Missing
Mumbai is a city of arrivals and departures; everyone comes here with the idea of arriving, no one leaves. As a result, we’ve created for your pleasure Missing, a chronicle of stars who fell off the map one fine day after enjoying some serious exposure in the world of popular culture.
Missing will be our daily tribute to heroes, some zeroes, heroines, vamps, villains, Indipop singers, models who pretended like they could act, zombied divas who could shake a leg or two when the need arose – a cavalcade of folks who are guaranteed to thrill you. Do have a blast with our blast from the past.
Today's Missing star is
VITAL STATS: Deepak Malhotra was the most sought-after male model in the late ‘80s. Then, in 1991, Lamhe happened, a Yash Chopra flick in which he was cast as Sridevi’s ill-fated love interest. And ill-fated he indeed was.
They say Deepak Malhotra’s voice (not very different from Farhan Akhtar’s but well before his time) was too raspy and everyone ended up laughing at him at Ghungroo, a popular discotheque in New Delhi.
So Deepak Malhotra ran away to New York City and rechristened himself Dino Martelli. Dino Martelli because the glossies sometimes referred to his looks as Italian; Deepak took to this compliment a little too seriously, one might add.
Then in 2004, he returned to Bombay and tied up with Sabeena Chopra to start Sesso, a short-lived restaurant in Deepak Malhotra/Dino Martelli’s latest avatar as a chef.
If you learn of anything cooking with this former model-cum-chef, inform us at missing.celebs@yahoo.com
Why we miss Sonu Walia
VITAL STATS: She won the Miss India in 1985. In 1988, she was in a swimming pool with a Speedo-clad Kabir Bedi, crooning to a plagiarized version of Vangelis’s Chariots of Fire theme track.
The film was Rakesh Roshan’s blockbuster Khoon Bhari Maang, stolen from Australian mini-TV series Return to Eden.
Then after some random roles in television serials (mainly Cinevista productions) Sonu Walia has gone Missing.
We’d like to know why and if she’s planning on making a comeback as a producer or a fashion designer or any format that she deems fit. She was also known for her resemblance to Parveen Babi and Zeenat Aman, yesteryear sex symbols from the late ‘70s.
Fax us details on this ‘sax’y lady at missing.celebs@yahoo.com
The next page - Why we miss Sonika Gill
VITAL STATS: After a soft start (she acted in soft porn flicks with Brando Bakshi in the late ‘80s), she got her big break in Subhash Ghai’s Ram Lakhan (in 1989) as Vivienne, the hooker with heart.
Then she vanished.
It turns out that she was ‘assisting’ Kalpana Iyer in running a lounge called ‘Mehfil’ in Dubai, an establishment that found some fond patronage via Subhash Ghai, Jackie Shroff and others when they flew down to the UAE for Bollywood events, premieres et al.
Then in 2004, Sonika Gill returned to Bombay. But we haven’t heard from her since.
If you know of any mehfil she’s visited recently, do let us know at missing.celebs@yahoo.com
Why we miss Anu Agarwal>>
VITAL STATS: Her Aashiqui (1990) was the biggest hit of the year. Her later filmography was flimsy.
She did a nude scene in art house guru Mani Kaul’s short film and some steamy films in the South film industry, but it did nothing to resuscitate her career.
Then in 1999, she was at a diplomat’s farewell party in Cuffe Parade and met with a terrible accident on the way back. Anu was in coma for 29 days, and was even said to have nearly died.
She recovered, went to the Bihar School of Yoga and now is a yoga instructress in Breach Candy, a posh neighbourhood in south Bombay.
For further updates on the Aashiqui girl, email us at missing.celebs@yahoo.com
Why we miss Kimi Katkar in next page>>
VITAL STATS: She made headlines with her diaphanous top in Tarzan (1985). Then after a couple of B-grade films, she peaked with her zenith, starring opposite no less than the Big B (Hum, 1990). She then become a society figure of sorts, marrying a top-notch fashion photographer, Shantanu Sheorey. And one fine day she vanished.
However, with good reason. Her son (now 16) was diagnosed with a life-threatening disease and the couple moved to Melbourne for some years before moving back to Pune.
Kimmy (as she spells her name now) lives in Pune and had a brief brush with fame some years ago, when Shantaram, Gregory David Robert’s quintessential Bombay book, mentioned her as a star who was unpretentious and was chatting up everyone on the sets while a sidey like Chunkey Pandey was strutting about the sets like the star he never was.
We like, we like. Kimmy, if you want to get in touch with us, our email is missing.celebs@yahoo.com
And, we have some videos of Kimmy. A flashback
The first Missing star is... Mamta Kulkarni>>
VITAL STATS: She created a storm with her topless cover shoot for Stardust magazine in 1993. For someone who was branded as déclassé, Mamta managed to score leading roles with all of Bollywood’s top actors in the 1990s: Salman Khan-SRK (Karan Arjun), Aamir Khan (Baazi), Akshay Kumar (Sabse Bada Khiladi), Saif Ali Khan (Aashiq Awara).
There were whispers of her being secretly married to fight master-turned-director Tinu Verma. There were also whispers of her being attached to the underworld, a nexus that allegedly brought her back to the sets of Raj Kumar Santoshi’s China Gate after being thrown out. And then at the cusp of the millennium, Miss Kulkarni just disappeared.
So much so, that to make a court appearance for an obscenity lawsuit, to evade photographers she came in a burqa, something that elicited the ire of the Islamic community in India. Which makes us wonder, what’s up with those rumours of her belonging to a harem in Dubai or thereabouts? If anyone has any information on this missing celeb, please email us at missing.celebs@yahoo.com
