet, I was introduced to Urdu, Hindi, Bengali, encouraged to paint, to sing and naturally encouraged to write. He wrote me poems all the time, when he was proud of me and also when he was disappointed…

To be continued…

 Bhawana Somaaya/ @bhawanasomaaya

Meghana Gulzar says she is because of her father Gulzar whom she addresses as Pappi is and Gulzar Saab says that Meghana whom he addresses as Bosky is his breath and also his mirror. He adds that he is happy when she is happy and sad when she is sad.

Meghana describes her relationship with her artist father as symbiotic, “We are extensions of each other, feed off from one another and are incomplete without each other”.

I am at the book release of writer/ director Meghana Gulzar who has updated her biography on her father originally written in 2008.

Published by Harper & Collins the publisher kept hounding Meghana to update her memoirs but Meghana was busy with her films Talvar and later Raazi and once done with both Meghana knew it was time to honor the deadline.

To be continued…

Bhawana Somaaya/ @bhawanasomaaya

Film: Halkaa

Date: 03.09.2018

Director: Nila Madhav Panda

Cast: Tathastu, Ranvir Shorey, and Paoli Dam.

Psychiatrists say that if you see your image in the mind if a child you will not recognize yourself.

This is a story of children, yes but also dreams and making them come true.

Seven-year-old Pichku/ Tathastu lives in the slums with his cycle rickshaw driver father/ Ranvir Shorey and factory working mother/ Paoli Dam.

The 10×12 room has everything the family needs except a toilet. The mother wakes up early to go to the fields. The father walks with a bottle in hand and relieves himself on the rail tracks.

Pichku, unlike his friends, has a problem relieving himself in public so has to manipulate new ideas every time to do his private act indoors and not get caught by his parents.

Pichku has a dream, he wants to build his private toilet and works very hard to make it come true!

There are 4 reasons for watching Halkaa:

One and most important, the unusual, refreshing story.

Director Nila Madhav unfolds his story without the slightest fuss and frills. He walks you down the narrow, filthy lanes of the slums introducing you to his various characters and their concerns.

Two, the treatment. Shot in real locations the reel actors dressed in worn out, stained costumes blur with the existing locals engaging you in a narrative that is both emotional and humorous.

Three, the message and that is everyone has a right to privacy and dignity.

Four, the intention. This is clearly not a film to showcase India’s poverty to the rest of the world.

It is a poignant tale of perhaps personal experience.

Tathastu as Pichku and Gopi as his friend is a treat to watch. Ranvir Shorey and Paoli  Dam inhabit the hut as if they’ve lived there all their lives.

But finally, the film belongs to the technical team -the cinematographer, the composer and the editor.

Take a bow National award-winning director Nila Madhav, you are India’s Majid Majidi.

Happiness is a state of mind and Rishi Kapoor has accepted this. Last week the Kapoor family finally announced its decision of putting father Raj Kapoor’s legendary studio on sale.
“We’ve taken an impractical decision for practical reasons” explained Rishi Kapoor.
Today, is Kapoor’s birthday and he turns 66.
It is a special birthday and a special Ganpati this year for the family because both, the father and son have been appreciated by the masses and the classes for their filmsMulk and Sanjay.