limelight

Forever Suchitra

Suchitra Sen may have withdrawn from public gaze, but her public continues to cherish her lustrous presence in yesteryear movies. Dignity Foundation, an NGO that works for the welfare of the elderly, plans to celebrate her birthday on April 6 with a special screening of one of her most memorable films Uttar Falguni. In fact, this will mark the closing ceremony of a film festival that the foundation is organising for the elderly at Nandan, Calcutta, beginning April 2. The bouquet of films will mostly comprise Uttam-Suchitra classics. Although the festival is meant for Dignity’s members in the city, some seats will be reserved for other elderly people as well. For all those nostalgic oldies the films will no doubt be a wondrous trip down memory lane.

Ex-files

Shahid Kapur and Kareena Kapoor have suddenly got to deal with a blast from their past. The ex-couple haven’t shared a stage since their Jab We Met days. But Milenge Milenge, a movie they shot before they headed for splitsville, is finally out of cold storage and will be released soon. So will they promote the film together? Nope. Though the exes were ready to do the job — professionalism and all that, you know — apparently producer Boney Kapoor decided not to put them through the embarrassment of having to appear in public together. The movie may be called Milenge Milenge, but looks like its protagonists are not taking its title to heart.

Oh, brother!

Remember the touching scenes in the last two editions of the Indian Premier League, when Preity Zinta, co-owner of Kings XI Punjab, jumped on to the field and ran to hug hunky cricketer Yuvraj Singh every time the team won a match? Tongues wagged overtime, especially since there were reports that all wasn’t well with Zinta and her beau Ness Wadia, with whom she also shared the ownership of the team. Well, now that the engagement is officially off, Zinta, whose film career is fast skidding into oblivion, is trying to make sure that there are no further rumours about her and the flamboyant cricketer. Recently she called Yuvraj Singh her ‘younger brother’ on Twitter. What’s next? A post on how she tied a rakhi on his wrist?

Coy Kat

She may have donned a bikini in her debut film Boom and she may have set the male pulse racing with a full blown kissing scene with John Abraham in New York. But the oh-so-sexy Katrina Kaif seems to have suddenly adopted modesty as her middle name. The newly demure Ms Kaif has refused to sport a bikini in Dostana 2. And kissing? Horror of horrors! That’s a complete no-no as well. So when Prakash Jha, the director of Rajneeti, requested her to kiss co-star Ranbir Kapoor in the film, Kat didn’t just let out a yowl of indignation. She also managed to convince Jha that the audience would not react well to a good politician indulging in such lascivious acts as kissing! Well, well, it’s nice to know that Cool Kat is making sure that people don’t confuse her with an alley cat. Just so long as a certain Mr Khan isn’t behind all these morality moves.

Son ’n' song

Sometimes it’s hard to follow in daddy’s footsteps. Take Aditya Narayan, son of leading playback singer Udit Narayan. You would have thought that the younger Narayan was a natural born singer. And no doubt Aditya Narayan thought so too. After all, as a child he did sing playback in quite a few movies, and as an adult he has cut some music albums as well. But for some curious reason, Vikram Bhatt, who directs him in the film Shaapit where Narayan plays the lead role, doesn’t seem to have fathomed his musical talents. Rumour has it that Narayan wanted to sing the song Tere bin jiya jaaye na in the film. But Bhatt put paid to that and instead got Pakistani singer Najam Sheraz to sing the number. Some people just don’t have any respect for genes!