Most Wanted Female

SPOTTED Akshay Kumar, (a very pregnant) Twinkle Khanna and Rinke Khanna attending the premiere of Rahul Bose’s Everybody Says I’m Fine at Regal Cinema in Mumbai last week. Namrata Shirodkar, who was sitting nearby, embraced the couple and exchanged polite nothings, while Pooja Bhatt gave Akki a big bear hug in the foyer outside. Spotted Kaizad Gustad at the party at the Taj later, accompanied by Boom producer Ayesha Shroff.

Beating the Path to Locarno

MR and Mrs Iyer, the Aparna Sen movie that film aficionados have been waiting for, is to be screened at Locarno. So is the digital video, Let’s Talk, directed by debutant Ram Madhwani. Rahul Bose is the protagonist in the first, while his pal Boman Irani plays the lead role in the second. Apart from the fact that both actors are known faces in the world of English theatre, the pals have something else in common: Bose’s debut effort as director, Everybody Says I’m Fine, also has Irani essaying a key role. With Everybody Says… already released, movie buffs will be hoping Mr and Mrs Iyer and Let’s Talk will also see the light of the day in India.

Acting Pricey

WHEN filmmaker Ketan Mehta (who has directed Shah Rukh Khan in both Maya Memsaab and Oh Darling Yeh Hai India) approached the Devdas star recently with a role in the next film he was planning, the actor heard him out patiently and said he would consider the offer. When the director began calling Shah Rukh’s secretary to check if the star would be willing to do the film, he was glad to hear that Shah Rukh had agreed out of sentimental reasons. But, we hear Shah Rukh has given his secretary strict instructions not to allot dates for the film for the next seven years or so. Ketan Mehta, not surprisingly, was spotted leaving the actor’s office with an expression that couldn’t be put down to either excitement or disgust.

Walled In?

HYDERABAD Blues director Nagesh Kukunoor is finally ready with his latest offering Teen Deewarein. Unlike his first few films, the latest is about a prisoner — played by Jackie Shroff — on death row. Should the film hit the screens on August 23, as scheduled, it will be up against a glut of movies scheduled to release the same day, including Kaante and Agnivarsha, both of which star Amitabh Bachchan, the Preity-Arjun-Mahima starrer Dil Hai Tumhara and Ramgopal Varma’s Road.

Model Behaviour

THE staff at Bandra’s Otter’s Club will vouch for Arjun Rampal’s good manners… A regular at the club ever since he was a fledgling model, Arjun hasn’t changed a bit since he got big and famous. He’s still on backslapping terms with the gym instructor and the waiters, and he throws no starry tantrums even when his order takes way too long to show up. The waiters love to serve him because he always gives them generous tips. The next time you see a bunch of hotel staff surrounding him, remember, it’s not for his autograph.

Two Minutes of Shah Rukh

GO through the list of 30-odd Indian films bound for the Locarno fest, and you’ll be pardoned for thinking none of Shah Rukh Khan’s films have made the cut. But one film has — writer Arundhati Roy’s intriguing 1989 effort, In Which Annie Gives It Those. Though Shah Rukh’s name isn’t even mentioned in the credits, you can’t miss him in that rare, two-minute walk-on role, gauche and thoroughly un-SRK-like as a college student with a chikna hair-do. So the next time someone tells you SRK made his screen debut on television with Fauji, tell them you know better. In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones came earlier than Fauji did, a fact even SRK’s many fans seem to forget.

Ek Chhoti Si Publicity Stunt?

THERE is some talk in Bollywood that the whole jhagda between actress Manisha Koirala and filmmaker Shashilal Nair over the supposedly steamy scenes he has included in his film, Ek Chhoti Si Love Story is nothing more than a publicity gimmick. Koirala and Nair, close friends, are believed to have hatched this plan to bring some attention to their otherwise obscure film which might have come and gone without a trace, had it not made the kind of splash it has now…

Dil Chahta Hai… Farhan!

You know you’ve made it in Bollywood when virtually everyone on the who’s-who list shows up at your little do. At celebrations to mark the golden jubilee of Farhan Akhtar’s Dil Chahta Hai , not only did the film’s six stars (Aamir Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Akshaye Khanna, Preity Zinta, Dimple Kapadia) show up, but just about every single mover and shaker — including Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Vivek Oberoi, Gurinder Chadha, Fardeen Khan, Sonali Bendre, Bobby Deol, Rani Mukherjee, Rahul Khanna, Arbaaz Khan, Sanjay Kapoor, and Sohail Khan — put in an appearance. It’s not uncommon for a whole galaxy of stars to show up for a prominent filmmaker’s party shortly before he’s ready to announce his next film. But what’s interesting in the case of this party is that Farhan’s already announced the cast of his next film, Lakshya. Of course, the turnout could have something to do with the fact that his parents Javed Akhtar and Honey Irani have immense goodwill in the industry.