Reel rights

His latest film Dev D is all geared up for release, much to the excitement of eager fans across India. But director Anurag Kashyap, newsmills have it, is staying far away from the hype surrounding his modern take on the classic Devdas. Instead, he’s lighting a candle for human rights, by sitting in as one of the jury members for the upcoming Breakthrough Tri Continental Film Festival, which kicks off in Delhi on January 15. The festival will be in Calcutta from February 6 to 8, and do the rounds of Mumbai, Goa and Bangalore as well. Kashyap will have his hands full, for it features 28 movies from more than 20 countries across Asia, Africa and Latin America, all focusing on issues related to global human rights. Well, after Black Friday — which was stuck in court for months — Kashyap should know how stilted society is when it comes to taking a stand on these touchy things. Thankfully, the scissors won’t go snipping around at this festival.

Lady luck

Once you rock, you roll on. Ask Prachi Desai. The actress, who was Farhan Akhtar’s long-suffering wife in Rock On!!, is these days busy teaching Gujarati mannerisms and garba dance to none other than her mentor Ektaa Kapoor’s brother Tusshar Kapoor. Ektaa gave Prachi a platform with her television series, and Prachi has decided to repay the debt by giving Tushhar some Gujju tips for their film Life Partner. Prachi dons the role of a Gujarati married to a South Africa-returned Non-Resident Indian (Tusshar). The Kapoor boy, who’s had quite a bad run in Bollywood so far, would be hoping that Prachi doesn’t just stop with the lessons. The lucky mascot for Rock on!! may end up turning Tusshar’s career around. Or is that hoping for too much?

Jest a minute

He may not look it, but AB baby is a bit of a prankster. Recently, he tried out a trick on his co-star Sonam Kapoor — and it was so effective that the girl burst into tears. Abhishek roped in stunt director Allan Amin on the sets of Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s Delhi 6 for the prank. Amin, going by the script, asked Sonam to perform a stunt without wearing a safety harness. Sonam refused to do so — and that’s when young Bachchan stepped in. He gave her a long lecture on professionalism, and then stormed off the sets in a make-belief huff. The poor damsel, worried that she’d upset her senior co-actor, cried her eyes out. Later, when all was explained, she couldn’t stop laughing. The Kapoor family, dismayed at the way her first film Saawariya sank without a trace, is hoping she’ll laugh all the way to the bank.

Ms do-it-all

First, she sang. Then, she acted. That was before she painted, and tried her hand at poetry. So it’s not surprising that Suchitra Krishnamoorthi — the lady with a talent too many — has just taken up the pen to start writing children’s fiction. If her publishers are to be believed, Krishnamoorthi apparently has an entire line of novels, under the title Swapnalok Society, queued up for release. The first book of the series, called The Summer of Cool, has just been unleashed by Penguin, and readers can also look out for the second installment titled The Good News Reporter, slated for release later this year. Would Shekhar now-he’s-hubby-now-he’s-not Kapur be reading up? He may spot a screenplay there.

Seal and deal

It may have sealed the fate of many a tradesman in Delhi, but has now been turned into a film starring Manoj Bajpai. The sealing drive of 2006, which brought down the shutters on several businesses in the capital, has been given a satirical slant in a forthcoming film called Jugaad. The film, we are told, takes a light-hearted look at what it takes to eke out a living and survive everyday crises in Delhi. What’s more, the film’s producer, Sandip Kapur, was affected by the sealing drive when his own ad agency got shut. With Bajpai donning the mantle of the lead role, the film may well stamp its seal at the box office.