Celina Jaitly announced as a Best Female Actor in the CIFF

Celina Jaitly was in for a shock when her name was announced as a Best Female Actor for her English film Love Has No Language in the recently held Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF). While she was busy clapping for other actors and film makers who were being called on stage to be conferred awards, she was clueless that she had been nominated as a Best Actor as well.

"I was invited for the event as a guest of honour. Since I am also an Egyptian tourism ambassador, it was double the reason for me to be present in the event. I knew that my film Love Has No Language had been a New Zealand entry for the film festival which saw entries from across the globe. However, I was in for a shock when I was called to come on stage. I was frozen on my seat for a while and didn’t know how to react", says Celina who has since returned to India over the weekend. Some of the other prominent Bollywood personalities who came back home with awards were Madhur Bhandarkar, Irrfan Khan and Boney Kapoor.

On the D-day, Celina did make quite a few heads turn though. She got an outfit exclusively created for the event and wore a Neeta Lulla creation - a multi-hued Indo-Egyptian gown.

Meanwhile this is not the last that Celina has seen of Cairo International Film Festival. From next year on, she would also be a member of honorary jury. "This is definitely thrilling and a great honour", comments Celina.

Talking about Love Has No Language, the film is directed by Kahn Khan and stars New Zealand actor Ben Mitchell along with Rati Agnihotri and Kiran Kumar. The film has already been released in New Zealand. However, it won’t arrive in India.

"No, it won’t see a theatrical release here," sighs Celina, "However, it would be available on DVD soon."

Nonetheless, Celina is happy with one of the first major awards coming her way. What has also been the icing on the cake is the fact that the journey for her has begun on an international platform.

"I am glad to be a part of films like Love Has No Language. It means a lot to me and appreciation like this is just timely because it further instills confidence in you as an actor", says Celina who would soon be seen in an author backed role of a central protagonist in Accident on Hill Road which releases on 18th December.

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Celina has donned a new hair, do with much shorter hair in this thriller film!

Celina Jaitley has already been much in news for her take lesbians. Now, she is all set to show some of her acting skills and also shock everyone with her entirely new negative look. In her next movie ‘Accident on Hill Road’ she’ll be playing a negative character and she reportedly took 15 days to decide on the right style for the character and chose a very vampy appearance. She also joined a 10 day acting workshop to brush up on her acting skills.

Celina has donned a new hairdo with much shorter hair in this thriller produced by Nari Hira of Magna Films. The new hairdo has changed Celina’s appearance so much that one takes a couple of seconds of closer look before one realizes the fact that it is indeed Celina on the frame.

“The new look has been created by Hakim Aalim. It was required to cut 10 inches of hair for the look. However, what he ended up doing was save locks of ten inches for me”, laughs Celina.

Directed by debutant Mahesh Nair, the film also stars Farooq Sheikh and Abhimanyu Shekhar Singh. The film shows how Farooq and Celina cross paths when Celina’s car hits Farooq in a freak road accident. What happens thereafter forms the crux of the film.

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Read excerpts from Celina's Blog on gay rights

Read excerpts from Celina’s  Blog on gay rights and her experiences that led her to take up the cause.

My boyfriend was gay

I was 16 and it was my first time at a nightclub with my friends. I met this really good-looking man, who was a lot older - by about almost 18 years - and we became really good friends. I loved spending time with him and when he told me ‘I love you’, I thought I loved him too.

At 16, coming from a small town and a protected Army background, I didn’t know any better. I guess I also liked the idea of falling in love.

I had no idea of relationships either. It didn’t strike me as odd that my boyfriend liked to meet in public where he could be seen with me and would get angry if I bumped into him while he was with his friends.

Gradually, my friends began to tell me that he was known to be gay. I fought with them and told them that just because he was different it didn’t mean he was gay.

Gradually, the arguments started, and then physical abuse, when I asked him if he was seeing another woman. I had no reason to believe he was keeping a secret. However, one Sunday, I decided to land up at his place, that’s when I saw him with his ‘best friend’.

I lived in denial for the next few months. Then came a phase when I prayed to God to make him ‘normal’. I got severely bulimic… I was a complete mess. There would be times when I would worry that I shouldn’t put on weight or I would see him with his best-friend and come back, eat and throw up.

My close friends and my brother made me realise he was gay. That’s when I finally stopped fighting. There was another phase of physical abuse too and I finally decided that I was young, doing well for myself, had a good family and friends and there was no reason for me to take this.

I moved out of Kolkata and went on to become Miss India and then entered films, and we lost touch. One day, he phoned me and said, “Silly Billy (that’s what he called me), are you still mad at me?

Please don’t be, God made me like this.” And, I realised he was right. How did I forgive him the physical abuse? I just did. My life was good, I had met a Swiss diplomat who I was then in love with, and could look beyond those times.

