BOLLYWOOD DREAMING - WAITING FOR OSCAR

WAITING FOR OSCAR

"We have the talent to make what the world wants to watch. We can think
of different themes instead of triangular love affairs" - Ms. Sushma
Swaraj, Indian Information and Broadcast Minister at Cannes Film
Festival, May 13, 2001.

On a pleasant June evening, Arun Mukerji, the brilliant New Wave movie
director was brutally gunned down on the mean streets of Bombay. The
city was rocked by emotional shocks and political aftershocks. And life
in Bombay movie making world degenerated into vicious triangles. In
Bombay tickets for all shows for the gangland financed film Chori Chori
Chupke Chupke (Hush Hush Steal Steal) were sold out in 2 hours. The
film was a torrid love triangle involving a man and two women. Chori
Chori Chupke Chupke was due for release in December 2000 - but got
delayed first because the film's producer and then the film's financier
and president of the Indian Diamond Merchant's Association were in
police custody. Both were arrested on charges that they were using
underworld or slush funds to finance the song and dance musical, which
featured some of the biggest stars in Bollywood.

It was a little past seven on the night of June13, 2001. Arun Mukerji,
chief executive of Fantasyworks, India's first digital film studio, and
his voluptuous Italian-Indian mistress Tania Kulkarni, were going to a
glitzy cinema premiere from his home in Bombay's fabulous Marine Drive.
As his blue chauffeur-driven Mercedes 600 slowed at a corner, a gang of
men on two silver colored Moto Guzzi motorbikes, wielding Skorpion
SMGs, quickly surrounded it. They smashed the car's windows, shouted,
"Sala ko maar de"(Kill the bastard), pumped in 24 bullets and
disappeared into the night. Although hit, the chauffer managed to get
to the nearby Breach Candy hospital. There, Arun was declared dead on
arrival - he took his secrets with him. The assassins were never
identified or caught.

The night before the fatal shooting Arun and Tania had found bliss in
his luxurious apartment overlooking the Arabian Sea. She was
titillating to the eye and sensual in the body. Arun watched Tania and
her caprice in fascination. She rolled down slowly her gold brocade
choli top, exposing her well-shaped breasts held in shimmering gossamer
Victoria's Secret brassiere. Arun was surprised to see her full breasts
tenderly trapped in glistening bra. She danced the Indian filmi disco
beat alone in her gold leather sandals with clear plastic
high-heels.

Tania spun around, shook her slender hips, twirled and swayed her hands
high. One by one she took off her dangling platinum and diamond
earrings and her narrow gold chain belt with round buckle. Then she
unzipped at the back of her hip hugging velvet slacks that had very low
cut waistline way below her belly buttons. She then sat by the side of
the bed and slipped off her slacks and flung it on the sofa. Tania was
now in her gossamer bra and G-Strings only. In the moonlit room she
swayed to the sensuous rumba Marie Jose.

Tania was extremely visual and enjoyed seeing her partner while making
love. Tania felt great about the way she looked, and she was not afraid
to have the lights on, or seeing herself in a mirror during sex. She
thought of the new outfits that she could wear to turn her partner on!
The more she worked out or danced, the more energy she had. The more
stamina she had the longer she was able to prolong the lovemaking. She
could please her partner for an extended period and not get tired or
fall asleep on them! She tried to imagine all the new Kama Sutra
positions she could try with her energy level increased -not to mention
more exotic flexibility.

Arun and Tania sat in the window seat while sharing a cigarette -
naked. His back was to the wall, and she leaned against him. Arun had
his legs around Tania. With lust in her eyes, they kissed each other,
Indian style, sniffing and kissing, and she rolled atop him. As in all
their other amorous couplings, she straddled him, stretched back, and
began by rocking back and forth on his hips. They switch positions -she
is atop him, kissing him and reciprocating with full body kisses. Arun
looks up during their lovemaking and sees their reflection in their
ceiling mirror. Their sex grows rougher as he turns her over and their
bodies are pressed together -she moves her legs wide apart. As their
sexual tension mounts, their groaning increases and she grabs the brass
frame of the bed behind her, and then digs her nails into his back -
and locks her mouth with his in a tight embrace.

