As told to Akash Bhatnagar (MUMBAI MIRROR; June 19, 2020)

I’m fortunate to have got two first shots in my career. As a child, I was cast as the young Rishi Kapoor in Yash Chopra’s Vijay. I had to jump into the hotel pool during the song “Akkad Bakkad Bambe Bo” for my first turn in front of the camera. I didn’t know swimming then, but I dove in excitedly and went under. Somebody had to jump in to save me. I swallowed a lot of chlorinated water and was terrified I’d drown. So, when I was called to do the shot again, I refused. Yash uncle, who was like a father figure, managed to cajole me into doing it. He bought a box of chocolates and sat next to me, counting them. By the time he reached 100, I’d agreed.

Despite the scare, I loved being on the set and realised this was what I wanted to do when I grew up.

I was 21 when I left my job as an assistant director and enrolled for a year of acting classes. At 23, I was knocking on the doors of every producer for work. They all agreed to meet me because of my last name, but held out no hope or promise. One day, I was at an event representing my father, who wasn’t in the city, standing by the bar and feeling frustrated, when someone nudged me. He asked if I was Nitin Mukesh’s son who was looking for work everywhere. I nodded, thinking here was another person who had come to lecture me, but it was Jhamu Sughand, who invited me to his office the next day.

I reached at 9 am sharp, and he offered me a choice between two films — Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na (JTYJN), which eventually got made with Imran Khan, and Johnny Gaddaar. I was on a flight to Delhi later that evening with my mother for my cousin’s wedding. When I told her about the offer, she wanted me to opt for JTYJN because it was a love story. But I was inclined towards Johnny Gaddaar. She read the script to me on the flight and I was hooked, but she was doubtful because I was just 24 and the film required me to kill five people onscreen. She insisted I read the JTYJN script, which I did on reaching Delhi. But my gut instinct told me to go with Johnny Gaddaar as it would give me a chance to explore a side to my personality that was drastically different from my upbringing, while JTYJN was actually me in real life.

When I went back to Jhamu sir’s office, I asked him if I could do both films. He told me I’d have to choose between the two as he wanted to start both the films in the same year. I said “yes” to Johnny Gaddaar and he put me on a six-month prep with director Sriram Raghavan, telling me I had to work with him daily.

I met Sriram the same day. He sent me to the set of Parineeta where Anurag Kashyap took my audition in front of almost 100 people. Then, started the workshops. I didn’t know if I was in the film until Sriram came knocking on my door the night before the shoot. He had a box of pedas with him and congratulated me. Till then, I had believed he thought of me as his assistant, but later, I realised it was his way of teaching me the craft.

My first shot required me to go to a chemist shop and ask for a bottle of chloroform. My excuse was that my cat was gravely ill and I needed the chloroform to put him to sleep. The scene comes at a point in the film when the plan has already been put into action. We were in Aram Nagar and the shot was okayed in one take. In fact, the whole shoot went by in a flash. It was my bad luck that Jhamu ji suddenly passed away and the film was stuck for almost two years. A lot of people told us no one would go to see a long-delayed film. But we believed in it and once it released, well, the rest is history.

Arbaaz Khan on Chulbul’s new love interest in Dabangg 3; reveals that Irrfan Khan, Randeep Hooda were first choices for Robin Hood cop
Himesh Mankad (MUMBAI MIRROR; July 23, 2019)

Mirror was the first to report (July 16) that Mahesh Manjrekar’s younger daughter Saiee (left) is being launched opposite Salman Khan in the third instalment of his cop drama Dabangg. The actress plays the love interest of the 20-something Chulbul Pandey in the prequel scenes with Sonakshi Sinha as his better half Rajjo in the present day. “Salman has known Saiee for a while. He was sure she fits the bill perfectly as an innocent young girl and after seeing her perform, we know she’s exactly what we wanted for Dabangg 3,” asserts producer Arbaaz Khan.

