GUYS... I'M GONE!! Hong Kong and Macau. But please don't abandon this space and miss me lots! Back next sunday. Ciao for now....

This appeared in Bombay Times today....

Dil Toh Kachcha Hai Ji….

Last week’s IT raids established how star struck even those hard boiled IT guys really are! Look at the juicy tidbits they put out in the press…. the one about Shahid answering Priyanka’s door bell, for example. If these chaps imagined all of India would go ‘Haaawww! What was Shahid (clad in boxers) doing in Priyanka’s home at the crack of dawn?” they must have been sorely disappointed.Nothing of the sort happened. India has moved on, buddies. We are pretty shock proof and totally cool about such things these days. And in any case, it’s better to have a handsome, co-star around to greet an income tax raiding party than a hysterical maid or an aggressive pit bull. Of course, most of the early leaks ( how many flats, how much money, heaps of jewellery) have since been rubbished by the star’s lawyers. But those early revelations were pretty spicy. People were more interested in whether Shahid offered a cuppa to the IT guys, than the exact number of properties owned by Priyanka. As for the Katrina ki Kahani ( along with her jawaani), that was funnier still. According to reports she insisted on some sort of ‘immunity’ since she is a British citizen. Till somebody apparently pointed out to her that she may well be a British citizen, but she isn’t a diplomat!
It is always a matter of amusement and concern who the IT guys pick for these raids.From as far back as I remember, our movie stars were their favourite targets. Not just that, these were always the most publicized raids with detailed reports of how the raiding parties went about their work systematically… almost sadistically. I guess they were\are just doing their job. But why target movie stars whose net worth is piddly compared to the net worth of our netas and assorted scamsters who never face a day of questioning or harassment…. till a major expose catches up with them. Today’s mega stars have an army of financial advisors to take them through our complicated and maddening tax structures. In the old days, they just stuffed mattresses with hard cash and slept on their money. A later report about the recent raids talked about a contraption called the ‘Hero’ which reads computer files. Let’s see what this smart Hero comes up with .But as of now, the IT guys must be feeling pretty sheepish since they seemed to have got ‘illey’ out of this outing.Even so, the public’s sympathy is with the stars – at least these people entertain us – what do those other fat cats do but plunder and loot? Why not go after the real culprits and leave our sitarey alone? We are willing to condone a few financial lapses here and there in the spirit of saat khoon maaf.

It was a toss up between watching ‘Burlesque’ and ‘Dil to Bachcha hi Hai.” You’d think the choice was pretty obvious – right? Well, I nearly bought tickets for the latter… and am congratulating myself for picking ‘Burlesque’ which was scintillating all the way. Being a huge fan of Cher, I take my chances with any film that features her. In this one, she is perfectly, almost heart breakingly cast as the feisty owner of a Burlesque Lounge Bar on Sunset Boulevard. Cher looks botoxed beyond belief… waxen… mummified. But she’s Cher – and she’s gorgeous. The rollicking dance routines featuring Christina Aguilera belting out classics ( ‘Diamonds are a girl’s best friend’) along with the raunchy, sexy title track, leave you gasping for more. As the tag line goes – ‘It takes a legend (Cher) to make a star ( Christina)’. ‘Burlesque’ is no ‘Chicago’, but I preferred it to ‘Moulin Rouge’ – so strike me dead. ‘….Rouge’ had Nicole… but this one has the priceless Cher.No, it’s definitely not “The last of her.” My dil is very, very kachcha ji!