Tania accentuated the thrusts, rotated her hips Kamasutra style. As she
climaxed, she reached back, and then suddenly came down on top of him
-her whole body stretched across his - he was motionless. He lovingly
reached his arms around her. They lie next to each other in bed, both
staring up. He was smoking a post-coital cigarette.

Tania curled away from him toward the outer side of the bed and kissed
Arun. She half-turned and twisted around, watching him turn his body
away to put out his cigarette. The disco music builds. They look at
each other for a long moment. Arun showered her with kisses and
performed oral sex on her. She climaxed again. She reached out with her
hand, pulled his neck and face toward her own body for another loving
kiss.

After a short rest they dressed up to go to a film premiere in Rivoli
Cinema followed by a reception at Taj Mahal Hotel near Gateway of
India. It was on his way to this fateful movie premiere that Arun was
"eliminated". Tania was unhurt.

Arun was the latest victim in a wave of murders of prominent
celebrities and businessmen in India's commercial capital. The grim
list included a music distribution czar; a fashion design darling; a
cricket maestro; glamorous hot moll of a convicted gangster now a
fugitive in Dubai; a textile magnate; a top fashion retailer and
prominent real estate developer - all were victims of the Bombay
mafiosi. Just in the past 12 months over 176 victims were gunned down
and 87 bomb explosions in Bombay.

The authorities blamed Bombay's powerful underworld of organized crime
- on amicis (friends) or uomini d'onore (men of honor). Organized crime
in India had close links with segments of the business community. But
nowhere had the violence turned as nasty as it had in Bombay. As the
head of a special court dealing with terrorism, puts it: "Bombay, a
city of 18 million, is controlled by the mafiosi - the envy of Palermo,
Italy."
Bombay was the glamour of Bollywood cinema, cricket on the lush parks
on weekends, break dancing monkeys on the beach at Chowpatty and red
double-decker buses. It had also the infamous cages of the red-light
district, Asia's largest slums, communalist politics and powerful
mafiosi. This tug of war for the city's soul was played out against a
Victorian townscape more reminiscent of a prosperous 19th century
English industrial city than anything you'd expect to find on the edge
of the Arabian Sea.
The southernmost peninsula was known as Colaba with two of the city's
best landmarks, the Gateway of India and the Taj Mahal Hotel. Directly
north of Colaba was the area known as the Fort, since this was where
the old British East India Company fort once stood. Further west was
Marine Drive, which swept around Back Bay, connecting the high-rise
modern business center with Chowpatty Beach. At night the necklace of
bright lights beckoned the dreamers. Bombay, like Los Angeles, wanted
to be the city of dreams - celluloid dreams.

Minor starlets offering sexual favors, tax evasion, illegal payments,
bribery and loan sharking were a part of the scene in Bombay's bustling
film industry. Beautiful movie stars, money and film financing changed
hands easily and these were not the only love triangles in Bombay.
There had been little outcry from the actors, producers, distributors
and business community. Many business people were willing to work with
the underworld if they had to. There was little political will to do
anything, because government officials and politicians of all stripes
were often deeply involved in shady sex-black money-movie deals
too.

Arun Mukerji, 33, a CalTech graduate, was a successful computer
generated image based special effects movie wizard. He brought his
talents to India's vast movie industry. Four years ago he was married
to beautiful Maya, 29, a vivacious socialite and fashion choreographer.
She went to Paris Ecole des Beaux Artes. Both came from the same social
class - Maya's family had money and Arun's family had intellect.

