Murder movie

Anurag Kashyap, an auteur known for his cinematic eloquence, is usually not at a loss for words. But at a screenwriting workshop in Chennai recently, he found himself well and truly dumbfounded. As he held forth on script writing, and talked about his next film Ugly, a young participant told Kashyap reverentially that his films made “violence look so beautiful” that he wanted to go out and murder someone. A gobsmacked Kashyap mumbled something weakly, but the moderator came to the rescue and told the participant that he must have had murderous instincts all along to feel that way. To everyone’s relief the embarrassing moment passed. Could have been worse. Someone could have actually committed a murder and said that he had been inspired by Kashyap’s murder-a-minute film Gangs of Wasseypur. Oh, the dangers of life imitating art!

 

Lit wit

Saswati Sengupta is in good company. The Delhi University professor’s novel, The Song Seekers, has made it to the long list of the 2013 edition of the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature, which also features works by such heavyweights as Amitav Ghosh and Mohammad Hanif. “I have really no clue how I made it,” says a modest Sengupta. Published by Zubaan Books, The Song Seekers is one of 16 books on the list. So how is the book doing? Sengupta hasn’t the faintest. “My publisher tells me that Flipkart keeps asking for more books every now and then. Beyond that I have no idea about figures.” Well, if it figures in the short list, those figures are going to zoom.

 

Fashion statement

Lara Dutta certainly knows how to reinvent herself. From a model to an actor and thence to a producer, the former Miss Universe has now turned a fashionista. Dutta will soon launch her own line of ethnic Indian wear that will be available in stores this festive season. “It’s my very first collection and I think it looks good,” tweeted the 34-year-old, who had a daughter with tennis ace Mahesh Bhupathi earlier this year. And, oh, before we forget, on the way, she has also made a fitness DVDs for new moms. Next is what?

 

Cougar nights

Raveena Tandon is clearly back with a bang. Her comeback film, Shobhna’s Seven Nights, which is about an older woman’s involvement with a young man on the fringes of Bollywood, is going places. The film has been selected for the Seven Islands International Film Festival, which was inaugurated in Cannes last year, and will be held in Chennai this year. It is also the only Indian film to be showcased in the festival. What’s more, the festival committee will felicitate Tandon, who plays the title role, for her performance in the film. Incidentally, the committee picked Shobhna’s Seven Nights because the festival’s theme this year is women’s empowerment. Hmm. Is a cougar an exceptionally empowered woman? Let’s hear it from the women.

 

Play it again

Paresh Rawal, the actor extraordinaire who does his comic turns as brilliantly as he once played villain, is not one to rest on his laurels. Rawal played the lead in Oh My God, which has been one of the hits of 2012. But the actor has gone right back to working overtime and is busy staging theatre versions of the film. In fact, the film is based on a Gujarati play called Kanji Virudh Kanji. Rawal, who is a Gujarati himself, naturally put in a bravura performance as Kanji Bhai, the Gujarati businessman, both in the film and in the play. The Hindi version is called Krishan vs Kanhaiya and Rawal had the Delhi audience in raptures when he staged the play there recently. The play is set to tour other cities.