Thursday, April 16, 2020

Crossing the Kodambakkam bridge -6

Simran



 Just a week back, there was reports in filmy websites about Simran's  birthday. The fact that even today she gets written about is something that is wonderful, given  the fact that she is no more the heartthrob or as active she was. Off late she appeared in Rajinikanth's Petta and in Sivakarthikeyan's Seema Raja.  Both of them were nothing great to write home about. The only time we get to hear Simran's name on stage is when director Sundar C  describes his heroine as another Simran in the making.
My first meeting with Simran was in AVM, where Mammooty and Vikram were shooting for Malayalam film `Indraprastham'. Mammooty told me that he saw this girl anchoring a Hindi TV show and told director Haridas to take a look. The film locales were in Delhi and she was cast opposite Vikram ( doing the second lead).As soon as she and her mother heard that I was from Screen weekly, they said " oh no, We don't talk to Bombay  press. They write gossip,". I was confused. As Screen does not print gossip and I have never came across any gossip about a starlet called Simran. Somebody chipped in saying that Mammooty has asked me to interview. Anyway as there was not much to much to talk about, it was a brief one.
The next meeting was a shocker. We were called to cover  shooting of VIP. I saw Simran on the set. I remember the lavish launch of the film but did not see Simran there. I asked Thanu the producer and he said that a Mumbai girl called Laila was booked. She landed in Chennai and took one look at her hotel room and she left to check into Taj. So many nakhras followed and Dhanu dumped her and Simran came on board.
It was only in Kannidhrey Thondrinal directed by Ravichandran, that Simran  the actress came into focus and went to do some good films with Prasanth. Abbas who acted with her in VIP was a youth icon with some hits. She was seen in the company of Abbas. She proved her talents with Thullathu Mannum Thullum and Vaali. We kept bumping into each other on many locations. She also had the guts to pick up negative roles. Somewhere along the line, she moved over to Telugu films and she could not become the sensation that she was in Tamil.

Somewhere along the line, she also got linked to choreographer Raju Sundaram ( brother of Prabhu Deva) and they did a film together as lead. Meanwhile again she was linked with Kamal Haasan with whom she did two films. This too broke up. Meanwhile, her sister Monal came to Tamil films and she was linked with a choreographer and finally resulted in her suicide.
Simran towards her fag end of her career did act in Mani Rathinam - Gautam Vasudev Menon - A R Murugados films. She left abruptly to get married. Later she resurfaced to take an avatar in TV and also is doing a few films, some of which are stuck for ages. She announced that she and her hubby are going to produce films and make Chennai their home. Her directors say that her lip-synch with Tamil and Telugu is perfect. Her dance number `Aal thotta bhoopathi naan thaan' with Vijay is considered as the benchmark of choreography and movements. ( Photo; Third Eye)

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