Subhash K Jha (DNA; April 23, 2015)

She has always done what her heart has told her to. The ever-beautiful Hema Malini is in no mood to relent to pressures in her constituency to cancel the grand Braj Mahotav that she has planned with her Bollywood colleagues’ participation in Mathura on April 25 and 26.

Taking time off from her hectic preparations, the tireless and timeless beauty admitted there was pressure on her to cancel the Mahotsav because of the farmers agitation and other issues. But Hema says she is actually drawing attention to the problems of the constituency by bringing her Bollywood colleagues to Mathura. “I’ve invited Amit and Jaya (Bachchans), Govinda, Arjun Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Parineeti Chopra... they’ve all agreed to come to Mathura and perform for the Braj Mahotsav on my invitation.”

Hema says, “We are not doing anything filmi. We are paying a homage to Lord Krishna on the Krishna-bhoomi Mathura. The Braj Mahotsav is being held on Braj bhoomi. Bollywood’s stars will bring attention to the problems of Mathura.”

Hema has been actively joining the farmers’ agitation in her constituency. “I’ve been fighting with them for their moohafza,” she announces proudly using the Urdu word for ‘compensation.’ Reminded of the time when she could barely speak her Hindi dialogues, she says, “Waqt ke saath badalna padta hai. If I’ve to fight with these people I have to understand and speak their language.”