Awards Alert

Something like this is unheard of. Even as the official announcement of the National Awards was awaited, everyone already knew who8217;s winning what. Obviously, there is a leak somewhere but one just wonders if this is any way to treat the prestigious award. We8217;ve learnt from reliable sources that some camps are upset on being left out. The most ob-vious case is Rani Mukerji, who did give a helluva performance in Black. Also, apparently, Aamir Khan and Rakyesh Mehra are very disap-pointed that their cult classic Rang De Basanti has been side-lined. But one feels sorry for talented cinematographer Ravi K Chandran, whose bril-liant camerawork in Black and Paheli was ignored. The buzz is that a Malay-alam art filmmaker who is on the jury is upset with Chandran be-cause the latter re-fused his film.

Sadly, this isn8217;t the first time that this has happened. The same filmmaker was on the jury when Chandran was nominated for Kannathil Muthamit-tal. He didn8217;t win that time also.

Casting Coup

The good old days are here again. The last time Madhuri Dixit was seen on screen was with SRK in Devdas. Finally, we have a confirmation of their on-screen re-union. Yash Raj Films have signed on the pair for the directorial debut of cinematographer Ashok Mehta.

Depp8217;s Date with Tabu

Just heard that Mira Nair organised a hush hush screening of The Namesake for Johnny Depp in Los Angeles. Appar-ently, Warner Bros want Nair to shoot Shantaramin India. When Depp got to know about it, he expressed a desire to watch Nair8217;s forthcoming Tabu and Ir-rfan Khan starrer. While he loved the film, he was extremely enthralled by Tabu. As to whether or not Nair will direct Depp, watch this space.

8212;Harneet Singh