EPISODE-15 – COMIC RELIEF – MINDING ONE’S OWN BUSINESS!!

EPISODE-15 – COMIC RELIEF – MINDING ONE’S OWN BUSINESS!!

By Donald D’ Silva, Mira Road, Karkala

Donald D’ Silva is an Advertising Professional & Brand Strategist managing his own Digital Marketing Company in Mumbai. He writes about Current Affairs, Political Analysis, Bollywood Happenings and a variety of Social subjects.

MORE ECCENTRICITIES & MAD SUPERSTITIONS OF BOLLYWOOD STARS- PART 2

Background:

(There are four friends who were thick and thin in their childhood. They were inseparable. Now, today they are in their 50 s and late 50s. they regularly get together and make merry as they have made their money and are well settled in their lives. It is the case of jumping early into business and tasting success. Two of them have taken VRS and settled down.)

1. Jeevan Shetty: He is the owner of three Bar & Restaurants. One in Mangalore and two in Mumbai. A billionaire in his own right. From Karkala.
2. Sathish Shenoy: He has a cloth store in Moodbidri. He has two veg Restaurants in Mumbai.
3. Richard Almeida: He has one Bar & Restaurant in Mumbai.
4. Melvin D’ Mello– He has two-night clubs in Mumbai.

Jeevan: Hello Friends, the lockdown is lifted and we have more cases. Business is improving, but the happy part is there is a heavy recovery rate whole over India!

Sathish: Yes, indeed! Maybe in two months, there will be vaccines made available everywhere.

Richard: They talk about vaccines, but still, there is no guarantee yet! The trials are still going on.

Melvin: There is, however, hope! Nothing is lost yet. Of course, we may have to live with the masks for another six months.

J: As usual, let’s get onto the Bollywood thing. What are the superstitions and eccentricities of our stars? Richardbhai and Melvinbhai, over to you now.

R: Let’s start from the great Amitabh. The Big B of Bollywood, Amitabh Bachchan too is superstitious. His superstition can make anyone crazy. He believes that India will lose if he will watch live matches. That is why he never watches live matches though he is a big fan of cricket.

M: Khiladi Akshay Kumar is also on the list. He’s weird superstitious. He thinks, his film will not be successful if he will be in India at any of his movie releases. So, he always goes out of town before the film release.

Also, Ajay Devgn is very crazy. He says” My parents always told me that if I wanted to do well in my career I should keep up the ‘A’ alphabet controlled. For Ajay Devgn though, losing an A in his surname helped his. He believes in numerology very highly. It has given him greater results.

R: Can’t leave behind Hrithik Roshan and his father, Rakesh Roshan as well! Duggu believes that his extra thumb is his lucky charm. Rakesh Roshan is the only person after Ekta Kapoor fixated with the letter K.

All his movies from Koyla to Krissh 3 begin with the letter K. Even Karan Johar is also obsessed with the word K. Aamir Khan is also a superstitious star. Timing is everything for the perfectionist.

Post Taare Zameen Par, the most bankable Khan in Bollywood makes sure that all his films are released in December. Rumour has it that Aamir Khan and Kiran Rao even planned the birth of their son Azad in December!

S: How about Kajol?

R: Yes, she is into all kinds of nautanki in social media always. Has hired an agency. You can spot her on FB, Instagram, and Twitter with all kinds of dramebaazi!

Recently she put her image of a selfie taken upside down! Always into different info about herself and rejoices with the response.

Her biggest superstition is attending the ‘Durgapuja’ celebrations at the Lokhandwala complex every year!

She bows before the goddess in full view and even though her wardrobe malfunction takes place, she doesn’t care!!

Even, her cousin Rani Mukerjee is the same!! They organize a Bhandar and themselves serve the devotees! Another Bengali, singer Abhijeet Bhattacharya, also

joins them! It’s a huge event. Stargazers get a Dekho of their favourite stars there. People flock to the pandal in hordes.

R: I wanted to know about ‘Durga Maata, Sathish Maam.

S: Yes! Definitely, I will enlighten you on this next time we meet.

J: I wanted to know more about my favourite Kannadiga star, Deepika Padukone. Can Richardbhai, enlighten me on this?

R: Well!! Deepika Padukone is an Indian actress and a former model. Padukone made her acting debut with the 2006 Kannada film Aishwarya. The following year, she made her Hindi film debut with the blockbuster Om Shanti Om which earned her the Filmfare Best Female Debut Award. Padukone was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. Padukone was born in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Her family moved to Bangalore, India when she was eleven months old. Padukone is of Mangalorean origin, and her mother tongue is Konkani. She is from the  RSB clan!  Her lineage hails from Padukone village in Kundapura Taluk in the Udupi District of the state of Karnataka, India.

Her father, Prakash Padukone, is a retired badminton player of international repute, and her mother is a travel agent. Padukone also has a younger sister, Anisha.

Padukone attended Sophia High School in Bangalore and completed her pre-university studies at Mount Carmel College in Bangalore. While in high school she played badminton at the state level. However, she was not keen on pursuing a career as a badminton player. She wanted to become a model.

Deepika Padukone pursued a career in modelling. She was spotted in a ramp competition in NLS, Bangalore. She has modelled for many famous, Indian brand names as Liril, Dabur Lal powder, Close-Up toothpaste, and Limca!

She has been the “brand ambassador” for the Jewels of India retail jewellery show. The cosmetics company Maybelline made her its international spokesperson.

