Together!

By: Taran Adarsh, IndiaFM
Friday, July 28, 2006
Imagine Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan and Karan Johar under one roof? That would send the paparazzi in a tizzy, you'd agree. It's a rarity to have three of the biggest names in film business chatting and mingling with one another, without any discomfort whatsoever.

Last night [Thursday, July 27], the crème de la crème of the film industry had assembled at Yash Raj's sprawling studio for a sneak peek into one of the keenly anticipated movies of the year: Omkara. SRK came with wife Gauri, while Aamir walked in with wife Kiran.

Wait, the names that attended the screening of Omkara is not complete yet. Karan Johar was amongst the first to arrive, while Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani [Don] trooped in a few minutes later. Ronnie Screwvala, the head honcho of UTV, was present with Zarine Mehta and Ram Mirchandani.

Mani Ratnam made heads turn as he arrived for the screening. The normally reticent Mani rarely makes an appearance in the social circuit in Mumbai, so that indeed came as a pleasant surprise.

The glam quotient at the screening would put any Page 3 party to shame. Kareena Kapoor personally looked after her guests, which included Shahid's father Pankaj Kapur and wife Supriya. Beau Shahid Kapoor joined them later. Priyanka Chopra arrived with her family - father, mother and brother.

Konkona Sen Sharma, Arbaaz Khan and Malaika, Sanjay Kapoor and Maheep, Neelam, Amrita Arora, Soham [Kaal], Bunty Walia [Ek Ajnabee], Ramesh Taurani [of Tips], Ken Ghosh, choreographer-director Ahmed Khan, Niranjan Iyengar [writer of Karan Johar's films] were there as well.

The intermission was like one big party, with the guests having a feast. Like a prominent film-maker commented, "We could breathe easily and watch the film at peace because [thankfully] no mediaperson was invited for the screening [barring this writer]. Otherwise, could you ever imagine SRK and Aamir at their natural best?"

Omkara received a standing ovation after the screening concluded. In fact, both SRK and Aamir remained seated till the very last frame of the rolling titles.

Omkara producer Kumar Mangat and director Vishal Bhardwaj played perfect hosts.