May 4, 1998

Will he be India's first Formula One champ? The pundits think so. He does too. Narain Karthikeyan, son of former Indian motor rallyist G.R. Karthikeyan, is in Britain right now as part of the Intersport Racing team for this season's Autosport British Formula Three Championship. Intersport's past drivers include F1 hero Damon Hill, and that's a career track the 22-year-old Narain's eyeing. He's got many No. 1s to his credit -- at 18, he became the first Indian to win a European meet when he beat the rest at the British Formula Ford Series -- so can F1 be far behind? Says the speedster: "There will be many talented drivers coming out of India but I am confident I can be the first to make it to the top." Rev it up, boy!

"Cool" is not a word that the former Bihar CM would easily use, but how else do you describe his reaction to Bollywood's cheeky spoof on him:

Are you aware that Dand-nayak has a character based on you?
Arre, these natak-nautankis are bread and butter for filmwallas. They survive on them.

You have no objection?
Arre, lots of people make a living out of my name.

But the film is not drawing crowds ...
Yahan asli pada hua hai to naqli ko kaun dekhne jata hai (When the real Laloo is here, why would anyone go to see the duplicate)?

Have you seen the film?
I haven't. Who's the heroine?

I don't know, but Paresh Rawal has played your role.
Oh, so he's the hero.

No, he's the villain.
Arre, humse bada koi actor hai kya (Is there a better actor than I)?

Sporty Spice

Take a second look at Dil To Pagal Hai. See that pretty youngster in Shah Rukh Khan's dancing troupe. The name's Anoushka (Shruti Ulfat before tinsel town took over), and no, never mind the picture, she's not Manisha Koirala's long-lost sister. In her teens, Shruti was a UP state-level basketball player. At 21, Anoushka's playing the lead in a Hindi film, Sar Aankhon Par. Says the idealist: "I'd like to do films that don't give people illusions, that impart moral values." How about a Dhak dhak or a Choli ke peechhe number? Replies the diplomat: "I haven't thought about that at all." A quick learner, this kid.

Singh, Sing A Song

Rap, rap, you might expect him to go with his lathi, but rap music? Doesn't fit the image. To hell with images, says Udham Singh. The King of Channel V chit-chat is not only doing a few rap numbers in a forthcoming album, he'll perk it up with quirky comments on the other artistes featured. All this in his screen avatar as the Haryanvi veejay Udham, not as Munish Makhija, his name in real life. The album's a collection of "Hindi remixes spiced up with Haryanvi punch lines and groovy rap" mainly featuring Udham's hip hop rendition of Meri bhains ko danda kyon maara (Why did you hit my buffalo). "I'm tone deaf, can't sing much," says the man, then wraps it up with an album.

© Living Media India Ltd