Spring poetry

Some Bollywood celebs are famous on the film awards circuit. Some are known for their special appearance at private parties. Then there are some like Gulzar who are popular with the literati. In fact, the lyricist is seen at most literary festivals of the country. Last week Delhiites got a chance to interact with the poet when Gulzar recited a few verses from his unpublished poetry at the fourth edition of Spring Fever, a literary bonanza held in the capital every year by the publishing house Penguin. The ongoing 10-day festival included readings, discussions and conversations and some musical performances. Other authors who attended the lit fest include Vikram Seth, Shobhaa Dé and Ruskin Bond, to name a few.

Bio history

The East India Company studied India’s biodiversity minutely to exploit it outrageously. A year-long exhibition at London’s Natural History Museum, which has just begun, shows beautiful illustrations of India’s flora and fauna during the colonial times. The East India Company had commissioned these scientific drawings in the late 19th century. Vineeta Damodaran, an historian at the University of Sussex, is a commentator in a new video, Art of India: Empire and the Natural World, which accompanies the exhibition. As she puts it, the botanical records could be a veritable “Domesday Book” helping researchers understand biodiversity and climate change then and now. Looks like there were environment conscious folks back then too — even if their object was the economic exploitation of a colonised country.

Switching off

On Saturday evening, Shruti Haasan, daughter of Tamil movie heavyweight Kamal Haasan, switched off for one hour. That is, she switched off the air conditioners, refrigerators, fans and lights in her house. The actress has joined hands with WWF-India and pledged support for the Earth Hour — the WWF’s global campaign to raise awareness of climate change and changing energy systems. As part of the campaign, Haasan urged everyone — people, offices, shops and malls — to switch off the lights and fans for one hour last evening. Now, that’s a truly noble initiative.

Social sense

Amrita Rao can’t stop talking about shooting with Amitabh Bachchan for Prakash Jha’s Satyagrah in Bhopal. She is, she says, completely floored by the Big B’s unflagging energy and charm. Bachchan plays a small but omnipotent Anna Hazare-like figure in the film and Rao, being an integral part of his people’s movement, got to spend a lot of time with the veteran actor, both on and off the screen. Interestingly, before she started shooting for the film, she got an opportunity to meet the real Anna Hazare and was vastly impressed by all that he had done for his adopted village, Ralegan Siddhi. So do we have another budding actor-activist on our hands? Er, could be. Although, right now, Rao insists that she will only do social work.

Courting films

Badminton champ Jwala Gutta is all set for a Kollywood debut with a sizzling item number in the Telugu film Gunde Jaari Gallanthayyinde. And while she may idolise Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir Khan, if she gets a break in Bollywood she is open to being paired with a newcomer too. Prod her on her female role models and she waxes eloquent on the charms of Madhuri Dixit and Sridevi. And not to forget Rani Mukerji who, according to her, is the “complete package”. However, the lovely Jwala is in no hurry to explode on screen. Right now she is happy firing on all cylinders on the badminton court and has her eyes firmly set on an Olympic gold. But, hey, that’s three years away and meanwhile, if she can hit a gold at the box office, what could be better?