Snapshots

Which is why Pramod Mahajan will be chairing a meeting next week of all heads of the government’s many media units, starting with the Press Information Bureau and ending with Doordarshan and All India Radio (forget about what they say on Prasar Bharati’s autonomy!), to make sure nothing goes wrong in the coverage.

The BJP has an ambitious plan of despatching senior leaders to various parts of the country to address rallies on the government’s “achievements.” No doubt, Mahajan’s office will also be giving them some talking points. DD and AIR will have the unenviable task of reporting these events and providing enough airtime to all the heavyweights.

Holi Harmony

Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee may have relieved Murli Manohar Joshi of two of hisdepartments — Youth Affairs and Sports coupled with Women and Child Development — and given them to arch-rival Uma Bharati, but no anger or resentment was evident when the former turned up, despite a steady drizzle, for the Human Resource Development Minister’s Holi Mangal Milan in the Capital this week.

The Prime Minister was preceded by a dapper Principal Secretary Brajesh Mishra. It was, in fact, quite an eclectic mix of guests that Joshi invited and treated to a delectable traditional spread of golgappa and malpua. From Acharya Giriraj Kishore to Najma Heptullah, from Vice-President Krishna Kant to Agriculture Minister Som Pal. True Holi spirit!

Bubbly Logic

Did you know the Marquis de Pompadour you proudly serve on special occasions is called Omar Khayyam when it leaves our shores? No, not because the champagne suffers from an identity crisis, but because the brain behind it, Indage Chairman Sham Chougule, knows that if you have to sell in India, you have to appear phoren. So, what isAnarkali, Soma or Shabri abroad, becomes Riviera, Joie or Vin Ballet when sold in India. “It is the Indian psyche,” reveals Chougule. “No one here would buy a champagne called Omar Khayy-am.” What’s in a name? Hopefully, Shakespeare has been answered.

Tapori Tops

Nitin Raikwar seems to be in no hurry to break away from his Aati kya Khandala identity as a lyricist of tapori numbers. What else can explain his latest offering, a collection of songs penned in Hinglish for Plus Music’s “daringly different love album” titled, aptly enough, Coffee Aur Kreem (only, the Kreem here is with reference to music composer M. M. Kreem and not cream spelt differently). What’s more, Raikwar is also going to lend his voice to one of the songs, O Darling.

With Udit Narayan, Abhijit and Hema Sardesai rendering the other numbers, Raikwar has stiff competition. But then, he has something the others are not really known for — the ability to feel the pulse of the youngsters with just the right kind of taporilingo. So, where did he go to get the mood just right for his latest endeavour? Khandala? Aur kya!

Name Game

If you’re a hotshot lawyer like Ram Jethmalani, no one, not even Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, can refuse you. The Rajya Sabha member says he didn’t accept the Ministry of Law and Justice when he was inducted into the Cabinet because “after serving as a lawyer for 50 years for good money, I had little interest in catering to a client who didn’t pay me back.” So he opted for Urban Development. One little problem, though. He didn’t quite like the sound of that name. “It sounded really dull. I asked the Prime Minister for a change. He responded positively and changed it to Urban Affairs,” says the satisfied 75-year-old.

Obsessed!

If anyone thought ageless actress Rekha was obsessed with former co-star Amitabh Bachchan, they can’t even begin to fathom that word. It is 61-year-old Pune farmer Vasant Dattatreya Korde who understands the true meaning of obsession.Since 1983, this gent has written more than 5,000 letters to Rekha and attempted to visit her fortress at Bandra in Mumbai to discuss marriage countless times — only to be thwarted by the security personnel stationed outside her bungalow.

Undeterred, Korde filed a criminal complaint, naming Indian Motion Pictures Producers Association president Sultan Ahmed, Indian Directors Association boss Madhusudhan and Cine Artists Association chief Asha Parekh as respondents, and claiming that the last time he went to visit the actress, he was stopped yet again by the guards. Korde believes Rekha is being detained at home against her will and prevented from meeting him by these worthies.

Which is why he recently moved the Bandra metropolitan court. Even the dismissal of his complaint didn’t dishearten Korde. He moved the sessions court to appeal against the order. But that application, too, was dismissed by Additional Sessions Judge Abhay Thipsay. So, now can we expect Rekha to lower the height of the wallsurrounding her Bandra home?