Who killed common sense?

Famous Indians tamper with their spelling in the poignant hope that their fortunes will change. Meenakshi Sinha discovers that many have actually done worse after visiting their numerologists




   These days, newspapers can get away with misspelling a celebrity. It will be generously presumed as yet another star’s customary name change at the hands of a numerologist. The addition of a letter or two in one’s name to arrive at a favourable number of letters is a trend that is increasingly visiting actors, business types, artists and writers.
   But any benevolent effects of numerology on their fortunes may be hard to see.
   In the depths of a dark period, Kareena Kapoor had changed her name to Karriena. After that, Asoka, the radical film that was supposed to redeem her, bombed. She went back to being Kareena. She even told this reporter once, “I don’t believe in this spelling change business. After I changed my spelling from Kareena to Karriena on the advice of some astrologer, it had a disastrous effect. I kept falling sick and was never up to my level. I swore never to adhere to any advice from these astrologers.”
   The name ‘Karriena’ was the contribution of numerologist Bansilal Jumaani who guides Ekta Kapoor and probably steers her serials off those debilitating names that do not start with the letter ‘K’.
   His son, Sanjay Jumaani, naturally rises to the defence of his father. “Shahrukh Khan released the film on the 26th. Two plus six is eight. Eight is the number of Saturn. We anyway predicted doom.”
   He does remember that after she changed her name to Karriena, she had signed a Pepsi deal, admittedly a fortunate event in anybody’s life. The reason why she reverted to her original name, he claims, is that, “her father Randhir Kapoor wanted her to get back to her original name, which he so lovingly kept. He threatened to get her married and throw her out of the industry unless she complied.”
   But according to a transformed Kareena, “I believe in my destiny and the fact that no one can take away my destiny from me. Look at Raj Kapoor, he got no awards during his lifetime but his work is still discussed. He did not resort to any such name or spelling change for success.”
   Raj Kapoor lived in simpler times when lack of success was attributed to cosmic alignments and not to the spelling of one’s name. Today, there are so many solutions to a single problem, so many versions of “the ancient science of astrology”. Numerology may appear to function only in English names but its practitioners affirm that it can be applied to any language as it merely translates letters into numbers.
   A recent arrival to this mystical world is the much-wronged Vivek Oberoi, who is suddenly being spelt Viveik. Two of his films have sunk without a trace. And, closely following this change is the news that he has split with Aishwarya Rai. Now that’s a good tide or a misfortune, depending on who you talk to.
   Sunil Shetty used to sign more than 50 films in a year in the early 1990s, when there were more films than godmen. As an angry hulk element in loosely based human stories, he excelled and rose as a new action hero with a unique gift to stretch vowels. Then he became Suniel Shetty, and has since remained a largely inconsequential man with a lot of high-profile side roles. Worse, he got embroiled in a controversy concerning irregularities in the import duty of his Hummer, a type of problem that usually visits only Sanjay Dutt.
According to a sulking numerologist, Shetty has blamed the import duty controversy on the change of his spelling.
Around the time when Shetty changed his name, he says that he had health problems, and faced a few deaths in the family. “Someone told my wife about it and I went ahead with it.” He also claims to be very attached to his nephew Niel. “I had lost my brother-in-law then. By adding ‘e’ to Sunil, Niel became a part of me,” says Shetty.
He does not compliment numerology excessively. “I’ve been around for over 16 years and my businesses and work are doing well. So I can’t say that it was only numerology that helped. Hard work along with the blessings of my parents and family also matter.”
Even if an actor is not keen on changing the spelling, nervous producers and others who have sunk money into a project may demand a correction. Television actor Anita Hassanandani became Natassha when she was signed on by Balaji Telefilms. But the change in identity began to confuse her, especially when she was accosted by fans for autograph. So she went back to Anita with no apparent material loss. “I have given big hits in south Indian films where I’m known as Anita, and as a star. It got too confusing to continue with two names.”
   Ekta Kapoor, the temperamental chief of Balaji Telefilms is understanding. “I don’t impose my thoughts or opinion on anyone. Nor do I expect them to follow what I believe in.”
   Anita still has a job with Balaji.
   Ishaa Koppikar is another actor who added an ‘a’ to her name. That was about three years ago when she was an item girl. Now, she claims she is not an item girl. Like several others who have found some success, Ishaa finds it difficult to be gracious enough to attribute all her success to numerology. “I have worked hard,” she says.
   Readers of Shobhaa De had suddenly noticed that her name had changed. She denies that it has anything to do with numerology.
   Sanjay Jumani says patiently that celebrities are usually reluctant to admit that they have consulted ethereal conduits. “I don’t blame them because they are in the public eye where there is a lot of hypocrisy.”TNN





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11 December

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