Ram Kamal Mukherjee

Trust me, waiting for the 'so-called' stars can take a toll on your patience. It can get so prolonged that you can actually finish reading the manuscript of the Mahabharata.

I mean it, and I have lived with it. In eight years of my journalism career, I started waiting for stars from day one. Most of the stars, those who feel that they are stars even before they become so, make a late entry at parties.

In most cases, the star would send someone (call them chamchas) to scrutinise who all have come for the party. They would decide upon making a 'grand entry' when people reach the level of frustration and the organisers are hounded by the media to death.

With whatever experience I have gathered, I can vouch that barring a few stars, (the real stars) the rest of the clan doesn't actually care much about a journalist's time.

A few months back, I was travelling with this blue-eyed actress, who has a record of never reaching the studio on time. "I will be reaching in five minutes," said the actress, who was actually stuck in the Linking Road traffic and her producer was waiting for her at Andheri. I was wondering that unless she adds on wings, she couldn't reach Andheri in five minutes.

Though she is one of our National Award-winning actresses, she doesn't believe in time management. "Just give me two minutes," she said, when she was 30 minutes away from Andheri. Finally, she reached, but the journalist left. She called, but he didn't take her call. Finally, he SMSed saying, "I respect people who value my time." If you are thinking that this SMS changed her life, you are kidding yourself.

Even Govinda does the same. Once he called a journalist for an interview at 11 am and made him wait for six hours, and then finally met him for 10 minutes and left.

Recently, at a book-reading session, the media kept waiting for Kajol and Karan Johar for hours who came very late. "Kajol was pretending as if she is doing some favour by giving bytes to electronic channels. While Karan pretended that he is the next Tarantino. He refused to divulge anything about his film," informs a senior reporter. [Read report on Buzz18.com]

There was a time when the media was united and they would simply walk out of an event where stars would throw tantrums. Recently, at the promotion of her own film, Priyanka Chopra was the last person to enter. The media kept waiting for her, including her director and co-actors.

There are instances when stars would come reasonably late and pretend to be extremely sorry and apologetic. Once, I was waiting for a star at the lobby of Taj Lands End when I was working with Stardust magazine, when the actor came after three hours, and made me feel extremely special by apologising. I thought he was genuine. After he left, the man who accompanied him, revealed the truth, "Arre, he is a big c*****! I was with him when you had SMSed and later called him. He was sitting at home and doing nothing. When you called, he made a face and then didn't even bother to revert. After you called him frantically, he acted as if he was in some important meeting."

I was taken aback. Incidentally, the actor stays at Bandra and his house is just 15 minutes away from Lands End. (And even before you guess, no it's none of the Bandra 'Khan's.)

This was just the beginning; I never knew that things could be worse. One actor, now he has no work, pretended he is the next big superstar, and asked me to wait for him at JW Marriott. Having waited for four hours, I finally called him when his Man Friday informed, "Saab toh shooting kar rahen hai… Pack up hone mein abhi aur chaar ghanta lagega." (Boss is shooting, he will take four hours to pack up!) Now, this is how they fool the journalists.

Considering the horrible traffic we all face in a city like Mumbai, the safest excuse is to blame the traffic. Some stars even blame it on their drivers, make-up artists and co-actors. But they would never be brave enough to admit that they delayed deliberately.

But then, I must thank the almighty for having people like Amitabh Bachchan, Hrithik Roshan, Aamir Khan, Hema Malini and Madhuri Dixit (to name a few) who maintain their punctuality. Who make it sure that they reach on time. They have learnt to value others' time, and expect the same from those who meet them.

NB: Thanks for the terrific response for my last blog on star tantrums. I respect everyone's view. I have got mails requesting that I must divulge the name of the actors I have mentioned therein. I think it would be unfair to reveal their name in a public domain, but I am sure that people can guess, and that's the fun! Cheers.

Disclaimer: The views expressed by the columnist are expressly of his/her own and Buzz18.com does not necessarily subscribe to the same.