Citygritty — Pune

Atul Shinde, as a snake charmer was truly in high spirits. In fact, all the 12 odd contestants seemed to be serious about this fancy dress competition. Although there were three prize winners, every contestant received a gift. Thanks to the magnanimous efforts of the CPAA, these sweet children received a delightful break in their lives which is unfortunately sprinkled with the agony of cancer treatment for a cure.

The pizza story
Oh, how the world of Pizzas, in Pune has changed. Years back, when Puneites never went beyond the flavour of Misal, batatawadas and idli-dosas, in came the `Supreme Pizza’ that created a stir in the city. Located on Jangli Maharaj Road, Puneites relished this new fast food, that had a crispy base with sumptuous topping. Word soon spread and visitors to Pune too began patronising this outlet.

Time passed by and though the jhat-pat pizzas made their mark in practically every menu card that served South Indian dishes, the Supreme Pizzas reigned supreme. And then came a sudden deluge of hot shot pizzeria joints. And now, the Smoking Joes, La Pizzeria and Get Together Pizza Hot, all located in and around Koregaon Park brought internationally standard pizzas to the city. Soon the Dominoes and Papa Luigi also followed suit. So, indeed, Pizzas have taken Puneites by storm, while Supreme continues to attract a crowd. The star addition now, is of course Pizza Hut, the ultimate name in this fast food variety. What is coincidental is that, Pizza Hut has sprouted on Jangli Maharaj Road, much on the same road as the Supreme Pizza which began this trend.

New kid on the block
If you thought that the slightly-built boy with the sweet face who accompanied the Kareeb team in the city looked familiar, you are right.

He’s Amit Phalke, the 20-year-old who as child actor had won the national award at the 40th film festival in the best child actor category for Mujhse Dosti Karoge?. The Pune-based actor is agog with excitement about his role in Kareeb. “I did not expect my role to be so significant. I play Bobby Deol’s friend and am supposed to be a little slow on the uptake. It was a challenging role but Vinodji put me at ease,” he says.

Amit’s most cherished moment, though, came during the film’s premiere in Mumbai. “As I was walking down the theatre aisle, Dilip Kumar stopped me, patted me on my back and complimented me on my performance,” he beams.

Now with three films behind him – he also acted in Mammo – Amit has trained his sights on good roles in Hindi films, even if they are small ones. Meanwhile, he plans to concentrate on doing meaningful Marathi theatre. This young man certainly plans to go places.