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The Best of Stardust 1978 (continued)

(Image above is the back cover.)

Here are four more goodies from the “Best of” Stardust issue. The first is an expose (in her own words) of Nutan’s war with her mother Shobhana Samarth over money, and her wrath with Sanjeev Kumar when she discovers that he is behind the persistent rumors of her affair with him (she gives him a tight slap! Go girl!). Then we have an interesting short article speculating on the “Mangeshkar Monopoly” and whether Lata and Asha are sabotaging the careers of other singers. In the third, Rajesh Khanna and Anju Mahendru air their relationship dirty laundry (bit-ter!); and finally, Shashi Kapoor’s secretary accuses him of all sorts of shenanigans and loyal wife Jennifer leaps to his defense.

Fun, fun, fun—and it is also my last installment for Seventies Week (Seventies Half-Week?) since I will be sans computer for a couple of days. It’s been fun, thanks again to Beth for conceiving the idea and making it happen (the Shashi one is for you, naturally)!

Nutan

Mangeshkar Sisters

Rajesh Anju

Shashi Kapoor

Enjoy.

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Posted on February 25, 2010 at 7:56 pm in Hindi movies, Vintage Bollywood images   |  RSS feed You can skip to the end and leave a  reply.

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59 Comments to “The Best of Stardust 1978 (continued)”

    
  1. sophy
    February 25, 2010 at 10:10 pm

    I’m scared to read some of this. It’s nicer not to know. But of course I will.

    Reply
    • memsaab
      February 26, 2010 at 8:03 am

      I know, but I also take it all with a BIG grain of salt. Exaggeration and hype is added in large measure, I think.

      What I find interesting though is that the stars seemed much more “accessible” back then than the stars of today. I think that film journalists and stars had friendships with each other, if not close at least cordial. Not sure that happens so much these days…

      Reply
      • DG
        February 26, 2010 at 2:06 pm

        Agreed. It’s best not to take all this stuff too seriously – it’s good fun to read about, but it’s not to be taken as gospel truth. And you’re right about how stars were far more cordial and open with the media than they are these days….

        Reply
  2. Blues Singer
    February 25, 2010 at 10:41 pm

    Lata hinting towards retirement? That was 1971! And it has been close to forty years now since then. Last heard, she wants to sing more mainstream songs!
    How can one not love her?

    Reply
    • memsaab
      February 26, 2010 at 8:03 am

      I do love Lata, but I gotta say I think she should have retired back then. Or at least stopped singing for young heroines!

      Reply
      • Prerna
        March 3, 2010 at 2:57 pm

        I remember my mom used to say that Lata Mangeshkar didnt allow singer like Vani Jayram to achieve success and even that Mohd Rafi was a victim too when Lata started singer more duets with Kishore. Not sure how much of it is true thou.

        Reply
        • memsaab
          March 3, 2010 at 3:22 pm

          Those rumors swirled around for years, maybe even decades. Who knows? Probably there is a bit of truth and a lot of fiction in it :)

          Reply
          • Filmbuff
            March 11, 2010 at 6:14 am

            Even Runa Laila’s budding career is attributed to sabotage by the Mangeshkar sisters. Runa Laila burst into the hindi film scene in 1978 and was a rage in India. I am sure she would have had a fantastic career had she got some more opportunities!

          • memsaab
            March 11, 2010 at 12:10 pm

            It’s easy to blame the Mangeshkar sisters, but if producers and music directors and directors were so spineless as to not take chances with a “lesser” known (which is very true still today in terms of casting) it wouldn’t surprise me. Talent can only take you so far in a world where people prefer to play it safe with the “tried and true”…new talent is generally encouraged by those who have faith in their own abilities—it would be a real shame if the Mangeshkar sisters didn’t have enough faith in themselves to encourage rather than discourage others, let alone music directors, directors, etc.

  3. bollyviewer
    February 25, 2010 at 11:29 pm

    I am with Sophy, but of course I MUST read… :-)

    Reply
  4. Amrita
    February 26, 2010 at 1:01 am

    For all those who want to know: that stuff about Shashi is all LIES!!!! Humpf! The idea!

    Okay, now I’m going to go and actually read it.

    Reply
  5. Suhan
    February 26, 2010 at 1:36 am

    Wow! Bitter, sad, the works, regarding RK and Anju M. But here’s the follow-on to their story from ye olde B’wood insider with arguably the best rolodex in the industry–Bhawana Somaaya. This is from her “Salaam Bollywood: The Pain and the Passion” published in 1999. Screen India’s got parts of it online. Link’s at the end. Gossip!!! Lurve!!!

