Everyone — critic, troll and the greengrocer down the lane — has had his or her say on Kalank so I won’t go there…except to talk about Varun Dhawan, the film’s protagonist. I saw the film with a bunch of pals and my friend Skimmy Gupta, the popular blogger of Miss Koffee Tales, oohed and aahed over Varun throughout the film.
She loved his Hulk Hogan avatar while fighting a bull bare-chested (CGI created — the bull, not the chest) or while dancing like a bandook ki goli to First Class. While Skimmy is a recent convert, I have always found Varun’s energy infectious. And he’s a decent chap too…my reporter at Bollywood News Service, Anita Britto, would brave the May heat and June rains for a Varun Dhawan interview.
While watching the film, what struck me was how Varun’s peppy dialogue delivery was in sharp contrast to Aditya Roy Kapoor’s subdued oratory; and yet packed a k-o punch. Hindi films have always played off two contrasting characters in dual-hero films: one subdued and one exuberant (think Sangam, Sholay, Ram Lakhan, Karan Arjun, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam) and while laconic and taciturn has its appeal, energy sparkles on screen.
My wife Anita feels I am drawn to people with a touch of the OTT; I would like to rephrase it as I am drawn to people with huge reservoirs of stamina, cartloads of positivity and a desire to connect with others. While my close ones jokingly describe me as sarvajanik (belonging to all), I disagree. I love people but I am not into socialising. I am an ambivert; and at a party, after a while, I want to leave discreetly and seek refuge in the solitude of my bedroom, switch on the air conditioner and immerse myself in a book, watch an IPL match or just meditate. Maybe that’s why I am fascinated by gung-ho people with energiser bunny stamina.
Actor Navdeep, Co Founder C Space Along With Rakesh Rudravanka – CEO – C Space |
The most animated and vibrant person I have met is the irrepressible Pooja Bedi. She’s so chirpy that I joke about her eating bird seed for breakfast, lunch and dinner. When I was editing Movie magazine, she flew with me to London for a Movie International event and I believe she jabbered non-stop throughout the trip.
While watching Terminator in a theatre, I snored loudly through the film due to jet lag and she laughed her head off into her popcorn. When we went to a mall, since I had hurt my foot, Pooja dumped me into the shopping trolley and wheeled me all around, much to the amusement of staid Londoners. One of our favourite shared memories is Pooja and her cousin Amby visiting me at the Movie office straight from a pet shop with two small puppies in a cane basket. I was held captive over coffee while the perky puppies, brats both of them, ran helter-skelter in my office and even peed on the glass-sheeted table in my cabin.
Bollywood actor and co-owner of Kolkata Knight Riders Shah Rukh Khan greets spectators after the Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 cricket match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Eden Gardens Stadium in Kolkata on March 24, 2019. (Photo by Dibyangshu SARKAR / AFP) / —-IMAGE RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE – STRICTLY NO COMMERCIAL USE—– |
As interviewees, Shah Rukh and Pooja Bedi are so alike — both are extremely voluble and candid. Oscar Wilde famously said, “It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious,” and Shah Rukh is charm personified. He will channelise his mammoth energy exclusively on the conversation he is having with you. And he is willing to walk the extra mile for you. I remember when we were about to declare the winners of the popular Movie Opinion Poll, my publisher decided at the nth hour that she wanted to release the magazine carrying the poll results with a star-studded party. I quickly got on the phone and began calling the stars I knew well enough to bail me out. Shah Rukh turned up in his Ram Jaane suit splattered with bloodstains because he had driven straight from the set to the party venue. And he was electric at the event attended by an eclectic lot: Nana Patekar, Manisha Koirala, Raveena Tandon, Anupam-Kirron amongst others.
SRK has so many stories to tell, and even if he may be guilty sometimes of letting a yarn run on and on, he drops a quirky quote a minute and holds you in a thrall. There are actors like Arjun Rampal who are monosyllable specialists but Shah Rukh is refreshingly different. I only have to ask him one question and thereafter he provides both the questions and the answers. I don’t know if it is the cigarettes, the colas he guzzles by the gallon or the dopamine in his body that makes him speak so much and so well…but I wouldn’t want him to ever change.
At the recent Filmfare awards nite, I thought Ranveer Singh was a match for even co-host Shah Rukh’s boundless enthusiasm. Ranveer is outlandish in his dressing, witty in his repartee, and full of beans on stage and screen. He is like a comet that leaves a blazing trail behind; only comets don’t flash through the sky as regularly as Ranveer does on the screen. After watching his irrepressible joie de vivre in Goliyon Ki Raas Leela-Ram Leela I drove home in silence — I needed to process the overdose of energy.
Afterthought: A filmmaker should cast Ranveer Singh in the brooding, quiet mode of Amitabh Bachchan from Mili. It will be a performance that will leave him tongue tied — for a while at least.
