World’s a stage

As a war correspondent, Aparisim Ghosh has done it all. From peeking into the mind of an Iraqi suicide bomber to writing a diary on his “life in hell”, Time magazine’s Baghdad correspondent has reported from Iraq “longer than any other print journalist,” says its managing editor, Richard Stengel. Now, 40-year-old Ghosh — Bobby to friends and colleagues — has been named “world editor” of the American magazine. No mean achievement for an Indian journalist, for he is the first non-American to be elevated to the post. Based in New York, Bobby Ghosh, as his bylines increasingly read these days, will be responsible for editing the domestic magazine’s international coverage. Ghosh, who was with the ABP group in India, must be a happy man. The world is his.

Strike one!

Jaideep Sahni has just hit another goal. The scriptwriter of Chak De! India — a film that has won both critical and popular acclaim — is going to find a place in the library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. His script will be among the handful of Indian film scripts at the Margaret Herrick Library in California. Also in the hallowed list are Abrar Alvi’s Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam, Ashutosh Gowarikar’s Lagaan and Pradeep Sarkar’s Parineeta. Sahni should be thrilled. After all, it’s an honour to the power of the word.

Cluck cluck

Grannies know it, and seemingly so do publishers: chicken soup is good for you. After flooding bookshelves with the inspirational Chicken Soup for the Soul series, a new desi version is being launched. Chicken Soup for the Indian Soul will have 101 stories — and then will be followed by a series of such books, soup for the woman, the traveller and so on. “The Indian reader will be able to relate better with the new books, since they are Indian in character and have stories taken out of Indian lives,” explains Deepti Talwar, senior publishing editor at Westland Publishers, who hold the rights to the series in the country. The titles will target people from different walks of life, and readers will also have the opportunity to send in their own anecdotes for possible publication in the books. Just asking, is there going to be a ‘Chicken Soup for the Vegetarian Soul’ too?

Croft and craft

Okay, so Lara Croft stunned the world in a black outfit in the smash-hit Tomb Raider flicks. Four years later, our desi queens are still game to step into her shoes, if only on the ramp! Some days ago, Malaika Arora Khan and Katrina Kaif — two of Bollywood’s leggiest assets — zipped themselves in leather and lycra to stride the catwalk for an event where web gaming portal Zapakwere unveiling new avatars for people to use while playing their online games. Designed by ace designer Vikram Phadnis, the dresses were, in his own words, “an interesting mélange of colors, (with) a lot of dramatic elements such as weaponry, capes and covers, to add the surreal element.” Great. Here’s hoping that all women gamers who log on to Zapak in the future would do these new avatars some justice.

Their story

If you have a life, flaunt it — or so says Bollywood. Autobiography, it seems, is the new mantra of the industry. Now, after Asha Bhonsle, we hear that several other bigwigs in the industry are working on their own life stories. Dev Anand is said to be ready with his version, and has submitted his manuscript to publishers Penguin. Dilip Kumar’s autobiography is expected, too. And the buzz goes that Shah Rukh Khan is also planning to write his own story. And now all that the industry needs is a breed called ghosts.