    “Rajesh Khanna and Anju Mahendroo had broken off almost 15 years ago, when Khanna, on the rebound, got married to friend Chunibhai Kapadia’s beautiful daughter, Dimple. It was said that Khanna deliberately led his baraat on the 7th road of JVPD Scheme to embarrass Anju. One wasn’t surprised. When scorned, Khanna was capable of turning venomous. The two didn’t meet despite being in the same city for over a decade. And when they did, my co-editor Pammi Bakshi was instrumental in bringing the two together. A common friend of both she would often talk about one to the other. Apparently one fine day, Rajesh Khanna just picked up his phone and broke the ice. Next, Anju invited him over for a drink. He agreed, then dropped by one evening, just like that. The old bungalow on Juhu road, his parting gift to his girlfriend, was not an unfamiliar address to him. When he parked his car outside the gate, it was as if time stood still. The Mahendroos recognised the honk and the old dog rushed to greet his master. Kaka entered the room like old times, a cigarette in his hand and settled down in his favourite chair and ordered his favourite drink.

    Emotions have a way of adjusting to the impossible. A nervous Anju taking large puffs on the cigarette came out to greet her special guest. Contrary to expectations the evening went off very smoothly. Over the months, both of them made a special effort to rejuvenate the old ties. From ex-girlfriend to best friend, slowly Anju slipped into the role of his confidante and soon began assisting him at his office. This was the time he was launching himself as a producer with Jai Shiv Shankar and consequently changing as a person. He had even come to terms with wife Dimple’s comeback to films. Dimple had come to terms with her separation.‘He should have married Mumtaz. They would have been perfect for each other,’ she said. Dimple believed that Rajesh and she were mismatched. They had married each other for all the wrong reasons. Dimple was too young to handle Khanna’s complexities. She looked upon him as a priceless gift that everyone admired but only she possessed. He looked upon her as a beautiful statue everyone desired but only he owned. Romance flew out of the window after just a few flops. The deeply disturbed man sat sulking on his terrace, drinking till the wee hours of the morning, mourning the shadows of his slipping stardom. Confused and anxious, the wife sat beside him, too frightened to trespass into his private thoughts. Young and restless, she suffered and endured until she could take it no longer. And that’s when she decided to walk out.”

    http://www.screenindia.com/old/20020215/fsalaam.html

    Reply
  6. harvey
    February 26, 2010 at 6:21 am

    Well, they had/have to wait long for Lata’s retirement!
    And they mix her up with Asha in the pic with RD (a little nitpicking!)
    It is funny, how Stardust articles begin off with big promises and thus at the end of the article you feel cheated!

    Reply
    • memsaab
      February 26, 2010 at 8:07 am

      Yes, the standards of Stardust journalism did not include proofreading or anything like that :) Still, it’s fun to see how some things never change; in fact I think Stardust is credited with beginning the whole hype-as-journalism thing in B’wood. We can blame them for the low low standards held today!!!

      Reply
  7. harvey
    February 26, 2010 at 6:53 am

    Somehow I can’t download the Shashi article. It is says it is damaged! Will try later!

    Reply
  8. Aditya
    February 26, 2010 at 10:26 am

    Memsaab, this is not related to this post. I believe you’re looking for the songs of Toote Khilone. A good vinyl rip is available on Third Floor Music

    Reply
    • memsaab
      February 26, 2010 at 10:48 am

      Helping a confused and disorganized Memsaab is never unrelated to anything here. I see that I even at some point DID download it, so why can’t I find the songs now? Why are they not in my iTunes? Why??? :) Thanks Aditya!

      Reply
  9. shweta
    February 27, 2010 at 11:34 am

    What tripe about Shashi! And he IS and WAS a star- what crap about ” a star at last”! hmph :)

    The rest I can take w/ a pinch of salt :P

    Reply
  10. Babu
    February 27, 2010 at 1:39 pm

    Could you find articles on our favorite actors Shammi Kapoor and Asha Parekh? I know by the early 1970’s, both stopped acting in leading roles, but still wasn’t there anything that you could post?

    Reply
  11. Babu
    February 27, 2010 at 2:15 pm

    Thanks. I have to say I found the Nutan article intriguing. I did see a television interview in the 1990’s with Shobana Samarth, Tanuja, and Kajol together. In it, Shobana tearfully talked about Nutan approached her for a reconciliation three years before her death from cancer in 1991. Nutan gave her a book which had a chapter on death, and that Shobana didn’t know that Nutan was preparing her for her death. Sorry I made this into a long story but just wanted all your readers to know that Nutan and Shobana did reconcile under bittersweet circumstances.

