Rani Mukherjee by Zabeeh Afaque

Hiren Kotwani■ [email protected]

Every time a film with acontroversialsubject is censored,

filmmakers protest againstthe cuts demanded by theCensor Board. However, for achange, certain filmmakersare lauding the Board’sunderstanding in clearing NoOne Killed Jessica (NOKJ),Turning 30 and 7 KhoonMaaf without any deletions— albeit with ‘A’ ratings.While Rajkumar Gupta’s

NOKJ is based on the JessicaLall case and AlankritaShrivastava’s Turning 30 isabout an independent femaleprotagonist, VishalBhardwaj’s 7 Khoon Maaf isan adaptation of RuskinBond’s Susanna’s SevenHusbands, in which the leadactor kills her sevenhusbands, one by one. Giventhe nature of the subjects,there are a number of scenes

and a lot of dialogue, whichwould have to be edited to geta ‘U/A’ or ‘U’ (Universal)rating. But the filmmakerschose to go with the ‘A’ rating.Conceding that he expect-

ed an A rating, Gupta says, “Ithink the committee foundmy film to be too powerfuland didn’t want to cut any-thing from it, lest it affectsthe overall impact.”

Shrivastava attributes thechange to the new regionalofficer, Pankaja Thakur.Initially, the director hadissues with the Board for notclearing the film’s promosthat showed Gul Panag’scharacter saying that shecan’t marry a man justbecause she’s slept with him.“After I had a discussion withPankaja, things got sorted

out.” Though she feels theBoard needs to do some seri-ous rethinking, she praisesthem for finally clearing herfilm without any cuts.However, Thakur

maintains that there is nochange in the guidelines. “Werecommend cuts only whenthe filmmakers want a ‘U/A’or ‘U’ rating. We aim to notcompromise the director’screativity,” she says, adding,“Sometimes we go the extramile to do something for afilm. Even filmmakers werenot so forthcoming abouttalking well about the CensorBoard earlier.”

stoppressSALLU ON KJO’S SHOWActor Salman Khan may be ShahRukh Khan’s biggest rival, butSRK’s best friend, filmmakerKaran Johar, doesn’t mindsharing a cup of coffee with Sallu.Sources say KJO invited Sallu tobe a guest on his show Koffeewith Karan, and Sallu has finallyagreed. Actor Aamir Khan withwife Kiran Rao, too, will reported-ly be a part of the same episode.

ENGAGED, NOT MARRIEDContrary to recent reports thatactor Celina Jaitly has secretlymarried Dubai-based hotelier,Peter Haag, Jaitly says she’snot married, only engaged. Theactor, who started dating Haag10 months ago, says she shegot engaged in a privateceremony in her Mumbaihouse. Only close family mem-bers were present at the event.

NEW DELHI , Wednesday January 05 , 201 1 , 10 PAGES www.h indus tan t imes .com

Milasplitswithbeau P10

Neha Sharma and Navdeep Kaur Marwah■ [email protected]

Get ready for the first Bollywoodwedding of 2011. On Monday, January10, actor Imran Khan ties the knotwith long-time girlfriend Avantika

Malik. The wedding ceremony itself may be afamily-only affair, but there’s also a star-studded mehandi party and a wedding bash inThailand on the cards.On Saturday, the couple will host a mela

(carnival) themed mehandi cum pre-weddingbash at the Maliks’ farmhouse in Karjat onthe outskirts of Mumbai. Cooks who’ve servedImran’s family for over five decades, will beflown in from Lucknow. The regis-tered marriage will take placeat Imran’s house — with ablack, white and sil-ver-themed ceremony.This will be followed bya dinner at Mumbai’sTaj Lands End.After this, the party will

move to Phuket, Thailand,for a beachside celebration.