The Dabangg franchise kicked off in 2010 with Abhinav Kashyap as the director. “When Abhinav narrated the script to me, I asked him why he wasn’t offering me the role of the Robin Hood cop. But more than Chulbul, he saw me as Makkhi, which was an extension of my role in Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na. He was looking to cast Randeep Hooda or Irrfan Khan as the lead then but neither of them had been finalised. I offered to produce the film for him and asked him what if we got Salman on board as Pandey ji. He was instantly excited and things quickly fell in place,” Arbaaz reveals.

Seven years after the sequel, Dabangg 3 rolled on April 1 this year, and Arbaaz points out that the moment Salman gets into uniform and glues on the moustache, he is Chulbul Pandey come to life. “The character fits him like a glove. Even Makkhi has evolved and is integral to the narrative, with different shades in the prequel and the present,” he says, refusing to divulge more.

Arbaaz has been quietly shooting for Priya Varrier’s upcoming film, Sridevi Bungalow, in which he has a special appearance. His character is a lot like who he is in real life. “I play an actor who comes to Priya’s rescue with an action sequence unlike any I have done before, designed by a stunt team from Thailand,” he exults. Prod him on the wink sensation and he says that while he was aware the clip featuring Priya had gone viral, he met her for the first time on the film set and found her to be a hard-working, focused girl. “That wink was a magical moment which got her noticed, but to have a career in this industry, she will have to do some interesting work,” he observes.

Meanwhile Dabangg 3, directed by Prabhudheva, has been on the floors for almost 70 days now. “We are only 60 per cent through. Shooting will wrap up by September end leaving us with three months for post-production,” the maker informs. Quiz him on the surprise element this time and pat comes the answer, “Sudeep (the Kannada actor who plays the antagonist).”

Raghu Ram on his singer girlfriend Natalie Di Luccio as they complete one year of togetherness
Avinash Lohana (MUMBAI MIRROR; March 28, 2018)

On Monday, Roadies and Splitsvilla creator Raghu Ram marked the first anniversary of his relationship with Canadian singer Natalie Di Luccio with a heartfelt post on the social media. “Natalie, you once told me that you needed to believe in magic. Well, here’s your proof. You walked into my life a year ago today and impossibly, everything inside me changed. I feel Love. I feel Happiness. I feel Hope. I feel. Again. All because of you… I love you,” he wrote.

It was in 2010, when Raghu chanced upon Natalie’s YouTube channel, and was instantly taken up by her rendition of the song “Kahin Toh Hogi Woh” from the Imran Khan and Geneilia D’Souza-starrer Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na. Incidentally, the 2008 Abbas Tyrewala-directed film had also featured Raghu’s ex-wife, Sugandha Garg.

“I forwarded her videos to a few friends. Later, she was in Mumbai and apparently everyone she met asked her to connect with me. When we finally did in 2011, she put up a picture with me on Facebook and everyone warned her against me. We met socially once or twice over the years. I always found her sweet, gentle and graceful,” he gushes, adding that Natalie, who has done playback for films like Chennai Express, Band Baaja Baaraat, Chalo Dilli and Bittoo Boss can sing in French, German, Italian and six Indian languages.

The couple reconnected several years later, when Raghu found another video of Natalie. “We decided to meet up and we got along really well. One thing led to another and here we are. On March 26 last year, we made it official as a couple, Natalie has really taken me by surprise,” he says, adding that they have even collaborated on a single “Aankhon Hi Aankhon Mein” that released last December.

Ask him if his ex, with whom he has stayed friends after parting ways in 2015 (their divorce was finalised in January), is aware of the relationship and Raghu says, “Sugandha was the first one to know about Natalie from me. She said that if she had to pick a girl for me it would be her. They’ve had many conversations behind my back. I am sure Sugandha has given some advice on the dos and don’ts with me. She also told me about the mistakes I should avoid making this time,” smiles Raghu.

