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Hema-Dharam clash over Esha

Hema Malini does not seem too concerned about which film will be her daughter's first release. Is it because she has more serious problems to solve closer home? And that too from none other than hubby Dharmendra?

Sources close to the Dream Girl say Dharmendra is still not reconciled to the idea of his daughter as an actress. Though he tolerated Hema teaching her daughters dance and allowing them to perform on stage, he is absolutely against them joining the film industry.

But Hema is absolutely firm about the fact that her daughters will join the industry if that is what they want to do. Apparently, she is said to have told Dharam in a fit of fury that if he had as problem letting his daughter join films, Esha would make her debut not as Esha Deol but as Esha Malini!

Money-making, Govinda ishtyle

Strange are Govinda's ways. On the one hand he is erratic, cancels schedules, shifts dates and, at times, does not even report for shooting. Like he did with Hadh Kar Di Aapne. But the minute he saw the rushes and realised it had the potential of becoming a hit, he quickly bought the rights and decided to turn distributor.

When the producer realised the hero's interest in the film, he happily entrusted the rights and got full co-operation in return. Now Govinda hopes to distribute all his films himself so that the better part of the moolah comes home. Right Govinda?

The scrip-script tale

It is sad that actors, these days, are concentrating on launching their own portals and going public. Prem Kishan, the flop actor who turned to software paved the way and, now, Subhash Ghai, Yash Chopra and music companies like Tips and Venus are following suit. But then, shouldn't actors and film-makers also concentrate on scripts?

Anil-Boney split

With their decision to follow the herd, both Boney and Anil Kapoor have let their differences out into the open. While Boney will use Sridevi's name (What else does he have? His identity has always been that of Anil's manipulative brother and, now, Sridevi's husband), Anil has teamed up with Satish Kaushik and Anupam Kher to float a company. And remember, we were the first ones to tell you about the cracks in the relationship, which have now become public!

Indomitable Rinke

Must hand it to the youngest Khanna-Kapadia progeny, Rinke. She did not use her parents' clout to get a break in films, never asked them to put in a word or made them (Rajesh Khanna was willing) produce a film for her. She got her break in Pyaar Mein Kabhi Kabhie on her own steam. And, today, she has no qualms about going out to meet film-makers in their offices, waiting for appointments, without throwing her weight around. Why, she is even known to have walked across to stars like Shah Rukh Khan and Jackie Shroff and visited them on the sets to seek work. Gutsy girl, we wish her all the best from the bottom of our hearts!

Priyan makes hay

Guess who's trying to hog the maximum credit for the partial success of Hera Pheri? None other than the director of the film, Priyadarshan. But then not many know that if credit is due, it is to ingenuity of the young and dashing producer, Firoz Nadiadwala.

When Priyadarshan overshot the film and took his time editing it, Firoz took charge and edited the film, totally editing, in the process, Priyadarshan from the scene. Why, even the patchwork shooting was done in the director's absence since he was busying shooting ad films to fill his coffers. Even the promos were shot and executed by the producer. And now Priyadarshan is happily signing films while Firoz is ready to explode.

It's the wrong choice, baby

While on Hera Pheri, you must have noticed that the heroine, Tabu, has been completely left out of the publicity of the film. The blame naturally comes on Firoz who, many say, is doing so to spite her for having ditched his distant cousin Sajid, whom Tabu was, at one point, seriously planning to marry. The fact, though, is that Firoz and Sajid hardly talk to one another and are not exactly kissing cousins either.

The real reason for Tabu's exclusion, let us tell you, is only because she is very friendly with director Priyadarshan and refused to shoot until the director was on the set, while the heroes, Akshay Kumar and Sunil Shetty, co-operated with Firoz in the best interests of the film. And Tabu has learnt her bitter lesson about siding with whoever is more important.

Hairy tales

The entire film industry has been talking of the sudden disappearance of not just Salman Khan, but also his brothers Arbaaz and Sohail. Some attributed it to Salman's wedding, supposedly a hush-hush affair. Others talked of Salman making an appearance in a couple of episodes of the hot-hot serial, Baywatch.

But our source, and an authentic one at that, insists the tale is completely different. The Khan brothers, he says, have gone to solve their major problem -- hair fall. Apparently they have discovered a clinic which does excellent hair weaving and hope it will resolve their depleting situation.

Did you know...

Amitabh Bachchan was not the first choice to essay the role of the inspector in Zanjeer? That the role of the angry young inspector, which shot Amitabh Bachchan to dizzying heights and piloted him towards superstardom was first offered to Dev Anand. The dapper star refused it because he realised there would be no songs picturised on him, a fact which film-maker Prakash Mehra not willing to compromise on.

Then to Dharmendra who had similar problems.

Raaj Kumar too was considered for the role, but antagonised the film-maker by saying he (Mehra) reeked of a particular brand of oil, which he hated.

That is when Prakash Mehra, is sheer frustration, heeded his close buddy Jaya Bhaduri's wisdom and signed up the tall, lanky actor whom she had been strongly recommending. Why, she is even said to have agreed to work free in the film if Prakash Mehra agreed to sign on Bachchan.

The rest is history!!!

-- The Insider