Menon mania

If you’re still saying Lakshmi Menon, who, we’d advise you to go get a copy of the fashion magazine American Vogue. The Indian model figures on the cover of the prestigious mag — the first Indian model to ever get a solo editorial shoot. And that’s not all — she has 12 pages all to herself in the latest issue. Menon, who is also on the cover of Vogue India’s May issue, says the shoot was mainly done in Goa. But she adds she didn’t know its importance till the congratulatory messages started pouring in from across the world. That’s model behaviour for you.

Dummy days

The West’s fascination with Amitabh Bachchan is on an upswing once again. As if the original wax figurines — of himself and his daughter-in-law Aishwariya Rai — were not enough, Madame Tussaud’s has gone ahead to instate yet another of Bachchan’s waxworks, this time at its gallery in New York. Dressed in a black sherwani, Bachchan’s wax figure forms the centrepiece of the new Bollywood Zone, an India-themed entertainment area where videos of Indian dances are routinely screened and where tourists can go and pose with their favourite Bollywood stars. The idea, apparently, is to replicate the experience of being on a film set, with Bachchan in the lead role. The man must be waxing eloquent about it all.

Bond bash

Put on those conical party caps and roll in the cake. Ruskin Bond, the grand old man of Indian English writing, has just turned 75. On May 19, Bond — who has a special place in the hearts of many Indian bibliophiles — saw through another one of those “plain living, high thinking” years in his hill home up in Landour near Mussoorie. By his own admission, he flopped around lazily much of the time, slept whenever he could and wrote little. However, that didn’t stop him from coming out with his book for children The Parrot Who Wouldn't Talk late last year. And what’s more, his new book Notes from a Small Room is all set to be published by Penguin in July. All in a year’s work, as they say. And many happy returns!

Cat fight

It may or may not be lonely at the top, but it sure is difficult. Bollywood’s two leading bombshells — Kareena and Bipasha — are at it again. The two, not known for their camaraderie, are back in the one-upmanship game. Bips had wanted to learn belly dancing, but never got around to doing it because she had to leave for Goa for a film shoot. So what does Kareena now want to learn? Belly dancing, of course. Bebo is all set to shake her body at a film awards ceremony in Macau next month. A source reveals that she is taking belly dancing lessons from ace choreographer Shiamak Davar who is also choreographing her act. The birdie also twitters that Manish Malhotra will be designing Bebo’s outfit for the performance. In one of the songs she will be dressed in gold harem pants made of silk, satin and lace. Poor Bips can’t outdo that. She may as well wave a white flag.

Hisss and her

It’s official. Dus ka Dum viewers might be in for a serpentine surprise very soon. Word is out that Mallika Sherawat, once known for her squabbles with Salman Khan, the host of the game show, has finally made up with the hero and will be gracing the show to try her hand — or brains — at general knowledge. However, if industry moles are to be believed, she’ll also be taking the opportunity to promote her new film Hisss on the side. Now given that the whole world knows that she plays a snake woman in the movie, speculation is currently rife about which avatar she might slip into while making an appearance on the show. But not to worry — hissing snakes seldom sting.