They still get royalty for Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge album sales. And it was the film?s maker, Aditya Chopra, who has now got Jatin-Lalit?s musical career back on track. After some disastrous outings post Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, the Chopra production Hum Tum marked the return of the talented music director duo.

In town for their first concert and the Tara Talent Hunt Contest, Jatin and Lalit were candid about their comeback. ?After Dilwale? and Kuch Kuch? we only got a whole lot of shaadi films and the movies too did disastrously. Hum Tum gave us the fresh facelift that we were looking for and now we are back in the groove.?

And how! There?s no stopping the two ? quite literally ? after scoring the music for Arindam Chaudhuri?s Bollywood debut Rok Sako To Rok Lo. ?The film is a lot like Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar, one of the first hits of our career. Even the title track, which is being shown in the promos now, was originally composed for Jo Jeeta. We had two options for Jo Jeeta?s title track and the one we held back has been used for Rok Sako? It will go down very well with the young listeners,? said Jatin-Lalit.

The music makers were very happy with the Calcutta contestants who turned up for the Talent Hunt. ?This is such a musical place. There was a lot of real good talent on offer and we chose the best of the lot. Even some kids were just incredible. While the young ones still need to learn, the others should come to Mumbai because that?s where the industry is and that?s where we are,? laughed Jatin-Lalit.

The two have also recently composed a song for a United Nations project on AIDS awareness. ?It is a song on the lines of We are the world, with most singers of our industry joining in, including the one and only Pandit Jasraj (with whose daughter Durga, the duo is seen in picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya). The song should come out in a couple of months here and a video is also being planned.?

On the film front, apart from Rok Sako To Rok Lo, Jatin-Lalit have done the music for Tanuja Chandra?s forthcoming Filmstar and Shahab Shamshi?s Chand Sa Roshan Chehra (for which the final mastering has been done in the UK). ?We have also signed an English film but we wouldn?t like to divulge the title,? they added.

Jatin and Lalit are also game to compose for a Bengali film but there is a technical problem: ?We get offers for Bengali films but the budgets are so impractical that it is quite implausible to record the tracks in Mumbai.?

The two are definitely doing Kunal Kohli?s (director for Hum Tum) next project (?all we know is that it is another romantic film?).

As talk drifted to Bollywood melody, the duo felt ?something better? was expected of Yash Chopra?s Veer-Zaara. ?The thing is Madan Mohanji composed the songs so many years ago; he would have wanted them to sound and be sung in a definite way. Nobody else can reproduce it. So the tracks have lost out on their original charm.?

But Jatin-Lalit are back to capturing their original charm. Hum Tum has hit the right chord, Rok Sako? is ready to rock and their 16-year-old Bin tere sanam is playing at every disco, thanks to DJ Suketu. ?That was a special song and that it has been able to return after so many years is only because it is still fresh and the melody is intact,? they signed off.

Pratim D. Gupta

Wok & wine wisdom

You can take her out of the kitchen, but not the kitchen out of her. Braving the constant pitter-patter on Wednesday, around 35 working women turned up to pick up some exotic recipes at a two-hour-long cooking demonstration organised by the Ladies Business Forum at Tangerine.

With the focus firmly on low-calorie food, the participants lined up across the table as chefs Subhas Basu and Sujit Sinha dished out a variety of Continental items, using olive oil, less butter and imported cheese, like parmesan, that are low on fat.

?Being rather calorie-conscious, I refrain from the oily curries and gravies as much as possible. Today?s live cooking experience was very interesting because very exotic dishes, yet perfect for weight watchers, are being churned out,? said a participant.

The first course was an organic green and citrus fruit salad, which could be dressed up in four ways depending on the preferred taste. The chefs suggested mango-mint and honey-mustard.

Next, the starters, which were crumb-fried cheese barrels with barbecue sauce, and asparagus with orange sabayon in chilli cilantro dressing.

For the main course, Basu and Sinha had a more elaborate affair in the form of mouth-watering tortino grilled vegetables and pancakes stuffed with cottage cheese and leeks. The icing on the cake was, of course, the apricot souffl?.

?When it comes to the kitchen, most working women like to experiment with interesting recipes and exotic-looking dishes. We find cooking demonstrations like these extremely enjoyable and enlightening and trust me, most of us will be going home straight after this and trying these out,? said Amita Ganeriwale, head of the forum.

More was in store for the ladies lapping up every piece of culinary information. Loaded with the mouthwatering secrets, the women moved on to an informative wine-tasting session where they got to learn vital facts about wine.

?Most people don?t know the difference between sparkling wine and champagne. The fact is only wine grown in Champagne in France can be called champagne. It?s copyright. If grown elsewhere, it must be called sparkling wine. So, this session should be of some use to women who must be regularly entertaining at home,? said regional sales manager, Sula vineyards, Anubhav Grover.

Classical look: Raima goes back in time, again

Period pieces are dropping straight into Raima Sen?s lap. After a cameo in Rituparno Ghosh?s Antarmahal, she will now be seen as Vidya Balan?s sister in Vidhu Vinod Chopra?s Parineeta, based on the eponymous Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay novel. ?I play Sanjay Dutta?s wife, a very bubbly and chirpy character, the kind I have never done before. I will be dressing up in a very loud way...,? says Chokher Bali?s Ashalata. With Saif Ali Khan in the lead, adman director Pradeep Sarkar troops into town in November for a month-long shoot.