A casual glance at a newspaper column one morning brought the welcome news that a new Malayalam film was playing at the Plaza cinema in Connaught Place. As you can imagine, my parents were overjoyed and promptly drove down to the hall.Mom was a bit disconcerted to find the cinema theatre nearly empty. But that was nothing compared to her surprise at seeing a Sikh gentleman occupying one of the seats nearby.
"Must be a film critic," mumbled Mom. "Why else would he be interested in a Malayalam film?"
"There would be subtitles...He can understand it that way," said Dad.
The mystery was solved when the film started and a woman started disrobing on screen. And my parents realised that they, the Sikh gentleman and a few other men were watching what can only be described as a softcore porn flick.
"He didn't need subtitles," said Mom - a few minutes after my parents had slunk out of the hall and into the parking lot.
"And that's certainly not a family film," she added.
The film's name - which roughly translated to 'Family is Heaven' - had not given my parents any clues about its content. But they did learn one thing. That morning shows in Delhi theatres were not for the family.
P.S. Two decades later, things have changed. The refurbished PVR Plaza is no longer a haven for voyeurs and morning shows are usually reserved for family films. But Mom still makes it a point to check the Adult 'A' listing before venturing into theatres.
Dear Reader, 
Surely, it was time for Dev Varman to say goodbye to the University of Virginia and turn professional. After all, the man he beat in the NCAA final - American John Isner - is already making waves on the ATP Tour. And doesn't India desperately need a male Sania Mirza?
Talwar 
For the record, the actress had not been arrested at all. Apparently, some immigration officials at Mumbai airport were still in the dark about a Supreme Court ruling allowing the actress to travel overseas. 
The second is a film about the making of the Taj Mahal in Agra. Kingsley, 63, will essay the role of Shahjehan who built the marble monument in the memory of his wife Mumtaz, played by Aishwarya Rai.
Rai and hubby Abhishek Bachchan have been denying it from the start but journalists citing information from reliable sources had been keeping speculation alive for weeks. And given the number of hits 
The Just-for-Women initiative had been the newbie on the block, making its debut on Delhi's airwaves some three months ago. But it must have done something right to get 28 percent of the votes cast in the poll.
