Deepa Mehta’s ‘Water’ finally sees the light of the day. As an opening film of the 30th annual Toronto International Film, it is back in news after it was stopped from being shot in India years back. Third in the trilogy after Fire and Earth, Water is director Deepa Mehta’s long cherished dream that is finally realized after a wait for number of years. Produced by David Hamilton, Water was secretly shot in Sri Lanka under the fake title of ‘Full Moon’ to avoid any further controversy that could have hampered the completion of the movie.

Year - 1938 Era Pre-independence India, when it was under the colonial rule of British

This was the time when child marriage in certain sections of society was a bitter reality. An age old reality about young girls being married to much older men.

And what happened when these men died? Their wives were forced to spend the rest of their lives in ‘ashrams’ [institutions] meant for widows.

The same reality struck with Chuyia [Sarala], a 8 year old girl, who was married only to find herself being sent to a widow’s ashram due to her husband’s death. The reason for being sent to the ‘ashram’? To make amends for the sins from her previous life that would have been the cause of her husband’s death.

This is where Chuyia meets three women from different age groups who form an integral part of WATER - 20-year-old Kalyani [Lisa Ray], 35-year-old Shakuntala [Seema Biswas] and an 80-year-old woman Madhumati who is counting her last days.

Madhumati is the senior most of all and heads the women in the ‘ashram’. She is a character in herself as she loves passing orders all around to the other widows while behind closed doors she loves smoking ‘ganja’ and passing time while hearing gossips from her only friend Gulabi, a eunuch and a pimp.

Shakuntala is the mystery woman amongst all the widows as she s quite and reserved, Though she is intelligent and educated, she has been caught in a situation where on one side she is unhappy about the shape her life has taken versus her respect for the Hindu religion and culture.

Kalyani is the most beautiful of all and has a simple outlook towards life. Sweet, simple and almost like a child, she has been forced into a profession where pimp Gulabi is required to escort her for the services to the rich. As a bread earner for the ashram and a devotee of Lord Krishna, she takes all this in her stride peacefully attributing it to her ‘karma’.

Since Chuyia, a new entrant to this ashram, is an adolescent girl, she can afford to be spirited and full of life. Not one to sit back and take things as they come, her aggressive attitude set the other women in the ‘ashram’ also thinking. The biggest difference comes in the life of Kalyani, who inspite of being a widow falls in love with Narayan [John Abraham], who is a young’ncharming upper-class Gandhian idealist. A follower of Gandhi’s ‘Quit India Movement’, he also believes in social justice for women and decides to bend the rules of that era by marrying Kalyani.

While remarriage was a taboo in the society, Kalyani (with support from Narayan) challenges the system and forces other widows to think about right versus wrong, present versus future!

Giles Nuttgens is the cinematographer of the movie [he also shot Fire and Earth] and Colin Monie is the movie’s editor. Background score for the film is done by Mychael Danna while songs are composed by A.R.Rehman. Others in the starcast include Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Waheeda Rehman, Raghuvir Yadav, Vinay Pathak and Rishma Malik.

While ‘Water’ would soon see an international release in countries across globe, the talks are still in progress for the movie’s screening in India. Ironically so for a movie that has its roots in India !

How many times have you silently wondered that you and your spouse are a mismatch? Yes, most of the times one feels that is/her spouse does not fit in the parameters that were in mind before getting married. But in rare scenarios, sometimes it also happens that you yourself realize that your spouse could have got a much better deal than you! What do you do in that case?

‘Main Meri Patni Aur Woh’, a delightful light hearted entertainer takes this idea forward and builds a story about a married couple who are way off from each other physically.

Directed by Chandan Arora, whose debut directorial venture was Rajpal Yadav-Antara Mali starrer ‘Main Madhuri Dixit Banana Chahti Hoon’, comes up with yet another flick with a middle class setting. For MMPAW, he again ropes in Rajpal Yadav, who gets to play the lead role for the second time in his career. Meanwhile renowned Bengali actress Rituparna Sengupta is the lead heroine [i.e. 'patni'] in MMPAW. Who is the ‘woh’? Well, for that you need to venture into the theatres to find out more.

In the city of Lucknow stays a middle-class man just like most of us. 34 years old with a French beard and a mature persona, Mithilesh Shukla [Rajpal Yadav] is a content bachelor and wants to stay the same for his entire life. Reason? He has a short height and carries the complex of the fear of rejection. But life was never meant to be same for him for all his years, as soon comes in his life Veena [Rituparna Sengupta], a beautiful charming girl. Introduced by his family for an arranged marriage, this Bareli girl is everything that Mithilesh would have ever dreamt of.

But now he fears if his dreams would come true? After avoiding the talks of marriage for all these years, now he does want Veena to say ‘Yes’ for the marriage though he has a fear in his heart ! A fear of rejection because Veena is taller to him!! Taller to such an extent that it clearly shows and cannot be camouflaged with the best of everyone’s efforts.

Dreams do come true not just in reel life but also in real life! This is what Mithilesh realizes when Veena says yes to the proposal. Obviously thrilled about the prospects of a wonderful life going forward, Mithilesh is on the seventh heaven and soon the two of them get married.

But is the end of all of his troubles? Or do his troubles begin from hereon? Because from this juncture on he [or is it Veena?] becomes the center of attraction of everyone around. Be it his friend who soon become extra friendly, his neighbors who make the phrase ‘neighbor’s envy owner’s pride’ seem like a cruel reality, young boys on the streets, women in the neighborhood, the ’subzee-waalas’ and the ‘doodh-waalas’ - everyone appears to be showing a keen interest in his personal life.

