Big B’s frustration and Hema’s triumph
Sunil Kapoor, Bollywood Correspondent from Mumbai

Amitabh Bachchan recently expressed frustration with Sonia Gandhi. At the same time Hema Malini joined BJP and is campaigning fiercely for the party. Amitabh Bachchan, who was brought into politics by the late Rajiv Gandhi, has said the Gandhi family had "closed the door" on him and the onus of taking this relationship further rested with that family. 

"There are personal reasons (for the break in relations)," he told Prabhu Chawla in the 'Seedhi Baat' programme on Aaj Tak. 

Bachchan said he had entered politics in support of Rajiv Gandhi and the bereaved Gandhi family. 

Asked if he would like to meet Congress President Sonia Gandhi, the film actor said "for what?... When the doors have been closed." 

In a candid admission that he was a failure in politics, he said it was because he did not have the qualifications of a successful politician. 

Quizzed on his relationship with Amar Singh, he described the Samajwadi Party leader as a "personal friend, a family friend and younger brother" whom he has known for a long time. 

To another question, he said there was no financial implication to his friendship with either Amar Singh or business magnate Anil Ambani. All three shared a very personal rapport and he has never taken any sort of financial help from either of them, he said. 

Asked about film stars entering politics and canvassing for various political parties, Bachchan said it was a matter of personal choice. He, however, said he had no intentions of either entering politics or canvassing for any candidate. 

At the same time Hema Malini, a member of Rajya Sabha has moved fiercely into politics and is making surprising moves. Popularly known as 'dream girl', 55-year-old Hema, who is a Member of the Upper House of Parliament, was inducted into the party by BJP President M Venkaiah Naidu along with Chandra Vijay Singh, a Lok Tantrik Congress member of the dissolved Lok Sabha. 
"I have joined BJP as I feel very close to its ideology. I have great admiration for Atal Bihari Vajapyee," the actress, who had first begun campaigning for BJP candidate Vinod Khanna in Gurdaspur in Punjab during the 1999 general elections, said. Answering a question, if her actor-husband Dharmendra would come into politics, Hema said "he too has a great liking for BJP. He would be definitely campaigning during the polls ". 
"I have not come into politics in a big way. I want to see my country grow," she said parrying questions on the Ram Temple issue. To a query if her children were also interested in politics, the actress laughed and said "they are too young. They know nothing about politics".  

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