in good company: Ronnie Screwvala (centre) with Oliver Stone and Richard GereOn a roll: Koena Mitra

n Come December 31 and Koena Mitra will become a cross between Batgirl and Catwoman. No, she is not doing a superwoman movie but the city girl will be dressed in a costume which combines a bit of both. Why this sudden makeover? Well, the Bollywood actress will be sharing the stage with Nelly Furtado, no less, to perform for the New Year’s Eve bash at Mumbai’s Andheri Stadium.

The other two Bollywood faces at the Nelly Furtado concert will be Priyanka Chopra and Shahid Kapur. Kareena will cheer her boyfriend from the galleries. While Koena will don this special attire, she is expected to dance to her own hit songs like Saki saki and Apna sapna money money. But the actress is “most excited” about the final juglabandi jig that Priyanka, Shahid, Nelly and she will do to ring in the New Year.

On the film front too, Koena is having a good run. While Apna Sapna Money Money..? did average to good business at most centres, she has gone on to sign two new films with producer-director Sanjay Gupta, who had given Koena the Saki saki track in Musafir.

n It’s not that bad to be flanked by Oliver Stone and Richard Gere. UTV honcho Ronnie Screwvala was the man in the middle at the Dubai International Film Festival when he walked the red carpet at Madinat Theatre with the legends. The occasion was a panel discussion entitled ‘Operation Cultural Bridge — A World of Discovery’ which also featured Brazilian film-maker Julia Bacha and Egyptian cinema personality Mohammad Khan.

The forum, moderated by journalist Riz Khan, has been designed as a vehicle for the presentation of films that actively promote inter-cultural understanding, which thereby fosters cultural reconciliation. The flagship event of the festival, the forum focused on issues such as media violence, the responsibility of the artiste in the world, cultural stereotypes found in cinema and how films can be used as an instrument of peace.

Ronnie Screwvala spoke on how the new age of Indian cinema is responsible, aware and sensitive, citing the example of his own production Rang De Basanti, calling it “a film that empowered the thinking of the youth”.

n Watching a film at Fame (Hiland Park) can actually find you driving back home in a convertible sports car! This festive season, patrons buying two movie tickets and a Pepsi combo at any of the Fame multiplexes in Mumbai, Nashik, Calcutta, Surat, Aurangabad and Pune, stand to win the stylish two-seater sports car Coupe.

Announcing the launch of this promotion, Abhishek Raina, head of marketing, Shringar Cinemas, said: “The bonanza prize of a convertible sports car is our grand way of expressing gratitude to our loyal patrons and spreading the joy this festive season.”

The 52-day long promotion started at the plexes from December 15.