All this could have still been tolerated because these were the outsiders barely known to Veena, hence they could be shrugged away with relative easy. But what if someone close to Veena threatens to make Mithilesh conscious about his self? Would Veena succumb to the views of someone known to her from the past and result in Mithilesh loosing the one he has truly loved?

Mithilesh’s worst fears come true with the entry of ‘woh’ in the scene. A man who was known to Veena from her old days. A ‘woh’ who is everything that Mithilesh is NOT! Talk, dark, handsome - in one word a MAN that every woman like Veena would want and would truly DESERVE.

He is Akash, a computer hardware engineer from Delhi, who is naturally charming [just like Veena], a smooth talker [just like Veena], a pleasing personality [just like Veena] and above all, is a few inches TALLER than Veena!! This marks the final nail in the coffin for Mithilesh as Akash moves in a flat just opposite to theirs. Akash and Veena start interacting on a regular basis and Mithilesh can’t do anything about this friendship!!

Will this episode open a new chapter in the life of Mithilesh? Was this happiness in his life supposed to be short-lived? Will physical differences really create a difference between this ‘pati’ and ‘patni’? And who is this ‘woh’?

A UTV production, MMPAW arrives this Friday, i.e. 7th October 2005.

Director Priyadarshan is on a roll in 2005 with three of his movies on floor in different stages - Kyonki, Garam Masala and Malamaal Weekly. With both Kyonki and Garam Masala getting readied for a Diwali release, it is indeed celebration time for the director. And why not when he has successive hits ‘Hungama’ and ‘Hulchul’ behind him!

With Garam Masala, he again unites with his ‘Hungama’ and ‘Hulchul’ producers ‘Venus Records and Tapes’ who would be looking forward to a success after Elaan’s failure earlier this year. Garam Masala also unites Akshay Kumar, Paresh Rawal and Priyadarshan who created magic in Hera Pheri. Highlight of the movie is introduction of three gorgeous beauties Daisy, Neetu and Nargis, who are the center of attraction and the ingredients that make this ‘Garam Masala’ spicier than ever.

A remake of Priyan’s own Malayalam movie Boeing Boeing, that was directed by him two decades back in 1985, it is a modern day adaptation of the flick that was in turn inspired by the 1960s’ Tony Curtis comedy about a man who keeps various air hostesses dangling in his life.

Have you already noticed an airplane flying across your TV screen whenever the promo of Garam Masala is on? Well that’s because the airplane forms an integral part of the movie’s script.

Because when there are planes, there are airhostesses. When there are air hostesses, they have to be gorgeous. And when they are gorgeous then how could Mac help himself not to flirt with the charming ladies?

Meet Mac [Akshay Kumar] who is Mr. HOT. A man who knows how to charm a girl. A man who dreams of going around with gorgeous ladies all the time. A man who succeeds in using his charms on multiple number of girls and still make each of them believe that for him she is the ONE and only ONE love in his life.

And that too when the ONE in his life is actually Anjali [Rimmi Sen], who also happens to be his fiancee!!

But then will Mac always be able to have his cake and eat it too? Because for every action, there is a reaction. For every smart man, there is someone smarter. For every ’ser’, there is a ’sava ser’.

For every Mr. HOT, there is Mr. COOL!

Meet Sam [John Abraham], who is Mr. COOL. If one thought that his vulnerable looks were deep rooted to his body, soul and heart then that was wrong. Because he is the man who quietly and silently knows how to charm a female. He is equally bad as Mac and when it comes to lying and still go away unscathed, he is even worse than Mac.

Along with Mac and Sam, there is another important character in the story - Mambo.

Lay down the red carpet for Mr. MAMBO [Paresh Rawal] who may look cranky but is actually quite cute. To add to that, he is also a cook. He is loyal to Mac and other than cooking, his job is to keep all secrets of Mac.

Life is going fine for Mac and Sam who are thickest of friends. They are young, they are smart, they are charming, they are witty and they have one common taste - GIRLS. Fortune favors “good for nothing” Mac and he turns lucky with two things - he gets an empty flat all for himself. And to fill in his flat and his heart, he gets not one, not two, but three PYTs [ Pretty Young Things]! Priti, Sweety and Puja are all airhostesses and he succeeds in making each of the girls believe that he is in love with them.

Meanwhile things aren’t rosy between Mac and Sam anymore and now Sam wants to expose Mac’s escapades to everyone. Meanwhile Mambo does his best to save Mac! In this yet another saga of infidelity and three-timing, Mac gets into the worst possible scenario and caught when all the girls come together face to face in the same apartment!!

What happens next? Obviously some ‘hulchul’, hungama’ and then……..’Garam Masala’!!

In Priyadarshan’s own words - “Hera Pheri was a comedy of poverty, Hungama was a comedy of errors, Hulchul was a family comedy and Garam Masala will be about two timing. It’s a thriller. Every youngster will identify with it because the moment you two time, you get tensed as the other girl may find out”!

One can conveniently expect ‘Garam Masala’ to be one spicy dish knowing Priyan’s past record. Both Hungama and Hulchul were one line stories but it was due to master direction by the director that kept the viewer involved throughout the proceedings. Another area where the director specializes in is handling number of characters together and that too without loosing focus around the basic storyline. That’s the reason one looks forward to the movie that also stars Rajpal Yadav and Neha Dhupia [in a special appearance]

With music by Pritam, ‘Garam Masala’ is one essential ingredient that you would like to spice up your celebrations this Diwali.