After four years in journalism, I finally made it to an all-expenses-paid junket. The event was the second Sansui Movie Awards in Delhi. Two colleagues -- allow me to say smugly that they were newbies to the profession, and had none of my wisdom to fall back on :) -- and I boarded the flight at 2200 hours from Bombay. Not the most decent time to travel, you will agree. But that's the way it turned out. Being a loyal Bombayite, I don't really like other cities -- and Delhi, I simply hate. The place stinks of duplicity, slow pace and bureaucrats. Besides, the bars, even the ones at private parties, close at midnight. Delhi was pleasantly cold. Mahima Chaudhary was waiting for her luggage with us. The adventure had begun before the Awards could! My brave colleagues, after being reassured that it was perfectly polite to ask a star for an interview anywhere and anytime, marched towards her. From a distance, I watched the three talking animatedly. Mahima seemed to be drawing some diagrams in the air. After a while my colleagues returned. "She told us to call her in Bombay. She makes a note of all the calls she gets and replies back to them," they told me solemnly. No, she didn't give her mobile number "since she gets lots of crank calls." Their trust and the stardust I saw in their eyes were to be destroyed before the end of two days. The car (courtesy Sansui) was waiting, and we reached Le Meridian at one in the morning. The officials there informed us that our names weren't on the guest list. An hour-long wait and much ado followed. Then one gentle soul had us booked in. And finally, at 0300 hours, we stumbled to our rooms. The bathtub was great, but the fruits provided were overripe. And the mini-bar was empty. :( The next day we were advised to reach the venue at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium at 1330 hours to see the rehearsal. Finding the entrance was a task by itself, but that was nothing when compared to what was in store for us. With the exception of choreographer Ganesh Hedge and his troupe on the stage, there was no one around. We began the waiting game. After watching the troupe dance for over two hours, we were moved to a more secluded area as the stars were expected to arrive at 1600 hours. We decided it would be wiser if we went to the hotel and pounced on the stars there. The experience there was disappointing. Stars simply rushed out in their costumes at 1730 hours. Small wonder... if they planned to rehearse so late, the last thing they would stop for is Five Questions, right? My colleagues, meanwhile, were getting more thick-skinned with every passing brush-off. Aftab Shivdasani very pointedly asked to be contacted "in Bombay" while Sonali Bendre was "in a terrible rush." When we returned to the venue we found it jam-packed. The 'star area' had the most number of non-filmi people. A cop in plainclothes stood guard over three tables, which he had claimed for Delhi's commissioner of police. We took the first available table we could find and then started searching for tables closer to the stage. Fight-master turned director Ravi Dewan, who was with us, spotted Tinnu Anand and Saurabh Shukla. So on we went forward, picking up our table and walking through the crowd with it. Most of the function passed with asking the crowd in front to stop blocking our view. The security personnel weren't much interested in what was happening. We were craning our necks to catch every move that Aishwarya Rai made. Finally Ravi Dewan lost it. He started balling up the invites and hurling them at the guys in front. Soon you could spot paper balls flying from behind us towards the offending beings! For the full report of how the function went, click here after you finish reading me. Meantime, here is my assessment: I would say that Aishwarya and Akshaye Khanna gave the most polished performance. Anil Kapoor sauntered around the stage a lot. Sonali and Mahima were good. And Meenakshi Seshadri gave a sterling performance of classical dance. Kajol came on stage to present an award and take away another. A respected trade pundit supplied the figures: "She was paid 1.5 million while Aishwarya was paid 1 million," he informed us, "After all she [Kajol] is a superstar." "Yes, but for how long?" asked another, "I mean, she is married now.' "Yes," agreed the pundit, "See how Dil Kya Kare fared!" All eyes focussed on Dev Anand when the mimic on stage decided to take off on him trying to fly a kite. The evergreen legend laughed and clapped. I must say the mimic did a pretty good job. The party that followed had very few stars present. But there were lots of heavyweight producers and directors. Mukesh Bhatt and Vikram Bhatt stuck together. Vashu Bhagnani had everyone paying their respects to him. My colleagues approached Amrish Puri. The villain smiled kindly when they asked him for an interview. "But I take money," he said rubbing his thumb and forefinger. He tipped his cap and the girls went in search for easier prey. Catching up with Bhagnani was quite fun. He analysed why Hum Saath-Saath Hain didn't do well, and why it would pick up. "I loved the film. Take the same story, stars, music and money and ask anyone to make the same film. No one will be able to. Give it two weeks and it will pick up. It was released on Diwali and the first week was hit by the Diwali slack. The film should pick up." You can't really dismiss the man, you know. His calculations about his film Biwi No 1 was bang on target. Pooja Bhatt dropped in for a while -- only to drag away writer Anurag Kayshap to some other party. Baddie Sharat Saxena was so bored that he simply stuck to his drinks. Whenever anyone found someone who s/he knew, there would be loud explosions of 'Hi' and 'Hello'. Soon it was time to call it a night. The biggies took their friends to own rooms, or to other places. Some continued their drinking session at Henri's bar. The bar in the ballroom closed... The next day at the airport, we spotted Kajol. My colleagues had to try their luck. They left in a hurry. Kajol smiled on seeing them, thinking they were fans. But when they introduced themselves, she simply turned away. "I don't want to talk to you," she said. Kajol happened to be the favourite actress of one of my colleagues. The shock of reality is sharper than falling into a tub of ice-cold water. But by the time we landed in Bombay the smile was back on her face. Suparn Verma has no starry illusions anymore.
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