Sonali Joshi Pitale (MID-DAY; January 15, 2015)

Director Siddharth Malhotra is a hassled man. For, actresses he has worked with in the past have been calling him up, asking for details of his next project. To his shock, some of them have even sent out their pictures to an unknown person posing as the director.

Siddharth says, “I was on holiday when I got a call from Sanjeeda Sheikh (television actress). Someone used my name and messaged her saying that I was casting for my upcoming project and wanted her photographs. I was shocked as I am personally not involved in the casting process. It is always done by a casting director and my team. I have asked her to be wary of such messages.”

When the director returned home after a few days, he got more calls from other actresses. This prompted him to file a case with the Bandra police. As evidence, he has submitted screen grabs of the photo requests to different actors. “The police have already started investigation. I have tried to reach out to as many people as possible via social media to inform them about the imposter. The number has been traced to the US. Bandra police have also registered a case with the cyber cell. I hope the pictures of the actresses are not misused,” he adds.

Mitali Parekh (MUMBAI MIRROR; May 25, 2014)

Television watchers know her as Heena. Fashion followers know her as a front row regular. She was and is at home among the sciolist theatrewallahs and red-nailed ladies-wholynch, but moved to Bandra with ad filmmaker husband Fahad Samar to be closer to the studios of Goregaon. Simone Singh's profession is being the quiet celebrity.

It could be because she is not new to fame. Her father is celebrated cricketer Daljeet Singh, but their names are rarely linked when she is written about in the media. "We like to live quietly," is all she'll say.

Singh's back after many, many ("everyone says a different number, from seven to nine. I don't now which it is") years on TV as steely industrialist Sakshi Goenka on Ek Hasina Thi. "I only stopped doing fiction," says Singh. "I have been part of non-fiction talk shows, movies, compering and taking courses on spiritual subjects, so work went on. For me to choose this role, it had to be a convergence of factors. It can't be any one thing that made me return to TV, especially daily television, which I decided to not do."

She was told Sakshi's an authorbacked role, and it actually turned out that way. Also, it came at a time when she was thinking of 'returning' any way. "When Siddharth (Malhotra, the creative director) came over to narrate the story, it was a role that was instantly arresting. On television, this kind of person, who is so fearless, would usually be a man. She (Sakshi) fears no one, not even the consequences of her own actions. The only thing that makes her afraid is her children, which is the maternal instinct, and that makes her very feminine. Quite simply, I couldn't say, no."

The character speaks Bengali, which Singh did not have to learn, since it's her mother tongue. Another departure from norm is that the 39-year-old plays an older woman and a mother. Did she have any misgivings about being typecast? "My only misgiving was about the time it would take," says Singh. "There was a time when they (makers of daily television) would shoot 28, 30 days a month. Where is the work-life balance? My home life is very important. You play younger (roles), you play older. Because I do very little work, that (type-casting) hasn't happened to me."

But the role Singh plays can be problematic for the thinking viewer. Sakshi defends and manipulates the system to acquit her son of rape. At a time when it's crucial that there be denouncement of any glamorisation of condoning sexual violence towards women, this could be betrayal. "Sakshi comes around to protecting her son; she does not condone his actions or support them. That is not her first response. But you see this as the plot unravels," she explains.

With her finely honed sense of aesthetics (her mom-in-law's real gold mesh purses are favourites, she says, seated in her Hill Road home freckled with classic and modernistic objects de art from around the world), fashion cannot be divorced from her characters. "It is one of the ways television has changed since I last worked in the medium," says Singh. "There are departments that take care of specific things. When (costume designer) Sapna Malhotra discussed Sakshi's look, I wondered whether it was necessary; but they explained it was. Sakshi comes from wealth but is also contemporary. She wears understated clothes, but also traditional saris which are uncommon on TV. I was in a jewellery store the other day and the owner told me a client came with a screen grab of me wearing the fivestrand necklace and asked them if they could replicate it. So, I guess it does have an influence."

Singh admits to suffer from consumer guilt. "I shop a lot and always overspend," she admits. "But I like clothes and I like to look nice. My work demands that I look presentable all the time." She likes to design and get her clothes stitched but is currently bereft of a good tailor.

Home life is steady and placid. Her marriage to Samar celebrates its 14th birthday and on the subject of children (because it is a question every kind of woman is asked), she says, "Children are a gift from God. Fahad and I feel quite complete as a family."

One gets the sense that this will be one of those sporadical Singh sightings before she dives back into her quiet comforts. 

Ankur Pathak (MUMBAI MIRROR; February 28, 2014)

Four year after directing the Kareena Kapoor-Arjun Rampal starrer We Are Family for Karan Johar, Siddharth Malhotra is set to return as an independent producer and has commissioned debutant Partho Mitra to direct a film, which will have Bipasha Basu in the lead. Partho has previously directed popular TV shows like Ghar Ek Mandir and Sansaar.

When contacted Malhotra said, “Bipasha has expressed interest in the project. A final narration is still due but within the next few days, we will have a clearer picture.” Does this indicate that direction has taken a backseat for him? 

Although Siddharth refused to comment, according to a source, “His next directorial venture will be produced by Eros International. Currently, he is working on a script which should be locked in a week’s time. By the end of March, the casting of his film will also be finalised.”