Last Sunday, at the first screening of Chalk n Duster at Light Box, Farhan Akhtar's preview theatre, host Juhi Chawla - who had personally called up to invite her guests - was nowhere around to greet anybody. When Juhi did turn up during the interval, it transpired that co-actor Divya Dutta's mother Dr Nalini Dutta had passed away that morning and the Chalk n Duster cast had been distraught all day. And here the guests, who had no clue about her loss, were applauding Divya for her performance as a wicked school principal in the film.

Single girl Divya had been keen to show her mother her latest film but it was during its final shooting schedule some two months ago that Dr Nalini Dutta's heart problem flared up. "She was in agony the last three days," Divya later said, describing the whole medical procedure which, she felt, was a botch-up by her caregivers. It was particularly poignant considering Divya's parents were both doctors and her mother, who was widowed early, brought up Divya and her brother Dr Raahul Dutta single-handedly.

If one has faith in alternate therapies, one would understand Dr Nalini Dutta's last few hours. Divya's brother specialises in past life regression and believes in healing techniques like Reiki. His mother was critical but was holding on - Divya was mentally clinging to her. "My brother's Reiki friends told him that she wanted to go and we had to let her," the actress stated. "You won't believe it but within two hours of my saying, 'Okay,' she was gone."

Dr Dutta had once written a book and Sunil Dutt had been ecstatic when Divya had invited him to be the chief guest at its release. The late actor-politician was particularly happy because he too had been brought up by a widowed mother he was extremely close to and he could relate to Divya's special bond with her mother.

The same evening after her mother had passed on, Divya met a stream of friends who dropped in to condole with her, and attempted normal small talk. She discussed her role in Chalk n Duster where she hounds sincere teachers played by Shabana Azmi and Juhi Chawla.

"When I had to be mean to Juhi, I could do it easily," she disclosed. "But when I had to pull up a senior artiste like Shabana Azmi, I found that very difficult."

The conversation swung from Shabana to Javed Akhtar's son Farhan on whom Divya had a crush (she used a naughtier, stronger word for it). Divya had played Milkha Singh's sibling in Bhaag Milkha Bhaag and had felt anything but sisterly when she had to hug him during a scene. Divya had barely recalled that fun moment with Farhan when, in an astonishing coincidence, Javed Akhtar and Shabana Azmi walked into her house to pay their condolences.

Divya Dutta is an actress who hasn't got her due but one gets the feeling that her time for accolades is around the corner as she has some fine films coming up, particularly one called Ram Singh Charlie . Besides, mom Nalini will also be watching out for her. RIP Dr Nalini Dutta.

The simple days when Sunil Dutt walked in and released a book are well and truly over as book launches are turning out to be elaborate celebrity events. One publisher talked of how he had to spring Rs 60,000 for Alia Bhatt's make-up and hair when she flew to Delhi a few months ago to release a book. But Alia landed so late in the capital that there was no time for cosmetic touches. So the informal girl played chief guest just the way she was but the bill had to be quietly settled.

In this scenario, when a new author's husband is one of the big guns who run Wizcraft (the event management company that holds IIFA and other major star awards functions), imagine how spectacular the evening would be. On Tuesday evening, The Soulful Seeker , an excellent collection of poems written by new poet Punam Chadha-Joseph, wife of Sabas Joseph, the Wizcraft biggie, was released. Taj Lands End laid out its garden, the stage was elegant, and the roster of celebrities who went up to read out a poem included baritone Kabir Bedi, dainty Aditi Rao Hydari, writer Amish Tripathi and sprightly Parineeti Chopra. All of whom happily did it gratis for the new poet.

At the rate book launches are growing, they'll soon resemble awards functions. One won't be surprised if, instead of only invitees, like the Filmfare Awards this year, high-priced tickets are sold to cover the cost of book release functions.

With that, it's hello Calcutta. We're here this Sunday morning for the Apeejay Kolkata Lit Fest with reputed filmmaker Goutam Ghose and the Anything But Khamosh celebrity, Shatrughan Sinha. Even before one boards the flight to Calcutta, Goutamda is in the news. The information and broadcasting ministry has added him to the committee headed by Shyam Benegal to revamp the censor board. This morning's book event just got more prestigious.

Bharathi S. Pradhan is a senior journalist and author