At the fifth annual Kingfisher Fashion Awards, she was awarded the title “Model of the Year”. She was later, chosen as one of the models for the Kingfisher Swimsuit Calendar for 2006 and won two trophies at the Idea Zee Fashion Awards: “Female Model of the Year – (Commercial Assignments)” and “Fresh Face of the Year”. Padukone was also chosen as the brand ambassador of Kingfisher Airlines and later Levi Strauss and Tissot SA.

M: Then, as decided, she came into acting. Deepika got her formal acting training from the Anupam Kher School of Acting where she was one of the most dedicated students.

After pursuing a successful career in modelling, Padukone branched out into acting. She started by starring in the music video for the song Naam Hai Tera from the independent pop album Aap Kaa Surroor by Himesh Reshammiya. Today, she is a star to reckon with. Her ‘Lungi Dance’ in Chennai express is very famous. She married Ranvir Singh her love of many years and is happily married.

J: Tell us something about her affairs please, Melvin Bhai?? She claimed in one of her interviews that, she was depressed and was in tension for many years…..

M: Yes, her line up of affairs list is very long!!

First, Yuvraj Singh, then, MS Dhoni, and next she got hooked onto Ranbir Kapoor. All ended in a sorry state of affairs. Then, she had a rollicking affair with the playboy….Vijay Mallya’s son Siddharth Mallya, who also happened to be a playboy! Her ‘Ram Leela, Padmavat, Chennai Express’ were huge celebrated hits! Now she has got many movies on her platter!

J: I heard that, the craziest and eccentric Singer, Producer, Director, the irrepressible Kishore Kumar, that after Raj Kumar, he was the biggest eccentric in Bollywood?

R: Okay, he was away, big mad person! He was very talented and dynamic. He died on his Brother, Dada Moni’s birthday when he was 58 years old due to heart attack, though! Sad, for the industry. His brother stopped celebrating his birthday afterwards!

Most do not know the fact that the legendary Kishore Kumar never learned classical music or was not a trained singer. Most of us would feel that given his extraordinary expertise in singing, he must have undergone guidance for many years, but contemporary to perceptions he had never learned music. This is perhaps the reason why his music had strange originality, freshness, a passionate zeal. He was often not paid attention to by the best composers of his time. He was a great fan of K.L Saigal and used to practice his songs endlessly!

M: Kishore Kumar got married four times and none of his marriages said to have resulted in a peaceful time. He is reported to have abandoned his second wife Madhubala amid a critical illness and paid more attention to his career, leaving her alone to die. She was a heart patient!

His artistic genius and his temperament made him a very unpredictable person and for this many directors did not like him. He sang, he acted, he loved and he romanced, he lived his life on his terms and even today when his songs float in the air, music lovers go crazy!!

S: I also know one hilarious story about him! Once, Hrishikesh Mukherjee was shooed away by Kishore Kumar’s watchman!

We still remember late superstar Rajesh Khanna and Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s classic film Anand, but very few of us know that the film was originally offered to Kishore Kumar and Mehmood. However, due to some misunderstanding, Kishore da couldn’t do the film.

Hrishikesh Mukherjee was supposed to meet Kishore da for the project. However, he was driven away by the latter’s gatekeeper due to confusion. Kishore da, who was not paid by a Bengali organizer for a stage show had instructed his gatekeeper to shoo away this Bengali if he ever visited his house and the watchman unknowingly drove away Hrishikesh Mukherjee. However, Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan were signed for the project.

R: Kishore was very mad in his personal life! There is a list of stories about the multi-faceted Kishore Kumar’s humour quotient. He had placed a sign that read, “Beware of Kishore” at the door of his Warden Road flat. 

J: I remember a story. Producer-director, HS Rawail, the father of Rahul Rawail! He once owed him some money, visited his flat to pay the dues. Kishore da, happily took the money and when Rawail offered to shake hands with him, Kishore Kumar put Rawail’s hand in his mouth, bit it, and asked, “Didn’t you see the sign?” The filmmaker understood Kishoreda’s humour and laughed off the incident.

Kumar was due to record a song for producer-director GP Sippy. As Sippy approached his bungalow, he saw Kumar going out in his car. After following him for long, Sippy was finally able to stop him at Madh Island, but Kishoreda refused to recognize him and threatened to call the police.

However, after meeting him the next day on the recording, he behaved normally and told Sippy must have dreamt of the incident as he was in Khandwa on the previous day. Such was his crazy antics!!

M: As he was very crazy, His living room had skulls and bones with red lights, Kishore da had his ways to stay away from the limelight as he never enjoyed the media attention.

He preferred staying away from the media and hated to give interviews.

Kishore Kumar would never give in when people chased him for interviews. He would usually get away from the scene leaving a regret note behind.

R: I have heard that he hated people who did not pay him! Kishore da was very particular about his fees. The legendary singer only sang when he was confirmed by his secretary that he was fully paid. 

Kishore da once appeared on the sets of a film with make-up on one side of his face. When the director questioned him, he replied saying, “Aadha paisa to aadha make-up.” (Half make-up for half payment).

Not only this, on the sets of Bhai Bhai, Kishore Kumar refused to act because director MV Raman owed him Rs. 5000. However, after elder brother Ashok Kumar’s persuasion, Kishore agreed to shoot, but as soon as the shooting started he said, “Paanch hazzar rupaiya,” (five thousand rupees). He got his money immediately!

J: Next time, I would like to know about the most religious stars of Bollywood. Now, it’s time for us to have dinner.

All echoed the same! Yes, let’s have dinner!

(All headed towards the dinner table)

From The Author:

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• NAMING THE BRIDGE!!