Villain again

Remember Ranjeet? The yesteryear villain who could narrow his eyes and do the mean stuff with great panache? Well, the faded baddie is all set to glow sinister once again — this time on Zee TV’s prime time hit serial Hitler Didi. Apparently, Ranjeet will be playing the role of a land shark in the tele series. “My character is that of a comic bad man. I am happy to connect with my fans in the form that they most love me,” says Ranjeet whose Bollywood career has spanned over three decades. Well, we can’t wait to watch Ranjeet pit his trademark villainy against the serial’s spunky protagonist — Hitler Didi.

Dance on

Calcutta-based Odissi exponent Sanchita Bhattacharya is playing the central character in an English film being made in the US. The film (as yet untitled) tells the story of an Odissi dancer called Moksha who migrates to the US after marriage and suffers all kinds of misfortune within the four walls of her home. She survives a crippling accident, but is able to return to the stage with the help of an American physical therapist. Shot extensively in New York and Connecticut, the film, says Bhattacharya, has given her an opportunity to promote Indian classical dance to a global audience. And the fact that it contains a feminist message is an added bonus.

Raza reigns

Even at 90, there are no full stops for S.H. Raza. The man — who in 2010 became the priciest modern Indian painter, when one of his paintings sold for a staggering Rs 16.46 crore — is now all set to exhibit 14 new works at the Grosvenor Vadehra gallery in London. The show, titled S.H. Raza: Bindu Vistaar, is an expression of the artist’s long held aesthetic ideals. What’s more, the paintings, we are told, contain a great deal of vigour, vibrancy and a strong connect with India and its religious heritage. The exhibition also aims to take one through the range of styles with which Raza has depicted his subject matter in recent times. Clearly, age cannot wither nor custom stale Raza’s infinite variety.

Mother courage

It’s been a long journey for actress Indrani Haldar. From a young girl who shot to fame in the Bengali teleserial Tero Parbon in the 1980s, Haldar will now be playing the role of a mother in debutant director SK’s film, Mistake. Of course, Haldar insists that she plays a very small role in the film. The director, though, thinks otherwise and asserts that hers is actually a pivotal performance. Her character, that of a simple housewife and caring mother, goes on to solve a major crime in the film. A sort of a Mrs Marple, shall we say?

Lovely lesson

Critics at Cannes may have been floored by Ashim Ahluwalia’s gritty arthouse film Miss Lovely, but the director stops short of returning the compliment to the film festival. According to him, Cannes is “quite a circus”, where they still expect Indian cinema to be either “Bollywood or Satyajit Ray”. Ahluwalia, who has sold his film to several international territories, feels that in general “it’s difficult for Indian films to cut through because there never has been a tradition of Indian cinema at Cannes... It will take a while for us to be able to break in and have the same kind of respect, like say Mexican or Japanese films.” Well, given the positive response to Miss Lovely, at least Ahluwalia seems to have been an exception to the rule.