Foreign first

Delhi boy Hemant Gaba is on a roll. This software professional-turned-director is all set to showcase his directorial venture to an international audience. Shuttlecock Boys, a film where the entire crew — from the director to the actors to the technicians — are first timers, will kick off its global journey with the Chicago South Asian Film Festival in the first week of October, followed by the Seattle South Asian Film Festival and then move to the Gotham Screen International Film Festival in New York. So don’t the humble domestic audience get to see this film? Sure, but only after it’s done the international circuit. “Being part of these festivals will help us get audience reactions,” says Gaba. And who doesn’t know that a film looks better if it’s been blessed on the international stage?

Indian Tess

After Toronto, it’s time for Freida Pinto to scorch Abu Dhabi. The annual international film festival at the UAE capital will screen Trishna, Pinto’s latest film, next month. The film is British director Michael Winterbottom’s take on Thomas Hardy’s classic, Tess of the d’Urbervilles. Pinto plays the role of a Rajasthani peasant girl who is seduced by a wealthy London hotelier — a performance for which she has already won plaudits at the Toronto film fest. Well, that shows that the Slumdog Millionaire girl is no one-trick pony and is good for much more than bit parts in Hollywood!

Love and graft

If novelist Chetan Bhagat was breathing fire and brimstone in support of corruption crusader Anna Hazare recently, he was talking about a matter close to his heart. For corruption is a core issue in Bhagat’s next book, Revolution 2020 — Love, Corruption and Ambition, which will be out this October. The book tells the story of two childhood friends who struggle to find love and success in Varanasi. However, it isn’t easy to achieve this in an unfair society that rewards the corrupt. One friend gives in to the system, while the other fights it. And both are in love with the same girl. So who wins the battle against corruption and the love of the girl? To find that out, you’ll have to grab a copy of the book.

Shruti rising

We’ve heard of the sixth sense. But did you know that there’s a seventh sense too? Well, that’s what Shruti — Kamal Haasan’s light-eyed daughter — will presumably explore in her new film, 7am Arivu, which we are told, has something to do with the seventh sense. Directed by A.R. Murugadoss, the film has been a bit of a hush-hush project so far. But Haasan is making no secret of the fact that she is really happy with her role in the movie. “It’s a unique script and my role is no different,” she says. Haasan has also landed the lead role in superstar Rajinikanth’s daughter Aishwarya’s directorial debut film, 3. Looks like Haasan’s career is finally on the upswing. And it certainly takes no sixth or seventh sense to discern that.

Comic caper

What is it about Cyrus Sahukar that he gets picked for almost every other film that is set in Delhi? He played a Dilliwallah in Rang De Basanti, Delhi 6 and Aisha. And now comes another film where — you guessed it — he plays yet another Dilliwallah! In Love, Breakups, Zindagi Sahukar essays the role of a twice-divorced man who lives in Delhi. “It is a mere coincidence that I portray Delhi-based characters,” insists Sahukar, who rose to celebrity as an MTV veejay and did such comic spoofs as the Semi Girebaal Show. The latest effort may turn out to be comic as well. “There is no effort on the part of the character to be funny. But the situations he is in make him funny,” he reveals. We look forward to it, Cyrus.