Cannes do
Vega Tomatia can't stop talking about her Cannes experience. The actress, who has done a few Tamil films, is a virtual unknown on the national stage. But she attended Cannes because Love Comes Later, a short English film she has acted in, was screened there. "My experience at Cannes was unreal. I think unreal is an understatement. It's crazy, it had a different life and a different energy," she gushes. Well, we will see more of Tomatia as her next outing is in Prakash Jha's Gangaajal 2. However, the lady doesn't want to be limited to Hindi or Tamil films. " Love Comes Later is an English film. I am an actor and languages are no barrier for an artiste," she says grandly. After Cannes, who knows, perhaps a film en Français?
Hope floats
Ashutosh Kaushik had two whopping reality show wins - in 2007, he won MTV's Roadies and then in 2008, he won Bigg Boss. But then the actor from Saharanpur, UP, seemed to have vanished into the blue. He did small roles in films like Bhaadas, Zila Ghaziabad and Shortcut Romeo, but success eluded him. Now the 35-year-old actor has surfaced again. He plays the lead role in an upcoming film called Yeh Hai India. Kaushik hopes the film will open new doors for him in Bollywood. We hope so too.
Remo rising
Does directing a film come naturally to a choreographer? Remo D'Souza certainly thinks so. The choreographer-turned-director whose latest film, ABCD 2, releases next month, says that in India, choreographers get a lot of practice as they don't just show actors dance steps but "direct" them. There was a time when it was unheard of a choreographer or a dancer turning into a director but Farah Khan's stupendous success shut everyone up. D'Souza is excited about ABCD 2. It is the true story of a little-known group from Nalasopara who make it to the Hip Hop international world competition in Los Angeles. "We got so involved in the filmmaking that we felt we were really going to participate in the finals of the competition at LA," says D'Souza. That's called passion.
Star service
It's nice when one Khan looks out for another. Shah Rukh Khan's involvement in the promotion of Salman Khan's Bajrangi Bhaijaan garnered a lot of extra publicity for the film. But did you know that it was Gauri Khan who made it happen? Well, indirectly, she did. Apparently, the very stylish Mrs Khan wanted Reshma Shetty, Salman Khan's publicist, to handle her work too (Yes, she works!). Now Shetty, who is the founder and managing director of Matrix India Entertainment Consultants, has a long list of power clients, including Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif, Varun Dhawan, Kareena Kapoor, et al. One hears that Shetty said she would handle Gauri Khan's work only if her husband lent his presence to the promotion of Bajrangi Bhaijaan. And of course Shah Rukh did exactly that. What's sweeter than a bit of starry quid pro quo?
On song
It's not just the movie that is making news, but its music too. As Tanu Weds Manu Returns rakes in the moolah at the box office, the music is riding high on the popularity charts. And the man who is enjoying the accolades is none other than Brijesh Shandilya who sang the hit song Banno. The song was originally sung as a demo but soon found a place in the movie. "The idea was to enjoy the song and not try and find the perfect way to sing it. And it worked with the audience," says the singer from Uttar Pradesh, who spent much of his time on Mumbai's footpaths before he got his first break in Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! For some, it's a short journey from sadak to stardom.