Water works

Water has always fascinated Kevin Pearsh, an Australian artist who now lives in France. That fascination finds expression in a series of 21 paintings, depicting the journey of the river Ganga from its source to its culmination in the sea, being exhibited at the Indian Council for Cultural Relations in Calcutta. Pearsh is no armchair artist, though. The 58-year-old travelled from Gomukh to Gangasagar by bus, car, boat and on foot for a year to study his subject up close and personal. And then he spent nearly two and a half years painting the oils. The result is Ganga-21, the exhibition that captures the Ganga in its many moods. They are based on some 80 watercolour sketches he had drawn during his journey, using, what else, gangajal (the water of the river). Call them holy.

Photo call

It is said that the camera does not lie. Sometimes it can also capture astonishingly stirring images. On the occasion of World Photography Day on August 19, the Calcutta-based National Academy of Photography (NAP), under the auspices of the Federation Internationale ’Art Photographique, is holding an exhibition of photographs at Nandan in Calcutta. With entries from countries like China, Italy, Cyprus, Croatia, Colombia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, not to speak of contributions from local photographers, the show promises to be a treat for photo buffs. “This is the sixth year that we are holding the exhibition,” says Madhu Sarkar, director, NAP, “But this one is the biggest by far.” The exhibition, which is being held in collaboration with photo club Persona-International and Nandan Film Centre, will be on from August 19 to 23.

Manoj & Manoj

What’s in a name? Plenty, if you are Bhojpuri actor Manoj Tiwari. Apparently, the actor has long been an ardent fan of his namesake, yesteryear star Manoj Kumar. Tiwari, who has also directed Hindi films such as Maan Gaye Mughal-e-Azam and Hello Darling, had apparently told producer Manish Goswami about his long-held dream to meet the Sixties’ star who made so many patriotic films that he was dubbed Bharat Kumar. To cut a long story short, Goswami fixed a tête-à-tête between Manoj Senior and Manoj Junior, and the two apparently had a long and friendly chat. Would that such generation gaps were bridged in Bollywood every day.

Party couple

Though Deepika Padukone has been crying herself hoarse, insisting that she is just “good friends” with Siddharth Mallya, son and heir of liquor baron Vijay Mallya, it seems there is more to the “friendship” than meets the eye. The leggy lass is frequently spotted with Mallya Jr, hopping from one party to the other. Recently, they made an appearance together at Salman Khan’s sister Alvira’s party and also attended the special screening of Peepli Live as a couple. With the Mallya scion having lost oodles of weight (but not, thankfully, the oodles of lolly he’s been born with) maybe it’s time for Padukone to make the relationship official. After all, it’s been a while since the lady broke off with a certain Mr Kapoor.

Govinda rules

Guess who’s Aamir Khan’s favourite actor? If you’re thinking on the lines of Robert De Niro or Dustin Hoffman or some such Hollywood method actor, forget it. If Khan is to be believed, it’s none other than our very own and earthy Govinda. At a promotional event for Peepli Live, Khan said, “My favourite actor is Govinda. He can really make me laugh. He has great comic timing and is a fine actor.” Khan, who doesn’t do a bad comic turn himself — remember Andaaz Apna Apna — said Sandwich was his favourite Govinda film. Does that mean that he is thinking of making an out-and-out comedy next? All Khan will say is: “I only do films that excite me. It should be economically viable and people investing money should not lose.” Now, that’s a worthy thought.