Bitter pill

Farah Khan sure knows how to rub it in. Now that the choreographer turned director has had a bitter falling out with Shah Rukh Khan, she is making sure that everybody gets the message loud and clear. So what if they were thick as thieves not many moons ago and so what if King Khan starred in her movies such as Main Hoon Na and Om Shanti Om and helped them to become monster hits? In the dog-eat-dog world of Bollywood, Farah Khan is now openly cosying up to Shah Rukh’s bête noire Salman Khan. She was even heard saying that she would love to cast Salman in the sequels to Main Hoon Na or Om Shanti Om. Take that, Shah Rukh!

Star power

While on Farah Khan and her movies, remember the All hot girls number in Om Shanti Om where all the world (we mean the Bollywood world, silly) and its aunt elbowed its way into the frame to shake a leg? Well, if you thought that was cool, get ready for an encore of sorts. A little bird tells us that producer Vashu Bhagnani’s son Jackky’s comeback film Faltu, will feature a galaxy of A-list Bollywood actors such as Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Kareena Kapoor et al, who will do cameos as teachers on the college campus where the story is set. Apparently, Bhagnani has also approached hot babe Mallika Sherawat for a cameo appearance. So what will we see Sherawat teach? Anatomy or physiology?

Second coming

The IITs and the IIMs are supposed to churn out engineers and management execs, right? Well, these days, they also seem to be a hot breeding ground for bestselling authors. While writer Chetan Bhagat is hitting Time’s list of 100 most influential people in the world, Karan Bajaj, an IIM graduate evidently wishing to follow in Bhagat’s glorious footsteps, has just banged out his second novel Johnny Gone Down. The book is supposedly based on his travel experiences — Bajaj took a couple of years off from his management career to backpack across south and central Asia and Europe. His debut novel — Keep off the Grass — reportedly sold 50,000 copies. So will he be second time lucky? Well, time will tell.

Do the new

Ram Gopal Varma’s knack for spotting new talent is legion. He’s made films with exciting newcomers such as Urmila Matondkar, Viveik Oberoi, Jiah Khan, Antara Mali and others and launched them on their careers. Okay, barring Matondkar, who went on to be a top star, none of the others has exactly been setting Bollywood on fire. But no matter. RGV is back doing what he does best — spotting fresh talent. This time his keen eye has fallen on Suparna Acharya, a singer from Calcutta and he’s picked her to sing a couple of playback numbers for his upcoming movie Rakta Charitra. Having worked as a vocalist with Pandit Birju Maharaj, Acharya is now eager to make her mark in Bollywood. Well, who knows, she could well be another Shreya Ghoshal in the making.

Class act

Some people just can’t help being inspirational. Take Mir Ranjan Negi, the hockey coach who inspired the character of Kabir Khan in the movie Chak De! India. Negi is now busy nurturing the sporting talent of underprivileged children in Mumbai at his Salaam Bombay hockey academy. “For the past two years, I have been scouting for talent in the municipal schools of Mumbai and training them at our hockey academy,” says Negi, who had become something of a celebrity after the phenomenal success of Chak De! India. So much so that he had even committed the folly of participating in a reality dance show. But he’s giving such shows a wide berth now. “I am not a dancer or an actor. So it’s best to be involved in something that I enjoy most and that’s hockey,” says Negi. And the game will be the richer for it, Mr Negi.