Movie on Modi? Cut it

Narendra Modi may have swept the Gujarat polls, but the “Hindu hriday samrat” has not found a place in everyone’s heart.

An anonymous caller from Mumbai has warned a Gujarati filmmaker of dire consequences if he does not withdraw his movie, whose protagonist bears an uncanny resemblance to the chief minister. The film, made three months before the elections, is now running in a Bhavnagar theatre.

Ranmal Ahir alleged that his phone rang around midnight on Sunday and the caller abused him and threatened his family if he did not stop screening Gujarat No Nath (The Glory of Gujarat). The film’s plot revolves around an “ideal” chief minister who talks of development.

Ahir has told police that he traced the call to a PCO in Bhindi Bazaar. The PCO owner has told the filmmaker that a tall, dark man had made a call late at night.

The lead in the film is played by Akhilesh Mishra, who starred in Sarfarosh and Lagaan.

NTR’s shoes fit YSR

This might bring a sulk to Chandrababu Naidu’s Frenchbearded face, but the honour of being his father-in-law NTR’s “true heir apparent” has been bestowed on Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy.

And the pronouncement has come from none other than D. Purandareshwari, N.T. Rama Rao’s elder daughter, who is a Congress MP and a minister in the Manmohan Singh government.

The YSR government’s decision to launch populist measures like Rs 2 a kg rice for 1.82 crore below poverty line families from April 7 this year has won Purandareshwari’s heart.

“While Chandrababu Naidu usurped power by stabbing NTR, it is YSR who has revived the populist and poor friendly rice scheme of NTR,” she said.

Purandareswari’s statement has left many a red face in the Telugu Desam Party, which her father had founded. Party spokesperson Kodela Shiva Prasad Rao said it was “unbecoming of NTR’s daughter” to make such an announcement.

Trunk call to Kapil

Kapil is back with a bang, swinging and hooking in style. But this paaji prefers a different pitch.

Kapil is one of three tuskers — kumkis (tamed elephants) in foresters’ parlance — which have been pressed into service in the jungles adjoining the borders of Tamil Nadu and Kerala to drive away a herd of four wild elephants.

The wild elephants have strayed into human habitat from the pachyderm corridor — ranging from Palakkad in Kerala to the Nilgiris in Tamil — and are wreaking havoc.

They pulled down a ration shop in a village and injured a farmer when tried to save his crops from the herd.

Forest officers and residents burst crackers behind the animals’ backs to drive them back home, but to no avail. When all efforts failed, a trunk call was made to Kapil and his boys.

Silent match

There was a flurry of activity, but no words were spoken.

Over 500 people with speech and hearing disabilities had assembled in the city for the seventh edition of Swayamwaraa.

The young men and women, along with their parents, did most of the talking in sign language as prospective brides and grooms looked for suitable life partners.

An initiative of the Swayamwaraa Trust, the meet had visitors from all over the country.

The annual event helped 150 couples find their match. Some of them decided to tie the knot soon after.

Mumbai: Catch Rakesh Bedi, Aanjjan Srivastav, Bharat Kapoor, Avtar Gill and Javed Khan — theatre actors who had made it big in TV and films — returning to their roots in a Hindi theatre festival from this Thursday at the Bhavan Cultural Centre in Andheri. All plays are scheduled at 7.30pm.