At the time of their wedding Maya's father had offered the present a
honeymoon trip to Italian La Costiera Amalfitana - Italy's most
beautiful stretch of coastline. A mild weathered enclave of towering
cliffs, idyllic villages tumbling colorfully to the sea, precipitous
corniche roads, luxuriant gardens, and magnificent vistas over
turquoise waters and green swathed mountains. This magic place lies
along the flanks of Sorrento Peninsula, a cliff edged promontory that
juts from the mainland close to the southern reaches of the Golfo di
Napoli. There Arun and Maya discovered their love for things Italian -
possessive mamma, Latin lothario, olive skinned beauties like Sophia
Loren and Claudia Cardinale, and mafia godfather like Don Domenico
Corleone.

During their honeymoon in Italy, Maya and Arun shared their hopes and
dreams. The wanted to change Bollywood Cinema - bring powerful scripts,
story telling, technology and quality. A far cry from mindless
Bollywood masala movie ingredients - action, violence, music, dancing,
romance and pat moralizing - into one outrageous blend. Arun and Maya
were both admirers of Italian movies - Ieri, Oggi, Domani (Yesterday,
Today and Tomorrow), Oro di Napoli (Gold of Naples) and La Ciocara (Two
Women).

Arun and Maya also shared the special love for the spaghetti western
genre: Westerns made by Italians, most notably by Sergio Leone, who
directed the ultimate trilogy, A Fistful of Dollars, For A Few Dollars
More, and The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, all starring Clint Eastwood.
These films, shot in the 1960s, made Eastwood, until then a TV actor,
famous. Leone's films are known not only for their unique visual
imagery but also for their trademark music composed by Ennio
Morricone.

Arun and Maya thought of "Chapati Westerns" -- Westerns in Indian
settings, in the style of Sergio Leone. To them, Good, The Bad, and the
Ugly was by far the most famous of the "Dollars" trilogy, with one of
the most recognizable movie themes of all time. As in the first two
films, Eastwood, along with all the other characters, was on a quest
for gold. The three-way duel at the end of the film was considered to
be one of the best duel scenes in movie history. Leone redefined the
western. The heroes were no longer do-gooders out to save the world,
but were just as greedy and ruthless as their enemies. Leone was afraid
American audiences would not respond well to an Italian-made western,
but they became so popular that over 200 spaghetti westerns were made
over the next decades. Clint Eastwood went on to international stardom
and Ennio Morricone continued to compose music for both American and
Italian films.

After the romantic and blissful honeymoon in Italy Arun and Maya
returned to Bombay. Arun and Maya wanted to redefine Bollywood masala
movie into a new space - digitally generated images inserted in the
vast panoramic shots of the dusty plains of India with ancient forts,
fairytale palaces and legends. Ancient Rajasthani fortified towns
ripped apart by two competing gangs, but incorporating their own style
by zoomed close ups of the characters eyes, sweeping camera movements
and 360o action sequences. Compelling story, script, love triangles and
three-way conflicts were to be the hallmark. To do this Arun got
California silicone valley venture capital to set up his Fantasyworks
digital studio and investors for his satellite and Internet based
content distribution.

Arun and Maya were the New Wave - they wanted to make smaller, 100
minute running films which had a story, script, actors who could act
and a compelling message - made-for-satellite movies. They were
disappointed. They were shocked to confront the reality of mafiosi's
tight grip on financing and distribution. The Mafiosi only wanted
Bollywwod masala movies - which only had dashing hero, songs, dances
and plenty of romance. Heroes were getting thinner, and some could also
sing, dance and fight. Heroines pouted their lips, swung their hips
heaved their heavy boobs and ride galloping horses. Dance routines were
funky versions of John Travolta and Michael Jackson numbers, dress
sense was getting cooler and the humorous wet-sari eroticism had become
much hotter and raunchier.

Bollywood masala movie was still a long way from a real story with
fresh voices that have not been heard before. No realistic setting,
action, adventure, romance and intrigue to help the story stand out.
Arun believed storybooks with happy endings were for children. Adults
knew that compelling stories keep on adding nuances, human caprice,
subtle play of light and shadows, unfolding, repeating, turning back on
themselves, on and on until that end that no story can evade.

