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For the first time in the history of Bollywood, 50 noted celebrities from Indian film and music industry will be wishing Bollywood legendary actress Hema Malini on the occasion of her authorized biography Beyond The Dream Girl written by veteran journalist Ram Kamal Mukherjee. The "surprise" video will be specially played for media and noted dignitaries at the book launch in Mumbai, at J W Marriott. Published by Harper Collins India, the 300 odd pages comprises her journey since childhood to her recent political sojourn as MP of Mathura. The cover photograph has been shot by noted fashion photographer Vickky Idnaani.
"While we were planning the book launch on her birthday (October 16), we realized that Hemaji will be completing 50 years in this industry in 2018. So we decided to make it special for her, and took this herculean task to get 50 celebrities to wish her on her biography, birthday and Golden Jubilee year," says Ram Kamal Mukherjee. The campaign was spearheaded by Aritra Das from Assorted Motion Pictures, and he roped in five media students from Don Bosco Mumbai - Christopher Noel D'Souza, Riona Mariette Gomes, Iqra Laique, Vadin Gear and Savio Gerhert to work on this project. "Frankly speaking I wanted young boys and girls to work on this project because that would also help me in connecting a legend like Hemaji with youth," says Mukherjee. "Frankly speaking we didn't know much about Hema ji, but when we were asked to be a part of this project, we started reading up about her," says Christopher.
"We were excited to meet the legends. When we were reading about Hemaji, we came to know about late actors like Dev Anand, Manoj Kumar, Rajesh Khanna and Vinod Khanna. We missed taking their video bytes," regrets Riona. "Most actors were very sweet, because we are students and we are learning while we are studying," says Iqra who did the story board for the video.
Savio who edited the video also had tough time. "So much content we had that we are planning to release it as a special 2 hour video on YouTube. Accedotes and wishes are so genuine and warm that editing out words was the biggest challenge," says Savio.
That Hema Malini is loved and respected by all in Bollywood is beyond doubt, and is a testament of the goodwill she shares with the fraternity. And so when five very young media student went to record the video bytes, they were more than willing and forthcoming to speak about her. Incidentally, the students were doing a project based on Swaach Bharat, and when Aritra, spoke to them about the project, they were simply enthralled and felt that it was an honour to do it. A remix track from Pramod Chakraborty's Dream Girl has been composed specially for this video. The song been rendered by Vishesh Jain. The animation of Hema Malini's cover has been executed by Somnath Paul. The theme song for the making is created by Sunny Karmakar.
"It will be a very big surprise for Hemaji, because we have recorded bytes from people whom she would probably not expect," says Ram Kamal. Though he refused to reveal the list of 50 celebrities, our source revealed that, the video will feature legends like Amitabh Bachchan to youngster Arjun Kapoor, from veteran Vyjainthimala Bali to glam girl Kriti Sanon, from designer Neeta Lulla to choreographer Shaimak Davar, from legends like Lata Mangeshkar to Ustaad Amjad Ali Khan, from playback singers like Kavita Krishnamurthy to Babul Supriyo, from veteran Ramesh Sippy to National award winning Madhur Bhandarkar, a whole galaxy of stars will be wishing well for the dreamgirl and her biography.
Fashion photographer Vickky Idnaani has shot the cover of the book, afterword by Ramesh Sippy, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote the foreword,
Hema is like my younger sister. I have always admired her for her grace and beauty. Recently she shared her music album with me. I was surprised to hear her voice. She is so melodious. Wishing her long and healthy life.
- Lata Mangeshkar
Hemaji you have set really high benchmark for all of us. 50 years in this industry is not an easy number to achieve. I am so so looking forward to read your biography written by Ram Kamal Mukherjee. - Vidya Balan
Hello Hemaji, you have been our inspiration. I have fond memories of you as a kid, as we grew up with Esha and Ahaana. I am really looking forward to read your biography Beyond The Dreamgirl. - Arjun Kapoor
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