    Reply
    • memsaab
      February 27, 2010 at 2:42 pm

      It is interesting, especially since Nutan was so very forthright in talking about it all. She was really furious with Sanjeev too, and sounds like with good reason.

      I’m glad that she and her mom made up before it was too late. Nutan was gone way too soon…

      Reply
  12. Moonie
    February 27, 2010 at 2:18 pm

    Shammi Kapoor on twitter

    maybe u already know :)

    Reply
    • memsaab
      February 27, 2010 at 2:40 pm

      Ha ha! the news is out it seems! He follows me on twitter actually, although I never tweet. Ever. Although when he added me to his “following” list I was tempted. Perhaps he just wants to make sure that my adoration of him doesn’t go over that pesky little “line”…hope he did NOT see my filmi family portrait! :D

      But I just don’t have time between blogging, reading other blogs, watching movies, and …. oh yeah, my actual job that supports me and my little dog too.

      Reply
  14. anon
    March 1, 2010 at 2:52 pm

    Thanks for scanning these! On Nutan’s financial wranglings w/ her Maa, I feel like I’d have to know a lot more about Indian business partnerships and tax laws of the period in order to have an opinion beyond “sounds like she had a legitimate gripe.”

    As for the other thing, I think she acted appropriately given the information she had. I’d like to believe her informant wasn’t as reliable as she thought, but maybe that’s just the Sanjeev fan in me talking. My impression from squinting at tabloid scans on ebay is that he could be an immature, egotistical dork but wasn’t devious enough to say that kind of thing out of malice nor quite delusional enough to believe something had happened when it obviously hadn’t. Which leads me back to “nameless source trying to stir up trouble between them.” (No, I don’t see his behavior the day of the slap as a smoking gun. She was justifiably angry, given what info she had, and under the circs I think just about anything he did would have only made her angrier).

    Sigh. Some days I feel like Jane Bennet in Pride and Prejudice, trying to believe good of everyone simultaneously. :)

    Reply
    • memsaab
      March 1, 2010 at 3:54 pm

      I enjoy reading these when the star speaks for him-herself (of course still taking it with a pinch of editorial-control salt). It’s interesting to read the descriptions of how they speak about things, and how they look, etc. But I do always remember that whatever is talked about is usually a) not my business and b) written and edited by people with their own agenda.

      It’s fun but shouldn’t be taken too seriously!!! It’s nice to think the best of people :)

      Reply
  15. ajnabi
    March 2, 2010 at 9:46 am

    I love that Nutan slapped her tormentor–how very filmi outrage of her.

    Reply
  16. Babu
    March 2, 2010 at 5:18 pm

    Nutan and Shammi Kapoor were friends from childhood. He talked affectionately about her in this interview and how had he escorted her to one of her films but she wasn’t allowed in as she was not yet 18. Here’s the link: http://www.screenindia.com/news/shammi-kapoorl-lionheart/388339/
    Later on after she married and he was a widower, they made a film together called “Latt Saheb” (1967).

    Reply
  17. kaushik mitra
    March 3, 2010 at 4:38 am

    I find that the files containing Nutan and Shashi Kapoor stories have been damaged and could not be found. Kindly reload them.

    Reply
    • memsaab
      March 3, 2010 at 9:38 am

      They seem to be working fine for most people? I just tested them and had no problems, and can see by my stats that a lot of people have downloaded them in the past day…

      Try it again.

      Reply
  18. kaushik mitra
    March 4, 2010 at 1:35 am

    Tried again on 4th of March,2010. Again the same note flashed on the monitor : ‘The file is damaged and could not be repaired again’. Kindly check pl.

    Reply
  19. Richa
    March 13, 2010 at 12:12 pm

    Hi memsaab! I am a silent follower of your blog. I too have the same problem that kaushik mitra seems to have. Is there a special version of pdf that we may need to use?

    Reply
  20. Richa
    March 13, 2010 at 12:15 pm

    Hey by the way I just found out that Shammi Kapoor is on twitter @shamsheraj :)

    Reply
  21. memsaab
    March 13, 2010 at 12:20 pm

    I will reupload them (are you also only having trouble with Nutan/Shashi Kapoor articles?) when I return home (am traveling right now)…

    Yes, he is on Twitter :) He is a man at the forefront of technology despite his age. Gotta love him!