Are wedding bells on the cards soon? “I am living a dream right now and doing things I thought I would never do. I am in a relationship with somebody I am head-over-heels in love with. Marriage? Yes, why not? I am open to it,” Raghu signs off on a promising note.

MIRZYA has opened to very low numbers and this the case with most newcomer films. Below is a list of the opening day figures of newcomer films since 1994 where generally the male lead is a newcomer and in some films the pairing itself is being introduced. In the last few years STUDENT OF THE YEAR, HEROPANTI and HERO (Salman Khan factor) have got what can be called good openings. JAANE TU...YA JAANE NA had a good opening in 2008 (Aamir Khan factor). SAAWARIYA in 2007 also opened well but as it was a clash with OM SHANTI OM, the figures looked low as the Shah Rukh Khan film was almost double.

The last time that newcomer films took a huge start was along time ago - REFUGEE in 2000 and before that BARSAAT in 1995. The former actually broke the opening day record as it was the entry of Amitabh Bachchan's son and the director J.P. Dutta was coming off one the biggest hits of all time BORDER and this was again a similar type of film. So, the audience came in hordes to watch initially. KAHO NAA...PYAAR HAI took an excellent start in Mumbai circuit. There may be some smaller films but those are not included and the list below is of films which had good awareness at time of release.
Aa Gale Lag Jaa (1994) - 20,00,000
Prem (1995) - 26,00,000
Barsaat (1995) - 68,00,000
Tere Mere Sapne (1996) - 21,00,000
Himalay Putra (1997) - 43,00,000
Prem Aggan (1998) - 44,00,000
Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai (2000) - 51,00,000
Refugee (2000) - 1,56,00,000
Mujhe Kucch Kehna Hai (2001) - 81,00,000
Tum Bin (2001) - 15,00,000
Maine Dil Tujhko Diya (2002)  - 85,00,000
Jism (2003) - 67,00,000
Ishq Vishk (2003) - 58,00,000
Taarzan - The Wonder Car (2004) - 67,00,000
Saawan - The Love Season (2006) - 80,00,000
Saawariya (2007) - 3,00,00,000
Love Story 2050 (2008) - 2,07,00,000
Jaane Tu...Ya Jaane Na (2008) - 3,45,00,000
Band Baaja Baaraat (2010) - 95,00,000
Vicky Donor (2012)- 1,97,00,000
Ishaqzaade (2012) - 4,49,00,000
Student Of The Year (2012) - 7,52,00,000
Heropanti (2014) - 6,51,00,000
Hero (2015) - 6,69,00,000
Mirzya (2016) - 1,75,00,000 apprx

Imran Khan dishes about love and life
Upala KBR (DNA; August 2, 2016)


Beyonce or Rihanna?
Equally uninterested in both.

Flirty or intense romance?
After 14 years of being with this one woman (his wife Avantika), how can you ask me this question? Intense, of course. I started dating her when I was a teenager, since I was 19 and when we didn’t have cell phones. I don’t even know about any other woman.

What’s your pet peeve?
I get irritated with people who are on the phone all the time — you can hear the tick-tick or tapping of the keys when they are chatting or eating with you.

A quality that draws you to a woman?
If she can make me laugh. By that, I don’t mean sense of humour. Women are not encouraged to be funny. With men, it’s a big thing and to be humourous is thought of as a desirable thing. So women often won’t crack jokes. I find that to be rare and it requires a degree of wit, awareness and intelligence to be witty. I find humour in a woman very attractive.

A quality in a woman that puts you off?
Wilful ignorance. We are at a place right now. It’s weird when you tell people something, they will say ‘Don’t pakao, I don’t need to know the reason,’ as everything for them is on a superficial level. But I am like, why not? Particularly, if it pertains to you or your life. So when someone tells me, ‘Why do you worry about these things, Imran? How does it matter?” I am like — don’t use it then!

Live-in relationships are…
I think it’s a very valuable way of getting to know someone. Avantika and I lived together in the USA since we were 21. We moved back to India at 22 and continued to live together here, so we spent many years together before getting married.