Arun wanted his stories to have a wild finish - but not an end. But
Indian cinema audiences preferred to escape from their circumstances,
albeit for 2 to 3 hours, rather than to have it portrayed
larger-than-life on the silver screen. Arun did not want to make movies
on marital-rape drama, or hard hitting look at life of Bombay bar
girls. Much to the disgust and alarm of people in power, like Sushma
Swaraj, and others, the absence of patronizing morality of Bollywood
movies were getting ambiguous - this was seen to be as dangerous
erosion of the perceived superiority of Indian culture and
values.

Arun did not want to make movies on marital-rape drama, or the hard
hitting look at life of Bombay bar girls. In the battle of box office,
size would not matter. What connects will work. After many years of the
director being the king, Arun wanted to shift the power to content and
distribution. With increasing corporatization and the entry of
multiplexes, cable and Internet Arun saw a way of cutting out the
underworld criminal dons - the octopus or la piovra. Burgeoning
satellite, foreign and domestic movie and music market and affluent
audience with taste and class was his prize.

When this story began 4 years ago Arun and Maya were married. After two
years Maya and Arun's marriage was on the rocks. Their relationship got
complicated. They remained married, but they went their separate ways.
In the social whirl of Bombay Tania met Arun at the Bombay Yacht Club
and bowled him over. Arun gushed, "I was mad about Tania. There is
something she had, and no other girl had it. I have never met a girl
who had it. She had the perfect body, and to me the perfect attitude -
"I don't give a damn". I fell for her."

Arun found Tania Kulkarni, a 27 year old 36C bust size temptress, with
penchant for alta moda fashion combining Indian brocades with Italian
flair - mainly skimpy Indian bra like backless cholis with Angelo Vitti
slacks cut way below the navel. She had excellent interpersonal skills
- and she did connect with rich and powerful men at the most intimate
levels in their bedrooms and boardrooms. Maya left Arun and Tania moved
in Arun's digital world - and things moved at an incredible
speed.

Two years ago Tania's previous boyfriend was up and coming movie hero
Sam "The Machine Gun" Khan. He was a body builder with the face of Tom
Cruise, and played roles where gunfights replaced dialogs and salsa
dancing substituted for romance. Sam worked hard and played hard - and
cocaine provided him the high. Heroes and heroines of Bollywood who
needed a snort knew where to call. Veteran snorters usually dialed a
set of mobile numbers for a fix or a "bowl of sugar" or send their
valets or butlers to collect the "bowl of sugar".

One night Sam was desperate. He was with Tania at the 1900s Disco. He
placed a call to his dealer. What Sam did not know the dealer had
'turned' and had become an informer for the notoriously violent Narco
Police. The pusher had a murder charge on his rap sheet - to beat the
death penalty he had to 'squeal' to the police. The set-up was at the
Citibank ATM near the Oberoi Towers at Nariman Point and Marine Drive.
There the dealer was waiting for Sam. Also waiting for Sam and the
dealer was tough no-nonsense heavily armed Narco Police VIP
squad.

As Sam wheeled in with his silver BMW 740i and his minders in a Pajero,
there was a quick transfer of a plastic bag at the drive in ATM, and as
the driver inserted his card, Narco Police VIP Squad surrounded Sam and
his entourage and pistol-whipped them into submission. They were caught
with 250 grams of the "sugar". Following day, the news of the sting was
splashed all over the morning newspaper headlines and TV news reports.
Bollywood was in a state of shock. Tania's relationship with Sam
soured. That was two years ago. Tania found Arun intellectually
challenging and physically satisfying.

The relationship between Tania, Maya and Arun became complicated like
the twist in a pretzel. Two years ago rivals Tania and Maya met at a
cocktail party at the private showing of Hussein's new paintings at the
New Ajanta Galleries. Maya was very angry to see Arun showering his
care and attention to Tania - praising her next-to-nothing outfit and
explaining the abstract art movement in New York in the 1940s. Maya's
eyes were all daggers as she told Tania:

"I understand you were chucked out from Dubai Connection (Bollywood
version of French Connection) from Charlie "Fat Boy" Kapoor's set at
Fantasyworks."

