Bollywood beckons

A friend of mine has just launched Bollywood ABC - a brand new website on the desi film industry.

Do visit it for a sassy take on who's hot in tinsel town, the latest celebrity pics, movie previews, Hollywood tidbits, forums and much much more.

Here's a sneak peek at some of the filmi stuff you will encounter there

- Actresses face MMS heat
- Is Amisha getting knotty?

Hey Bee, wishing you all the best for your Bollywood venture.

Faizal gets cozy with Noemie

Journo Faizal Khan has achieved what yours truly could only dream of.

Here's a pic of this hot shot reporter hobnobbing with French supermodel and actress Noemie Lenoir at a French embassy party in Goa last December.


Please excuse the photo quality - it was not clicked by a professional.

I was there somewhere in the background - Sigh! - as Khan wended his way to the seductive beauty and got a peck on the cheeks in the bargain.

The grapevine has it that Lenoir was drunk but I know for sure Khan hasn't washed his right cheek since.

For those who don't have a clue as to who Lenoir is, she played a sultry siren in the French blockbuster Asterix and Obelix: Mission Cleopatra.

Birthday Blues at the Office

I turned 26 yesterday on what has to be the most depressing birthday of my life. It's not that I am obsessed with birthdays or that I want every person on the planet to remember me on Makar Sankranti (an Indian festival which falls with unwavering precision on January 14 every year).

But... I am human and unlike Robinson Crusoe who could get by with Man Friday, I have made it my life's mission to hunt for a very rare and endangered species -

Wanted: People who remember my birthday and wish me.

This category does not include my parents and brother, who I honestly admit forced a very tired and reluctant yours truly to stay up late on Friday the 13th so that the family could gulp down plum cake at midnight.

On D-day, I got up really early (5.30 am - Ouch!) to go to office which is more than an hour's bus ride away. It being Makar Sankranti, there were plenty of stories in our files to remind me (and fellow colleagues) of my birthday.

Unfortunately, the stories did not work and despite several hints, my colleagues remained blissfully unaware of the importance of the occasion.

In the meantime, I received several calls from friends and acquaintances and people I had forgotten - all wishing me Happy Birthday but it didn't have any effect on my steadfast colleagues who have put up with my presence for almost two years.

Just when I was about to give up and mimic something on the lines of 'It's a dunderhead's world,' Friendly Ghost walks up and wishes me.

FG: Happy Birthday
Toe Knee: Sssssh! (look around to see if anyone is listening but unfortunately nobody heard it). Thank You.

The Ghost was sworn to secrecy. "Do not betray me and my birthday."

My shift over, I rush over to the Magazine Desk where I have to submit a story. Here too, history repeats itself and no one bothers about the birthday boy. I skip lunch because I have a deadline to meet.

I leave the office, tired and exhausted at six in the evening. I soon get a bus only to find myself caught in a traffic jam. (Groan!)

I reach home at eight pm to find it locked. My wonderful parents had decamped somewhere. What could I do? I sink into the couch and watch the second half of 'The Day After Tomorrow.' (Crummy movie)

Even recounting this has become tedious now and I can sense the predicament of readers who are waiting for the end of this sob story. Sigh!

My parents arrive at ten. There's no nice dinner in the microwave. No sizzling takeaways in their hands. The solution - leftover sabzi from the refrigerator and Harvest Gold bread. This meagre dinner over (I now totally empathise with the Israelites who wandered around in the desert for 40 years) I curl up in bed and drift off to sleep. Life is miserable.

For all those moved to tears by the plight of this great journalist, there's a moral in the story. January 14, 2007 is not too far away - Get ready to wish me next year.

Goa gets going with filmi fervour

The big stars may be missing this year but that didn't matter. With its sun, sand and sizzle, Goa is the perfect place for a film festival.

Not that I would know much. I spent most of my time huddled at the media centre buried under an onslaught of press conferences and stories. Films! What films? For the first eight days of the fest, I hadn't watched any. By the ninth day, I was sapped and headed for the India premiere of the French blockbuster Asterix and Obelix: Mission Cleopatra - a decision I will never regret.