One mantra you live by…
People worry and stress about things they can’t control, I can’t. As much as you worry, you can’t impact or affect anything.

One professional mistake that you will never make…
I am guilty of making this mistake in the past, which is that you do a film for a dishonest reason. It can be anything — emotions, money or the greed for stardom. Your reasons are not honest for that film and that’s wrong. You should do it for the reason that excites you, but I have chosen to do films for these reasons and invariably it has come back to bite me in the ass.

A quality you wish you had...
I wish I was more outgoing. I’m not good with small talk. I can’t do it. I suspect that a lot of people who meet me for the first time think of me as rude or standoffish. I wish I had this ability to relate and connect to people. Some people are so warm, but I can open up only after meeting someone many times. People’s ability to effortlessly charm and make friends with others is something that I am envious about.

Three things you wish you had…
I have got more from life than I could ever wish for. I’m extremely aware of how fortunate I am because of the blessed life I have, so then to say, ‘Kaash ye hota...’ is being ungrateful.

Three people you rely on/trust completely and why…
Avantika is No 1 in that list, my mother Nuzhat and the third person is open, depending on the scenario like a friend. My mom and wife are there first.

A moment you want to relive...
I would much like to relive the first day that Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na released. It was a 10 am show at Cinemax (now PVR) and we had gone there to check out the audience’s reaction. I snuck in and was standing at the staircase where I could hear the film, but not see it. Towards the end of the movie, when Sushant’s character starts hitting me and I fall down, the audience oohed and aahed as if they were part of it. When I hit him and he fell, they collectively gasped. It was the first great experience I had of an audience reacting to my work. It was unbiased and neutral as they had bought their tickets and was liking my work.

That feeling is absolutely undescribable — I felt like I had floated up above the ground. I felt like a drug was injected directly into my heart and some magic potion was running into my bloodstreams. It’s the greatest drug ever — the drug of the audience loving your work is unparalled. Koi daru ya cocaine — none of that can ever compare to this feeling! Of an audience honestly reacting to your work and cheering you. It’s a high that every actor chases.

A day in your life…
Wake up with my baby, play with her for a couple of hours, from 11 am to lunchtime meeting, script sessions and work appointments, I go and pick up my daughter from school, 4 pm onwards is work again. I have slots in the day when things happen. I go to gym in the evening, after that ideally I like to be free as I like to spend time with Imara for the last couple of hours before she goes to sleep but some people are late hosts so they expect you to meet them later. I am early-to-bed early and early-to-rise person so as far as possible, I try to get my meetings done earlier in the day.

Riya Sharma, with inputs by Garvita Sharma (BOMBAY TIMES; July 5, 2016)

He is making a debut, eight years after debuting. Making peace with a complicated family life, drug addiction and career flops. Prateik Babbar is an actor who is not giving up
Aastha Atray Banan (MID-DAY; April 24, 2016)

Prateik Babbar sits across the room from us at his public relations firm’s Andheri office, appearing like a debutant gingerly discussing his first film. He smiles shyly when our photographer calls out to him, talks softly, making an effort to leave a good impression. After all, he is trying to make a comeback.

For the last three years, Babbar, 29, hasn’t acted. Issaq, his last film released in 2013, a story of love in the time of sand mafia ravaged Benaras. It didn’t ring in well. Just like Ek Deewana Tha the year before, with actor and former girlfriend Amy Jackson. Professional setbacks have been only one of his headaches. Drug and alcohol addiction is the real bugbear.

He has been in and out of rehab multiple times. But now that he is celebrating a couple of months of being sober, the only way he sees himself getting back into the limelight is to tell the truth and hope for the best.

"For the last five years, only the substance mattered. Nobody else — family, friends — even came close. It was about running away from every kind of emotion. I was disgustingly addicted," he says straight-faced.

