Short Takes

THEIR EROGENOUS ZONE
He,s the man of the moment, chip of the Big B block. ABHISHEK BACHCHAN. SCREEN was the first publication to feature him on the cover. But you ain’t seen nothin’ yet, for the first wave of his interviews have only begun to trickle in. Soon you can be sure there’ll be a veritable avalanche in the press, surrounding the launch of Refugee.

Well AB Jr was the toast of Calcutta, last week. It was a crowded press conference alright, a promotional exercise for the film, but a badly mismanaged one. The mikes gave in, even before the conference could begin, swallowing up his words, and those of the others on the dais -- JP Dutta, Kareena Kapoor, Javed Akhtar and Ashish Vidyarthi, among them.
But that didn’t seem to faze Abhishek one bit. He still managed to steal the show, winning Bengali hearts with measured words. "It’s nice to be here in Calcutta," he went, "because I’m half a Bengali, myself. Besides, it was here in Calcutta, that my father began his working career."

Indeed, that’s been the kind of standard line most of Mumbai’s showbizfolk come up with on promotional visits to the city. The idea? Appeal to his heart, the sentimental Bengali’s erogenous zone, or claim to be one of them. And if the promo gimmick’s going to work anywhere at all, you can be sure it will in Cal. It’s been quite a success, as gimmicks go. So where’s the need to change a winning formula?

INSPECTRESS COMES CALLING
ANOTHER evening, another star on the make visits Cal. It’s
PREITY ZINTA’s turn this time, to woo the city ahead of the premiere of Kya Kehna. Earlier in the day, we were treated to a sneak preview of the film at Priya Cinema. And either venue was abuzz with Calcutta’s movie-hungry.

"The people of Calcutta are extremely well-behaved," said Preity, sounding every bit like an easy-to-please inspector of schools on one of her ‘rounds’. "It’s wonderful to be with people so well-mannered," she added, rubbing it in for good measure. Then there was the usual nostalgia bit to capture the hearts of the cityfolk. "This isn’t my first visit to the city. I was all of six years old when I came here the first time, but I have only faint memories of it," she dimpled. Thank God for small mercies.

Of her role in Kya Kehna, she added, "The average Hindi movie does not give its heroines the scope to perform. This one does. I play Priya, a simple, innocent girl blessed with the courage of her convictions, one who’s willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of what she believes in. Yet, she’s also resourceful and realistic enough to stand on her own feet, even in the hour of crisis."

Have we heard that one before? Well, never mind. Not from Preity Zinta at any rate. She’s been off the press lately, thumbing down requests from all and sundry, or simply not answering calls at all. But now that the movie’s ready and waiting, it’s obviously time for the high drive.

THE DOWNSIDE OF TECHNOLOGY
He's Goan and mighty proud of it. Yet it doesn’t take much coaxing to bring him to Mumbai, especially if it’s for a Channel V do. The channel’s hosting a talk on convergence of the Internet and TV, and REMO FERNANDES’s being grilled for an interview that’s relayed concurrently on the Web.

Remo’s an automatic choice. For the tech-savvy music man has always been ahead of his time, whether it was in attempting fusion when it didn’t exist in the country or playing the flute on pop tracks when it was a no-no. "The exciting thing about the Internet is, it can reach Timbuktu, where my cassettes can’t," he smiles.

The Web’s become a handy device for Remo now, not only to access techsites like Akai’s or Sony’s, or to e-mail the legions of his friends in Mumbai. "The phone lines in Goa are terribly slow, though," he says, "and downloading audio takes ages."

Hopefully, once broadband takes over and the Internet goes satellite, the glitches will be minimised. "But somebody can still send you a virus. Or lure you into a pornsite that’s advertised free," he chuckles.
Call it the downside of technology, what?

TOAST OF MUMBAI’S POLITICOS
THE superstar has his fair share of fans in Mumbai, too, it turns out. And not just among the ‘expatriate’ Malayalee community. Why, a MAMMOOTTY felicitation committee had been appointed under the aegis of the People’s Arts Centre, headed by scribe PK Ravindranath and municipal councillor, RR Pillai to accord him a hero’s welcome in the city. Yet, although the likes of Sharad Pawar, Chhagan Bhujbal and Gopinath Munde had agreed to participate, the felicitation was called off at the last minute for reasons unspecified.

We may have seen precious little of his national award winning performance in Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. But Mammootty’s fans are no doubt hoping it’s never too late for a commercial release of the film. Mammootty, of course, plays Ambedkar, the architect of the Indian Constitution and emancipator of the dalits. Also to be felicitated on the occasion were director Jabbar Patel, actress Sonali Kulkarni and music director Amar Haldipur.

No, the much-awaited film wasn’t scheduled to be screened. That would have been the most conspicuous absence, had the felicitation not been rescheduled. But let’s hope we do get to see it soon. After all, the tax payers funded its making, and it would be a shame if we, the tax-payers don’t get to see it, don’t you think? And sad that a national award-winning performance is let to rot in the cans?