Do catch up on this wonderful creation of Alain Chabat which features Monica Belucci as the gorgeous Cleopatra and loads of rib-tickling moments. The dubbed version of the film (in English, Hindi and other languages) hits Indian theatres around Christmas 2005.

The only other film which I managed to catch was another French flick - Cannes winner L'Enfant - a thought-provoking film which held audiences transfixed to the screen.

Of course, next year's film festival will be a different ballgame altogether now that Johnny Depp is expected to drop in for a visit.

Here are some of the 50-plus stories this tiresome PTI journalist turned in as others were busy watching films or cruising along in luxury liners or shaking a leg at PIB dos. Sigh! Even rival agency correspondent Faizal Khan got a peck on the cheeks from French supermodel Noemie Lenoir while poor yours truly got left out of all the action.

Rajnikant gets set to jive in French film

Aishwarya Rai to star in Asterix flick

Reddy for global stars to promote IFFI

Big B makes it to IFFI in a sketchbook

IFFI faces desi competition in Goa

First Indo-Italian film to roll in 2006

IFFI loses out on Satyajit Ray film

Filmmaker turns poster boy for IFFI

Italian maestro misses date with IFFI

Iranian film wins Golden Peacock

Britain draws a blank at IFFI

Dholakia stands by his film on Godhra

Taal's UK extra comes to IFFI

Italians say mama mia to Sonali

Bond in movie theatre after 25 years

Indian docu to premiere in NY

Godhra film leads to fracas at IFFI

Premieres rock the boat at IFFI

How Page 3 came about

Get set for gastric lie-detectors

They say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. And if Indian-American scientist Pankaj Pasricha has his way, one could also use a man's stomach to know if he's lying.

You can read the rest of my article here.

A bit about Blogging

Wrote an article about the perils of blogging in the wake of the Gaurav Sabnis controversy. It's a bit sketchy on details but I did talk to an IT expert on whether bloggers have any rights at all. You can take a peek at it here -

Mind what you write, bloggers! The days of carefree blogging are over. As more and more blogs get into the public domain, the danger of being sued can only increase.

You can read the rest of the article here

Chetan Bhagat: Round Two

Author Chetan Bhagat is in town. Thousands of Indians laughed and cried over his debut novel Five Point Someone - yours truly being one of them. The book is still on bestseller lists in India even after a year of its release.

Incidentally, Bhagat's here for the release of his second novel One Night at the Call Centre. You can find out here what the author has to say about the book.

I totally agree with Jabberwock when he says that Chetan is a good storyteller. I know that ON@TCC is not the kind of literature classic that everybody buys and never reads. Instead, it's a novel for everyone - people who never ever read novels and even bibliophiles.

Like FPS, I finished Chetan's new book in a single sitting - 6 hours to be precise. Unlike his first novel, parts of which seemed to have been based on real-life experiences, ON@TCC is more-or-less fiction.

However, I do agree with critics who feel FPS is better - I guess autobiographies always come out more realistic than pure fiction. My friends are divided on the issue - some swear by FPS while others feel the second book is a much better effort.

Others have found the God part in the novel a tad problematic. This is something I can't understand, given that everything is sorted out in the epilogue.

But kudos to Chetan for portraying a typical day at the call-centre so realistically. All that research certainly paid off.

Verdict
Worth a Read. Will join its predecessor on the bestseller lists.

ONE NIGHT @ THE CALL CENTER
Chetan Bhagat
Rupa
Price: Rs 95, Pages: 289

Hair now, gone tomorrow Part 2

A youngster I bumped into today wanted to know the time. No problemo. But what troubled me was the word he prefixed to his request - 'Uncle, may I know the time?'

Uncle!!!!!!!!!!Woe is me! As flies to wanton boys are we to gods. They kill us for their sport.

My 20-something mind reels in despair. This ten-or-twelve something boy calling me Uncle. Is my receding hairline so apparent that I look like an uncle already. Help!

Getting up, close and personal with Madhur

Met filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar at the IHC retrospective (of his films) last week.

Quite admire the guy. Though scores of TV and print journalists individually grilled him with questions for that one Exclusive Interview - and I am sure everybody asked the same old questions - he didn't stop smiling and maintained his cool throughout.

Seems like quite a decent chap. You can read my version of the interview here.