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 Virtually Yours
This is not about superstition or religious beliefs. It
really is life after death. In an as-yet-untitled "virtual
reality film", PentaMedia Graphics of Chennai, Hewlett Packard
and the US-based 3dMaxMedia, are resurrecting the late, great Raj
Kapoor and M.G. Ramachandran in their
prime, with some help from scriptwriter Crazy Mohan. Sounds wacko? But
it's true. The two will play heroes separately in the Tamil and Hindi
versions. And in English the film will hit the Net as an interactive
feature film with multiple scenes, locales and endings. "The
choice of manipulating them would rest entirely with the viewer,"
says Srini Vasan, CEO, 3dMaxMedia. Cost of production: about $2-3
million (Rs 9-13.5 crore). Idea: priceless. The Gandhi Girl
After a charming debut in Virasat, Pooja
Batra simply disappeared. Oh okay, not completely, but we'd hear
more about her love life than her work. Now here's some news that
matters: the model-turned-actor is actor-turned-director Atlee
Brar's choice to play, in her own words, "a young, smart
politician, like Priyanka Gandhi but not Priyanka Gandhi". Rumour
is that it's an English-Hindi bilingual to be out in early 2001. It's
called Good Night, Princess. Considering that there's a Gandhi baby on
the way, it almost sounds like a lullaby.
 What Dreamz May Come...
There's a flood of former Liril girls engulfing
Bollywood. While Preity Zinta is making waves with Kya Kehna!, we hear
that another one, Rishita Thakkar Bhatt,
19, is making her tentative way into filmdom. The little lady is
playing the lead with Abhishek Bachchan in Sararath, and she
has been signed on by Dreamz Unlimited (don't say you've forgotten
Shah Rukh Khan and Juhi Chawla's production firm) for Ashoka The
Great. Says her mother Jigisha: "It's like a dream come true
for her. Her career is shaping up well. She has got good banners even
before any release." Clearly, the stuff of dreamz.
 Acting Up
They're
an unusual team. Nana Patekar and Ayesha
Jhulka -- the veteran actor and the petite starlet -- are
teaming up for a Hindi theatre production called Purush. Nana
plays a corrupt sugarcane-factory owner and a rapist; she's his
victim, a gutsy reformer who gets her revenge. He's the play's
producer; she's the publicity coordinator. "It will travel all
over India," is all he'll let on. "This is my first time on
stage," is all she'll say. Quite the team, aren't they?
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