Eyecatchers

India Today, May 17, 1999
May 17, 1999

Costume Drama
Michael Jackson with Manish Malhotra

First Karisma Kapoor, then Michael Jackson. Designer Manish Malhotra, best known for dressing up Karisma in Raja Hindustani and after, slipped his clothes on to another gyrating bod last week. At the Bollywood Awards in New York, Malhotra says the bigger award for him -- he won one for KKHH -- came when Jacko appeared on stage in a not-so-wacko Malhotra outfit. The Mumbai lad took a day to make the ensemble (ordered by the Hindujas for the star); Jackson took a few moments to make his day. "I died when he told me it's beautiful ... When he thanked me on stage, I had tears in my eyes ... This is the biggest high of my life." So the competition can just beat it.

Virtual Novelty
Switzerland's a bore, Ooty's passe and Kashmir isn't that hot a location yet. How's this for being different? In the film Kartoos, the five-and-a-half-minute song sequence, Teri Yaad, has been done entirely on a computer by music video veteran Ken Ghosh. So stars Sanjay Dutt and Manisha Koirala dance before the Taj Mahal while 12 helicopters fly overhead, nasty-looking devils appear while Koirala becomes transparent, and Dutt grabs a bolt of lightning in his hands. The entire affair cost producer Firoz Nadiadwala some "sleepless nights and days" plus about Rs 1 Paloma Picasso crore. How's that for virtual reality?

Oh Dear!
There's Paloma Picasso, and there's Una paloma blanca, but this one's just Paloma. The latest pretty young nothing on the Indipop firmament has trained in classical music, been Mamta Kulkarni's voice in a hair oil ad, and once hosted Saturday Journal on DD Metro. With Paloma, her recently released maiden pop album, the maiden even has a word for the Met department. "Sardi ma sardi laage, garmi ma garmi ... (It's hot in summer and cold in winter)," she wails in one of the songs. Still, ask her what her ambition is, and she replies, "to become another Celine Dion.'' Lots of us do, dearie. But let's get serious.

Prince of Rides
You'd expect a prince to be firmly in the saddle. Shivraj Singh certainly is. At The Tournament of Polo Ambassadors organised by the Polo International Federation (FIP) in France last month, the only son of Maharaja Gaj Singh of Jodhpur was part of the winning team. At 23, he was crossing mallets with players from 20 nations, so Daddy gushes royally: "It was so exciting to see Shivraj keeping the Indian flag high.'' No horsing around for this yuvraj.

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