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	July 24, 2000

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India Today issue dated July 24, 2000 My Life, My Choice
It's about breaking stereotypes. When Dipannita Sharma first met the producers of Life Nahi Hai Laddoo, they asked her if she could speak Hindi "because they thought a model would not. I told them, meri Hindi acchi hai". Now that she's the heroine of the Star Plus sitcom, the 23-year-old Assamese beauty (Miss Photogenic in the Miss India 1998 contest) is asked, "Why not a film?" Her response: "I know most models are gunning for that. But films lead to a loss of privacy. I'm not sure I'm strong enough to handle that." However (and that's a big however), "if Shyam Benegal, Govind Nihalani, Santosh Sivan or Jahnu Barua were to offer me a role, of course I'd take it." Of course.

An Actor Wins
Atul Kulkarni It was as Gandhi in the Gujarati, Marathi and Hindi versions of the play Gandhi Viruddh Gandhi that he first got noticed on stage. Ironically, it's as an anti-Gandhi religious zealot in Kamal Haasan's Hey Ram! that Atul Kulkarni has been named the National Award winner for Best Supporting Actor this year. The 34-year-old NSD graduate isn't limiting himself. "I am an actor," he says. "I want to play hero and bad guy, not just character roles. I am from a generation where a Manoj Bajpai or an Ashutosh Rana are also heroes." Another name on that list now ...

Mike's The Man
Mike Pandey He's the first Asian to have ever won a Green Oscar. That was for his film The Last Migration -- Wild Elephant Capture in Sarguja. This year too, film maker Mike Pandey's Shores of Silence -- Whale Sharks in India has been selected as an entry. "Nomination itself is a victory," he says. And he's right. Shores, a 25-minute documentary on whale-sharks being hunted for cod-liver oil off the coast of Gujarat, is one of 47 films picked from 475 entries worldwide. The awards ceremony will be in England later this year. Second-time winner, maybe?

Bold or Bratty?
She's either very bold, or she's a brat. Kareena Kapoor, who's earned praise with her debut film Refugee, has already walked out of three films. There was the famed fallout with Kaho Naa ... Pyaar Hai. Now she's quit an untitled Raj Kanwar venture (co-star: Hrithik Roshan) and Chori Chori with Ajay Devgan. Maybe it's starry tantrums, or maybe she's just a gutsy girl who knows her mind. Anyway ... Says Film Information Editor Komal Nahta: "She seems to be leaving more films than signing them." Bebo's not worried. Her hands are full with Subhash Ghai's Yaadein, Santosh Sivan's Ashoka and Karan Johar's Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham, so what do you expect anyway?

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