Om rule

Whoever thought Om Puri was given to whining? The veteran actor, who has consistently won critical acclaim and is pretty much the face of India in international cinema, says that there aren’t enough roles for him in Bollywood. Recently Puri groused that Hindi filmmakers had eyes only for lead roles that fitted one of the Khans or Amitabh Bachchan. The 60-year-old actor, who is winning rave reviews for his latest release West is West, is obviously missing making movies in his motherland. Are the Karan Johars of this world listening?

Jumpin’ Jaafery

Remember Jaaved Jaafery? The comedian with twinkle toes and an unfailing gift of the gab is back with a bang. Not only does his movie Double Dhamaal hit the theatres later this month but he’s also set to sizzle on the small screen again. Jaafery will anchor Disney’s reality game show, Mai Ka Laal, where parents answer questions about their kids. Jaafery, who has had a long association with Disney and done the Hindi voiceovers for characters from Duck Tales and The Jungle Book, is looking forward to his outing in Mai Ka Lal. “Working with kids is lots of fun,” he says. He should know. After all, as the key helmsman of Boogie Woogie, the dance reality show for children, for over a decade, Jaafery knows all about bringing the best out of kids. This time, though, he will need some parental guidance skills as well. Well, there’s no stumpin’ Jumpin’ Jaafery.

Oh Obama!

What’s common between Jackie Chan, Barack Obama and Maradona? It’s Mallika Sherawat, stupid! The sex bomb’s tryst with international celebrities continued when she came together with football legend Maradona in Dubai to inaugurate a jewellery store recently. Clad in a red Dolce & Gabbana outfit, Sherawat went on and on about her visit to the White House earlier this year where she met the American President. And oh, by the way, she said it was an especially meaningful meeting as Obama signed the death warrant of Osama Bin Laden soon after. No, we didn’t quite get the connection either, but no matter. As for Maradona, he’s now in Dubai coaching a local football club called Al Wasl. Did he kiss Sherawat a la Jackie Chan? Well, if he did, he isn’t telling.

Simply south

He is being romantically linked to Shruti Haasan, daughter of Kamal Haasan. But Siddharth, Tamil cinema’s poster boy, will not talk about his alleged romance with the light-eyed beauty. What he’d rather dwell on is his career, which, he says, has just moved to a whole new level. Siddharth, who made his mark in Hindi cinema with Rang De Basanti, is back from the “extraordinary experience” of working with Deepa Mehta in Midnight’s Children. Other Hindi movies are also in the pipeline. So will it be more of Bollywood for Siddharth from now on? Not at all, he asserts. “Hindi films will always be an extra-curricular activity for me. My base is in Telugu and Tamil cinema.” This actor sure knows which side his bread is buttered.

Bath bane

Trust Mayawati to be unabashed about the things that make her happy. While she was staying in a hotel in Bangalore recently, the Uttar Pradesh chief minister demanded that she be provided with a five-legged bath stool, Liberty Glider slippers and Emami almond soap. The hotel rose to the occasion and sent out its minions to scour the city for them. Though a five-legged bath stool was procured without a hitch, and the slippers too were found, the almond soap proved to be elusive. However, the chief minister was gracious enough to overlook this serious omission in her bath rites and decided to make do with some other soap. The hotel staff should consider themselves lucky. At least the lady didn’t ask for an elephant — the Bahujan Samaj Party’s political symbol — to greet her when she arrived.