Given her standing in society and her seniority, when Jaya Bachchan made an unprovoked attack on a much-junior Viveik Oberoi by calling him, “A man on a mission” in Koffee With Karan, many, even those who were generally indifferent to Suresh Oberoi’s boy, wondered why she didn’t pick on someone her own size. Salman Khan, for instance.

It does seem an unfairly pitched battle to throw a down-on-his-luck Viveik against the might of the new Bachchan foursome. For someone who has been a world title holder and a celebrity in her own right, Aishwarya Rai’s speciality has always been to play the defenceless damsel-in-distress and have somebody else fight her battles. She had tried it with Shah Rukh Khan (during the shooting of Chalte Chalte) by getting him to battle Salman for her — SRK had proved smarter, he’d showed her the door from his film. But Viveik Oberoi fell for her ruse when he took on Salman Khan on her behalf three years ago. Unfortunately, it’s now his turn to face the full blast of Ash’s new family. Surprisingly, Viveik is not behaving like a wimpy loser but is handling it rather like a seasoned celebrity. He has turned the tables on Jaya smartly by wondering aloud what she meant by that comment and adding that whatever it was, he’s sure she meant it as a compliment!

But Jaya continues to battle on behalf of her daughter-in-law, her current mission being to snub Ash’s bete noire (the one who snatched Shah Rukh’s and Sanjay Bhansali’s films from her), Rani Mukerji.

The shooting of Pradeep Sarkar’s Laga Chunari Mein Daag is like an arena with Bengali tigresses on the prowl, ready to claw one another. Imagine three roshogollas in one film, with at least two puffed up and angry! The film stars Jaya Bachchan who has made it amply clear that she wants to share as little time as possible, together in the same frame, with screen daughter Rani Mukerji. If being dropped from Abhishek Bachchan’s guest list at his wedding wasn’t enough of a message, the cold shoulder Rani is being given is like an announcement over the loudspeaker. That Rani is in the Bachchan doghouse.

Of course, unlike Viveik, Rani fancies herself on a pedestal of her own (as the one tipped to be the next queen of the Yashraj household) and is said to be more amused than bemused by Jaya’s royal snub. But there is a third Bengali actress too in the fray. Laga Chunari Mein Daag stars Konkona Sen Sharma as Rani’s sis and Aparna Sen’s daughter has, by default, become Jaya’s favourite person on the sets!

Jaya showering attention on Koko is so obvious that a little bird twitters that when Rani bonds with Ms Sen privately, the joke’s on Mrs Bachchan most of the time. Dada Pradeep Sarkar must’ve thought it would be khoob bhalo to have three fellow Bengalis in his film, they’d bond bigtime, sharing one common language. Little did he reckon with the tigresses turning against one another!

It must, of course, be like a flashback for Yash Chopra (Yashraj is producing Laga Chunari Mein Daag) since the last such war had been on the sets of his film Daag more than 30 years ago. At that time Yash had pitched yesteryears’ two tigresses, Sharmila Tagore vs Raakhee, for some crackling celluloid histrionics. He got that on screen and off it too as Sharmila had ganged up with costar Rajesh Khanna to make Raakhee feel the thwarted outsider.

Perhaps Jaya-Rani-Konkona, all three fine actresses, will also deliver intense performances inspired by so much off-screen passion!

By the way, Pradeep Sarkar’s Laga Chunari Mein Daag is said to be an updated model of the old Mumtaz starrer, Aaina, where she played the eldest daughter of a financially stricken family. She goes to the city to work but ends up as a whore to make money for her dependants. While Rajesh Khanna played the sympathetic male in the Mumtaz starrer, Abhishek Bachchan is the man in Rani’s life — strictly in the film of course.

HEY, PSST!

* There’s a buzz that Anupam and Kirron Kher’s son, Sikander Kher, has been pub-brawling again. Two years ago, Siku had got into a scrap with Salman Khan’s brother, Sohail. This time one hears it was his own producer Sanjay Gupta who delivered a tight one on Sikander’s cheek. But Gupta’s film Woodstock Villa, in which Sikander Kher makes his acting debut, rolls on regardless.

* Rakesh Roshan, it is believed, is working on a Bad Krrish vs Good Krrish script, a double role for Hrithik Roshan. But didn’t Terminator do that years ago and didn’t Spidey just meet his dark side?

Bharathi S. Pradhan is managing editor of Movie Mag International