Bedi bid

You can’t keep a good woman down. After being booted out of one of those telly reality shows, Monica Bedi has sprung up again. This time, she is Bollywood bound. Bedi, who hogged the headlines because of her relationship with underworld don Abu Salem, was last seen on the TV show Bigg Boss. After being eliminated, Bedi apparently decided that she wanted to follow in the footsteps of another Bigg Boss oustee, politician Sanjay Nirupam. But Nirupam and her TV actor friend Rakhi Vijan advised her not to think of politics — at least not yet. So the young lady is looking at the big screen, where she made an appearance in some eminently forgettable films before she disappeared overseas several years ago. Will lady luck finally smile on Bedi? And will Parliament’s loss be Bollywood’s gain?

Poet party

Poetry is getting more and more interactive. Ask British poet Daljit Nagra, who will be touring four cities — Delhi, Mumbai, Chandigarh and Calcutta — and performing with poet-cum-rapper Jeet Thayil and rhyme-and-rap artist Taru Dalmia in mid-October. To mark the occasion, the British Council and publishing house Westland have launched a contest called Djinn and Tonic, inspired by Daljit’s award-winning book Look We Have Coming to Dover! Artists are invited to send in works that deal with the Indian immigrant’s story — good, bad or ugly — in the UK. The prize will be a limited edition 2009 calendar with Daljit’s poetry and the works of 12 contest winners. The last day of the contest is September 30, but we are told the deadline is likely to be extended. “And Calcutta can catch Daljit on October 17 at the British Council Library,” says Priyanka Choudhary, head of publicity, Westland. Look we have coming to Calcutta, too!

Capital Das

Nandita Das, we can safely say, is the new Shabana Azmi. Time was when younger actresses went all ga-ga about Azmi’s acting abilities. Now Das is getting high-fives from the new lot in Bollywood. The latest to join the Das fan club is Tisca Chopra, best known for her award-winning role of a middle class housewife and mother in Taare Zameen Par. Chopra figures in Das’s directorial debut Firaaq —a film on ordinary people caught in the vortex of violence. “Nandita is as fine a director as an actress and I think she’s one sexy lady,” says Chopra, who plays the role of an educated urban upper class woman in the film. “She is a highly focused, clear-minded director who is sure about what she wants.” That’s some testimony. And now we wait for Das to hold forth on Chopra. As the thinker said — or almost said — you can’t scratch a back with one hand!

Sen sighted

This may surprise you — but Riya Sen has been busy. All those who have been missing Sen — on or off screen — should know that she has been shooting all this while. After wrapping up Rituparno Ghosh’s Abahoman, she is shooting for a short film directed by graduates from Subhash Ghai’s media school Whistling Woods Academy. An institute insider says that Sen decided to go ahead with it even though a rigorous shooting and travelling schedule left her with high fever. “It took its toll on Riya. But she understood the students’ dilemma — they had a limited budget and time constraints — and continued to shoot despite the fever,” he says. Now Sen has another project on hand — she plays the role of a wife torn between her husband and ex-lover in Guzarish. So fret not, we are going to see a lot of Sen. And in every way possible, Sen fans would hope.

 

Discovery of India, Part II

India gets between the covers again. Penguin has launched two books on India’s resurgence. One is by reporter Daniel Lak (pic beside) whose book India Express: The Future of a New Superpower is just out. The other is The Indian Renaissance: India’s Rise After a Thousand Years of Decline by Sanjeev Sanyal, chief economist, Deutsche Bank. Toronto-based Lak, a former BBC correspondent for South Asia, has already authored a book on his two decades in the country. This time, he props India up as Asia’s America and lays particular stress on the various democratic structures and institutions that bolster her position as a would-be superpower. Sanyal, a former student of Delhi’s Shri Ram College of Commerce and a Rhodes scholar, looks at, among other things, the opening up of minds in the country. When it comes to cheerleaders, India couldn’t have asked for more.