Eyecatchers

India Today
November 9, 1998

Q & A: MOHSIN SHAIKH
In August he had a show on Princess Di. This time its Bill and Monica. An Ahmedabad-based painter masters the art of getting noticed.

Mohsin Shaikh Where's Hillary Clinton in your paintings?
Her husband's antics have been so humiliating. I don't want to bring an innocent person into this.

Has Bill Clinton been fair to Monica Lewinsky?
He's a decent man. If it was an Indian leader, somebody would have been killed or something, none of this would have come out.

Is this art or pornography?
There is pornography in Khajuraho too, but in the form of art.

Your Clinton's gone further than the Starr report says he did.
Only four paintings are depictions of the Clinton-Lewinsky episode. The rest are my fantasies.

No cigar in these paintings?
I've not gone into the nitty-gritty. Why haven't you asked me why I've not shown sexual organs? After all, I'm an Indian.

Talking Eyes

Jyotika "She fits the role perfectly," says Raj Kumar Santoshi. Doesn't every producer say that about a new find? But Jyotika, 19 -- actress Naghma's sister, cast in his film Doli Saja ke Rakhna -- is in for some more praise. "She has the right mix of a shy, family-loving girl and the urban look. When we saw the rushes, we knew half the battle was won." For the other half, Jyotika's taken acting and dance lessons. Director Priyadarshan, she adds, "has taught me to act with my eyes!" Let's see how much those eyes can tell.

Mix 'n' Match

"This is India's first full-length animated feature film," says director Ashok Kaul. But Bhagmati is more than just that. "The idea was to do something novel," crows Kaul, a national award winner who had once worked with Raj Kapoor. "We wanted to highlight the differences between two media." So almost two-thirds of the two hour 40 minutes love story (Bhagmati in Hindi, Queen of Fortunes in its English avatar) will be animation, with "live actors" from Bollywood doing the rest. And which "live actor" will play Bhagmati? "Tabu's interested." Ah, a live wire.

New Park for the Old

There are discotheques, pubs and clubs. Here's a new idea for a hangout. It's a Nana-Nani Park, brainwave of Maharashtra Culture Minister Pramod Navalkar. The beach park exclusively for the elderly in Mumbai, comes complete with a newspaper stand and visiting doctors. "To fill the void left by their grandchildren," says Navalkar, "I'm planning some way by which old people can meet young people there." Grandma and grandpa will like that.

Issue Contents | Write to us | Subscriptions | Syndication