Mucho macho
This is a first for Bollywood. Laugh riot Dhamaal, scheduled for release on September 7, will shock audiences — mainly because it has no heroines! The film, directed by Indra Kumar and co-produced by him along with Ashok Thakeria, has only a male star cast — consisting of Sanjay Dutt, Riteish Deshmukh, Arshad Warsi, Aashish Chowdhury and Javed Jaffrey. The storyline is simple: the five are thrown into hilarious situations that lead to chaos and misunderstandings. It’s a good formula for success but will it work without the women? Indra Kumar seems to think so. “I didn’t feel the need for a heroine in the film,” he says. “As for taking a risk, well, I feel it might set a trend for other films.” Will it? Not if the women can help it.
Music travels
Bengal’s own band Abbulish is all set to tour the United States this autumn. The band, formed six years ago, has already made waves in the Calcutta music circuit. It has recorded 32 songs — infused with all kinds of strains, including African tribal tunes and folk — and is currently working on a Hindi album. “We are planning to spread our wings and are mulling over the possibility of getting into advertising jingles too,” says band member Sayan Roy. If they succeed, it will be jingle all the way for Abbulish.
Dancing queen
Sonal Mansingh doesn’t believe in creating boundaries when it comes to dance. Earlier this week, the Odissi dancer showed a Dehradun audience a slice of her talent. And, no, it was not the expected — a pure vision of her chosen form — but a surprising fusion of the classical and Bollywood. The Padma Bhushan awardee danced to numbers such as Kajra Re from Bunty aur Babli, Eh bhai zara dekh ke chalo from Mera Naam Joker and Waqt ne kiya from Kagaz Ke Phool. Mansingh says that she will continue to experiment with the Navrasas. And let the purists say what they will, if one goes by the response of the audience in Dehradun, the dansuese has hit the right chords. Or, rather, put the best foot forward.
Belle view
Everybody has something to say about India’s 60th year of independence, and it seems Bong Bomb Bipasha Basu is not going to be left behind either. Bips has been holding forth on the concept of freedom — which, she says for all those who are interested, is all about being who she is. And what would that be? The lady herself explains, “As a woman I can choose the profession I want and be respected for what I do.” And she is thankful that she lives in independent India. “Today, women can afford financial freedom. Because we live in independent India, I get opportunities to exercise personal freedom.” We get the point, Bips. But does boyfriend (or is it no-longer-boyfriend) John?
Author, author
Say Nandan Nilekani, and you think of IT. But now the co-chairman of Infosys is looking at other areas — mainly the written word. Now that he has handed over the role of CEO and managing director to Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan, he is writing a book, to be published by Penguin next year. Though he’s still got his hands full with work, Nilekani reportedly finds time to write on weekends these days. Industry insiders believe that Nilekani’s book will help make him a ‘thought leader’ of the industry. That will put his experiences to good use. And he will actually be spreading the good word around.