English language, desi babu
Sonny Mehta. David Davidar (pic below). And now Subroto Mozumdar. The reins of the global publishing industry are seemingly being taken on by Indians. Mozumdar, until now the India president and CEO of Pearson India, is all set to fly off to the UK, to slip into his new role of president, higher and professional education, Pearson Education UK. “I take charge early next year, sometime in January or February,” says Mozumdar. “It’s a big business,” he adds with a laugh. Big indeed, when one considers an annual turnover of some £150 million, an employee base of around 250 and a repertory that includes heavyweight imprints such as Longman, Prentice Hall, Allyn & Bacon, Addison Wesley and Benjamin Cummings. The empire strikes back?
Teen times
Awards are getting trendier and trendier, and awardees younger and younger. Telugu teenager Mamatha Bhukya has just won the best actress award for her role in the film Vanaja at the Asian Festival of First Films 2007 held in Singapore. Mamatha plays the role of a poor fisherman’s daughter who wants to learn Kuchipudi in the film, directed by Rajnesh Domalpalli. Not surprisingly, the 17-year-old is elated. “It gives me immense satisfaction as some established actresses from across Asia were nominated for the award,” she says. The youngster is learning. Before you know it, she is going to thank her family, friends and neighbours. To say nothing of the pet cat.
Book blast
First he wrote a book that created ripples. Open Secrets — by Maloy Krishna Dhar — was just that, an account of his days in the Indian Intelligence Bureau. And now Dhar has written a thinly veiled novel on politics. The book, We the People of India: A Story of Gangland Democracy, has just been released by a small publishing house called Vitasta. The book looks at the games politicians play, the skein of corruption that cuts across parties and personal greed and ambitions. Though a disclaimer says it is a work of fiction, the characters are barely disguised. At the helm of one political party, for instance, is a matriarch called Mataji. “He has given his characters a fig leaf by making them fictional,” says the publisher. It was that, or a trip to the cleaners.
Cause and because
While Salman Rushdie is being spotted with a Padma Lakshmi lookalike, the original is talking about issues such as AIDS and Hindi films. Rushdie’s estranged wife was at a function in Delhi last week with Sarod maestro Amjad Khan to promote AIDS awareness through music. The model-cum-celebrity chef says she’d like to “change the way people think about AIDS” in India. And while she is doing all that, Padma Lakshmi adds she wouldn’t mind a role in a Hindi film either. Her favourite directors are Farah Khan and Ram Gopal Varma, and she says she is “totally besotted” with classical music. “I am completely open to working in Hindi films,” she says. The more open, of course, the better.
Life’s a soap
The women are warring — just the way they do in the weepy soaps that continue to draw, and no doubt wet, eyeballs. But India’s numero uno bahu, Smriti Z. Irani — who shall, sadly for her, always be known as Tulsi — is taking on her former producer, Ekta Kapoor. At a function in Mumbai last week, Smriti talked about how life had started looking up after she left Ekta’s mega series Kyunkii…, aired on STAR TV. And Ekta, in turn, cribbed about how Smriti had no time for the show. In the midst of all this, we hear that Smriti has signed a contract with Zee. She plays the role of Vrinda Mausi in an upcoming series. “I shall be playing a positive character. I feel excited about going back to a set only as an actor and not as a producer,” she says. Sounds good, but read between the lines, this may well be Smriti’s answer to Ekta. The rolling pins are out.
