The first blind item for today comes from Rajeev Masand. It’s a little unexpected, but not so much if you think about it. In the industry also, it’s a give and take relationship. Mr. Masand himself once said that when he gave Priyanka Chopra a bad review for ‘Krrish’, she stopped talking to him for a year.

What else do they expect? Back then, when stars made friends with journalists, they got real close to them. It’s not like this today, just ask Mr. Khalid Mohamed. Back then, when you are close to a star, they take you like a family member. Obviously, that treatment just lasts until you have your status as a powerful journalist.

Now, things are different. Journalists only get to deal with stars’ agents, managers or PR people. There’s a give and take arrangement. Perhaps, this professional arrangement has made things easier for critics to do their work. They can be a bit honest without worrying too much about the repercussions. You remember Salman Khan telling Anupama Chopra to her face that no matter how much he tells her about his experience shooting the film, she will still give him 2 stars!

The blind item below is about the daughter of this veteran actress. While the mother managed to become huge in her time, her daughter never managed to even reach near that. If we are not mistaken, she probably had only 1 big hit to her credit and even that big hit also starred a couple of star kids, who never had a hit before.

So, this actress made her comeback recently in a short film, which is coincidentally directed by the same man who authored her mother’s latest biography. We are saying latest because there is more than one. The lady in the blind item also authored another biography, which was release around 8 years ago.

To be fair, this actress was never in demand. Her last attempt at acting was in a film directed by her mother. But, that never came out on DVD so we didn’t get to watch it.

You know? The short film that this blind item is talking about had its premiere. The actress, her husband and her veteran actress mom also attended. Guess what? Both mother and daughter appear to have had a few updates on their face.

If you are going to go and do these things, at least wait until the side effects wear off. You can clearly see there is something wrong with her mother’s face. It’s like she is wearing false teeth!

It’s so freaky seeing these old people/eldery getting cosmetic surgery. The side effects are just too much. Aren’t they scared? Other than Rekha, there isn’t an old actor who has managed to look subtle after cosmetic surgery.

Check out the blind item below from Rajeev Masand. By the way, can’t seem to find traces of the review. It could have been removed for all we know.

Bollywood Blind Item

A Double-Edged Sword

A well-regarded senior film journalist who authored the official biography of a veteran movie star has an interesting story that points to the ‘special treatment’ that filmwaalas expect from those in the media who they think of as ‘friends’.

Not long after the release of her book, in her role as a film critic, the author in question happened to write a not-especially-flattering review of a new release that starred the actress daughter of the veteran movie star who was the subject of her book. Not for a moment did the author think she was expected to go gentle on the film because of the ‘connection’, but the actress clearly had different ideas.

She reportedly messaged the author shortly after reading her review, addressing her as ‘aunty’ as if to remind her of their personal relationship, and went on to disagree with her review of the film, stating that the audience’s reaction to the movie was very different from hers. The author says the actress was not satisfied with her explanation that the review was a personal viewpoint, or that she really did think the movie sucked.

The actress clearly felt ‘betrayed’, could not understand how a ‘friend of the family’ could be so ‘unsupportive’ and made her displeasure apparent the next time they met. It also became awkward for a while between the author and the actress’ father.

So much for film folk and their routine chant that reviews and critics don’t matter. Tsk, tsk.

OSOP Guesses

Journalist: Bhawana Somaaya

Veteran Movie Star: Hema Malini

Daughter: Esha Deol

Film: Cakewalk

Look at the way she is feeding the director. Like if she doesn’t want her fingers to touch him. Hah!