"Charlie Kapoor is the dirtiest guy I ever met. I refused to sleep with
him."

"Or was it that his other honey bees got to Charlie Fat Boy
first?"

"Not all girls have principles like I do. I don't sleep around with
just anyone!"

"Darling, don't get all fired up. This only shows the mentality you
have."

"Sweetheart, it's below my dignity to comment - I am very selective and
exclusive when it comes to men," Tania looked at Arun most
admiringly.

"Tania, I know you are very exclusive, your Gates of Paradise has more
finger prints than the files of American FBI."

Tania looked at Maya with defiance and she moved on to the next
painting.

On January 20, 2001 Arun and Tania were at the Fire and Ice Disco
celebrating the big investment of American Satellite TV in
Fantasyworks. As the hot salsa music picked up tempo everybody,
including the host, got into the mood. A stranger walked in a tan
Brioni silk suit and whispered into Arun's ear, "I have a message from
bhai (brother)." The bhai: Big Mastana. The high octane salsa turns
into a din and Arun started to sweat profusely. A few days later, Big
Mastana's men made an abortive attempt on Arun's life on the stretch of
the highway near Haji Ali's Mosque - a fairytale mosque floating at the
end of the causeway in the Arabian Sea. Arun got the message - mafiosi
wanted to muscle their way into New Wave and New Economy based
entertainment and content distribution. But his American investors
wanted nothing to do with them.

On May 9, 2001, Arun and Tania went to Cannes as official members of
the Indian Film Industry delegation which included the Indian
Information and Broadcast Minister Ms. Sushma Swaraj. Her theme was, "
The message of many Indian Films is that for women to be loved, they
must be dutiful, modest and sexually unaware. Arun did not subscribe to
that view. He met with Fred Friedenberg of Hollywood Daily Variety at
La Belle Otero at Hotel Carlton on La Croisette. Over a glass of
champagne and exquisite canap?s their discussion continued. Friedenberg
asked:

"India being the world's largest film producer, 800 films a year, it is
shocking Indian Films and Directors have not won any Oscar. What
hobbles them?

"Too many things. Indian scripts are overripe escapist extravaganzas
-action, violence, music, dancing, romance and pat moralizing -all in
one outrageous blend."

"What about the actors?"

"They are shaped like escapees from weight watchers. The heroes all
scream. No real dialog, no continuity and just scenes strung together.
"

"And the actresses?"

"Oh! That's easy! Heaving boobs, operatic gestures without the opera,
and sniffing overweight guys, up close and personal, with false
moustaches. Heroines must be single and perceived to be virgin. And no
real dialog."

"With a few stars this must be hard work."

"Yes! Super Star Sridevi made 227 movies in 22 years! Sophia Loren made
93 movies in 50 years."

"The heroines must be perceived to be pure virgins? Why?"

"Yes. Married actresses and actresses with children do not titillate
the fantasies of the Indian men. This also sells the countless drooling
fanzines filled with gossip on their tawdry sex lives - real or
imagined."

"And there are no story lines?"

"Not much. You got the storm scene where two little brothers get
separated. One becomes a baddie and the other becomes a goodie. Then
follow endless series of fights, car chases, court scenes, hospital
scenes, no one is working, everyone is in love, no sex scenes, wet sari
erotic scenes in the rain and every 10 minutes compulsory song and
dance routines shot in Seychelles, Dubai, Scotland and Switzerland -
fantasies galore."

"That's it? Bouncing boobs, song and dance routines moving around the
world?"

"Pretty much. The plots, if any, have a simple boy meets girl, no
originality, characterization is one-dimensional, sickly sweet
romances, no sex, unconvincing fight scenes and completely free of any
social context."

"Nothing else?"

