Writer Shashi Deshpande is back. Penguin India has just launched her latest book. Deshpande’s new novel goes back to themes which are her forte: love, trust, deception and betrayal — the unending human drama of relationships. This story concerns the life of an unmarried small town school teacher who chooses to live alone after her parents’ death. As she eases into the placid nature of her life, while tending to her garden and making new, unusual friends, she happens to meet the town’s new DSP. The man’s married but Cupid strikes. And then? Knowing Deshpande’s matchless pen, “then” is what the book is going to be all about.

If you’ve got a record, break it. That seems to be the mantra of ace designer Ana Singh. She made it to the Guinness book of world records by designing costumes for 750 films in a span of 20 years — and now Singh is looking for fresher pastures. She has just launched her first store in Mumbai. It houses 17 collections of signature print dresses, Swarovski encrusted clutches, belts, jewellery and Indo-western tops. The shop may be selling her labels, says an insider, but Singh has taken help from all her friends to get it just right. Among her advisers apparently were ex-model Ayesha Shroff, actor Hrithik’s better half Suzanne Roshan, and Zarine Khan. The candles were provided by Dimple Kapadia. Now all that Singh has to do is spread some light.

Speaking of designers, the King of Kitsch will now dress Ram, Sita and Ravan. After impressing the fashion fraternity at the just-concluded New York Fashion Week, Sabyasachi Mukherjee is going to go back in time for Mani Ratnam’s magnum bilingual Ravan. The blue-eyed boy of Bollywood — yes, they love him there —will be designing clothes for Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai — who are, no prizes for guessing, Ram and Sita in the film. The new Kapoor in town, Ranbir, too will don Mukherjee’s ensembles. Now we have to wait and see if Sabya is going to make Ash wear those thick-framed glasses.

It sounds like a catfight. Actress Kangana Ranaut is apparently miffed with director Madhur Bhandarkar over the promos of their forthcoming film Fashion, which also stars bombshell Priyanka Chopra. Ranaut reckons Bhandarkar and producers UTV have made Chopra the focal point of the promos. The released clip has the song Jalwa jalwa fashion ka hai yeh jalwa, sung by Sukhwinder Singh, and features debutante Mugdha Godse as well. Ranaut is sulking over the visuals as Chopra and Godse’s footage have been used more than hers. Is that a case of J for jalwa?

Son of a gun! The 52nd London Film Festival will see as many as five Indian features in the World Cinema Category. Shashank Ghosh’s Quick Gun Murugan (AKA Fast Gun Murugan) will keep Shyam Benegal’s satire Welcome to Sajjanpur company. The other three films are Colours of Passion (Ketan Mehta), Santosh Sivan’s much appreciated Tahaan — A Boy with a Grenade and Nandita Das’s Firaaq. Benegal’s film has Shreyas Talpade as the protagonist — an aspiring novelist who earns his money as the unofficial letter writer of Sajjanpur. It’s supposed to be a tongue-in-cheek look at the effects of globalisation but what everyone wants to know is if it has an item number by Amrita Rao (in picture). In a Benegal film? Do we hear Naseeruddin Shah guffawing? As for Shashank Ghosh’s long awaited Murugan film, it has high expectations to live up to. Indians will be minding it.