| |
EYECATCHERS
Tourists Come Back!
 The
floundering Indian tourism industry has got a new mascot: Payal Rohatgi.
The 21-year-old software engineer from Delhi beat no less than 64 other
contestants to win the prestigious Miss Tourism World contest held at
Modellin in Colombia on September 30. Rohatgi, who has also appeared in
a variety of ads, including those for dosas and detergents, impressed
judges with her views on terrorism: "I think people will always have
beliefs, it's difficult for one to be happy with everyone else. So terrorism
will never end but we all have to curb it." Since such wisdom is
rare in other pageants, organisers are now thinking of having a Miss Tourism
Universe.
A Rage in the Role
 He
was cute as a model, licking ice cream like he was never going to get
it again. Quite a few Chennai girls swooned. But once Shaam, a
Madhavan look alike, entered Mollywood with 12B, the hit action flick
with the SMS-style name, the swoonfest became endemic. Now the graduate
from Bangalore's St Joseph's College, who was flanked by Jyothika and
Simran in the film, has become the most popular star in the region and
is already booked by four leading producers. Says Shaam about his co-stars:
"They never gave me a feeling of being a newcomer and encouraged
me a lot." Meanwhile Madhavan, when last seen, was not looking like
himself.
Beat That
 Call
in the drummers ... this is no mean moment. Sonali Khare, 21 has
become the first actress to play a female drummer in a Bollywood film-Sanjay
Gadhvi's Tere Liye, which is to be released in November. Khare plays the
role of a devil-may-care percussionist in a six-member group (all-newcomers),
obsessed with making music-as also its essential corollary- and making
it big. But the real-life Khare, who first hitched a ride to glamour with
a sari ad and a snippet in Damini, is altogether a different personality.
"I am an introvert and very unlike the tomboyish character I play,"
she says. Insiders reveal that this unprecedented development will now
give birth to protagonists who will be violinists, flautists, harmonium
players and, at a later date, even professional whistlers.
Under the Skin
 In
the 3rd century b.c., much to the convenience of Hindi cinema, a woman
would have worn a swathe of muslin on her torso, a gathers-rich dhoti
and proto-paisley tattoos for areas where cloth dare not go. But the West
Bengal Publicity Compulsory Censorship Board, the only one in India, dosen't
like the image-much to the inconvenience of Hindi cinema. The outfits
worn by Kareena Kapoor as Kaurwaki in the period piece Asoka are
being called "indecent" and many posters showing epidermal excesses
have been banned in the state. Says a disgusted Pritam Jalan, a regional
distributor: "I can put up the posters if I put Kareena in a burqa."
The other given option is to "paint" the objectionable parts
... difficult with five lakh posters. "And what happens if it rains
and the paint comes off?" he muses. Suggestion: use paint like an
ancient tattoo.
—Compiled by Anshul Avijit
|
|
METRO TODAY
Web
Exclusives
