Vimla Patil was associated with Femina, India’s number one women’s magazine, published by the Times of India Group for 29 years. Femina is Vimla Patil's personal success story. Today, FEMINA is one of the strongest international brands with a vast readership in India and abroad. She initiated the Miss India contest in the mid-sixties for the journal and brought it to its present international stature. Vimla Patil promoted Indian textiles and fashion garments – especially handlooms – for decades by presenting over 4000 fashion shows in India and most countries of the world.
After finishing her long stint with Femina, she built a brand new career for herself as a freelance multi-mediaperson with writing, events, public relations, shows and many more activities in her portfolio!

Vimla Patil will be delighted to answer readers' questions. Please click on the comments page link at the bottom of the article to post your questions for her or to comment on her article.

Grab opportunities when they come, for they may not knock again – this is often the funda which underlines the lives of many successful people. Actors Govinda and Karishma Kapoor worked on the basis of this theory and accepted every film which was offered to them. In fact, Govinda was a prototype followed by most leading stars of Bollywood. Especially, beginners like Esha Deol, Priyanka Chopra, Arjun Rampal, Ajay Devgan and even Hrithik Roshan – accepted the wishy-washiest roles offered to them and stood by in disgust as they flopped one after the other. Only in recent times have stars become clever and choosy.

From the looks of the scenario, stars seem to be extra careful in choosing their assignments. Is this because they are earning more money per film than ever before in the history of Bollywood? Perhaps. But there are other reasons too, according to observers. Many stars agree that they are selective because of their experience of signing up for ‘losers’ which affect their careers in the long run. Hrithik is a prime example of this theory. After the run-away success of Koi Mil Gaya, he was inundated with offers from producers who wanted to make quick bucks by hiring him for their love stories. Hrithik, sensing that his money-making times had come, signed up every film in view and soon, people began to say that he was a flash in the pan star, good only for one film. Even the films made by senior producers like Subhash Ghai and Yash Chopra failed to give him the much-needed boost.

Shah Rukh Khan was clever to start with. He chose his films with due consideration and had fewer losers – which is why he is called Badshah Khan or King Khan. Almost every film he made succeeded at the box office. Still, he tread the film world carefully, joining hands with Karan Johar to produce Kaal, producing his own films Main Hoon Na and Paheli with different directors. “I am unemployed right now,” he says jokingly, because he is taking it easy after his back surgery, “I have three films which will release only next year. These are Karan Johar’s Kabhi Alvidaa Na Kehna; Farah Khan’s Happy New Year and Farhan Akhtar’s Don for which shooting is yet to begin. I will do only three films a year from now onwards, unless someone gives me an extraordinary script that blows my mind!”