Tintin in action

Kicking up a storm

Just six weeks after the release of 76-year-old Belgian boy journalist Tintin’s adventures on VCD in Hindi, with colourful names like Hera Pheri and Kala Sona and starring Captain Haddock shouting bhadakte hue baingan and toofani lehren, the BBC reports that 40,000 CDs have been sold, making Tintin one of the most successful foreign characters in rural India yet. Hindi is the 45th language Tintin has spoken in his long and illustrious career. The dubbing on the VCDs is not bad ? it manages to retain the pace and flair of the English version, and only loses out on the more colourful phrases. It’s certainly a lot better than the horrible Hindi versions of the classic cartoons of my childhood which cruel cable operators cram down my TV every day.

A year after taragate, american pie star Tara Reid’s famous party wardrobe malfunction, the Hollywood starlet finally discussed her debacle on US TV, saying she couldn’t understand the furore, since it’s not like anything “popped out and shot Gandhi”.