Eye, me, mine
No, love is not always blind. At least that’s the theme of a new film by director Gautam Sen. Sen, who won an award in 2000 for a documentary on witch-hunting, The Saga of Darkness, has finished shooting for Pakhi, his first feature film. The film, which deals with a marriage that comes apart when the wife has a retinal failure, stars Soumitra Chatterjee and Debashree Roy as the blind wife. Sen’s a much relieved man, and is now eagerly waiting for the film’s December release. “This is a film that everyone will identify with,” promises the director.
Bongs on a song
Four years ago, they started out in their hometown Dhaka as a bunch of talented musicians trying to marry native Bangladeshi folk strains to the riffs of an electric guitar. But through their relatively short musical journey, Bangla — the five-member outfit from across the border — ended up achieving much more. So much so that they packed their bags on Thursday for Europe, to belt out their stuff — in good old Bengali — at a concert in Rostock City, Germany, to be held on June 7. Planned as part of an in-the-wings demonstration to protest the G8 summit in the German city, the concert is slated to feature musicians from eight developing countries worldwide, and is also expected to ride high on the presence of Irish rocker-turned-humanitarian Bono of U2. Seems like the band, led by singer Anusheh Anadil, is going places, literally!
Mr Moneypenny
First, Jaswant Singh wrote a brick that explained his call to honour in the ministry of external affairs during his days in government. And now, former finance minister Yashwant Sinha has decided to tell all about his reign in North Block as India’s finance minister from 1998 to 2002. Not quite a subject that may excite the masses, but Sinha has put down in the pages of Confessions of a Swadeshi Reformer many of the notable events through his stint in the ministry. “It was a very memorable phase of my career,” Sinha tells The Telegraph. “It was also a learning experience for me, and I felt I needed to tell the citizens of the country how such an important ministry actually functions.” Now, Sinha needs to write a book about music. There was a time, after all, when he played the dholak and sang on the occasion of Holi in Atal Behari Vajpayee’s prime ministerial bungalow. Today, Sinha seems to be singing a solo.
Martial marshal
Most people would give an arm to be Priyanka Chopra’s bodyguard, but the Bollywood actor is all set to essay the role herself — give and take a few arms. Chopra will be a bodyguard in the film, Drona, opposite Abhishek Bachchan. For this, she apparently went all the way to Punjab to learn the skills of martial arts. And, going by what the lady has to say, it was not an easy job, for she had to learn how to wield a kirpan during her training. “It took some time and effort to get used to the schedule and the armoury — but I am glad that I learnt the requisite moves for the shooting,” she says. For the men who would rather have guarded those curves, it’s going to be some body-blow.
Portrait by an artist
If Maqbool Fida Husain can’t go back to his people — thanks to a campaign launched by rabid Husain-baiters — let the people go to him. Or that’s the subtext of an art auction to be held in London on Friday. The 91-year-old artist, living in exile in Dubai, will wield the brush together with Bollywood icon Shah Rukh Khan at the Bonham auction house in New Bond Street . “Bid while the paint dries” is the Bonhams selling point for the event, part of Tehelka’s Art for Freedom auction which will see well-known artists team up with eminent personalities from the business and creative worlds. Adding their names to canvases by Paresh Maity, Sunil Das and Bose Krishnamachari will be curry king Gulam Noon, Vodafone chief Arun Sarin and actor Naseeruddin Shah. Convergence, thy name is art.