"Of course no Bollwood movie is complete without 10 songs. The champion
playback singer Lata held the Guinness Record with 32,000 recorded
songs."

" Just one artist with 32,000 songs?"

"Well, Bollywood made a 3-hour running epic-spectacular "Chandralekha"
- a non-story song and dance movie. They made "Inder Sabha" - the
entire film in 72 songs!"

"And they produce 800 of these kind of movies every year?"

"The majority of the movies are like that. Very few films dare to cover
social issues like caste, class distinctions, communal strife,
marriage, dowry and widowhood. Only Achuut Kanya (Untouchable Girl)
glossed over the untouchable issue way back in 1936. Social fractures
and problems simply do not exist in Bollywood cinema."

"How much does a mid budget Bollywood movie cost to produce?"

"About $ 2 million. $ 10 million for a big 4 hour plus
extravaganza."

"What about movie making as a business?"

"Look, Taiwanese movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon won 10 Oscar
nominations, 2 Golden Globe Awards, 4 BAFTA Awards and grossed $ 100
million in one month. A Bollywood movie will be damned lucky to make a
tenth of it - and still no Oscars!"

"What will bring money and recognition to Indian cinema?"

"The money is mostly from the underworld dons, gangsters and
traffickers in drugs, women and human organs. They want foolproof
formula movies for their small investments. And they want big gross
profits."

"What are foolproof formula movies?"

"Big name actors, actresses, music directors and dance masters - what
they think as being blockbusters."

"And they get 800 blockbusters a year?"

Laughing aloud, Arun said, "Hardly! TV, cable TV and programs beamed
from outside India are making them aware about the reality of India.
MTV and Star TV has made big impressions among the well to do and the
educated classes."

"Well Sushma Swaraj said clearly she wanted to present Indian culture
and values abroad so films running 3 hour and 20 minutes, like
Mohabbatein, are presented."

"Mohabbatein? That's a sagging script held up by La Perla bra!"

"How the hell do they make money?"

"From distribution rights and selling pirated products in foreign
countries to Asians in USA, UK, Gulf Emirates, Africa and the
Caribbean's - they make big money by siphoning off the hard currency
earnings and money from pirated copies."

"They control the distribution?"

"More than that. They can name the stars, songwriters, directors, dance
choreographers and the territories for distribution. There is open
warfare. Gunfights, fire-bombings, grenade attacks, torturing of
girlfriends and kidnapping of mistresses are all a part of the dirty
business," said Arun looking very nervously over his shoulders.

Two thick set Indian men in designer sunglasses and oversized shiny
Italian Brioni silk suits were watching them with unusual scrutiny.
Fred saw Arun was uncomfortable - he offered to take him to Hotel
Negresco, next door, a short distance away.

As they walked Arun asked, "Did you notice the two gangsters? Were they
overhearing our conversation?" Fred tried to assure Arun, "I don't
know, I did not notice them before." Arun added as a postscript,
"Indian films would continue its losing streak. And like Godot, Oscar
will not come."

Arun was set to bypass the underworld dons and godfathers and launch
his satellite and Internet based content distribution to 5 million
subscribers in India, UAE, UK and 5 urban centers in the US. He had the
technology and the big investors from US. After Cannes Film Festival
was over Arun and Tania went back to Bombay. He got another anonymous
warning not to proceed with his grand plans to cut out the dons from
his New Wave and New Economy entertainment and content distribution.
Arun did not know he was a marked man and that the godfathers in Dubai
had fingered him.

On the same evening Arun was killed Maya was holding a press briefing
for the showbiz media at the swank Apollo Bar in the Taj Mahal Hotel.
The tradition of silence, omerta, was so strong that no one had told
Maya that Arun was shot dead a few hours before. Bombay could have
easily replaced Palermo, Italy, as the capital of the Mafiosi gangland
executions.

Maya was the Indian version of a younger Sharon Stone, with full lips
and an enchanting smile. She had a full bust, slim rounded hips and
always presented a large bare midriff between her low-cut lycra blouse
and French Chiffon sari hugging below her belly button. She grew up on
MTV and Alta Moda - she knew the latest from Los Angeles, New York and
Milano.

