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On Monday Twinkle Khanna released her second book, The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad, already a best seller on Amazon. Her first book, Mrs Funny Bones, a compilation of her columns for a newspaper is a best seller too and Khanna, a serious author to watch out for. The glamorous launch at Mumbai’s JW Marriott Hotel was attended by prominent film personalities and the book passages ably read by Shabana Azmi, Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor. Karan Johar conducted a brief conversation with the actor on her experience of writing.
Twinkle dazzled on the stage recounting amusing anecdotes about her grandmother Betty Kapadia, paid a fitting tribute to her mother, husband and son Aarav and was showered with praises by her erstwhile publisher Chiki Sarkar who described Khanna as a delightful and effortless writer.
As I watched a teary-eyed Dimple Kapadia and a visibly emotional Akshay Kumar in the audience, my mind traveled back to the first time I set my eyes on her many, many moons ago…
She was a plump five year old and mother Dimple was struggling to fix a bow into her hair but Tina as she is lovingly called by the family was clearly not in a mood to co-operate. “She has her father’s moods” said an exasperated Dimple “and at times like these, it is best to leave her alone”. The year was 1978 I think.
When I next saw Twinkle, she was a few inches taller, almost knee high. I was invited by the superstar for Ganpati darshan, an annual tradition at Aashirwad Bungalow, Carter Road. It was said that a producer had advised Rajesh Khanna to bring home the deity and he observed the practice unfailingly for many years. Dimple was conspicuous by her absence that day but her two over-energetic daughters dressed in colorful frocks more than made up for everybody, running helter-skelter, in and out of the bungalow.
By 1983, Dimple had moved out of Aashirwaad and was living with her daughters at her parents’ Betty and Chunilal Kapadia’s home. Director Ramesh Sippy had announced Dimple’s comeback in Sagar with Rishi Kapoor and Kamal Haasan in the lead and launched the shooting of the film with the erotic ‘Jane do na…’ song picturized on Rishi Kapoor and Dimple around a swimming pool at a magnificent bungalow in Juhu.
It was a night shift and my magazine was invited with the photographer for a special coverage.
Dimple clad in a red chiffon sari had to be drenched from time to time and to ensure that their mother did not catch a cold; her daughters had taken upon the role of her assistants. Tina and Chinky sat quietly behind the camera (there were no monitors those days) all night holding warm towels and as soon as the lights went off, they rushed and covered their mother with the two towels.
Eighties was a sensitive decade for Dimple. She was vulnerable and her daughters, though young, sensed it and protected her all the time.
Post Sagar there was no stopping Dimple, she had signed a lot of films and I would often drop by at her home in Juhu for an impromptu interview/photo-shoot or just a chit-chat session and was always welcomed. The sea facing Birla bungalow was a home without formalities. The gates were always open and the guests a part of its buzzing domesticity. The elders walked in and out of the rooms and the staff served endless rounds of tea.
The large corridor across the windows was occupied by Dimple’s sister and costume designer, Simple Kapadia’s innumerable tailors and embroiders. The extended space of the living room was the domain of the young generation that is children Twinkle, Chinky and Dimple’s younger two siblings Reem and Munna Kapadia.
I have vivid memories of Twinkle bent over her notebooks, sometimes reading and sometimes just staring at Simple masi’s many karigars.
In later years, maybe early 90s before Twinkle was launched in films, I had traveled with the mother and daughter to filmmaker Raj Kumar Santoshi's wedding held in Bangalore. As we walked to the aircraft, Twinkle with her hand luggage had joked that her mother was averse to check-in baggage and as a result she had no option but to play her spot boy.
Her sense of humor was quite like her father’s – wicked and funny and Dimple was thoroughly amused. “You should be grateful that you are lugging bags because when I was your age, I was carrying babies.”
On flight and in a somber mood, Twinkle shared that every morning her mother ran after her sister imploring them to take their vitamins and they enjoyed running away. “It’s amazing the amount she pampers us.
I have made up my mind that when I have children of my own, I’ll never leave them with mom.” “Why not”, Dimple woke up suddenly from her sleep. “Because you will spoil them silly and I don’t want my children to become brats”, smiled Twinkle.
In 1995 Twinkle was launched with great fanfare opposite Bobby Deol in Vijeyta Films’ Barsaat, easily the most talked about premier of the decade. In the coming years she went on to do some good (Baadshah) and some bad (Love Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega) films but was always sure about herself. Unlike other heroines her age, Twinkle never carried a chaperone to work. Dimple continued to be concerned though, said that whenever Tina was shooting, she wanted to be around without the slightest distraction so that she could focus on her.
During this time, I accompanied the duo at an award event where both were attired in Abu-Sandip collection and looking dazzling. As we headed the venue the media was overpowering and asked invasive questions that affected both. While Dimple was angry to be asked if she felt competitive about her daughter and dismissed it with ‘Give me a break’ Twinkle refused to be indulged. Much later she explained,
Mom is beautiful, she knows it and so does the world so it’s kind of silly to go on and on about it. I’m proud of my mother but at the end of the day, I’m an individual and not just Dimple and Rajesh Khanna’s daughter.
She was always sorted, always knew what she wanted out of life.
I don’t want to be in films forever and ever. I will work for about five years and when I find my soul mate I will settle down with him forever. Mom did the other way round. She first settled down and later sought a career but then mom has broken every single rule in the book!Twinkle Khanna
Post retirement from films, post marriage and babies, I have bumped into Twinkle time and again at Diwali parties, movie screenings and also at Dimple’s home Vastu with husband Akshay. The last time I saw her, she was forcing money out of her mother to invest in Mutual Funds because left to her, Dimple would blow up all her money. The mother and daughter are poles apart. While Dimple, the auburn haired diva on screen, in reality is a domesticated daughter, a concerned sister and a hysterical mother, Twinkle is amazingly elegant and naturally precious, a legacy from superstar father Rajesh Khanna.
Her talent for writing and before that for art and design comes from her genes. Few people know that Dimple is a passionate painter deeply inspired by Van Gogh, makes magnificent candles and has a way of creating amazing stuff with clay. Both her daughters have grown up watching her pursue some or the other form of art and carry forward the legacy.
And by the way, Twinkle was right in her assessment of her mother spoiling her children silly but even then Twinkle leaves her kids with their grandmother often and they enjoy being pampered by their naani and fortunately both the kids are far from brats.
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