Rubber blubber

Model-actress Gul Panag has decided to take on the moral brigade. And what’s upset her is a furore over the word condom. Apparently, the Censor Board thought it was an obscene word —and dictated that it be deleted from a dialogue in a lovemaking scene between Panag and Sharman Joshi in the new film Hello. Panag is furious. “We have ads running all over television urging people to use condoms — so I can’t fathom why this particular dialogue was deleted. The decision speaks of the Censor Board’s double standards,” she fumes. The former beauty queen says she is going to write a letter of protest, and demand that the word be restored. Will that be a French letter?

Woman in drag

Actors’ children are shedding weight — and standing on their once chubby feet. First Anil Kapoor’s daughter Sonam lost oodles of pounds and got herself a role in Saawariya. And now Shatrughan Sinha’s daughter has shed her puppy fat — and is ready to walk the ramp. Sonakshi Sinha will be debuting at the forthcoming Lakmé Fashion Week in Mumbai. A trained fashion designer herself, she will model for the menswear segment of Calcutta-based designers Dev and Nil. Here’s to girl power.

Ageless Bonding

Bond’s back. Not the gun-toting spy, but the one with all those wonderful stories. Children’s favourite author Ruskin Bond will now tell, among other tales, the story of a speechless parrot. Penguin has come up with a collection of Bond’s latest narratives in The Parrot Who Wouldn’t Talk and Other Stories. The rendezvous with Grandfather, Uncle Ken, Aunt Ruby and Mr Ghosh promises to be a delightful journey. At 74, Bond continues to mesmerise his readers with his stories of blue hills, green fields, and creatures dead and alive the way he did when he started writing at 17. And are there any ghosts in the new collection? “Well, one little ghost does make an appearance,” Bond concedes. “Otherwise ghosts would be upset with me.” Well, that’s the link between the two Bonds — one’s a spook, the other loves them.

Fringe benefit

People have different ways of coping with stress. Some pop a pill, and some meditate. But model-turned actress Mugdha Godse does something else altogether — she cuts her hair. The lady, who makes her debut in Madhur Bhandarkar’s upcoming film Fashion, chopped off some of her tresses in the middle of the night because she was worried about the fate of the film. “Well yeah, I cut off my fringes,” she says. “I am getting very nervous with the film release coming up ahead. I hope people will appreciate my work.” She should worry. After all, young starlets are hair today, gone tomorrow.

Sound of music

Those who like their ghazals know Rita Ganguly — the doyenne of Hindustani light music. But Ganguly is not making news with her concerts —she is, instead, ready with a book. The book by Stellar Publishers is on her guru — the one and only Begum Akhtar. Music lovers are going to gather at Oxford Bookstore in New Delhi on Monday for the release of Ae Mohabbat... Reminiscing Begum Akhtar. Director Muzaffar Ali will be present at the reading — by veteran actress Sushma Seth and stage artist-cum-telecaster Sunit Tandon. Now, of course, we have to wait and see if the book contains any of those juicy anecdotes that Begum Akhtar’s associates often recall when they take her name. For the woman, they hold, was as fascinating as her voice.