Q 1. Mallika Sarabhai's TV show on aids will be called ...

a. Talk Positive.
b. Life is Beautiful.
c. If Tomorrow Comes.

Q 2. The Miss Kerala International Pageant will be held in January 2002. Where?

a. The Kovalam beach.
b. Kuala Lumpur.
c. Dubai.

Q 3. The term Tora Bora was in the news recently because ...

a. It is the tentative title of Shekhar Kapur's sequel to Tora Tora Tora.
b. It is the name of the cave area where Osama may be hiding.
c. Meaning "Big Fortress" in Marathi it is the name of Bal Thackeray's new house in Pune.

Answers: 1(a), 2(c), 3(b)

TRENDS
Traditional Teens

Teenagers ... discos, pubs, junk food and rebellion? Well, a survey conducted by market research major NFO-MBL in five Indian metros shows teens may be more conformist and traditional than imagined. Especially in Delhi. The survey, called the NFO-Coke Teen Perspective, covered 1,664 teenagers in the 15-19 age group and represented the top 60 per cent of the socio-economic strata. It had 53 per cent of Delhi's youngsters saying that religion was an important part of their lives, with Chennai, Kolkata and Bangalore following at 30 per cent, and Mumbai at 21 per cent. Delhi teens notched up another first-their passion for strong family ties. Eighty per cent of those surveyed wanted more interaction with the opposite sex but 54 per cent preferred an arranged marriage. Psychiatrists attribute all this to the desire to play it safe in an uncertain, competitive society. Take 16-year-old S. Prasanth. This Class XI student in Chennai wants to be an engineer and never misses his morning and evening pujas. He says most teenagers no longer find drinking and smoking fashionable and that love affairs are "secondary". George Harrison must be glad he didn't live to read this.

-Natasha Israni with Arun Ram

Q& A: GIL ROSSELLINI
"We search out little jewels of films"

Better known as Italian filmmaker Roberto Rossellini's son, Gil was in India last week to distribute, with PVR Pictures, the Oscar-nominated Chocolat.

Q. Why does India get to see Chocolat over a year after everyone else?
A. It takes time for small independent distributors like us to buy films, to see which ones will succeed in the niche market we have here for a meaningful independent English film. Getting past the Indian Censor Board takes another three to four months. Then there were the events in September.

Q. Do you know that your mother Sonali Sen Roy Rossellini's name had surfaced in the controversy over Sonia Gandhi's foreign origins? That it was said she was not allowed to contest an election in Rome because she was of Indian origin?
A. This was an absolute lie put out by politicians. If I had the time I would have sued. My mother is still an Indian citizen, she has never stood for elections in Italy.

Q. Chocolat's stars are not big names with the Indian masses. Does that worry you?
A. Roberto Benigni is not a big name in India but Life Is Beautiful, which I distributed, did very well here. We are in the business of searching out little jewels of films. We have no big names, we have good films.

-Anna M.M. Vetticad

MUSIC REVIEW

FILHAAL... (HMV; Rs 55)

For a change, Anu Malik is back. With refreshing compositions for Filhaal, Meghna Gulzar's directorial debut. Asha Bhosle is exuberant, with the title song taking you back to the time she sang for R.D. Burman. Another voice is Chitra's, often heard in Tamil and Malayalam film songs. She sparkles in the Carnatic sounding Kyun baar baar. The movie marks the acting and playback-singing debut of Palash Sen, the Indipop singer of the rock band Euphoria.

Simple melodies and moderate instrumentation adds value to the seven compositions. And the credit for that should go to the arranger, Ranjit Barot (son of legendary dancer Sitara Devi). If you like mushy romantic songs, this album will go down well, especially Gulzar's lyrics.

-S. Sahaya Ranjit