Heroine in New Avatar!

Meena Iyer
[ 4 Nov, 2006 2324hrs IST, TIMES NEWS NETWORK ]

MUMBAI: Enter the sanctum sanctorum of Mumbai’s Iskcon temple and the last person you expect to encounter is Mick Jagger’s heroine from the 1970 outlaw adventure Ned Kelly.

But there she is. The pleasantly plump Australian film and television actor Janne Wesly. Clad in a red-printed sari, her head covered with her pallu and a daunting chand tilak on her forehead, Jane stands out tall. In her new avatar Janne Wesly is called Ma Jagattarini Devi.

Wesly says life changed when she met Srila Prabhupada, the founder acharya of Iskcon in the United States way back in 1970, the same year her film with the Rolling Stones star Jagger released.

Wesly says she was barely 22 then. And had the world at her feet. “In fact I was in LA to attend the premiere of Ned Kelly. And later I was to join Mick Jagger in London to pursue my film career. But after I visited the Krishna Temple in Los Angeles everything else lost meaning for me.”

About co-star Mick Jagger she says, “He was very restless too. He was basically a musician at heart and couldn’t handle the slow pace of an actor’s life. He was hugely famous, but somewhere within I sensed he was bored.”

Wesly says behind the arc-lights, she longed for a more spiritual existence. “I was sure the world of films couldn’t get me the answers I was seeking. I thought of people like Marilyn Monroe who were up there on the list of famous faces. But I just felt that deep within, even Monroe longed for something different.”

Wesly continues, “Since I would have to drop my standards radically to pursue a film career I knew I wouldn’t be happy with the compromise. So I chucked it all and opted for a purer form of life.”

With her husband Bhurijana Prabhu, Wesly plunged into working selflessly to build the first Hare Krishna temple in Hong Kong.

Though she currently resides in Perth, Australia, Wesly is constantly on the move, helping to spread the message of Lord Krishna. She has never looked back at her showbiz career.

But life has come full circle for Wesly whose son Jay Weinstein is now in Mumbai trying to find a career in Bollywood.

source

I feel Krishna is my son: Hema Malini

Here is an interview with Hema Malini, famous bollywood actress, printed in HT Style

Kshama Rao/ HT Style

Mumbai, November 14, 2006

“I completely believe in Him and His ideologies. He is adorable and accessible,” says Hema Malini. She’s not referring to her actor husband Dharmendra, but to Lord Krishna.

The actress-MP-danseuse is paying a tribute to the ‘Jagadguru’ in a two-day festival on November 18 and 19 (Ravindra Natya Mandir). The beautiful dancer’s belief in Krishna is well known. She has not only performed dance ballets on His life but is also associated with ISKCON.

Ask her if she has ever experienced divine intervention in her personal life and she replies: “Yes, the fact that I am putting up this performance is His instruction. Otherwise, why should I have thought of this now? Whenever I have had problems in my life or faced any difficulties, I have turned to Him. Why just me, He is around you too and everybody. He’s one God who’s accessible to everybody .”

Hema Malini rehearsing for the dance ballets she is performing as a part of the Krishna Rasa, a two day dance event on the life of Lord Krishna...The dance event is being planned on a big scale by Hema’s dance institution and she says it will not just showcase her ballets on the life and times of Krishna but go right through from his birth to the vatsalya phase with Yashoda, the madhurya rasa, his growing up years, as a romantic lover with Radha, his role as a sakha or a friend to Draupadi and the bhakti rasa with His devotee, Meerabai....

...Speaking of Yashoda and Krishna , does she miss a son in her life? “Not really, my two girls have given me a lot of happiness. But when I am performing as Yashoda on stage, I feel Krishna is my son, who is doing a lot of mischief.”

The actor believes that Krishna’s teachings, the Gita, is relevant even in today’s fast paced times. “Yes, that’s right. Each and every shloka, all the principles he’s explained in the Gita, make sense even today. You can put all his principles into practice, in your day to day lives and situations, His teachings do make life easy to live.”

She says that she’s not “well read about all his teachings but I do whatever I can through my dance. As a child, and when you are growing up, you may not necessarily understand the significance of his lessons but at a later stage in your life, when you are more mature and experienced, everything that’s been said in the Gita makes sense and helps you understand better.”

Ludhiana Ratha Yatra

This Message is published by IYF-Delhi On Behalf of H.G. Rajsuya Prabhu.

Hare Krsna, PAMHO!! All Glories to Srila Prabhupada!!

Bhagwan Jagannatha Rath Yatra Maha Mahotsav Ki Jai!

Dear Members,

11th Historic Bhagwan Jagannatha Ratha Yatra 06 will be held in Ludhiana on 18th Nov.06.The parade will start at 2 PM from Durga Mata Mandir and will end at Nav Durga Mandir, Sarabha Nagar Ludhiana. On 19th Nov. there will be Hare Krsna Utsav at Maharaja Palace in the evening at 6 PM. We cordially invite you on this grand festival and we are sure you will come and join us in this festival of chariots. Please confirm your visit earlier so that your boarding and lodging can be arranged in advance.

Yours servant,

Rajsuya dasa

TP, ISKCON, Ludhiana, India.

Email: Iskcon.ludhiana@pamho.net

Web: www.iskconludhiana.com

Contact No. #: +91-93169-70600 ; +91-161-2770600