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Uff Those Guys!
Miss M takes on the whispering brigade
Around noon: Outside the Santa Cruz airport lobby, a crowd scene is on. Swarms of idlers, NRIs and tourists want to cadge an autograph... or if they get lucky, get themselves photographed with Urmila Matondkar who's shooting at the spot for Boney Kapoor's Judaai. I am there to spirit the actress away to shutterbeg Sumeet Chopra's studio for a long-pending photo- session. She's ready.
That she's steamy hot property is obvious. She has that star-like hauteur, seductress looks... the crowd responds hysterically on catching sight of her... and the producers attempt to humour her...
Her success story has a fairy tale-like quality. Yesterday she was the Cinderella who wasn't invited to the ball. She was on everyone's no-no list. Today she's wanted everywhere. The crowd of fans at the airport have to be tackled... we rush into the waiting car before all hell breaks loose.
"We stars are constantly under a microscope," she says recovering her breath as the car takes off. " I like my freedom... this constant attention is so restricting. At times, I even get a little irritable. I'd love to get away from it all... for a while."
She scrapes the pancake off her face. I wonder what stardom means to her. To which she says, "It means belonging to an exclusive club of privileged people. It's exciting. I'm enjoying it far too much to give it up for all the riches in the world. Though I may protest about the unnecessary attention, I'd be very disappointed if no one recognised me."
"Frankly, even if Rangeela hadn't happened I would have survived"
happened, I would have survived," she emphasises. Urmila credits the film's success to Ram Gopal Varma. Was she aware of the undercurrent of hostility between Ram Gopal Varma and Aamir Khan? No, she wasn't. In fact, she was quite surprised when she heard about their print war.
"Even if they had their differences, I would have been the last one to know," she states, adding, "Because I never poke my nose in other people's business. I would give my shots and return to my room. So I really don't know if there was anything brewing between them."
Today, does she feel vindicated? Does she feel smug that those who gave her the cold shoulder once are now making a beeline for her? She says she's certainly enjoying the power that accompanies success. "But to be honest," she states, "No one was ever rude to me, no one dismissed me on my face. But yes, I can see the difference in the way I'm treated today. Producers go out of their way to make me feel comfortable. I'm even offered extra cups of tea!
"I'm really glad that I've made it without entering those shady bylanes of the industry.I won't pretend that they don't exist. But then they exist in every profession. I've proved that you can avoid the sleaze and still make something of yourself here."
How come she doesn't have a stack of films on hand? "Having 20 films doesn't mean a thing today,"she replies. Even a newcomer brags of signing on a dozen films. So what? Does that make them stars overnight? I don't want to take names but some newcomers have as many as 20 films. That's really crazy. How can you work like that?"
"If Ram Gopal Varma and Aamir Khan had difference. I was the last to know"
Isn't it true that she's been offered a Tamil film for a mind- boggling sum of Rs 90 lakhs? Urmila isn't willing to give anything away, "Oh, that," she huffs, "that's an old story now. I don't even know whether I'm doing the film or not. Nothing has been finalised."
I touch the sore topic of Mamta Kulkarni. Industry gup has it that the two had a showdown when they were in America recently. Not only that, Mamta would even slash Urmila's photographs on the publicity pamphlets whenever she was asked to sign them by autograph hunters. Says Urmila, "I saw her doing that twice. But I thought she was signing her autograph across the page. So I didn't bother. Then certain people came to me and told me what she was doing. I just ignored it. Anyway why don't you ask Mamta why she was behaving so weirdly? I have no problems with her."
We've reached our destination. At the photo-shoot, she looks so different after the make-up man finishes with her face. Such a far cry from those Masoom days."Earlier,whenever anyone told me that, I'd get very irritated," she retorts. "Obviously, I look different, I've grown up after all. Then during Aa Gale Lag Ja, I met Jugal Hansaj after a long gap. And I was like, `Hey, Jugal you look so different. Are you sure you're the same Jugal?' That was my spontaneous reaction. Ever since then, I've stopped getting angry whenever someone mentions how different I look from those Masoom days."
She was only in the fifth standard then. "Shekhar uncle... sorry Shekharji would explain the situation to us and we would try our best to do them exactly the way he wanted us to," the actress narrates. "We were so innocent... unlike today's child artistes who are up-to-date with everything. I've seen some of them act. They know what to do when the director asks them to cry or to get angry. They have a fixed set of expressions for every emotion." It's 7.30 p.m... the shoot's wrapped up. Time for the long journey home. She chats animatedly about her recent trip to the U.S. for a Judaai schedule. Was she recognised? "The Indians there did... they'd even seen Hindustani! One kid came up to me for my autograph but he was so shy he wouldn't utter a word. After much coaxing, he said `Tada' and scooted. I couldn't stop laughing."
America is fun, she says. The only time she had a problem was while entering a discotheque. "The American women are so huge. The doorman couldn't believe that I was over 18. Only after I showed my passport did he allow me in," she chuckles.
"Sridevi and I weren't daggers drawn during Judaai. In fact, she was very cordial"
Urmila denies rumours that Sridevi and she couldn't see eye to eye. "I really don't know her. We weren't the greatest of friends but we weren't daggers drawn either," she clarifies. "We were cordial with each other. She was very worried about her mother who was seriously ill."
