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Eyecatchers
Honour
Again
 She's
the indisputable queen of melody. He's the shehnai wizard. And they have
been conferred the Bharat Ratna, the nation's highest civilian honour.
Lata Mangeshkar - six decades of enthralling audiences behind her
- had made her debut as a playback singer at age 17. Today, she's 71,
has sung over 30,000 songs, and  received
the Padma Bhushan and Dada Saheb Phalke awards. But, she says, "There's
no greater award than this." Bismillah Khan, 84, a Padma Shri,
Padma Bhushan, and Padma Vibhushan awardee, gave his first public appearance
in 1930 at an all India music conference in Allahabad. Says sitar maestro
and Bharat Ratna recipient Ravi Shankar who has a good rapport with both:
"It was high time." We agree.
Batting
for Life
 It's
tough matching work with charity. But at least Sourav Ganguly's
trying. The Indian skipper will auction about four of his bats-those with
which he's hit "big scores in Test and one-day cricket"-to raise
funds for Bidurin Chakrabarty, 10, a bone marrow transplant patient. Says
Ganguly, who had agreed to the task without batting an eyelid: "We'll
raise all the money he needs." Yes, go for it.
Director's
Special
 Who's
the woman in the picture? If you haven't guessed, it's none other than
Joint Commissioner of Police Kiran Bedi, who is playing a "poor
old woman" in The Real Salute, a three-minute film on national integration
made by Chennai's Malar Network. Bedi already has got fans in the film's
directors Guna and Sakthi who swear she was "so natural the shot
needed no retakes". The Vijayashantis of the southern film industry
would better watch out.
Laugh
Lines
 She's
19, fresh, and Dev Anand's newest discovery. The future looks good, but
Mohini Sharma, soon to make her debut in Anand's Censor, is looking
for more. Like "rib-tickling" roles for a change. Umesh Mehra's
forthcoming Yeh Mohabbat Hai with Rahul Bhatt and Naseer Khan will be
a start, but the girl has done her homework well. Says she: "There's
been a vacuum in Bollywood for comic roles and I am looking to fill that
gap. Maybe even do a Juhi Chawla in Bol Radha Bol or a Hema Malini in
Sholay." She's not joking.
Compiled
by Methil Renuka
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METRO TODAY
If
planned well, the quake could be the Keynesian opportunity for Yashwant
Sinha to trigger growth, 