No butts

Irrfan Khan has had enough. Not of Hindi films, of course, but of the nicotine stick that he could not do without. Khan, who picked up the habit when he played the role of a smoker in a play, switched to hand-rolled cigarettes after another role in a film. Now, it’s yet another film that’s prompting him to stub out the butt. Khan, who features in the next edition of Spiderman, clearly doesn’t want kids to follow in his footsteps. So he’s decided he’s done with ciggies. That should make a man called Anbumani Ramadoss happy.

Food dude

If you like food, you can’t not like Rocky Singh and Mayur Sharma. The two, who are the heart and soul (to say nothing of the tummy) of a television food show called Highway On My Plate, have been attracting eyeballs with their quirky style of anchoring. We are told the two have led exciting lives — Mayur has climbed the Kilimanjaro and survived the 2004 tsunami, while Rocky is a bird lover, wildlife enthusiast, keen golfer and scuba dive master. But more exciting still, they aver, is their journey down the Indian highways, sampling food. Now they are out with a book, published by Random House India, called Highway On My Plate: The Indian Guide to Roadside Eating. Did we hear someone burp?

Soul role

All those who were missing Dolly Bindra on the silver screen should now look at the idiot box with renewed interest. After her successful stint in Bigg Boss, Bindra is donning the character of Kabootari Mai in Armanon ka Balidaan, a soap that will be aired from next week on a private channel. Bindra would want her fans to know that she had more than 30 offers but decided to accept the negative role as it was the first in the queue. “I am enjoying playing the character of Kabootari Mai. It is a very strong character and an intrinsic part of the story,” she says. Why are telly viewers suddenly recalling that old song, kabootar ja ja ja?

Testing times

Having a famous father has its downside. Soundarya Rajinikanth discovered that recently. The younger daughter of Tamil film star Rajinikanth — who also runs a film studio in Chennai — is pursuing a law course from a private college in Puthur in Andhra Pradesh. When she went for her first year examination recently, she found that she could hardly concentrate on answering questions. The reason was that the students around her spent more time staring at her than looking at their own answer sheets. When the celebrity daughter requested the principal to allot her a separate room, he refused. Poor Soundarya. The only bit of news that should keep her spirits up is that the other examinees, too busy looking at her, wouldn’t be faring all that well either. If only Rajini — the man who killed the Dead Sea — could intervene.

Life’s light

Former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam may have had his share of critics during his tenure at Rashtrapati Bhawan, but if there was one constituency that was always happy with him, it was that of the young. His simple story — of a man who came up the hard way — has always inspired school students. Now the story — in an animated form — will be out in a new book brought out by BookBox and Orient Blackswan. Legendary Lives also includes the life of India’s first woman IPS officer, Kiran Bedi, who has penned her own story, while Kalam’s life has been authored by the ex-Prez along with Arun Tiwari. For young boys and girls, here’s inspiration in the form that children love best — animation.