Thumri tale

A song that was last sung 75 years ago has just been sung again. On film. Delhi-based documentary filmmaker Saba Dewan has come up with her latest reel venture titled The Other Song, a two-hour documentary that tracks singer Rasoolan Bai’s famous bandish, Lagat jobanwa ma chot, phool gendwa na maar (My breasts are wounded, don’t throw flowers at me).” And in the process, Dewan brings to life forgotten tales of the tawaif culture and the thumri musical tradition of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. “The project is a personal exploration of a wild and liberated femininity that once dared to exist outside the domination of patriarchy,” says Dewan, whose films focus on gender, labour and sexuality. Her new film is the last in a trilogy on stigmatised women performers — part one dealt with bar girls, and part two was on rural dancers. Now we wait for Dewan’s new project. The Other Song, clearly, is not a swan song.

Pink pang

Now that Ruddha Sangeet is running to packed houses, playwright and director Bratya Basu has donned his thinking cap again. And as the play wins accolades, Basu is looking at another plot. But this one’s not going to be a play — Basu has a new film in mind. “I have already written the script,” says the theatre man. The film, called Baba Majid er Sebaye Lage, will be an out and out entertainer with actor Prosenjit in the lead. Basu’s earlier films include Raasta and Teesta. “As in my previous movies and plays, there will be a political undertone to the theme, but dealt with subtly,” he says. Basu would have finished shooting his film if it hadn’t been for the global recession. But the director plans to start work soon. After all, what goes down also rises.

Two’s a crowd

Old T.S. had it right — April is the cruellest month. For lovers, this seems to be the season of break ups. First we hear about Hrithik drowning in the eyes of his hot co-star Barbara Mori — a tale that’s now been roundly denied. And now we are told that Preity Zinta is being seen around with hotelman Vikram Chatwal. While tinsel town buzzed with rumours about Zinta breaking up with boyfriend Ness Wadia, the dimpled lady raised a few eyebrows when she walked into a fashion show in Mumbai all by herself. And when Vikram walked the ramp, the lady cheered the loudest. But, of course, it could have been because Vikram’s threads impressed her. Or it can be that they are just friends. But where have we heard those words before?

Magic flute

The last time a piper hit the headlines was when he led a battery of kids out of town. Now another piper is in the news. This one is not leading away rats or children but keeping actor Minissha Lamba from getting her full beauty sleep. Apparently, Lamba wakes up to the melodious tune of the flute at the crack of dawn every day. She doesn’t know who the mysterious flautist is but suspects it’s a neighbour doing his — or her — riyaaz every day. Clearly, Minissha finds the piper rather intriguing. And something tells us the unknown musician is a man — and quite a lady’s man at that. After all, the last one to wreak havoc with his flute was a romancer called Krishna.

Tots for thought

Actor Kunal Kapoor really does care. He — along with actors Gwyneth Paltrow and Hugh Laurie — has been a part of a Save the Children campaign against pneumonia. Kapoor believes the time has come to battle the disease, which kills over two million children under the age of five every year, 400,000 of them in India. “We can change that. We have the means to do it. We now need a much stronger political will,” he says in a message promoted by the international non-governmental organisation. Good words, Kunal. Now, as the directors would say, “Action!”