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Eyecatchers
This Is
It!
 It's
the show that made George Clooney a star. Now New York actor Purva
Bedi joins the team at ER-NBC's megahit medical drama series-in the
role of an over-eager third-year student called Priya Shailendra. "This
is so exciting. This is great," gasps the 20-plus Bedi who was earlier
seen with Rahul Khanna in the critically acclaimed play East is East.
Now there's this. It's being seen as part of the ER team's effort to counter
criticism that Indians are barely seen on the serial though they form
a good chunk of docs in the US. Who cares about the "why" of
it? It's happening.
Change
of Art?
 You
thought she vanished after her disaster-on-debut? And you thought she'd
be the straitlaced Jaya Bhaduri of this era? Wrong, twice over. Dimple
Kapadia and Rajesh Khanna's daughter Rinke Khanna is busy these
days doing a jig with Govinda in Jish Desh Mein Ganga Rehta Hai. She's
best-remembered for her stage experience with doyen Satyadev Dubey; not
so much for her maiden film Pyaar Mein Kabhie Kabhie. "A glamorous
role doesn't mean that you're a bimbo," she says. But isn't Govinda
a long stretch from her serious theatre image? Isn't it an "actor's
job to be versatile?" she shoots back. Wait, we'll think of a come
back...
Cattle
Battle
 Something
for the SPG: Atal Bihari Vajpayee is being stalked! Notice the cow standing
outside every place the PM has visited on his US trip? All right ... okay
... not the real thing, but a placard-bearing human-in-cow's-clothing.
The bovine crusader is a spokesperson of People for the Ethical Treatment
of Animals (PETA), an NGO campaigning against "the inhuman manner"
in which cattle in India are transported to their deaths in crammed lorries
or made to walk miles on foot. "We're trying to shame the prime minister
into action," says Jason Baker, peta's India rep. No comments from
the PM. The cow has not spoken either.
HRISHIKESH
MUKHERJEE
 The
septuagenarian filmmaker, on life after the Dada Saheb Phalke Award:
Q. So
were you excited when you heard about the award?
A.
Not at all excited. Just surprised. All my life I have worked without
craving for awards because if you seek awards, you join the rat race.
And there is no fun in winning a rat race because at the end of the day,
you are still a rat.
Q. But
does winning inspire you to make another film?
A.
Beta, ab strength nahin hain. I'm 78, filmmaking requires tremendous stamina.
Still, a close friend is after me to make a film, my type of film, on
my terms. I'm toying with some ideas.
Q. Is
it hard for you to fit in today?
A.
Very. I feel my time is over. Films today are more visual than cerebral.
The days when we wanted to say something in our films are over. Costs
are so high, it's hard for cinema to survive as an art. And 90 per cent
of my colleagues are no more, it's hard to find a new team. But I want
to give cinema as many tries as possible. Let's see how my health does
in the next few months.
Compiled
by Anna M.M. Vetticad
and Anupama Chopra
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