Babbar’s struggle was possibly scripted before his time. The only child to parallel cinema’s stars, Smita Patil and Raj Babbar, he was brought up by his maternal grandmother, Vidyatai Patil, and aunt, Manya Patil, after Smita passed away a month after his birth. Babbar was married to veteran theatre personality Nadira Zaheer Babbar with whom he had two children, when he met Smita. As a man in love with and married to two women, he led a complicated life. Its crushing burden on Smita, she once described as ‘private hell’. After her death in December 1986, Babbar returned to living with Nadira, who had accepted Smita in a strange ménage a troi arrangement, and their kids.

"My parents’ relationship always was a source of confusion. Why were things like this? If mom had just lived longer and dad would have spent more time with me…" he trails off before gripping the thought, "things could have been, actually, would have been, different."

Prateik grew up with grandparents grounded in nationalist ideology. Shivajirao Patil, one of Maharashtra's tallest leaders of the co-operative movement was member of the Rajya Sabha and twice elected to the Maharashtra Legislative Council. Vidya, too, was involved with the socialist movement. Manya, their youngest daughter, who has a degree in fashion from New York, has been Prateik’s custodian in a sense, both personally and while managing his career.

The Patils, says Prateik, were clear that Babbar was responsible for Smita’s pain. It didn’t help that he was hardly around, busy with acting and political commitments. "I was brought up believing he was the bad guy. They told me what he had done, and how my mother was lonely. So, I distanced myself from him."

Drugs seemed a convenient balm. His first brush with substance abuse was at 14. It was marijuana with friends. As he grew braver, he moved to miracle mood changers. Ganja remained a constant.

The other constant was a girlfriend. "It was about rebelling. With drugs, I also needed relationships. I thought if I didn’t have anyone with me, I’d fall apart."

Perhaps to prove that relationships and marriage can work, he wanted to wed every woman he dated, including Jackson. "At 14, I engraved a girl’s name on my hand with a lit cigarette. I am very careful about falling in love now," he says.

A stint at a rehab centre in Mumbai was followed by relentless counselling. Most psychotherapy experts arrived at one conclusion — he was trying to fill a void. "I never believed that, though. But it was true. It makes me glad then that in the last three years, I have stayed away from a relationship. The break gave me the chance to face my problems alone, even if I was facing them when high."

Babbar wanted to launch him in a film, but when he turned 25. Instead, Prateik joined Prahlad Kakkar’s production firm as assistant director. Kakkar, a friend of the family, even had firm named by Smita. "Dad kept saying, wait, but I didn’t want any of it. I was pushing everyone away."

The going solo obsession made him symbolically severe ties with his father. In 2011, he announced that he was now simply, Prateik. He said in an interview during promoting Dum Maaro Dum in 2011 that he regarded actor Abhishek Bachchan as his elder brother, prompting half-brother Aryan Babbar to blame him for "doing all kinds of things for publicity". "I didn’t want to have anything to do with them. After advertising, I auditioned for Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na."



The 2008 romantic comedy produced by Aamir Khan to launch his nephew Imran, had critics single out Prateik as ‘the guy to watch out for’. Unusually natural on screen for a debutant, he won a Filmfare for the role in 2008.

For a while, things seemed to be going well. But during Ekk Deewana Tha, love did him in. His co-star, British model-turned actress Amy Jackson, who’d once told a magazine, most girls would be "happy dating Prateik", grew tired of his obsessive ways and packed up. When she returned on work from England next, the intricate tattoo on her forearm, Mera Pyaar, Mera Prateik, was gone.

"I could be called a romantic, but it’s not a good love when you ignore yourself and make it all about the other person. I forgot I existed. I was jealous, possessive… crazy. Think of a bad adjective, and I have been all that in five years. I don’t blame her for leaving," he says.

And then, Vidyatai Patil passed away last year. The woman who turned mother again in her 60s to take care of a month-old baby, the grandmother who Prateik petitioned from Ajmer’s prestigious Mayo College so that he could return, pleading, I can’t live without you, was gone.

