In Delhi recently to launch a new perfume, riding high on the success of Race and looking forward to Bachna Aye Hasino, Bipasha Basu announced her desire to work with SRK and Aamir – two stars she has never played against. “I would love to work with Shah Rukh Khan because I think there is no Bollywood without him,” she said, “I am a true fan of Aamir Khan also and I love his work, but I think that if you talk about Bollywood, then you cannot not do a film with Shah Rukh Khan.”
Perhaps more surprisingly, Bips announced a desire to work with Malayalam superstar Mamootty, not so well known outside of regional cinema. Bips’ sister is married to a Malayalee and she appreciates the high quality of cinema in this area. Mamootty shares the record for victories as Best Actor in National Film Awards with Kamal Hassan. Mamootty’s biggest commercial success was perhaps Rajamanikyam in 2005. He was recently voted by the readers of Vanitha magazine as the man with the most sex appeal – not bad for someone who’s 54 years old – there’s hope for me yet.
From 1982-1985, Mamootty starred in an incredible 150 movies – that’s nearly one a week. I’m surprised the actors’ union didn’t complain about the crowding-out effect. It was the movie New Delhi in 1987 that propelled him into the ranks of superstardom in regional cinema, a position he’s held ever since, most famously recently with his portrayal of Dr Ambedkar. Mamootty caused some controversy at the 2006 IIFA Awards with his comments on Bollywood, “Indian cinema is not just Bollywood, and Hindi is not the only language. Why should our films be called South Indian cinema instead of being under the banner of Indian films?” he said.
