Her co-actor Sahil Anand remembers her as a courageous and strong girl
Neha Maheshwri (BOMBAY TIMES; July 14, 2020)

Model-actress Divvya Chouksey passed away on Sunday following a battle with cancer. Her goodbye note on Instagram hours before she breathed her last has left everyone teary-eyed. The 29-year-old actress had written, “Words cannot suffice what I want to convey, the more the less, since it’s been months am absconded and bombarded with Plethora of messages, it’s time I tell you guys, I’m on my deathbed. shit happens, I’m strong af. be there another life of non suffering. No questions please. only god knows how much you mean to Me (sic).”

BT spoke to her Hai Apna Dil Toh Awara (2016) co-actor Sahil Anand, who remembered her as a strong and courageous girl. He said, “Divvya used to call me bhaiyya and I would call her baby. She was affable, jovial and passionate about her work. There was no one like her. I was a fan of her and will remain so. She has left a void that can’t be filled.”

Divvya didn’t tell him or her other friends about her being diagnosed with cancer, and left for her hometown, Bhopal, apparently around mid-2019. Sahil shared, “After recovering from cancer, Divvya had returned to Mumbai last year before her birthday in November and that’s when she told me about it. We celebrated her birthday and her victory over the disease. However, a few weeks later, she said that her cancer had relapsed and that she would be going back to Bhopal again for another round of treatment.”

Divvya and Sahil interacted over phone calls and text messages until last week. The actor recalled, “Unlike the first time when she had withdrawn into a shell, this time around, she kept in touch with me and would often update me about her treatment. However, towards the end, she wasn’t even able to talk as that would make it difficult for her to breathe. She video called me once a few days ago, and just watched me talk. I used to send her funny messages. Woh mujhe dekh kar khush hoti thi. Woh zindagi mein kabhi royi nahi hai, but when I read her last post, I realised that it was one of her weakest moments. During one of our last conversations, she had told me, ‘Agar hum milenge na bhaiyya toh mujhe kuchh batana hai aapko. Kuchh comedy wala hai’. Now, I will never know what it was that she wanted to tell me.”

SUICIDE SQUAD did fair business in its first weekend. The collections would be low for a normal Hollywood release but here there were no dubbed Hindi, Tamil or Telugu versions so a 10 crore nett from just English language prints is a reasonable weekend. The trend was not so great with limited growth on Saturday and Sunday. The other Hollywood release JASON BOURNE fared poorly and this film had dubbed versions. BUDHIA SINGH - BORN TO RUN was the best of the Hindi releases but very low. It managed good growth on Saturday but at the levels it was collecting it does not really matter much. Below are the apprx weekend collections of the films released on Friday.
Suicide Squad - 9,75,00,000
Jason Bourne - 5,25,00,000
Budhia Singh - Born To Run - 1,25,00,000
Fever - 75,00,000
The Legend Of Michael Mishra - 50,00,000

FEVER and THE LEGEND OF MICHAEL MISHRA Fwere even lower than BUDHIA SINGH - BORN TO RUN. The collections of other films like HAI APNA DIL TOH AWARA, MOODS OF CRIME and LOVE IN MALAYSIA were negligible with hardly any audience.

HERE COMES ANOTHER DRY WEEK BEFORE THE DELUGE!

Dishoom has released and the next set of biggies will release next Friday – Mohenjo Daro and Rustom. Tomorrow, 4 small budget films will try their luck and as it always happens during the clash of small films in a dry period, all of them will face a tough time. My analysis:

BUDHIA SINGH – BORN TO RUN: This is based on wonder boy Budhia Singh, who ran more than 40 marathons by the time he was 5 years old. He was banned from running, which led to shockwaves and extreme difference of opinion. Manoj Bajpayee plays the role of the coach who inspired the kid. The trailer of the film makes an impact for sure but it’s too niche. If the budget is reasonable and word of mouth positive, it can manage to make a mark commercially.

FEVER: This is a masala thriller starring Rajeev Khandelwal and 3 hot heroines: Gauahar Khan, Caterina Murino and Gemma Atkinson. It is an action thriller and has its share of intimate scenes. And these factors will definitely attract a section of audiences to theatres. The makers have done great publicity in Bombay Times by daily coming up with paid articles. An article yesterday caught attention which said how Gemma went ‘topless’ in front of everyone on the set while shooting the sex scene. However, due to lack of big stars and not-so-great promos and music, the buzz isn’t high. And this puts question mark on its box office prospects.

THE LEGEND OF MICHAEL MISHRA: Starring Arshad Warsi, Aditi Rao Hydari and Boman Irani, this film went on floors in early 2014 and was completed soon enough. It faced problems in getting a timely release sadly. Now the film is being released with hardly any promotional activities. The trailer of the film is nothing great and the collections are going to be very poor.

HAI APNA DIL TOH AWARA: This is made by the family of Joy Mukerji. There’s hardly any awareness about this film and it’s easy to predict its fate at the ticket window.

Yet again, it’s the Hollywood releases of the week – Jason Bourne and Suicide Squad – that will open better than the Hindi releases. Jason Bourne especially has a better chance, since it can work well in the dubbed versions.

WHICH FILM WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE OUT OF THESE AND WHY? DO LET ME KNOW!

Anirban Das (MID-DAY; April 20, 2016)

Late Joy Mukherjee was a name to reckon with in the 1960s. He made his acting debut with Love In Simla (1960) and went on to star in several hit films such as Love In Tokyo (1966), Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon (1963) and Ziddi (1964). Eager to dabble in other aspects of filmmaking, the actor turned director-producer with Humsaya (1968), but neither this film nor his subsequent films as producer or director did well. His only successful directorial venture was Chhailla Babu (1977) starring Rajesh Khanna in the title role. Mukherjee was eager to produce more films but couldn’t do so for a number of reasons back then. Finally, his sons Monjoy and Sujoy decided to revive their father’s banner and announced Hai Apna Dil Toh Awara in 2014. The long-in-the-making film is all set to hit theatres next month.

“It is when I released my father’s Love In Bombay in 2013 (42 years after it was made) that I thought of reviving his banner. My first film Hai Apna Dil Toh Awara will release around May end or June,” says Monjoy.

Interestingly, his brother Sujoy is also making a film under their father’s banner. “We will talk about that film later. As of now, I can only say that Sujoy is directing it. In fact, we are also planning to make regional films under my father’s banner,” adds Monjoy.