Page 64 - English Tehelka Issue 6 - March 31, 2018

• Deepika emerges to theStack
be entertainment queen
Bollywood’s leading lady Deepika Padukone re-
cently bagged the Entertainer of the Year Award
after the humungous success of her magnum
opus Padmaavat. Rekha, Shweta Bachchan,
Kriti Sanon, Shah Rukh Khan and Gauri Khan,
Sidharth Malhotra, Meera Rajput, Yohan
Poonawalla, Chanda Kochhar were among • Shah Rukh’s child
others who graced the Eighth Hello! Hall Of bags first project
Fame Awards that were hosted by Mandira Bedi. There are reports that
Actor Deepika Padukone, meanwhile, is also superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s
brimming with pride over the success of Sanjay daughter Suhana Khan, who
Leela Bhansali’s period drama Padmaavat is studying in London, has
that has entered the 200 crore club. Though, already bagged a magazine
she says the number game does not matter to shoot project. “Suhana will
her, the Bajirao Mastani actor is happy with be shooting for a magazine, I
the love the film, which also features Shahid don’t want to reveal the name,
Kapoor and Ranveer Singh in pivotal roles, and that’s the most exciting
is getting from audiences for her portrayal thing I am looking forward
of Queen Padmavati. “The journey of to,” Shah Rukh’s wife Gauri
Padmaavat has been nothing short of in- Khan recently revealed at an
credible. While numbers never mattered awards ceremony.
to me. But at this moment, I feel proud as an In a related development,
artist and as an individual. There could be no veteran actress Shabana Azmi
better reward than having surpassed my pre- has predicted that Suhana
vious highs,” Deepika said. Padmavaat has will be a “good” actor. The
broken the record of Deepika’s own film 66-year-old actress took
Chennai Express and raked in 236 crore at to Twitter to compliment
the box office till February 8 in India. Suhana. “Mark my words
“I think for me, Ranveer’s contribution #SuhanaKhan is going to be
in the film as well as Shahid’s contribu- a seriously good actor. I’ve
tion is something that I will always watched a short clip of her
cherish, ” Deepika recently said on the acting and it was terrific.
sidelines of Volare Awards 2018. Bless her,” wrote Shabana.
Talking abouT casT-
• DOING ‘THE UNDOING’
NICOLE KIDMAN AND DAVID KELLEY ARE REUNITING FOR NEW HBO PROJECT ing couch can end
Hollywood star Nicole Kidman and Big Lit- an arTisTe’s career’
tle Lies executive producer David E Kelley,
according to reports, are reuniting for a new
HBO project The Undoing. The limited series
is an adaptation of Jean Hanff Korelitz book
You Should Have Known, with Kidman at-
tached to star, reported Deadline. Kelley
will executive produce and write the scripts
that focus on Grace Sachs (Kidman), a suc-
cessful therapist who is about to publish her
first book when disaster strikes: someone
dies, her husband goes missing, and her
perfect life with her son is turned upside
down. A search for a director for the Ileana D’Cruz
• Big Little Lies Kidman and Kelly join hands mini-series is underway. (During an interview)
Tehelka / 31 march 2018 64 www.Tehelka.com
64 VanityFair.indd 2 14/03/18 5:31 PM 65 Stack&BookReview.indd
SANJAY DUTT’S life STORY
iS STRANGeR THAN fiCTiON
IndIan Cultures as HerItage Yasser Usman’s new book tells the uncensored
By Romila Thapar; Aleph Book Company story of the actor’s roller-coaster life that is stranger
than any fiction
Every society has its cultures: the patterns of how people live and
express themselves and how they value objects and thoughts. What Sanjay Dutt, in the brief of this book, has been
constitutes Indian heritage and cultures has been dubbed as “the original bad boy of Bollywood”.
