Why times are tough for Madhur Bhandarkar

For a film-maker who has made headlines and won National Awards for his films, Madhur Bhandarkar has had an eventful year for more than one reason. First, his ambitious project, Heroine, creates quite a furore, what with actor Aishwarya Rai Bachchan walking out of it after shooting for a few days because of her pregnancy, forcing the director to go back with his offer to actor Kareena Kapoor. Now, he gets summoned by a Mumbai Court in connection with a rape case filed in 2004 against him.

A struggling model and actor Preeti Jain had accused Madhur of raping her on the pretext of giving her a lead role in one of his films. He chose to go online to issue a statement on his website and posted a link of the same on Twitter, which reads, “As the lower court has issued a process against me today, September 19, 2011, for a case which has been going on for seven years, I would like to state here after reading the judgment that we will challenge this order in higher courts and seek justice.”

Noted numerologist Sanjay B Jumaani feels that this is bound to be an especially hard year for the director. “Madhur’s date of birth is August 26, 1968 and that makes him a No 8, which is governed by Saturn or Shani, the Lord of Judgement. Also, he is in his 44th year, which adds up to 8 again. Saturn is just but extreme,” he informs. Sanjay goes on to add, “While AR Rahman won the Oscars in his 44th year and coach Gary Kirsten helped the Indian cricket team win the World Cup in his 44th year, Shah Rukh Khan was 44 years when he broke his shoulder and his cricket team, Kolkata Knight Riders fared miserably in the same year and former cricketer and MP Navjot Singh Sidhu was a part of the road rage incident in his 26th year and was jailed in his 44th year. Saturn is like the Supreme Court, with no two ways to it.”

Of course, the going continues to get tough for Madhur for another reason. “Preeti Jain is a No 9 and governed by Mars. It’s commonly known that Saturn and Mars are an unfavourable combination. In fact, even when it comes to Heroine, all the dilemma and confrontations are because of the same reason. Now, over to Madhur’s karmas,” he signs off.