Encore

If it works once, it will work again. That’s the new mantra in Bollywood. Now after film remakes, we are in for a spate of song remakes. All those who know their Amitabh Bachchan will remember his song Pag ghungroo from Namak Halal. Bachchan, in an age when he was an angry young man, wore a white kurta and a pink turban and regaled his fans with a song-and-dance routine. Well, guess what? Bachchan will be wearing a white kurta and a pink pugdi and sing a song called Re Sawariya in the new film Alladin. Director Sujoy Ghosh insists that it’s just a coincidence. “We didn’t intend to repeat his Namak Halal look,” he says. Clearly, some images — such as a pink pag on Bachchan’s noble forehead — refuse to fade out.

 

Curtain call

Pankaj Mullick has just been resurrected. His family is archiving his compositions in digitised formats with a special accent on his orchestration pieces. With that, the Pankaj Mullick Music and Art Foundation — set up in 2005 to mark the singer’s birth centenary — is planning to take his legacy to all corners of India. “We are also collating his notes — mainly lectures on music he delivered all over the world — from family archives and will publish them soon,” says Jhinuk Mullick, singer and foundation member. “This will be a treasure trove for those doing research on music.” The foundation will also come up with CDs showcasing his lesser known works. So Pankaj Mullick’s fans rejoice — old forgotten music is knock-knock-knockin’ on our doors.

 

Play it again, Vir

Vir Das is not just a stand-up comedian — he is going places with a new play. Das has just announced that he is taking his Walking On Broken Das to 16 countries across the world. Das plays all four characters in the play — from mystagogue Ravi Darsaan and Britisher Lord Nassar Davis to Punjabi woman Shrimati Sara Samdhan and Vir Das himself. The play, says Das, touches everything from food to orgasm. Did someone say “aah”?

 

Bloody fingers

There’s something about Kareena Kapoor that drives men to madness. First her beau Saif Ali Khan tattoos her name on his hand. Now a fan sends her a letter in blood. After the release of Kambakkht Ishq a Bebo admirer decided to show how much he loved her and wrote her an epistle inked in haemoglobin. Kareena refused to take any action against the writer, saying she didn’t want to hurt her fan’s feelings. So is blood thicker than ink?

 

Sen signs

Rimi ‘Grumble’ Sen has a lot to complain about these days. Her new film Sankat City has been panned by critics. And the Bong babe is miffed at the way the film’s producers handled its publicity. Usually actors go around promoting their own films, so Sen’s reaction is a bit surprising. But it turns out that the starlet, who has been part of such blockbusters as Dhoom and Phir Hera Pheri, is a little disillusioned with Bollywood. She is saddened by the “infighting” in the industry and the way fellow actors have been getting plum roles not because of talent but through contacts. Somebody should tell her that this is the name of the game in Bollywood. For justice, she should go to The Hague.