much discussed. Romila Thapar begins by explaining In the early 1980s, it was not uncommon to find
how the definitions of the concept of culture have him passed out over the steering wheel of his
changed since the last three centuries and hence car on a suburban road of Mumbai after a night
require added attention. Cultures when defined by of drugs and alcohol. Sanjay’s open love for guns
drawing on selected items and thoughts from the and hard partying, his rippling muscles, long hair
past, remain relatively unknown, except to a few. Yet and many glamorous girlfriends, including the
each has a context and meaning relating them to top actress of that time, defined machismo for a
the past and to their significance as a contemporary generation of Indian men.
presence. Contexts, often regarded as unconnected But underneath the tough-guy image there
to culture, can to the contrary, be quite illuminating. were genuine struggles, too: Both his mother
Thought-provoking books such as this spark debate and the debate and his first wife died tragically young of cancer,
may lay to rest some current shibboleths about India’s culture. and Sanjay had to go through long and painful
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- periods of de-addiction therapy.
In this book, Yasser Us-
tHe Manager WHo BeCaMe an InfluenCer man tells the uncensored
By Harish Shivdasani; Rupa Publications India story of Sanjay’s roller-
coaster life that is stranger
The Manager Who Became an Influencer will help transform manag- than any fiction — from the
ers into leaders and leaders into more effective leaders. This book time he smuggled heroin
will also unlock the secrets to becoming happier spouses, parents, into the United States and
friends and colleagues. The author, Harish Shivdasani, a former went on a drunken shoot-
faculty at IIM Ahmedabad and currently a leadership ing spree at his Pali Hill
coach to CEOs and their teams, combines manage- home after breaking up
ment lessons and principles of psychotherapy to with his girlfriend to his
provide practical, scientific and sure-fire strategies curious phone calls to
which can be used to mentor and develop teams and gangster Chhota Shakeel
raise their performance levels. The book focusses on and his role in the 1993
enhancing competencies and creating a relationship Mumbai serial blasts.
of trust between peers as well as superiors and sub- Yasser Usman, who has
ordinates. The book is replete with techniques that turned himself into a chronicler of the lives of
can be used on a daily basis to create an environment Bollywood’s most enigmatic or polarising figures,
in which individuals and organizations can learn, had begun with a biography of Rajesh Khanna,
grow and prosper. Harish Shivdasani works with busi- shedding light, among other things, on the lone-
ness leaders, CEOs, senior management as well as high-potential liness of one of tinseltown’s most popular stars.
senior executives to help them achieve greater leadership success, But it was with his unauthorised biography of
fulfil their life goals and create a unique identity in society. Rekha, published in 2016, that Usman gave fans
of the famously private film star ample reason to
---------------------------------------------------------- scramble for copies.
WIll You stIll love Me? Dutt’s story, described as being stranger than
By Ravinder Singh; Penguin fiction, is likely to feature drugs and alcohol,
guns and Mumbai’s underworld, high-profile ro-
Lavanya Gogoi is from the scenic hills of Shillong while Rajveer Saini mances and tragic personal loss. The Bollywood
belongs to the shahi city of Patiala. Worlds apart from actor, who was let out of jail in 2016 for “good
one another, the two land up next to each other on behaviour and conduct”, has been the subject
a flight from Mumbai to Chandigarh. It’s love at first of several works in the past few years, leaving
flight, at least for one of them. For the other . . . well, readers to wonder what new information Usman
it’s going to take more than a plane ride! And when might bring to the telling of his life.
love does finally happen, there are more obstacles to An on-screen anchor and an off-screen script
overcome. Rajveer has to stand up against his own if writer; Usman has bagged the prestigious Ram-
he and Lavanya are to be together. However, life has nath Goenka Award for Excellence in Journalism
other plans. Things go horribly wrong and Rajveer in the Film & Television (Broadcast) category. He
now has to fight a different battle-one in which he is has also been a recipient of the NT (News Televi-
the devil as well as the deliverer. . sion) Awards three years in a row.
Tehelka / 31 march 2018 65 www.Tehelka.com
3 14/03/18 5:31 PM