"Ashaji came to my rescue,"
Aamir Khan recalled. "This was at the location shoot in Panchgani of
Caravan. I was playing around near a tree, fell flat on my face, my forehead
was badly cut and there was blood streaming all over my face. That's when she
immediately had me rushed in her Impala car to a hospital. Or else I don't know
what would have happened. I still have a little scar on my head."
Aamir Khan thanked
yesteryear's Hit Girl at the New Delhi launch on Sunday of her autobiography, co-written with film
critic Khalid Mohamed. The superstar was the chief guest at the event which was
jampacked with the capital's glitterati and the media.
Aamir evidently has a sharp memory. He was just a knee-high kid, at the time of the accident, but he remembered that there was a nodding dog, a toy, placed in the car.
"She was like family. So I feel strange calling her Ashaji today. I have always called her Asha Aunty." he said. He specially jetted from Mumbai to the capital for the launch and returned to the city by the next flight.
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The Dangal
superstar, it is learnt, was in a cheery mood. Before the event started, a
nervous waiter had spilled orange juice on his shirt. He consoled the waiter
that he should not worry at all, adding, "Take it easy...no
problems."
Aamir Khan and
Asha Parekh were joined by a surprise guest, Shatrughan Sinha, who flew in from
Upaipur. When he was cajoled into speaking at the podium by Aamir Khan, the
senior actor, had the guests in splits, when he said, "I'm just the
'cheap' guest today but since Aamir is asking me to speak, I will."
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At one point of
time Shatrughan and Asha Parekh were not on talking terms, but had patched up
their differences. The autobiography reveals that it was the Shotgun who had
actually recommended her name as chairperson of the Censor Board, a position
she occupied from 1998 to 2001.
The book, The Hit
Girl, was launched earlier in the month in Mumbai by Salman Khan. Among those
who had attended were the veteran actress' best friends Waheeda Rehman and
Helen, as well as Dharmendra, Jeetendra, Salim Khan, Jackie Shroff, Imran Khan,
Aruna Irani, Richa Chadda, Achint Kaur and stalwart music composers Pyarelal
and Anandji.
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