Down time

Guess where Asin is now? Flush with success after a hat-trick of hits — Housefull 2, Bol Bachchan and Khiladi 786 — the Malayali actress who has created a name for herself in Bollywood, is away on a Christmas break. Her BBM status message says “I’m out”, which is a polite way of saying Do Not Disturb. So what does Asin do, when she is taking a break from the movies? “I listen to music, travel and read books. Some day I intend to learn a bit of cooking too since I can only rustle up different kinds of egg dishes and flip a dosa,” she says. But cooking is not on the agenda during this particular holiday, when she plans to spend some quality time with her family. Well, Asin, that’s no sin. Especially since she’s now got four Rs 100 crore films in her kitty.

 

Sambar surprise

Call it the unbridgeable North-South divide. Or love that cannot conquer all. Kannada actress, Pooja Gandhi, who got engaged to Bangalore businessman Anand Gowda last month, has announced that the marriage is off. And now the two are busy trading bizarre charges against each other. Gowda said the couple broke up because Gandhi’s mother didn’t like the south Indian style meals cooked at his house. And, that she found him dark-skinned. Gandhi — who hails from Punjab — on the other hand, called her former fiancé “over-possessive” and accused him of spying on her. Er, isn’t all this getting a bit nasty? Well, Gandhi and Gowda certainly don’t seem to think so. How quickly love turns to hate.

 

Multi-tasker

Here’s an entrepreneur from the world of Bengali entertainment who’s making his mark as an actor in Mumbai. Arijit Dutta, managing director of Priya Entertainments, is making his debut in Bollywood with Shoojit Sircar’s Madras Cafe, starring John Abraham and Nargis Fakhri. Dutta is playing the role of an LTTE commando in the film that explores the issue of terrorism and is being shot extensively, among other places, in Sri Lanka. Dutta is already known for his roles in Tollywood films such as Abosheshe and Ekla Akash. He will also be seen in Goutam Ghose’s upcoming venture, Shunyo Anka. This is becoming quite an illustrious parallel career for the MD of Priya Entertainments, which used to run the historic Star theatre in north Calcutta. Talk about multi-tasking.

 

Miss Mentor

Miss India Shilpa Singh may not have won any crown at the Miss Universe pageant this year. But she sure had a unique consolation prize. After all, how many contestants have a former Miss Universe rooting for them all the way? That’s exactly what Sushmita Sen, who became Miss Universe in 1994, did for Singh. So much so that she was even in Las Vegas, where the pageant was held, to cheer the younger girl on. Throughout the competition, Sen had constantly — and very enthusiastically — trumpeted her support to her possible successor. She also kept up a steady stream of tweets to cheer her on. And when Singh made it into the final 16, Sen tweeted that she was in Vegas and would meet up with Singh during the rehearsals. The mentoring would have done wonders for Singh’s morale. Even if she didn’t make it to the top three.

 

Rape rage

Remember Amitabh Bachchan venting his ire on director Mani Ratnam for the negative response to his son Abhishek Bachchan’s role in the Hindi movie, Raavan? Obviously, all that is water under the bridge, for the big B graciously showed up as the chief guest at the closing ceremony of the international film festival in Chennai organised by Mani Ratnam’s better half, Suhasini. Bachchan also took the opportunity to underscore the need to “respect women” in our country and condemned the “recent heinous crimes” committed against them. He was obviously referring to the horrific Delhi gang rape which his wife Jaya Bachchan had taken up in the Rajya Sabha — and shed copious tears about it too. Good to see Bollywood denizens decrying violence against women. Did Aamir Khan kickstart the trend?