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METROSCAPE
Face For The Future
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| IT CAN EVEN LOOK
BETTER: The CST, Mumbai; the clean up (top) |
Consulting architect F.W. Stevens and chief engineer
Wilson Bells would have approved. About 113 years after the venerable
men designed the Great Indian Peninsula Railway's administrative headquarters
for a princely sum of Rs 16.3 lakh the much (ab)used, Gothic Chhatrapati
Shivaji Terminus (CST) is in the process of its first heritage makeover.
The Rs 14.5 crore project's first phase in conjunction
with the Associated Cement Company's conservation cell is near completion
after a period of four months. This involved the washing and cleaning
of the building's outward façade (made of Porbunder sand stone
and Malad trapstone) including the ornamental arches and friezes that
have been exposed to the vagaries of pollution and weather. "Over
the years the offices and staff have increased and this has led to haphazard
and temporary additions," says Central Railway, spokesperson Mukul
Marwah.
The dome, stained-glass windows (with fairy
tales) and the 16 ft statue of Progress (a lady with a flaming torch)
would be part of the second phase of this project. The interiors made
of Sienna marble, wrought iron and blue stone also house some treasures
of the Railways like old advertisements, black and white transparencies
of the salon and dining cars and survey instruments used by engineers.
-Himanshi
Dhawan
 NOT
SO ANGRY YOUNG MEN: "Chill" may
be the most operative word in today's urban terminology but 10-year-old
theatre group Act One made a clear case against it in their hit play Ab
Pinto Gussa Nahin Karta at the India Habitat Centre last week. The play's
contention: "chill" is synonymous with self-obsession and apathy,
a condition that typifies most youngsters of this generation. Ab Pinto...,
scripted by Arvind Shandaliya and directed by N.K. Sharma, is about an
artist father and his three aspiring (but simple) sons who are unable
to fulfil their ambitions because they are not scrupulously self-serving
... or are "unchilled". The vigorous acting, particularly by
Hemant Behl (as the son who wants to become a journalist), certainly showed
that the cast followed their anti-chill philosophy during the rehearsals.
All Screens Big And Small
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| PERIOD
PLEASURE: Khan at Delhi's Red Fort; Bakha Madan as Rani Laxmibai in
1857-Krantt (top) |
Someone couldn't resist asking: would he direct
and act in a film with Hrithik Roshan? But pa-in-law and actor-producer-director
Sanjay Khan was in Delhi last week to discuss other things: the launch
of his mega-teleserial, 1857-Kranti (starting June 2 on dd1) and Maharathi
Karana also for dd1. What he didn't bring up at the press meet was his
forthcoming film, the Rs 65-crore Maryada Purushottam Ram starring Amitabh
Bachchan as Dashrath and Jackie Shroff as Ravan. "Some of the greatest
cinematic hits have been films with historical backgrounds," says
the 60-year-old, with a choice of words the faithful will commend. "Mission
XYZ, There's Something About Something are all forgotten, but not these."
With English subtitles, he hopes his film will do a Crouching Tiger, Hidden
Dragon in the West. Post-press-conference and in the swell of flowing
cocktails for potential advertisers, Khan managed a word with virtually
everyone in the room. And don't ask, but some of the Hrithikism could
be fading. His planned website on the young Roshan is shelved, and Hrithik
won't play Ram in his movie either. Khan is looking for a fresh face.
-Anna M.M.
Vetticad
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