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August 30, 1999
 Cover Story
Elections 99
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Now And Then
 She's the girl in Sonu Nigam's latest music video
Mausam. She's also Ila (Choli ke peechhe) Arun's daughter. Ask Ishita Arun
how the video happened, and she gurgles: "It was just by accident. No jokes.
Accidents are good for me." The 19-year-old has already set her sights on a career in
films. Her credentials? Well, she's dabbled in theatre, even acted in Shyam Benegal's TV
serial Yatra. And remember the cute kid who got "gale me khich khich" in the old
Vicks ad with Jayant Kripalani? That was Ishita at the age of three. She cleared her
throat then with such elan. Can anyone ask for more?  Not Yet, Darlings
Sundeep "Bobby" Singh Bedi's got a script ready: it's by Farrukh
Dhondy. He's finalised the director: Mani Ratnam. Even got a tentative title for his film:
To Do is to Die. But he's not making it. Yet. Bedi, producer of such newsmakers
as Shekhar Kapur's Bandit Queen, says he won't start work on his film about
Indira Gandhi until a stable government is in place at the Centre. "It's a sensitive
subject and the government is likely to interfere," he reasons. "At least if one
party is in power for five years, I'll have an idea of what kind of interference to
expect." Wise guy. Another Ban-it Queen saga wouldn't be easy.
 Seeing The Light
How's this for a story? US-based writer Marina Tamar Budhos --
great granddaughter of labourers who left India for Guyana -- was in Calcutta in 1992, as
a Fulbright scholar. The post-Babri Masjid tension led to classes being cancelled and gave
her time to write. The novel that's followed, The Professor of Light, explores
the pull of the homeland, and is now receiving raves in the US. Of course it has
autobiographical elements. "When I visited India, I found that India had gone
on," recalls Budhos, "but the notion of India was frozen in people's minds from
when they left." Sound familiar?
The Babe Has Found Her Man
She was the chubby child superstar of '80s Malayalam and Tamil cinema.
Then she grew up. The now svelte ex-Baby Shalini, 20 -- leading lady as
an adult too in Aniyathi Pravu and Prem Poojari -- is marrying actor Ajitkumar.
D-day will come once she completes an as-yet-untitled Malayalam production with filmmaker
Fazil (the man who launched her career when she was three), and wraps up a Dubai tour with
Mammooty and Mohanlal. Bad news for her fans though. "I wouldn't like to see her
acting after the wedding," says hubby-to-be, "but she'll have the last
word." Oh dear, doesn't sound good. |
