Hrithik Roshan got married in December 2000. His debut film Kaho Na Pyaar Hai was released in January 2001 and by February 2001 the entire nation was singing ‘Na tum jaano na hum’. The man responsible for the magical music, composer Rajesh Roshan is the son of legendary music composer Roshan Lal, uncle of Hrithik and younger brother of director Rakesh Roshan. Rajesh Roshan completes 47 years of his career (debuted in Kunwara Baap, 1974) and 21 years of Kaho Na Pyaar Hai. After so many years, Roshan shares how every song of the film was born

Rakesh Roshan always starts a film with a recording and Chand sitare was our mahurat song and I insisted on many retakes from Kumar Sanu who said, he hadn’t worked this hard since he was a struggler. I told Sanu that I felt like a struggler in every song and very film. The title song always comes with a lot of pressure. I had composed many tunes but was hesitant to share it with my brother.

Then one day, my brother was leaving the office, in fact he was at the door when I made him hear my new tune. He heard it with a blank expression, asked me to hum again, then clapped his hands and said, “This is it this is what I want.” We began recording with Alka Yagnik at 10 a.m. and packed up at 10 p.m. When I heard the song again, I felt something was missing, so I requested Alkaji for a re-recording and this time cleared it in one take and the quality of rendition was way superior.

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Today is Urmila Matondkar’s birthday and the actor turns a year younger. So, what has been the biggest lesson from stardom?  I once asked her and Urmila smiled, “Well, it is not throwing tantrums for sure. For me it was always working on your talent and improving with every film. Actors should be least judgmental because they are all the time delving into other characters, so we must at all times make concessions for the other person’s perspective”. Her characters reflected her argument. Jahanvi in Jaudai accepts the wife’s perspective and Mili in Satya to an extent, understands her criminal boyfriend but it was eventually the glamour roles, Rangeela and Pyaar Tune Kya Kiya that made the audience perceive Urmila Matodkar as a sex symbol, did she agree with the image?  “Yes and no because what was created got stuck and what is real very few people know. My self-image is of someone, who has no false illusions about herself, but if other people do, I will not go out of my way to change that”.

I think she is the star to watch out for in politics and it is up to Shiv Sena to use the glamour quotient effectively and grant her a position that she can offer her best.

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And how do you accomplish that? Urmila reflected for a while, said, “Actually I don’t know the process, it probably happens on a subconscious level, but the machine has to be ignited. Some actors borrow from life, some, from other films and some, from within themselves. To elaborate on this would be like touching a dewdrop and destroying it”. I had liked her description but then nothing about Urmila has ever ordinary. When she was a little girl, she tagged along with her Baba to watch theatre, which she says, she never understood but enjoyed the ambiance.

There is a possibility that the seeds were sown that early. Masoom was offered to her when she was in school and Narsimha when she was in college, one thing led to another and stardom happened. Her parents and books recommended by friends were the strongest influences of her early years. When she was riding high in her career, I asked her once if success alters equations within the family? She was surprised by the question, “I never experienced it. I’m treated the same way as I was as a child. Neither my friends nor my family has ever heaped praises on me and when outsiders do so, they look genuinely surprised”.

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Urmila Matondkar has done varied roles in her long career as an actor and been a trend setter but for some reasons, never given due credit. As a child star, they said, Master Jugal Hansraj was better than her in Masoom, in Rangeela they credited the film’s music and costumes. In Satya they said Shefali was better than her and in Daud Sanjay Dutt was better. The cycle continued when she came into politics. After a successful campaign for the Congress, she was   denied both, position and credit. Urmila joined Shiv Sena. A year ago, when the film fraternity was bullied by Kangana Ranaut, Urmila was the only one who raised her voice.

In her birthday month I recall many significant conversations with the actor. What is it about you that you never age? I asked her and she had blushed, “I am careful about exercising and also what I eat. I would have looked like this even if I was not an actor.”  We were at screening of her film, Pyaar Tune Kya Kiya and I was curious to know if she considered herself a method actor? She said she was a disciplined actor and requires the guidance from all her directors. “I don’t like to be spoon fed because I need my space to reflect, for instance, I was very clear that I had to make Riya likeable in this film because once the conflict begins, the audience is bound to have mixed emotions towards her”.

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What never goes wrong is a good set up because an established filmmaker will never allow his ship to sink. Says Preity Zinta, “Yash Raj Films Veer Zaara, Salaam Namaste and Dharma’s Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna happened around the same time and brought a lot of cheer in my life. I’m proud of all the three films and my character complexities. The women I portrayed actively contributed to the changing Indian heroine in the new millennium and I am filled with gratitude for all the opportunities”.

She was the most unlikely candidate for international filmmaker Deepa Mehta to cast in her film on Indian marriages and Preity recalls the subject fondly. “To be honest I had not seen Deepa’s films but was flattered that she found me worthy and cast me in Heaven on Earth my first international production. The subject addressed arranged marriages and marital abuse, a reality we are still not ready to face. You know the beauty about stardom is that it sweeps you off your feet, engulfs you in amazing experiences and time flies and years later, when you look back, you ask yourself if all that really happened to you!”

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“Kal Ho Naa Ho will always be special for me because Karan is special. The film projects my character Naina’s perspective, a plain Jane role devoid of any happiness in her life. In this film I was devoid of make-up and even my costumes were not overtly glamorous, except the wedding costume. I have fond memories of the shooting in America where all of us bonded like a family.

This was the time Shah Rukh wasn’t keeping well and put a brave front. Over the years, I played many complex characters. The critics praised me for Chori Chori Chupka Chupke whare I become a surrogate mother for Salman Khan and Rani Mukherjee. I did some run of the mill films too, Dil Hai Tumhara and The Hero were without spark because it is not possible to always depict right judgment, sometimes bad films become super hits and good ones go unnoticed.

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She disapproved of them trivializing her career, said, “I didn’t come into show business for glamour. I had ample of it in the modelling world, Liril soap or Cadbury chocolate.  Then Mani Ratnam sir asked me to do a cameo in Dil Se and it was followed by Soldier and Kya Kehna. Sangharsh was interesting because I played a journalist and interacting with Mahesh Bhatt was a bonus”.

She was fortunate to work with the best directors and actors. Vidhu Vinod Chopra cast me in Mission Kashmir because she looked the part and over a period of time did two more films with Hrithik Roshan, his home banner, Koi… Mil Gaya and Farhan Akhtar’s Lakshya. Before Lakshya she did Dil Chahta Hain with Farhan and wondered what kind of role she could play in a story about three friends, but her character made an impact and Preity said there’s so much to learn just watching your colleagues. “Honey Irani’s writing of Kya Kehna! brought me stardom, so it didn’t take me a minute to say ‘yes’ to her directorial debut Armaan, even though I played a self-destructive, slightly imbalanced character.

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A few days ago, I caught an Instagram image of Preity Zinta with knitting wool below which was a simple line- Mommie feeling. Later, one read in the news that Preity Zinta and husband Gene Goodenough have welcomed twins Gia and Jai via surrogacy. The actor thanked everyone involved with the pregnancy, the doctors, the nurses and the surrogates for being part of this incredible journey.

It is big news but not enough noise was not made around it probably because Preity Zinta is herself not big news.  I blame the media for being so ruthless. It is not easy being a star. It is not easy dealing with the highs and the lows. In fact, the biggest tragedy about stardom is that you are only as good as your last film and when the music stops, the newsprint will not waste a centimeter on you. There was a time however, when the media couldn’t stop talking about Zinta, her boyfriends, her past, everything except her films.

To be continued