Besides, I then started seeing him as a person. We became the greatest of friends and when he passed away after a bulimia-induced heart attack, he left me his mother’s jewellery that would have ideally gone to a wife. He always said that had he married, it would’ve been to me. He did love me, in his own way.

His end was tragic, he got into wrong company, underwent tremendous depression, was a victim of gaybashing, alcohol and drugs took a toll on his life.

He was also in relationships where he was physically abused, something I’ve seen a lot of my gay friends go through. And, they can’t turn to family for help. I found out all this only when he was no more, through friends.

Despite my lows in my first brush with love, I never blamed the gay community as I believe that the kind of person you are has nothing to do with your sexuality.

While he was the man who virtually ruined me when I was young, another man who nurtured me was Probir Kumar De, my first make-up person.

Probir da was transgendered, wore a salwar kameez and fought his own battles as he rose from his middle-class roots, braving taunts of ‘hijra’. When I didn’t have money as a student in Kolkata, he would buy me lipsticks.

He, along with a friend, entered me for the Femina Miss India contest without my knowing about it. He considered me his daughter.

 I had another gay friend, a designer, who was beaten up at a nightclub. My gay friends have always been there for me and there’s nothing I’ve been able to do for them.

Recently, when I flew to Bangalore for Feroz Khan’s funeral, I was in a fragile state. My gay friend, who knew exactly how I would be feeling, flew down to Bangalore, without letting me know, met me at the airport to accompany me and give me strength.

I wanted to gift Probir da a car for his birthday but he died three months before that. I always promised myself that I would take up the cause of gay rights when I could and that’s what I’m doing now, despite the hate mail that I receive.

Ironically, a lot of the mails I get are from the youth. I want to ask them if being modern means fighting with your parents to be able to go to the nightclub, wear Western clothes, be able to smoke or drink? When it comes to gay rights, why are you still living in the previous century?

For me, gay rights are about human rights. And, I don’t care if people call me gay!

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Celina Jaitley was denied entry in Her Own Bangkok pub and restaurant

Bollywood actress Celina Jaitley was denied entry in a Bangkok pub and restaurant owned by her dad, courtesy the short school uniform which she was wearing.

The guards not only failed to recognise her but also suspected her to be underage and stopped her from going inside.

Celina was shooting for "Paying Guest" in Bangkok and one of the sequences required her along with the other leading ladies Neha Dhupia, Riya Sen and Sayali Bhagat to be dressed in a school uniform.

Why did she choose to hop over to the pub dressed like that?

"First and foremost I had no clue that guards would stop me at the gate. Also, I was in the middle of a sequence and didn’t feel like getting in and out of costumes. I was anyways enjoying myself in a school dress and though it may have scandalised quite a few out there, I didn’t mind that at all, " Celina told.

"In the first place, it was anyway quite funny to be dressed in a tight white shirt, red and black short skirt, hair band, white socks and black shoes. And then this incident happened where I was denied entry in my own pub. It was as funny as it could have got, " she added.

Celina tried to catch the attention of her dad through the glass pane. She waved at him and shouted along till the time he managed to realise her presence at the pub.

"Imagine his shock at seeing his girl dressed up like this. He was in a meeting with his business associates and they all had a collective expression of disbelief on their faces.

My dad just came out, spoke to me for a while, lent me some money for shopping and went back in. He was so sure that he didn’t want a girl who may not have been underage but definitely looked like one get into his pub. For him, rules are rules, " she said.

After this, Celina walked into the nearest luxury mall for shopping.

"I made sure that I blew away all the money that I had laid my hands on. I wasn’t allowed to get into the pub and I vowed to make up for that lost opportunity, " she said.

Directed by first timer Paritosh Painter and produced by Subhash Ghai , "Paying Guest" also stars Shreyas Talpade, Ashish Chaudhary, Javed Jaffrey and Vatsal Sheth and Celina says: "It was back to being school and eight of us were having a rollicking time."

The film is ready and the release date would be announced after the stand off between producers and multiplexes is resolved.

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Celina Jaitley flooded with various hate mails and messages

Just recently, Celina Jaitley had expressed her support for the gay community at the re-launch of the magazine for the gay community ‘Bombay Dost’. She had also participated in the Gay Parade in Mumbai and called for the abolition of the laws that treat homosexuality as a crime.

But seems, Celina’s support for homosexuality did not go down well with the people, for the lady has been flooded with various hate mails and messages after the launch party. Some even questioned Celina’s sexuality and wrote that she too is a homosexual.

But strong as she is, Celina is unperturbed by all this. Celina vehemently conferred that this is a human right deserved by every person. During the launch itself she had stated: “It saddens me that people have so much hatred towards sexual minorities and people who show them support. It’s also unfortunate that people have not stopped their hatred against the gay community  but have only learnt to mask it.”

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