Rushdie’s Email War

Rushdie’s Email War • Small Screen Selectivity • Of Egos and Insecurities

There’s been a rather ugly falling out between Shabana Azmi and Salman Rushdie. The problem reportedly has its origin in an interview that the actress’ lyricist husband Javed Akhtar gave last year, following the fiasco involving Rushdie at the Jaipur Literature Festival. While unequivocally condemning the ban on Rushdie’s scheduled visit to the event, Akhtar is believed to have nevertheless criticised the author for his “sensationalist writings”.

According to sources, Rushdie was not pleased with Akhtar’s remarks and dashed off an email to Shabana saying that he was disappointed that a ‘supposedly secular’ man like her husband had attacked him for his writing.

Not one to let Rushdie have the last word, the actress allegedly fired back a terse mail to the bestselling novelist, defending her husband and his stand. To which Rushdie apparently sent an even angrier email stressing that he saw no point in continuing with their friendship anymore. Those who’ve read the email (which has been circulated among their common friends) say the author also said something to the effect that he regretted casting Shabana in ‘his’ film, Midnight’s Children, in which she has a small part (Rushdie wrote the screen adaptation of the book and is credited as one of the film’s producers). The communication between them finally ended when the actress replied saying the film in question was director Deepa Mehta’s and not Rushdie’s to begin with, so it was not a call for him to make. Ouch.

Madhuri Dixit and Juhi Chawla, who were professional rivals during their prime in the 1990s, are reportedly getting along well on the sets of Gulaabi Gang, the Anubhav Sinha-produced movie that they’re currently filming.

Dixit, who, along with her husband Dr Sriram Nene and two sons, moved back to India some time ago, is also being hotly pursued to star in Endemol’s desi remake of the popular American TV series The Good Wife, which has Julianna Margulies in the central role. According to a well-placed source within the production house, Dixit has committed in principle to the project, but is still haggling over her fee and dates.

The production company is also believed to have approached Kajol to star in their proposed remake of another popular TV show, The Killing, itself remade from a successful Danish crime series. But Kajol has expressed her reservations about making any sort of commitment till she’s seen a final script of the entire show. It appears the producers also approached top film directors to helm the series, but negotiations fell through because they were offering a pittance as salaries, and had allotted even less for production expenses, keeping the bulk of their budget aside for their star’s likely fees.

They’re unquestionably the most talented actors in the business currently, and both audiences and filmmakers have come to rely on them to deliver credible and moving performances. But if the grapevine is to be believed, the gentlemen in question have little respect or affection for each other.

Neither is an A-list, marquee name, but both have emerged as poster boys of independent Hindi cinema. The older of the two has been around longer and has even earned international recognition through small but memorable parts in big Hollywood films. The younger has been working anonymously for years, but made a breakthrough last year thanks to significant parts in acclaimed hits.

Sources say the older actor isn’t thrilled with the younger one’s overnight success, and doesn’t appreciate all the talk in the industry about the new actor being his ‘successor’. The older actor has repeatedly avoided appearing at places where the younger actor is likely to be present, and has rarely praised the other actor’s recent performances.

One filmmaker who was lucky to have signed on both actors to play important roles in the same film had to reportedly deal with tantrums and monster egos. For one scene he shot with both actors on a local train set, he had to divide the compartment into two sections, one each for his leading men to retire to separately inbetween shots.

Interestingly, both actors featured in the same film last year, but at the time, the younger actor was still struggling for a foothold in the industry and had only a few scenes in the movie, which belonged to his older rival. The industry is already talking about what a nightmare it will be when the actors will be required to promote the film they’ve just completed, in time for a possible Cannes selection. And we thought it was only big stars who got into petty ego battles.

Madhuri DixitSalman RushdieShabana Azmi