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Record Player Nandita Das is in her element these days. Having won
critical acclaim for her role in Deepa Mehta's Fire and completed the second film in the
trilogy, Earth, she's busy preparing for Water. Along the way she's found time to anchor a
TV show on the arts scene in India. "In between film projects this gives me a bit of
money to survive," says Das. It's called Arts Plus and it's for Star Plus . Nandita,
of course, is its plus point.
The Story of His Life
He began "as a poor child, living in an obscure place". Poor kid's
the grand old man of Indian defence today. In his upcoming autobiography, Wings of
Fire, read about Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam's early
lesson in swadeshi from the father of the V2 missile, Wernher von Braun. "(Americans)
look upon everything non-American with suspicion and contempt. They suffer from a
deep-rooted NIH -- not invented here -- complex and look down on alien technologies. If
you want to do anything in rocketry, do it yourself." So he did.
It's A Baby!

They've been seeing each other for eight years now. This
should complete their happiness. Gautam Singhania -- younger son of Raymond Group Chairman
Vijaypat Singhania -- is marrying long-time love Nawaz Modi on February 7 next year.
"One day you've got to take the plunge," laughs Gautam, one of Mumbai's
favourite bachelors. Nawaz, by the way, is no relative of the Modi business clan -- she's
an entrepreneur herself. A complete man and a woman of substance ... Nice match!
When Satish Gujral first saw Bandit Queen, he told producer
Sundeep "Bobby" Singh Bedi: "When I finish writing my biography, I want you
to make the film." Four years later, that time has come. Singh's film, to be called
Brush with Death, is based on Gujral's experiences in Mexico as a young man. It's a
feature film not a documentary, it might star Madonna as Gujral's artist friend Frida
Kahlo and, adds Bedi, "the director could be Mani Ratnam, Mira Nair or Shekhar
Kapur". No controversies ... yet.
It's that Kama Sutra thingy again. Former Miss Mauritius
Viveka Babajee is the latest model to endorse man's best friend after Pooja Bedi, Anu
Aggarwal and Shweta Menon. Shot by Atul Kasbekar for print, and for film by director
Pankaj Parashar, the new KS condom ad is top secret. "It's different," is all a
company source will say. And while the voluptuous Viveka could have done it under her own
steam, there's a man in the picture -- model Inder Sudan. Men! Can't do without 'em!
Off They Go
The lady picks Gautam
Kapur from a line-up of convicts. She wants to see more. So he strips. She
smiles. He's not the crook; she just wanted to see him in the raw. Calm down folks.
"She" is model Sheetal Mallar, he is her boyfriend who's just
turned designer, and it is a yet-to-be-released ad for his designs. Says director Shamin
Desai: "It was Gautam, me and my slightly warped brain trying to figure out how to
shoot a clothing range differently." As for the sparks, they came naturally.
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