Good sign

Ranbir Kapoor and method acting? If you thought that was stretching things a bit far, think again. The chocolate boy hero, heretofore known more for dropping towels from strategic places than for his acting talent, is doing just that for his role in Anurag Basu’s film Barfee. One hears that Kapoor, who plays a deaf-mute in the film — which also stars Priyanka Chopra — has got so much into the character’s skin that he’s even begun talking to the director in sign language. Of course, Kapoor did have an advantage here. He had picked up the basics of sign language while working as Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s assistant during the making of Black. But unlike Rani Mukherji, who used a voiceover in the film, the Kapoor boy wants to use his own voice to express the inarticulate sounds made by a mute person. Now that’s more like the scion of a family with a long line of fine actors.

Just cause

Talk about marrying art to a social cause. Veteran danseuse Sonal Mansingh seems to have done that in Rasheeda, a dance drama she choreographed recently. Rasheeda celebrates the girl child and protests against the injustices inflicted upon her daily. “Female infanticide is on the rise and there is trafficking and the sexual exploitation of women too. Based on the classical Odissi style, I have presented the darker side of society and tried to raise my voice against it,” says Mansingh. And if her choreography raises awareness about these issues, she will be happy, she adds. An admirable effort, no doubt.

Past blast

Remember Bhagyashree? The lissom beauty who wowed audiences with her fellow debutant Salman Khan in Maine Pyar Kiya and then pretty much disappeared from the spotlight, is back. Not on the big screen, though. This time the 40-something actress will try her hand at theatre. She is now part of the ensemble of a Hindi comedy called Mujhse Shaadi Karogi, which was staged in Dubai recently. The play, set to travel to the US, Canada, South Africa and Australia, revolves around a philandering husband and how his wife, played by Bhagyashree, haunts him after her death. Well, we don’t know about death, but it’s nice to know that Bhagyashree is born again.

Director’s cut

Manisha Koirala seems all ready to make the transition. From actor to director, that is. The Ilu Ilu girl, who had a string of hits such as 1942: A Love Story, Bombay or Dil Se to her credit, recently went on record saying that she wants to direct a docu-drama or a fictional story inspired by real-life incidents — something like what “Mani sir (Mani Ratnam)” does in his films. However, that doesn’t mean she has stopped acting in films. Koirala will be seen in director Onir’s I Am which is set to hit the screens later this month. Of course, it is one thing to follow the director’s orders and quite another to don the director’s hat. Clearly, Koirala knows she can make the ‘cut’.

Cop capers

After a string of slapstick comedies (the Golmaal series, Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge, and so on) Ajay Devgn is getting back to where he once belonged. Yes, you guessed it — he will play a cop once again, a role he essayed to great effect in a film like Gangajal. The actor will play a tough policeman in Rohit Shetty’s Singham. To get into the act, he has undergone a punishing fitness regime too. “It’s not quite the six-pack look,” says Shetty. “But we tried to make Ajay get the physique of a man who could bash up 20 people.” Twenty people at one go? Now that sounds as if Shetty wants Devgn to do a Chulbul Pandey (in Dabangg) who flattened numberless goons in true superhero style! So from slapstick comedy, will it be slapstick action for Devgn? We sure hope not.