June 21, 1999

For a set-up that was set up for kids, this is ironical. Bhopal girl Vidushi Bhatnagar, 16, was thrilled when she saw two of her paintings printed on Unicef greeting cards. But wait ... the cards didn't bear her name. Her letters to Unicef in Bhopal and Delhi were ignored: no response, no credit. As for remuneration, forget it. "I thought an organisation like Unicef would care about intellectual property rights," says Vidushi who had submitted 10 transparencies of her paintings to their card office in 1994. After several weeks of inquiries from India Today, now Unicef's state representative Vinod Alkari says: "Unicef promises to print Vidushi's name on the cards whenever they are reprinted." Let's see.

Captain Milestone
Milestones are a matter of habit for this lady. captain Nivedita Bhasin, 35, of Indian Airlines who became the youngest pilot in the world to command a jet in 1990, has another first to her credit. She's India's first woman "check pilot" on an Airbus A-300. Read: she can now, among other things, monitor other pilots and train co-pilots. Bhasin needed a total flying experience of 3,000 hours to make the grade. She's got over 8,000, but she admits, "There were written tests, simulator tests, a viva ... This was the most rigorous training of my career." When she says it, believe it!

Also Starring...

At this rate he might one day be Bollywood's most wanted. Suhaib Ilyasi, popular Zee TV anchor-producer-director of the crime-busting show India's Most Wanted, is playing himself in the forthcoming Juhi Chawla-Shah Rukh Khan starrer Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani. Here's the story: as bumbling journos, the lead pair label an innocent man a terrorist. Truth comes out. They vanish. Enter Ilyasi, helping to track them down through his show. "Ours is a serious show. We were initially apprehensive that they might make a joke of us," he admits. "They did not." They wouldn't dare.

Positively Sizzling

The name's Mallika, just Mallika. "Because the name itself says a lot." After some music videos for T-Series, the self-assured 24-year-old from Bahrain is playing a Pak commando in the film Hindustan Ki Kasam. "It's a positive role and it's just the beginning," she trills. "The Mallika name won't just come and go." Positive? Hardly. Hear the gory details: "I try to rape Ajay (Devgan) in the film. The scene is a highlight of the film. It's a surprise for the viewers so I can't reveal more. I try very hard but I don't succeed ..." Kind of makes Bindu and gang look like saints.

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