Masand Gossip of the Week: Dec 09

Jacky Gets Saif's Vote

What is this one hears about Saif Ali Khan recommending Jacqueline Fernandes to his producers? According to the industry grapevine, the newly remarried Nawab has told producers that he's happy to work with Jacqueline, so they're free to consider her for projects he's discussing with them. Jacqueline, who starred in the duds Aladin and Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Hai before she landed a bonafide blockbuster in boyfriend Sajid Khan's Housefull 2, has just completed Race 2 with Saif, and the actor is reportedly impressed with her "work ethic". (His words, apparently, not mine!)

Or perhaps it's just Saif's way of returning a favour to Sajid Khan, who has signed him to star in Judwaa 2 for producer Sajid Nadiadwala. But Saif Ali Khan playing a double role in a comedy that's a sequel to a Salman Khan hit? I'd be worried.

Prateik Babbar and Brit model Amy Jackson, who starred in the disastrous Ek Deewana Tha, are no longer a couple. No big shocking news there, given the fickle nature of movie stars and relationships in Bollywood. But what has to be awkward are those giant tattoos both lovers got imprinted on their arms, professing their love for each other, during their short-lived whirlwind romance.

The couple, who flaunted their love at award functions and in interviews leading up to the release of their one film together, famously got matching tattoos that read 'Mera Pyaar Prateik' and 'Mera Pyaar Amy' amid massive floral designs that covered most of their forearms. Insiders say the break-

up has been so messy that they don't even speak to each other anymore. Amy is busy pursuing a film career in the South, and Prateik is shooting for his Bollywood projects.

That's going to be one expensive, painstaking laser surgery to erase those tattoos.

An advertising agency involved in a major repositioning campaign for a popular deodorant brand made the mistake of hiring a well known but has-been female movie star for an ad film it was shooting recently. The 30-something actress, thrilled to be employed again, insisted on involving herself with every little detail of the ad, and reportedly demanded that her outfits for the commercial be sourced from a leading Bollywood designer. Agency representatives suggested the designer would be "unnecessarily expensive", but the actress would have it no other way. She'd shared a warm and close friendship with him during her successful years, and she was convinced he'd "make her look good".

On the morning of the shoot, however, the designer didn't even bother showing up. He sent a few outfits with an assistant, and the actress hit the roof when she saw them, insisting they were "all rubbish". Both the stylist and a senior agency representative on the set agreed that the outfits just didn't work and realised that the designer had taken them for a ride, charging them a fat fee for "stuff that had to have been hanging around on his rack because nobody wanted it". Production assistants were promptly rushed to the nearest Mango outlet to pick up some decent replacements. The actress didn't step out of her trailer throughout, huffing and puffing angrily.

When she was handed over the new outfits, she picked one she liked, changed into it, and arrived on set without much fuss. But that's when she sprung the big shocker. When the ad-film director explained the concept of the shoot, the actress coolly remarked: "But I don't expose my underarms." A long silence fell on the set; the actress was ushered back to her trailer while everyone else deliberated in a corner. When the actress couldn't be persuaded into "making an exception this one time", the agency rep informed her she'd have to be replaced because there was no way they could shoot a commercial for a deodorant without showing the model use the product.

The actress, who has a comeback film lined up for release, didn't take the news too badly, but the agency spent half the day searching for a suitable replacement who could be persuaded to shoot at an hour's notice. Eventually, the agency settled for a relatively unknown model.

http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/voices/jacky-gets-saif-s-vote