The governments of India and Maharashtra, which co-produced the film have long since granted an NOC to the NFDC to market the film. But there’s been no initiative from the NFDC on that score, since. Apparently, it’s waiting for the distributors themselves to approach it. That, at a time when even the big star ventures have not found buyers, is asking for the moon.

ACTOR ON HOLIDAY
"SUCCESS is a journey, not a destination," says ATTLEY BRAR. That’s right, the former school drop-out who came to Tinselville, Mumbai, to make it big as an actor, and nearly did. He first signed up as adfilmmaker, Prahlad Kakkar’s understudy, before debuting with Dev Anand’s Hum Navjavan and following it up with a dozen odd films like Kohraam and Apne Apne.

Now, it’s time for a change of tack. Brar’s producing and directing a film for a change, an English-Hindi bilingual called Hades. Playing stellar roles in the movie are Ms India runner-up, Priyanka Chopra, Pooja Batra, Tinu Anand and Rahul Dev (see pic) and the like. Written by Suraj Sanim, the film has music by the talented Silk Route. Launched on May 9, it’s being shot in a near-breathless 40-day spin in Simla and Himachal Pradesh, to be wound up with a 10-day stint in Canada.

Brar refuses to slot his movie as either commercial pot-boiler or arthouse. "A good film has no listing," he twinkles, adding "Of course, I’d love to see the money flowing in."

Come to think of it, Attley, who wouldn’t?

OMNIPRESENT, WELL, ALMOST
HE invited Kundan Shah on his Sony TV show, Movers & Shakers. And as if by a return of favour, SHEKHAR SUMAN wangled himself a role in a forthcoming Kundan movie. So what if the role’s a Manoj Bajpai reject? Wasn’t Zanjeer rejected by Raaj Kumar, Dev Anand and Shatrughan Sinha?," asks Shekhar. "All I’ll say of Manoj rejecting the film is, one Bihari’s loss is another’s gain."

Apparently, Bipasha Basu walked out of the movie after Shekhar was signed. She’d agreed to do it thinking it was a Manoj Bajpai starrer, and obviously, Shekhar is no Manoj. But Shekhar isn’t unduly ruffled. After all, he’d have done the same if he were in Bipasha’s shoes, he says.

Having co-starred the likes of Dimple Kapadia, Madhuri Dixit, Juhi Chawla and Rekha in his first inning in films, Shekhar’s now getting ready for the second. "I’ve broken the myth that overexposure on TV can kill," he smiles. "In any case, I’m not chasing the film producers. FIlms are no longer a need for me, they’re merely for personal growth."

He’s been seen on one or the other channel daily for the last seven years. Now, the ubiquitous, gag-a-minute Shekhar can soon be seen on the big screen, too. Here’s wishing him a great second inning.

MAKING POSITIVE NOISES
PERHAPS it’s the many contacts she’s made with filmfolk, in connection with the international movie awards she’s hosting, that’s done the trick. Ms World YUKTA MOOKHEY has all but made up her mind to act in the movies. She still has six months to go before the Ms World contract expires, but she’s already sending out positive noises.

No, she doesn’t mind the running-around-trees routine. "It’s all in good fun," she says, adding she’s always had a soft corner for the song’n’dance in Hindi films. What’s more, she’s even begun naming the heros she’d love to work with -- Shah Rukh Khan, Akshaye Khanna, Bobby Deol, Abhishek Bachchan, Hrithik Roshan and Govinda, among them. The last named worthy comes in for special mention: "I think he’s amazing. He has a terrific sense of timing. My father especially adores him!"

Having sent out broad feelers like that, now all that’s left is for the producers to get her to sign on the dotted line. Takers, anyone?

LOOK WHO’S WEB-SAVVY, TOO!
GUESS who’s the latest filmstar to get Web-savvy? DEV ANAND, of course. His latest film, Censors, which is now in post-production, has been listed on the Web. The site offers you the absolutely latest on the film, including memorable experiences from the shoot, photogallery, synopsis and the like. So, if you’re a Web-connected moviebuff, do log on to www.censor.showbizindia.com. What’s more the site even offers surfers the facility to leave their feedback on the website.

And that’s not all. The evergreen hero can now be contacted on e-mail, too -- at navketan@zeenext.com. And if you’re a lucky surfer, you may even get a reply.

LADY WITH A CAUSE
FROM lending bedsheets to the poor in winter, to giving food to the hungry and money to the needy, Southie sensation, SUMAN RANGANATHAN’s another star with a yen for social service. The actress with the dusky goodlooks and chiselled figure is a deeply religious soul with a special calling.

"Like my family, I’m the religious sort, and am particularly inclined towards social service. Who knows, I may just take it up in a big way soon," she says. On the cards, most likely, is a hospital for Mumbai’s poor, a venture some of her friends are interested in as well.

Suman’s also an avowed vegetarian. She’d decided to restrict herself to vegetarian food for a while, and she claims it made her feel so good and healthy while it lasted, that she’s now sworn to spurn non-veg for life.

Compiled by Shaju George Alex With inputs from Anit Mukerjea