Liplock

With the trailer of Anurag Kashyap's Bombay Velvet hitting the Internet, people can't stop talking about the smooches that Ranbir Kapoor and Anushka Sharma share in the film. It's not as if Kapoor has never had an on-screen kiss with a co-star, but these liplocks apparently score over the others on the hotness meter. In one scene Sharma, wearing a shimmering green dress, kisses her opposite number passionately, while in another, Kapoor pins her against the wall, and er, what else, does more of the same. One hears that there are seven such kissing scenes in this film which is set to release in mid-May. Has the green-eyed monster visited Virat Kohli and Katrina Kaif yet?

Mega debut

Karnataka's film industry touched a new milestone last week. Former Janata Dal Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda's grandson Nikhil Gowda will star in Sandalwood's most expensive film ever. The film, with a budget of Rs 60 crore, is young Gowda's debut movie. To put that in perspective, Rs 5 crore is considered a "mega budget" by the industry. But clearly, the Gowdas like to do things in style. So while the young Gowda heads off to Vietnam to learn kickboxing, daddy and former state chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy is calling directors for blockbuster ideas. If Nikhil Gowda's coming out party is such a splash, wonder what his movie budgets will be if and when he becomes an established star.

Love and poetry

If you haven't heard of Uditvanu Das, make a note of that name. He may well become the next big thing among Tollywood actors. Das bagged the best lead actor award at the London Filmmaker Festival of World Cinema recently for his role in the movie Chhutii Aar Picnic. The movie, which is an adaptation of Shesher Kabita, a novella written by Rabindranath Tagore, is about two strangers who meet at a resort, fall in love, and discover themselves in the process. Well, we can't wait to see the movie - and Uditvanu Das in it.

Pak hearthrob

Charm alert! Fawad Khan, the popular actor from across the border, who, after his film Khoobsurat, is now a well-known name in Bollywood too, is back on Zindagi channel with a new show. Titled Waqt Ne Kiya Kya Haseen Sitam , the show deals with Partition and its aftermath. And there's good news for all his female fans as Khan plays the role of a lover boy who is given to reading out romantic couplets to his lady love. If Zaroon of Zindagi Gulzar Hai stole your heart, then wait for Hassan from Waqt... We can already hear the fangirls swooning.

Foreign affair

When Meira Kumar was the Speaker of the Lok Sabha during UPA-II, she was known for her soft " baith jaiye, baith jaiye" pleas to the unruly MPs. But rather than writing about her experience of dealing with India's fractious parliamentarians, Kumar is out with a book that's on a completely different subject. Called Indian Parliamentary Diplomacy - Speaker's Perspective, the book provides insights into the role of parliamentary diplomacy in foreign policy. A former Indian Foreign Service officer herself, Kumar talks about how the Indian Parliament under her leadership as the Speaker played an important role in engaging with other countries. The book was released by President Pranab Mukherjee last Thursday. Who better than a former foreign minister to launch this one?