Ready Reddy

Looks like Sameera Reddy is a good sport. Literally. First she learnt how to ride a dirt bike (a motorbike that can be ridden off the road), and now, there’s talk that she is taking professional help to get on top of white water rafting. So has she been bitten by the adventure sport bug? Well, not quite. It seems Reddy is boning up on her action skills for Tamil director Priyadarshan’s upcoming Hindi flick Tezz. “It was very challenging. But since my role demanded certain action sequences I took it up as a challenge and made sure that I gave it my best,” says Reddy, who has not exactly hit the big league in Hindi movies as yet. But, who knows, with that kind of commitment, Reddy may well be ready for bigger things.

Power woman

Sudha Pillai is a woman for all seasons. The member-secretary, Planning Commission, is also an established painter and a linguist who speaks fluent French. “I have been painting for as long as I can remember,” says Pillai who is exhibiting her fifth solo show in Delhi. Titled “Avril II — Joy of Living”, Pillai, the better half of home secretary G.K. Pillai, says she has no trouble balancing her high pressure job with her passion for painting. And no, painting does not constitute an escape from her day job either. “I actually love my job,” says Pillai. The collection on display this time — mainly figurative and abstract works — were painted over many weekends. Talk about multitasking.

 

Telling tale

If you’ve been mesmerised by the music of A.R. Rahman over all these years, this is a must read. A book on the life story of the Mozart of Madras is set to hit the stands on April 6. Authored by Nasreen Munni Kabir, the UK-based television producer who has earlier done books on Lata Mangeshkar and Javed Akhtar, A.R. Rahman: The Spirit of Music promises to offer rare insights into the life of modern India’s premier music maker. The book is based on conversations with the “reserved” Rahman over a period of three years. However, if you are looking to find salacious nuggets about him in this book, forget it. As Kabir says, “You cannot dig up dirt on him — he’s not that kind of a guy.” Well, the same cannot be said about Tamil Nadu’s other luminary, J. Jayalalitha, whose recently released biography has plenty of juicy tidbits about her personal life. But here’s one little known fact gleaned from the book — apparently a Hindu astrologer suggested that he take the name ‘Rahman’.

 

 

Remix rage

Remixes and remakes have become the buzzword in Bollywood in recent times. But not everyone is over the moon about the trend. Take Zeenat Aman. The original Dum maro dum girl has been fuming over the jazzed up remake of the song — performed by Deepika Padukone — in the soon-to-be released film of the same name. She says the song has left her cold with its “nonsensical” lyrics. In fact, she also claims to have so far avoided watching the video of the raunchy remix. And there was the leggy Ms Padukone raving about her rave number which, she says, is being praised by everybody. Now, now, Zeenie Baby, don’t rain on the poor girl’s parade!