Gosh, it’s Ghosh

Book lovers can’t have enough of Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk. Not just because he writes like a dream — which the Nobel Prize committee underlined four years ago — but also because he is a real charmer. Last week, at a book signing session in Jaipur, he came across a reader whose second name was Ghosh. “Are you related to my friend Amitav Ghosh,” he asked, referring to the Indian author of books such as The Sea of Poppies. On being told that she wasn’t, he said, “Ah, but I suppose the Ghoshs are a big family.” Clearly, Pamuk, who takes a semester every year at Columbia, knows how to connect. Just ask Kiran Desai.

Going green

Speaking of insecurity, rumour has it that Emraan Hashmi is feeling a wee bit worried about Ajay Devgn. The two actors star in Madhur Bhandarkar’s new film Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji, and a little bird tells us that Hashmi fears the older actor will tower all over him in it. Devgn, on the other hand, doesn’t take the stories seriously. “I don’t think he would be carrying any such insecurity. If that were the case, we wouldn’t have been working together in Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji again after Once Upon a Time in Mumbai, right?” Right, Hashmi? The answer’s awaited.

Eco dekko

Every year when the nation celebrates the day it became a republic, a danseuse gets her act together. Sonal Mansingh — one of India’s best known classical dancers — has a show dedicated to the republic. This year, her dance was called Eco Puran, and focused on the environment. The dance highlighted one of Gandhi’s sayings — as told by a crow in the show — “There is enough for everybody’s need but there is not enough for everybody’s greed.” As the Bharatanatyam and Odissi exponent danced on the stage, it seemed as if every move was impelling the republic to move ahead, one step at a time.

Dummy day

You couldn’t blame Hrithik Roshan’s wife Suzanne, when she leant forward to kiss the actor’s wax figure at Madame Tussauds the other day. But while most wax dolls are so good that they look better than the original, actor Rajinikanth’s dummy — when it does come up — may have a problem. Rajini’s fans, who have been campaigning online since 2007 to include him at Tussauds, say it is finally going to come up by the end of the year. Then what’s the problem? Just this: can it chuck a cigarette in the air and light it with a gunshot?

Eastward Ho

If our own A.R. Rahman is going north, musicians from the West are making ripples here in the East. At least that’s what Wayne Sharp is doing. We hear the American composer, whose his work in Prakash Jha’s Raajneeti earned him a Star Screen Award, is setting up a studio in Mumbai. Sharpe, whose music in Sanjay Chauhan’s Lahore also won him critical acclaim, is now collaborating with him on a sci-fi flick. And apparently, Sharpe plans to rope in Hollywood’s top talent Lisa Gerrard, a singer who has sung for films such as Gladiator, Mission Impossible II and Black Hawk Down. And since Gerrard has also won a Golden Globe Award, is our own Oscar and Globe winner feeling somewhat antsy?