New showstopper: Haasan at 7.30am

Over much of the past few weeks, Chennai has a new morning chore to wrap up — watch Dasavatharam at 7.30am.

The conservative city, where early-in-the-day scenes are mostly about the rush to office or women praying in pooja rooms, has been waking up to long queues outside theatres.

The craze for the movie, in which Kamal Haasan essays 10 roles, is reminiscent of the days when M.G. Ramachandran, MGR, held unprecedented sway over the people.

The recent rush has tempted many old-timers to remark that Haasan has managed to change the way Tamil film buffs go about life in the early part of their day.

Several theatres say their seats are sold out for the first 45 days, though such claims have no official confirmation.

The picture is brighter for multiplex owners, who are doing all they can to ensure a packed house for Dasavatharam. One 10-screen theatre, Mayajaal, which one can spot on the drive from the outskirts of Chennai to the tourist resort of Mamallapuram, is running 45 shows daily.

Monsoon bar on digging

The capital’s civic body, under fire for waterlogging, has clamped down street diggers messing around with roads.

The bar will also apply to government agencies, such as telephone operators and power companies, that often carry out maintenance jobs by digging up busy streets.

The digging will only be allowed in emergency situations, as part of the decision taken by a standing committee of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi on roads. Officials said the move would also help minimise accidents that occur when drivers try to negotiate such stretches.

Not long back, the MCD was ordered by a consumer court to cough up Rs 25 lakh and would have lost the money if a higher court hadn’t intervened. The amount was meant to be “punitive damages” for waterlogging two years back.                             (PTI)

Fill it fast, fuel and food

Fill it, forget it and munch on it.

The city of Nizams, never a disappointment on the taste buds, has offered food fanatics something new to relish — grabbing a bite as their car tanks are topped up.

McDonald’s recently opened its first outlet at a petrol pump, one owned by the Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, in the A.S. Rao Nagar area, its sixth in the city. The joint, spread over 2,700sqft and with seats for 110, is part of a tie-up between McDonald’s and HPCL to set up outlets at pumps.

Two more such outlets, one each in Mumbai and Bangalore, are slated to come up over the next few months. “Our research has shown that one of the key needs of customer is hygienic food at fuel retail outlets,” HPCL executive director (retail) S.P. Chaudhry said.

The food chain, too, has been smacking its lips at the gains that such alliances with filling stations will bring in terms of more customers. “We will be at HPCL pumps on highways and in cities,” an official of the food chain said. (UNI)

BEST solution

BEST authorities appear to have found a way out of a pesky union that often slams the brakes on its efficiency drive.

General manager Uttam Khobragade has written to the labour commissioner seeking fresh elections to the BEST Workers’ Union. The corporation runs Mumbai’s bus services.

He said the union, formed in 1960, needs new representatives but many feel this is a way to get union leader Sharad Rao, who has often feuded with the top brass, out.
(PTI)

MUMBAI: This Friday, you can watch K.L. Saigal, a musical play about the actor-singer legend presented by Swar Alaap and Karmayogi Pratishthan, at Nehru Centre in Worli, Mumbai. The show begins at 8pm. Call the auditorium at 24964680 for more information.