VP's art

V.P. Singh, India's eighth Prime Minister, became famous for his support for the recommendations of the Mandal Commission. In the storm that followed, many of the man's other facets got lost, not least the fact that he was quite good with the paintbrush and the camera. Seven years after his death, his son Ajay Singh has put up an exhibition of his paintings at Delhi's Aryan Art Gallery. On display are about 60 works by the late Prime Minister - a mix of oils, pencil and charcoal sketches. A fitting tribute to the memory of the former Raja of Manda who knew his art as well as his art of politics.

Tagore revisited

This will gladden the hearts of millions of Tagore aficionados all over the world. Anurag Basu, director of such award-winning films as Barfi!, is directing a new show on EPIC channel called Stories by Rabindranath Tagore. Launched on May 9, the birth anniversary of the poet, the show is Basu's attempt to recreate the magic of old Bengal through some of Tagore's short stories and novels such as Chokher Bali, Charulata, Atithi, Kabuliwala and many more. The director has roped in Radhika Apte to play the role of Binodini in Chokher Bali and Amrita Puri to play Charulata. Going by Basu's record, this should be worth watching.

Book bait

When it comes to the promotion of books, nobody can be as innovative as "literary popstar" Amish Tripathi. With the launch of his latest book The Scion of Ikshvaku just a month away, Tripathi has released a trailer of the book on Twitter, with none other than director Karan Johar to do the honours. The trailer, like the release of the cover of the book by actor Akshay Kumar a couple of months back, is part of Tripathi's well-orchestrated strategy to generate a buzz around the book ahead of its launch. After the thumping success of the Shiva Trilogy, Tripathi's upcoming Ram Chandra series, of which The Scion of Ikshvaku is the first one, too looks like it will catch the imagination of the masses.

Velvet touch

The bad boy of independent cinema Anurag Kashyap seems to be somewhat on edge before the release of his film Bombay Velvet on May 15. He posted a selfie with Anushka Sharma, the film's female lead, with both of them looking perfectly fierce, on Instagram and said this was what they would do to the "haters". Well, early reports of Bombay Velvet, which is in the tradition of noir, period movies like LA Confidential, weren't too good. But that was in May last year. Kashyap has worked on it for a year to make it better and crisper. The problem is that unlike his earlier films, which were small budget, Bombay Velvet is a multi-crore project. Hence Kashyap has a lot to lose if it tanks. Hmm. That's why they say, small is beautiful.

World beckons

It seems director Nagesh Kukunoor has had enough of Bollywood. After his latest film Dhanak (Rainbow) won the Grand Prix at the Berlin International Film Festival for best feature recently, Kukunoor feels that he would be better served if he stuck to world cinema. The film, which narrates the journey of a young girl who travels across Rajasthan with her little brother, who is blind, to get his eyesight back, will hit Indian screens in August. Says co-producer Elahe Hiptoola, "We did not expect the prize, since it is not a typical festival movie. It is a sweet, funny film." The story, which came to Kukunoor first as an ad film on eye donation, was shot in his favourite state, Rajasthan. ( Dor and Yeh Hausla were also filmed there.) Well, taking on the world is never a bad thing.