Preeti Patel, Tota Roy Chowdhury and Churni Ganguly at the discussion: All in good spirit. Picture by Pradip Sanyal

A little about Eve

Barely a week before its release, yet another round of spirited discussion revolved around Kaushik Ganguly?s Shunyo e Bukey (Empty Canvas) at British Council on Wednesday evening. Though the topic was ?women?s films in a male-dominated film industry?, the speakers comprising artist Shuvaprasanna, dancer Preeti Patel and actors Churni Ganguly and Tota Roy Chowdhury meandered to sharing their personal experiences and thoughts on Ganguly?s film. The talk was moderated by Renu Roy.

At the core of Shunyo e Bukey is an artist (played by Koushik Sen) who finds it difficult to come to terms with his wife being flat-chested. ?But an artist delves deep into a woman?s soul and is not limited to her physicality only,? protested Shuvaprasanna, after the audience was treated to a 10-minute clip from the film.

Preeti Patel cited an instance where one of her gurus went through acute mental trauma about being flat-chested. ?This is the contradiction. On stage, an artiste describes herself as the well-endowed beautiful dancer, while in the greenroom, she was distraught,? she said.

?Breasts have been used as a symbol in the film to convey what happens when a woman fails to satisfy her man,? said Churni, who portrays the woman grappling with her rocky marriage.

?I was impressed with the script and the two women producers who had decided to back this unusual film,? said Tota, who plays a friend to Koushik Sen. ?I have tried to show the loneliness that engulfs an artist when people close to him leave him,? explained director Kaushik.

Shunyo e Bukey releases at Nandan and the multiplexes on the Poila Baisakh Friday. A week later, it travels to the Los Angeles Indian Film Festival.

Vidya Balan: Striking it rich

Poking fun

April brings Bengali New Year Day. This year, April also is Pok?month. With six hours of Pok?mon every Sunday, 4 pm to 10 pm, Cartoon Network, the address of animation action, can claim as much. The favourite characters Ash and Pikachu set out for adventures in the foreign land of Johto. They are set to encounter a world of new experience with outlandish territories, unknown trainers, fierce battles and a new Pok?mon waiting to be discovered.

If a weekly show is not enough, there are megatoon movies. On April 17, there is Barbie: Fairytopia at noon. Elina (or Barbie) is a beautiful flower fairy who longs to have wings. The movie takes wing as she finds her flower homesick and embarks on an adventure on the back of a giant butterfly called Hue to find Azura, a fairy guardian.

The Care Bears Movie, on Pogo, (April 24, 2 pm), starts off in celestial terrains. The Care Bears live high in the clouds, from where they keep watch on children on earth through huge telescopes in the sky. They swoop down on earth to help Nicholas, a magician?s apprentice, in danger of being bewitched by a bad spirit.

Flying high

From ad films to music videos to potential blockbusters, Vidya Balan is flying high. The actress, who made her acting debut in the Bengali film Bhalo Theko, is not only playing the title role of Parineeta in Pradeep Sarkar?s adaptation of the Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay novel, but has also been signed to play the lead role in the sequel to Munnabhai MBBS.

Tentatively titled Munnabhai Meets Mahatma Gandhi, the Vidhu Vinod Chopra production will be directed by Raj Kumar Hirani and include the same main cast of Sanjay Dutt, Arshad Warsi and Boman Irani with music by Shantanu Moitra. During the Parineeta shooting in Calcutta, creative producer Hirani had said: ?We are looking for a fresh face for the sequel.?

The Parineeta rough cut was good enough for Hirani to take a call and cast Vidya in his much-anticipated film. Confirming the news, Vidya told Metro that she was very excited about the new challenge and was looking forward to the release of Parineeta, which has now been pushed back to June from May 20. The shooting for Munnabhai II starts on May 1.