Why is Madhur Bhandarkar cribbing so much about Aishwarya not informing him about her pregnancy?
His constant cribbing about Aishwarya Rai regarding his film HEROINE is beyond comprehension. He is carrying on with an unseemly and graceless controversy and adding fuel to a fire that should not have started in the first place but for the penchant of the media to copy their western counterparts and latch on to every bit of celebrity news insensitively to garner TRPs. Had Salman, or Aamir, or even Sanjay Dutt delayed Bhandarkar’s film for whatever reasons, he would have kept quiet and waited patiently for their dates for the next five years.
He is behaving like this because Bollywood actresses are still not considered a sure shot box office draw. If he was really keen on making his film he could have done it anyway. He had enough time to do that with confirmed dates of Aishwarya and her total commitment to the film for a ‘start to finish’ schedule. He should have been discussing with her the ways of doing it and working on his scenes and daily schedules to make adjustments for her impending motherhood. It would have been a sane and civilized thing to do.
And all this tall talk of including a no-marriage and no-pregnancy clause in an actress’s contract is ridiculous. What if she gets married and pregnant in spite of the contract? Can you really seek damages for the non-compliance of the legally and constitutionally untenable clause? You cannot.
What if the producer, director, or the leading man is responsible for the pregnancy? I am not joking. It happens. As soon as you become an important producer or director or a star in Bollywood, your libido goes out of control. What will the producers and directors like Madhur Bhandarkar do in such a circumstance - insert a tubectomy clause in their heroine’s (or a vasectomy clause in the hero's) contract?
His contention is that Aishwarya may not be able to do a vigorous dance sequence in the film. Why? And why does she have to do those sequences? If she cannot do them, you can always use a double. It is done the world over. It was done in Mughal-e-Aazam and Pakizah if I am not misinformed. It was done in a recent Hollywood film called Black Swan, a film based on Ballet, where the dancers have to be as thin as paper and as flexible as rubber dolls. The complex and dynamic ballet pieces were shot with a double in the film. For extremely intimate scenes and skin show, body doubles have been used since ages. I am sure Aishwarya would have insisted on the use of a body double for such scenes.
Madhur is claiming that he will suffer production losses. If he does, it will be entirely because of his own decision to cancel the shooting schedule of his film. Did Aishwarya ask him to cancel the shoot? If she did not, then how can she be blamed? So what if she did not inform him about her pregnancy? Why should she? It is her personal decision. She is not your slave to inform you about everything happening in her life. You have got her dates and that is what concerns your film. If she does not act well, you always have the option to throw her out. That was not the issue either.
So, where was the problem? Aishwarya's motherhood was certainly not part of that problem and if it is being turned into one, there is some petty third-rate politics involved here.
And now the writer of the film Anuradha Tewary is offering a stupid defense on behalf of Madhur Bhandarkar to disprove the charge of gender bias against him. She says a pregnant actress cannot do the role. Why? Because she is supposed to smoke and snort cocaine and sleep around in the role and a pregnant woman cannot be shown doing all that. This is really funny, and idiotic and it is coming from the writer of the film, certainly an intellectually depraved one, trying to do a job for her boss. I am sure she did not write Chandani Bar, the one brilliant film made by Madhur. All the others, including the national award winners, were pedestrian anecdotal caricatures.
RKS