That was Maya Mukerji, model-fashion choreographer-VJ-actress and woman
of today, who was right now on a high with her ambition to launch the
first-ever Ms. Professional India pageant. It could be in May, it could
be in October, but the spadework was already on. "But make no mistake,"
Maya warned the fawning journalists at the very outset, "this one is
nothing like the Miss. World pageant, and certainly nothing like Miss
India. In short, "Ms. Professional India is not a beauty contest at
all."

What, then, was the gala all about? "The contest will be a celebration
of the complete Indian woman, a totality she reached only with
marriage," Maya told the crouching journalists. The contest was open to
only married Indian women between 24 and 35. And the parameters were
very different. "We'll judge professional, party-giving, disco-dancing,
home-making skills, health consciousness, personality, social awareness
and rapport with the men," she said. "This isn't a platform for Perfect
10 figures (so, there'll be no swimsuit round) or beautiful hair, but
we presume a charming, full-figured, health-conscious woman will
naturally look good."

Maya's "baby" (as she loves to call the contest) is the brainchild of
her company called Dreams Beyond, which she has floated with her
brother, Vikash, and their business partner, Sunita. And the contest
advisory panel was impressive - actress Inderjit, folk popper Nina
(Indian Christina Aguileria) and model-turned-editor Ameeta ("women who
balance the love life and home with the workplace") teamed up with
filmmaker Jehangir, Indipopper Gus, TV-anchor Manab and poet-columnist
Ashish ("ideal family men who have raised good families").

She told the media representatives, "Indian professional women must
change. Even a committed family woman like Mrs. Hillary Clinton is no
favorite of large sections of Indian society, because unlike Mrs. Nancy
Regan, she comes across as being strong and independent." The gathered
showbiz journalists shot back, "But Ms. Sushma Swaraj wants Indian film
heroines to be submissive and sexually uninformed." Maya was tense and
coldly replied, "For too long the Indian films have gotten away with
storylines that reek of teenage male fantasies. Today's educated and
urban women have other ambitions." With that Maya tried to stay on
message - her career in showbiz.

Maya's full-time commitment had left her with little time for anything
else these days. "I have cut down on assignments, true," she said. "I
am choreographing just one show a month and modeling only in very
exclusive shows." And yes, she seemed to have loved her brief sojourn
into films. After the hit item song in Dil Kya Kare, Maya has now done
a comic cameo in Na Tum Jaano Na Hum (Neither you nor I know), the
forthcoming film starring Khalid and Baby Jane. "I play this flamboyant
fashion choreographer aspiring to be an actress. She's the reason why
the hero and the heroine meet in the first place," she said. With so
many roles to juggle, doesn't Maya have one driving passion in life?
"Why should I have only one passion in life?" she counter-questioned.
"I love doing everything I want to do. It's not only men and their
fantasies I cater to!" When it came to passions, it's more the merrier
for this female powerhouse.

Maya was not going to be dutiful, submissive, modest and sexually
unaware to be loved by anyone - that was all in the past. Francoise
Sagan observed that the French are made tired by their past, for it
surrounds them too tightly; "we can never be unfaithful to it," she
said. And then she noted that history, ideally, should be "not a
continued presence but a series of passionate interludes." Well, it is
hard not to like the metaphor of history and passion - the French, of
course, can make anything into a metaphor involving past and passion,
but in this case it was particularly appealing to Maya - her past had
just died.

On the evening of June 13, 2001 as Maya Mukerji was winding up her
glitzy press briefing in Taj Mahal Hotel Apollo Bar her mobile phone
trilled nervously - a mysterious voice informed her, "Arun is dead. Go
to Breach Candy Hospital." Maya had received huge floral wreaths from
unknown "Friends in Dubai." Arun was the victim of a classic
"rubout".

Indian movies are still waiting for Oscar.