Bonding with Mithun

The name is Chakraborty, Mithun Chakraborty. The dancing hero of the Eighties — often called Disco Mithun — is being brought to life in the form of a comic character Jimmy Zhingchak, Agent of D.I.S.C.. The comics will consist of everything that was so integral to Mithunda’s movies — white polyester bell-bottom jumpsuits, platform shoes, dark glasses, the works. His main foe is a “phoren” villain called Sir John Firang. The actor’s signature expression — “Aieeee saala” — will be a veritable part of agent Zhingchak’s vocabulary. And its creators — writer Saurav Mohapatra and artist Anupam Sinha of Super Commando Dhruva fame — are still chuckling away. “It is a full time-pass spoof and homage to the 80s Bollywood disco zeitgeist. I promise you it’s funny as hell too with clichés and plot holes galore,” says Mohapatra. For now the comic book is available only in the USA and from the Virgin Comics online store. “We hope it shall be available in India before long,” says Mohapatra. He, and a million others.

Made for each other

Rati Agnihotri has found a new partner — and that’s Bengali cinema. The woman who leapt to fame with Ek Duje Ke Liye is upbeat about her role in the forthcoming film Aaynate. “I strongly believe that Bengali cinema is doing well and going places,” says Agnihotri. The actor says she loves the language and hopes to learn it from her fellow actors during the shooting of the film. She also has a fascination for Bengali films directed by Rituparno Ghosh. “I liked Chokher Bali and Raincoat and look forward to seeing more of his work,” she says. Agnihotri says her tryst with Tollywood started after director Dulal De called her up one day. “He narrated the script. I instantly liked it and signed on the dotted line. I thought why not give it a shot and try my luck in Bengali cinema?” Now, all that Ghosh has to do is press the buttons on his mobile phone.

Art and the actor

The world for an actor can be her easel. Hansikaa, the child artist who made news when she featured opposite singer Himesh Reshammiya, will vouch for that. The young lady, who started painting at the age of 3, continues to put paint to canvas — but this time with a purpose. She is painting and teaching art in a college and at a non-governmental organisation. And Hansikaa, who features with Govinda in the forthcoming Hindi film Money Hai Toh Honey Hai, says she plans to hold an exhibition soon. “My mother tells me it would be a good source of income for a rainy day! But jokes apart, I really love painting. It makes me very happy and relieves my stress,” she says. “And I love teaching, too!” This one’s got her art in the right place.

Up in the air

For nearly three decades now, Naresh and Rajesh Bedi, popularly known as the Bedi Brothers, have roamed the forests of India to produce films and visuals that have given the world rare glimpses of the lives and ways of the animals that inhabit our jungles. But like all people who see the world through a camera viewfinder, the Bedis believe there’s always another way of looking. So after all their jaunts across India’s wildlands, the award-winning duo is currently putting together a project that films 13 of India’s best national parks from an aerial perspective, thanks to the services of the flying machine called a hot air balloon. The series, yet to be stitched up, is tentatively up for telecast on national television sometime in October or November, and definitely merits a watch. After all, it’s going to be a bird’s-eye view of the jungles down below.

Family matters

“Good night and God bless is what my son says before hitting the bed,” chuckles writer Anita Nair about the title of her new book Good Night and God Bless, published by Penguin India. “I write down the amusing things that happen in my life every day. This book is a result of some of those oddities and other pieces I’ve done. It marks a decade for me as a published writer and I thought it may be an appropriate assortment of work.” The book by the bestselling author of novels such as The Better Man, Mistress and Ladies Coupé, is a collection of essays that deals with the every day, which, among other things, includes family members, the pet dog, books, and even mice. When quizzed about that last bit, and what special insight she had about rodents, Nair laughs. “Oh! These are just any other householder’s issues,” she says. You mean it’s not another Of Mice and Men?