Eye Catchers

Q & A MICHAEL BROW
The Kiwi Stone Mason talks about his tie-up with a Varanasi statue-maker to make images of international celebrities starting with Princess Di:

Why Diana?
I was always in love with her ... Besides, she makes good business sense. Isn't that why you are here?

Why India?
Lady Di wanted to be the queen of people's hearts. It is befitting that her memory be enshrined in a vernacular, non-elitist, non-western idiom.

There are stories in the Hindi press that the statue has been commissioned by Buckingham Palace.
It is certainly not that.

Are you sure about the proportions of your model?
No ... we've to change the head again. It's too big for her shoulders.

What's your high in India?
I'm no longer a beach bum in Goa. I've given up hashish and am into drinking my own urine.

After this, what?
To set up a modern stone-carving studio here and produce many more statues of dead celebrities -- Elvis Presley, Bruce Lee, Frank Sinatra ...

It's her job, some of us would do it for free. Channel V veejay Meghna Reddy was in Dubai last week, getting exclusive coverage of the opening of the Middle East's first Planet Hollywood restaurant (the chain owned by Bruce Willis, Demi Moore, Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger). Sly and Willis were there, so was Patrick Swayze. And while the stars acted snooty with the local guests, Mangta Hai producer Sonia Chowdhuri says Meghna has an ace up her non-existent sleeve: "She's not in awe of anyone." So she chatted with Sly, even dirty danced with Swayze. And she gets paid for this!

This doesn't happen every day. After four forgettable films and a bad break (actually he broke a leg when he fell from a helicopter while shooting), Inder Kumar has hit the big time.

He's been cast in M.F. Husain's Gajagamini opposite queen bee Madhuri Dixit. So is the drone buzzing? Not quite. "I really want to act," says the 25-year-old who plays Kama Dev in the film. "I don't want to dance or fight. This is the best thing for me right now. I really want to work hard." With the famed Dixit sizzle for stimulation, doing the Lord of Love might just come easy.

It's been over four decades since she last did this. So director Raj Kumar Santoshi's pretty excited that Lata Mangeshkar is acting in his next film Pukar. She plays herself, and she sings a song with some schoolchildren, is all he lets on, even refusing to name the number. "At first she seemed camera shy, though she has played a role as a child artiste," adds Santoshi, "but she was like a newcomer willing to listen and learn." It always works.