    Reply
  22. Richa
    March 14, 2010 at 3:44 am

    Yes its only the Nutan and Shashi articles. Thank You!

    Reply
  23. pacifist
    March 14, 2010 at 5:44 pm

    I have that problem too with Shashi Kapoor link. :-(

    The message tells me – “The file is damaged and could not be repaired”.

    Reply
  24. memsaab
    March 14, 2010 at 8:15 pm

    I’ll reupload them, but it will be another week or so before I can! Bear with me! :)

    Reply
  25. memsaab
    March 18, 2010 at 2:07 pm

    The Nutan and Shashi pdf files have been re-uploaded for anyone who couldn’t get them before. Thanks.

    Reply
  26. Richa
    March 22, 2010 at 9:47 am

    Thanks a lot Memsaab!!

    Reply
  27. Richa
    March 22, 2010 at 10:39 am

    Jennifer was so funny!!

    Reply
  28. memsaab
    March 22, 2010 at 10:56 am

    Oh yay!!! I’m glad they work now. Jennifer’s interview is hilarious—Shashi really lucked out when he married her :)

    Reply
  29. pacifist
    March 22, 2010 at 1:37 pm

    Shashi Kapoor link still doesn’t work for me :-(
    It must be my computer.

    Thanks memsaab for your efforts.

    Reply
  30. kaushik mitra
    April 7, 2010 at 2:13 am

    Thanks a lot memsaab. This time I received both Nutan and Shashi kapoor stories courtesy you uploading them again, May I request you to be kind enough to upload more such juicy/gossipy/informative stories from Hindi movie magazines e.g. Stardust, Star & Style, Filmfare, etc. Thanks again.

    Reply
  31. Shailesh
    March 5, 2011 at 4:27 pm

    Thank you for the articles. Like Mr Kaushik, I too would like to read more of such juicy/gossipy/informative articles. Could you please upload some more ? Thanks again.

    Reply
  32. Chandraprabha Venkatagiri
    August 23, 2011 at 5:47 am

    Thanks for the tidbits. Nowadays most interviews appearing in film magazines are written by the journalists themselves. Which star has that much time or inclination to give so much time for interviews ?
    It is intriguing and perplexing to read about Nutan. Nutan had a close friend Lalita Patwardhan who stayed in Thane and she has written a book on her. Apparently, Nutan’s husband the late Captain was of a suspicious nature. I will try to get the link to the article on this. Apparently, Captain was used to taking magazines to court at the flimsiest of reason so the press was wary about him. It was supposed to be a love marriage and Capt was totally against Nutan’s mother.It is widely believed that he was behind all the fracas and Nutan did all that to save her marriage. Another bit of news that appeared in “Showtime” in the late 90’s was how Nutan had planned to elope with Sanjiv Kumar (they acted in “Gauri”) but Capt had threatened her that if she did something of that sort, their son would be put to harm. So, to prove her point, she slapped Sanjiv and the man found it very humiliating. They never acted together again. We all know whom Sanjiv was deeply in love with .
    Now read this. Apparently whenever Nutan went out in the car , Capt would keep a check on whether she was meeting her mother. He hated his mother in law so much, it appears. There was a hushed talk about marital violence too (Rinki Bhattacharya, w/o Basu Bhattacharya, d/o Bimal Roy) has written about it as she herself was a victim of marital abuse.
    Frankly, we do not know how much of this is true.
    Any Maharashtrians reading this, can throw light on Lalita Patwardhan’s book. Lalitha was a close confidant of Nutan who did not have many friends. Possibly because Capt disapproved of it. But the point is – if Capt was so suscpicious why did Nutan continue in the movies ?

    Reply
  33. Niaz rahim
    August 26, 2013 at 10:34 am

    I am a diehard Nutan fan. What a gift she was to the film industry! It is very disconcerting to know about the alleged marital discord with her husband. Why did Nutan continue acting in movies? To me the answer is simple – to support her ‘uneployed’ husband!! He quit his job with the navy soon after getting married and squandered some of her money on his directorial venture (what kind of background did he have to be movie director?).

    Reply
  34. Niaz rahim
    August 28, 2013 at 8:50 pm

    Does anyone know if Nutan’s biography “Nutan – Aisen me Nisen Me” available in English? Please let me if you have any information. Thanks.

    Reply
  35. Gitanjali Chatterjee
    April 7, 2022 at 1:28 pm

    Thank you so much for sharing this article I was looking for.

    Reply
    

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