August 10, 1998

The Guinness guys just came calling. When 4,459 musicians from the Indian armed forces performed together in Delhi last December, the records people sat up. Now the Guinness Book of Records says that they made the grade as the world's largest military band under one conductor. "That was our aim," says Major (retd) Nazir Hussain, the army HQ's military music adviser. The song they played was Amazing Grace, the day they did it: Vijay Diwas (Victory Day). A coincidence or what?

But Seriously

Bad news, boys. Anaida is getting intellectual. The singer, known more for the numbers she wears than the ones she sings, is lending her voice to Bombay Boys, a film directed by youngster Kaizad Gustad. The song is about a person in search of an identity, and the video, also directed by Gustad, is as serious as her song. "We were at each other's throats," she says, "because he made me look like the worst." Now sing like the best, please.

JULES FULLER

The Channel V chief is busy right now with the "Virgin Voice Choice Hunt". Simmer down, we told ourselves. Let's ask Fuller about it:

A Virgin Voice Choice Hunt! What's that?
It's a nationwide search for talented singers that we're doing with Virgin Records. It's your choice of voice that we're hunting for.

Voice or body?
Mainly voice, but in the pop world you have to be TV-friendly.

So what kind of voice is the MTV generation interested in?
(Laughs) How dare you say MTV generation. It's the V generation.

All right, the V generation. What kind of voice do they want?
If I knew the answer to that one, I'd be a very rich man.

Okay, what do they not want?
Let's see, which singer has failed miserably recently? I'll tell you. A completely off-key singer singing a bad song is out ... You see, we're looking for a saleable talent, not just a pretty face. Take Michael Jackson. Who knows what he looks like these days, but the talent is there.

BEST Just Got Better

There goes another male preserve. Come August 7, Mumbai transport (best known as BEST) gets its first female bus conductors. How will these fragile creatures, seen here during training, handle ungentlemanly passengers? The spunky seven -- Amita Parulkar, Supriya Khade, Pradnya Maske, Rajeshree Kalibag, Sangeeta Kamble, Vaiju Tele, Praniti Raut -- say their earlier jobs as salesgirls will come in handy. Adds Parulkar: "My husband gives me tips on how to deal with rowdy passengers. I'm sure they'll be useful on crowded buses." You bet they will.

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