Divya Bharati Remembered

I may have said it before, but I'm still very much a "newbie" to Bollywood, though my Indian friends are impressed with my knowledge. And every now and then, I'm reminded just how little I know.

Like tonight, for instance. I ran across a name I'd not heard before and, because of my curiosity for all things Bollywood, I had to know more.

I was going to bid on a magazine with Juhi Chawla on the cover on eBay, but was stunned by the asking price (the equivelant of $60 U.S.). Ridiculous, I said! I contacted the seller to ask why this magazine was so outrageously expensive. The reply was that it was one of the rare magazines that had an article with Divya Bharati.

WHO??



So I had to investigate. Wow, was I in for a shock. This young woman, who died at the age of 19, had, in only 3 years in films, made a deep mark on Bollywood to the point where, after her tragic death, producers were scrambling to find another like her. Her nickname was Baby Doll. While she was known for her sweet face and resembling greatly the legendary actress Sridevi, she was also known for being a little erratic, slightly out of control, and highly competitive. She was compared to Juhi Chawla, Kajol, and even Madhuri. Many people still believe that, had she lived, she would have been considered one of the greatest of all Hindi film actresses.

And in my investigation, I realized that I have one of her films in my library: "Deewana", which, despite being a Shah Rukh Khan fanatic, I've not gotten a chance to watch yet (I have a literal stack of films I've yet to see).

I'm struck by the tragedy of her death and what little I've read so far with regards to her and her life. She married secretly, without her family's blessing, to producer Sajid Nadiadwala ("Heyy Babyy"), changed her name to Sana and her religion to Muslim. The tragedy of her death was that she fell, 5 stories, from her husband's apartment, after drinking. Her death was deemed an accident, but due to the problems in her personal life, some questioned if her death wasn't murder.

Recently, with the movie "Om Shanti Om," some have question if Farah and SRK weren't, in some way, making a statement about Divya and her relationship with Sajid. There is a lot to compare to between Divya and the character Shantipriya. It's a question I'd love to pose to Farah or SRK.

Actually, in fact, I think I may have to pose this question to co-writer of OSO, Mushtaq Sheikh. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if he hasn't been asked this question many times before.

Salman Khan - Oh Yes. I Have Issues.

All quiet on the BW front. Neither "Halla Bol" or "My Name Is Anthony Gonsalves" played locally so I didn't get to see either one (local theater that shows Indian films has opted to show Telugu films and while I have no problems seeing them, they don't have subtitles). But neither film seemed to have made much impact at the box office.

File this under either "Melody's Salman Khan Issues" or "He Can't POSSIBLY Believe This!" Out of the mouth of Salman Khan, with regards to his wax figure being placed at Madame Tussaud's in London next to Aishwarya's and SRK's, he feels he is the next deserving to be there and that his statue will be so hot, the other two will melt.

Personally, considering all the heartache and bullshit he has caused throughout his life, I'm surprised the man has any fans at all, especially female fans. Instead of realizing that he has anger/obsession issues which manifest themselves even more when alcohol is involved and he beats up women, women lash out at those women he has attacked, feeling they deserve it. NO WOMAN DESERVES TO BE HIT, NO MATTER WHAT COUNTRY YOU LIVE IN OR WHAT RELIGION YOU FOLLOW!

He has done FAR more damage and harm than Sanjay Dutt ever has, yet more people felt Sanjay Baba deserved prision time than Salman. The only way Salman Khan could ever redeem himself in my eyes is to a) kiss and rub his forehead on Aishwarya Rai's feet and beg for forgiveness for the pain, physical and mental, he caused her, b) donate an extensive amount of money towards animal and environmental organizations to help protect the endangered Black Bucks he decided to poach, c) donate an extensive amount of money towards organizations to help stop drunk driving and those families who have lost loved ones due to drunk drivers, and d) take a number of anger management and alcoholism classes. I would actually have a great deal of respect for him even if he only did the first one. Instead of Amitabh Bachchan pushing his bahu to make up with Salman, he should be requesting Salman to render his own apology. Publically.