I ask her how she reacts to the talk that she's only a one film wonder. "Well, I also have a Hindustani, don't I?" she grins. Okay, so what does she hate most about this profession? "The fact that I can't eat and sleep as I wish," she quips.
As she drops me en route and zooms off for yet another photo- session, it's clear that Cinderella is having the time of her life...
Touchwood!
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HINDUSTANI
"The biggest film ever made on the Indian Screen"
*ing: Kamal Hasan, Manisha Koirala & Urmila Matondkar
Director: Shankar
Producer: A.M. Rathnam
Music: A.R. Rahman
Lyrics: P.K. Mishra
Hindustani may be defined as a movie made for everybody, except young children. Violence, dancing, music, creativity, technical effects, acting, this movie has it all. Insignificant was the one thing that was missing: -- lyrics.
On one side of the film, young Chandru (Kamal Hasan) a corrupt RTO officer taking bribes from people so that they can get driving licenses and similar government papers. Chandru is staying in his senior officer's house which is also Sapna's (Urmila Matondkar) house. Chandru does everything that Sapna tells him to do in fear of his job. The rest of the first quarter of the movie passes with Chandru having conflicts with his girlfriend Ishwaria (Manisha Koirala) and Sapna who he is destined to marry in the future and fabulous technical effects and songs. "Latka dikha diya" could be the best song technically ever in a Hindi movie.
On the second side of the film, Senapati (also played by Kamal Hasan) is a honest freedom fighter who is against corruption. Excellently shown in the film is a flashback where Senapati is shaking his hands with a famous freedom fighter in the early 1940s. The flashback as well as several other scenes are shown in black and white, documentary style, enhancing the effect of the flashback. After intermission, the films purpose finally comes into perspective. Chandru is Senapati's son, he runs away from his home because he cannot a find a job without giving a bribe. Senapati is completely against giving bribes, so he disowns Chandru. Therefore Chandru becomes a corrupt RTO officer in the city.
A few months later, Kaluri, Senapati's daughter is burned badly in a gas blast in the kitchen. Senapati takes her to the hospital, but in order for him to get treatment he would have had to give a bribe to the doctor. Senapati tries to get the treatment done, but he cannot without giving bribes. In the meanwhile, Kaluri dies. Senapati is now determined to kill all that are corrupt and becomes "Hindustani".
Kamal Hasan's acting as both the son and the father (Chandru & Senapati) is superb. The makeup for him and his wife as the father and mother is stupendous as well. Manisha Koirala and Urmila both have insignificant roles, but do well in both. Koirala, although a bit chubby, is extremely beautiful in this movie.
Shankar's direction is par excellence. He directs as a Hollywood director. Although this movie can be summarized as two parts, it flows in a charm. The DTS sound and excellent computer graphics proves that this movie is par Hollywood.
Technically this movie is perfect. Cinematography and dances are much above average also. A.R. Rahman's music is above average but not as great as his previous numbers like Bombay and Roja and doesn't stand up to par against the other excellencies in this film.
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Starring:anil kapoor,urmila,shridevi
Music Director: Nadeem Shravan
Released on: 28 March 97
"Judaai" starring Anil Kapoor, Sridevi and Urmila Matondkar in lead roles. It has been directed by Raaj Kanwar.
Undeniably, an interesting and enjoyable film. The plot is quite fresh and different from the rut. Besides, the artists have put in fine portrayals, thanks to effective, convincing emoting. And there's sufficient masala of all kinds to keep everyone happy. Well what more could you ask for, get your ticket money's "vasooli".
Nadeem-Shravan pitch in with a good amount of melody and rhythm.
Rating : Very Good.
FILMOGRAPHY (incl. unreleased movies)
1982 MASOOM Shabana Azmi, Naseeruddin Shah, Saeed Jaffery
1989 CHANAKYA (MALAYALAM) Kamal Hassan, Urmila Matondkar
1991 NARASIMHA Sunny Deol, Dimple Kapadia, Om Puri
1992 CHAMATKAR (KANNADA?) Shah Rukh Khan, Naseeruddin Shah, Urmila Matondkar
1993 GAYYAM (TELUGU) Jagapathi Babu, Urmila Matondkar
SHREEMAN AASHIQ Rishi Kapoor, Urmila Matondkar, Bindu
1994 AA GALE LAGA JA Jugal Hansraj, Urmila Matondkar
DROHI Nagarjuna, Urmila Matondkar
KANOON Ajay Devgan, Urmila Matondkar, Reema Lagoo
1995 RANGEELA Jackie Shroff, Aamir Khan, Urmila Matondkar
1996 CHARITRA Manisha Koirala, Urmila Matondkar
INDIYAN (TAMIL) / HINDUSTANI Kamal Hassan, Manisha Koirala, Urmila Matondkar
NAYAK Sunjay Dutt, Urmila Matondkar
SHIKHAAR Jackie Shroff, Shah Rukh Khan, Urmila Matondkar
1997 AFLATOON Akshay Kumar, Urmila Matondkar
DAUD - FUN ON THE RUN Urmila Matondkar, Sunjay Dutt, Paresh Rawal
JUDAAI Anil Kapoor, Sridevi, Urmila Matondkar
MERE SAPNO KI RANI Sanjay Kapoor, Urmila Matondkar, Madhoo
1998 LOVE HUA Salman Khan, Urmila Matondkar
(19 movies)
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