Prateik says he lost track of reality, right and wrong. Without her watchful support, he took to what made him feel better, drugs and alcohol. "I was back to relying on it. It was my number one priority."

He knew he had hit rock bottom again. He decided, he’d return to rehab. "In an attempt to tell the world to f*** off, I was hurting myself the most." He also had his anger to deal with. But isolated, he turned to his only parent.

"I looked at my father and realised, this is the only parent I have — my biological father. And I suddenly didn’t want to care about what happened, and what he did. I wanted to love him. I couldn’t let the past, something I have no control over, destroy me." And so began one more long walk to normalcy.

Called "spontaneous" for his acting by Vidyatai, Prateik, who famously quit Subhash Ghai’s acting school in a day, now keeps himself busy at The Jeff Goldberg Studio where he is learning method acting. "I have never trained in it. It’s proving to be cathartic; to play a character different from who I am is helping me cope."

He has built a bridge to Nadira and the kids, calling their relationship "a hundred per cent normal". "I go and hang with them at home all the time".

Second chances don’t come easy. His day now starts at the gym, followed by class, meeting people and auditioning. "It’s not going to happen overnight. People will be wary, but I am positive that good things happen. I have to keep at it. Keep calling, keep reminding others that I’m here. There is no other life for me. This is what I do."

A few happy things have happened. He shot a commercial with MS Dhoni, recently starred in Aatish Dabral’s The Guitar, and his crossover movie, Umrika, which has done well on the festival circuit, will release later in the year.

Kept away from films and the industry when growing up, he knows his talent is inherited. As is his pull towards the gritty, indie scene. "I know! I keep thinking about that. It’s her [Smita] genes, and my father’s. A freaky coincidence, right?"

But complete redemption is still some time away. Coming clean on addiction in an industry famously expert at running for cover, is his way of standing out. "I want to say, yes, I was bad. Now, I want to be good, and do good. I hope it doesn’t backfire."

Madhureeta Mukherjee (BOMBAY TIMES; April 16, 2016)

The multiplex revolution in Hindi cinema started in the mid 2000's and has grown tremendously since then but what was then a multiplex film is not anymore though in the industry the same sort of film is called a multiplex film.

Films like TAARE ZAMEEN PAR and JAANE TU...YA JAANE NA did well in the multiplexes and were correctly called multiplex hits but at the time there were around 200 odd multiplexes and 80% of them were situated in Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Bangalore, Kolkatta or in the satellite towns of these cities and that is where these films did well. Today there are over 700 multiplexes in India but the places mentioned above have only 275 of the 700 plus which is less than 40%

Still films like KATTI BATTI and SHAANDAAR are called multiplex films when in fact they are unlikely to work in over 60% of the multiplexes in India. If these films work they will work in the same places as films like TAARE ZAMEEN PAR and JAANE TU...YA JAANE NA worked which was then around 160 of the 200 odd multipexes and today its 275 of the 700 odd multiplexes. Most of the other 425 multiplexes have a different taste to what is generally thought to be a multiplex film.

These multiplexes outside the metros behave more like the good single screens in cities like Jaipur, Jodhpur, Lucknow or Surat. Basically unlike before there is no multiplex film today, you are either a metro film or a pan India film like it was before the advent of multiplexes. The multiplex film before had potential to reach 55 crore nett (TAARE ZAMEEN PAR was tax free so went a little higher) before and today that film is the metro film and can do 75% more or maybe a little more like a BARFI if distributors are clever with ticket pricing. The pan India film is unlimited and can go anywhere and as multiplexes go further into tier 2 and tier 3 cities the footfalls will only go up for films that do find huge acceptance all over.

There are some costly films being made at present and will have huge expectations on release with big numbers expected but its pretty easy to call even now that they will fall below expectations as they only have 275 cinema halls where they have a chance to be accepted, this may go up to 300 next year but that will hardly make a difference.