Designers Shantanu and Nikhil Mehra, whoare designing outfits for the beach ceremony,reveal, “It is a sunset wedding, so we’vedesigned a scarlet gown for Avantika.”Designer Varun Bahl is designing one of the

wedding outfits, while Manish Malhotra isdesigning Avantika’s wedding lehenga. Theinvite for the pre-wedding bash (see pic, inset)has been designed by Mumbai-based designerUttara Shah. The box with the invite haschocolates and a swipe card. “The invite isdesigned like a 2011 planner, personalised withnames. They were clear that they did notwant a traditional wedding card,” says Shah.

Among the invitees are filmmakersDanish Aslam, Punit Malhotra, KunalKohli, actors Genelia D’Souza, SonamKapoor, Shruti Seth, Kunal Kapoorand Kareena Kapoor. DeepikaPadukone is cutting short herLondon vacation with beauSiddharth Mallya to attendSaturday’s bash. “The wed-ding is going to be one mad

party,” says Seth. “I’m reallylooking forward to the wedding. I

wish them all the best,” says Kohli.

Minakshi Saini■ [email protected]

Rani Mukerji, who isotherwise infamousfor media bashing, is

suddenly all praise forscribes. Reason: the actorplays a crime reporter inthe forthcoming film, NoOne Killed Jessica. “Ireally respect journalism.In a world where peopleare so diplomatic, journal-ists speak their mindsbased on facts, which isfantastic,” says Mukerji.The actor had criticised

tabloid journalism whenreports of her engage-ment with filmmakerAditya Chopra surfaced.But, predictably, she nowseems to have buried the

hatchet. “Yellowjournalism is importantas people wish to readsensational stories abouttheir favourite actors,”she says. However, shefeels it is crime reportingthat is serious stuff.“Bollywood reporting iseasy, as you know that thestars are not going to getnasty with you, since theyjust want their egosinflated. Crime reportingis a tough job, as you riskyour life with everyincident you cover.”Though she doesn’t

have any suggestions forjournalists, she says, “Ihave tried to portraythem as nobly as theyreally are. Journalists arethe heroes of the film.”

Aaron George■ [email protected]

It’s a marketing strategywith an international twist.In an attempt to promote

the upcoming film Turning30, which stars Gul Panagand Purab Kohli, its makersare sending Grammy awardwinner Christina Aguilera aspecial gift hamper to markher 30th birthday.The film’s director,

Alankrita Shrivastavatouched base with Aguilera’smanager in Los Angeles andreceived a reply from the popqueen herself, saying shewould be more than happy toaccept the present. “Hittingthe big 30 mark has become agreat deal, especially forwomen, and that is what themovie is about. So, wedecided to do somethingspecial for those who turned30 recently, and decidedto start with Christina,”says the Alankrita, addingthat Aguilera also said thatshe’s a big fan of Bollywoodfilms.

A SUNSETWEDDING Inside

It’s only a short Argentinatrip for Shah Rukh KhanENTERTAINMENT Page 2

Gear up for someexperimental theatreMY CITY Page 6

New year, oldfaux pasLIFESTYLEPage 7

All the dope on ImranKhan’swedding andbeach after-party in Thailand nextweek

It was a publicity video with a cause —actors Rani Mukerji and Vidya Balanconducted a ‘sting operation’ on aproducer asking a female actor for sexualfavours. Now, detractors wonder if theymay have gone too far for publicity. “Allthe marketing done by UTV is in tune withwhat the film is trying to say — especiallythe importance of fighting for women’srights,” Rajkumar Gupta, director, NoOne Killed Jessica. AARON GEORGE

Publicity ke liye kuch bhi karega?

I think the committee found NOKJto be too powerful and didn’t wantto cut anything, lest it affects theoverall impact.

Rajkumar Gupta

Salman Khan may featureon Karan Johar’s chat show

PHOTO

:ZABEE

HAFA

QUE

ForChristina...love,Bollywood

Good job, Censors!

PHOTO: FOTOCORP

PHOTO

:LFI

Imran Khan and Avantika Malikhave been seeing each otherfor eight years

‘Yellowjournalismis important’

‘Yellowjournalismis important’

Rani Mukherjee by Zabeeh Afaque

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