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Devdas Double
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| BOLLYWOOD VS TOLLYWOOD: Dixit (above ) is pitted
against Halder |
As Sanjay Leela Bhansali winds up work on his Devdas in Hindi-to be released
this June-director Shakti Samanta is readying for the April unveiling
of his Bengali version of Sarat Chandra Chatterjee's classic Bangla novel.
"Romance is an eternal audience favourite. That's why stories like
Romeo and Juliet and Devdas get made into films time and again,"
says Samanta. The veteran director might release his Devdas in the metros
with English subtitles in the hope of replicating the success of Rajiv
Menon's Kandukondain Kandukondain in Tamil. Bhansali's Devdas has Shah
Rukh Khan in the eponymous role with Aishwarya Rai as Paro and Madhuri
Dixit as Chandramukhi. The Bengali version has Prasanjeet in the lead
with Indrani Halder playing Chandramukhi and Arpita Pal as Paro. Samanta
is going strictly by the book. So while Bhansali, in true Bollywood style,
has Rai and Dixit reportedly dancing together in one scene, Halder goes
solo in the Bengali version. Says Halder: "I can't dance as well
as Madhuri. But does it really matter?" Not if her Devdas scores.
-Anna M.M. Vetticad
More Meaning
As more big budget films come croppers the Malayalam film industry is
moving to small budget ones that ride high on concept-like Theerthadanam
and Shesham that have also established Jairam as an actor on a par with
Mammootty and Mohanlal. Shesham's director T.K. Rajeev Kumar hopes "the
mind churners will prevail over the money churners". It's wait and
watch for now.
-Bindu Menon
MUSIC REVIEW
Meeting of Great Minds
Can we say this album is a meeting of great minds? The preface is by
Javed Akhtar in the voice of superstar Amitabh Bachchan; poetry by Prime
Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, set to music by Jagjit Singh; and the video
shot by Yash Chopra, starring Shah Rukh Khan.
The poems have been culled from Vajpayee's book Meri Ikyavan Kavitayaen.
Interspersed in the album is Vajpayee's own narrative in which he recounts
the events and emotions that inspired each of his poems, ranging from
the Emergency days to his birthday. "I was overawed by the prime
minister as an artiste. He is a sensitive person," says Jagjit Singh,
who captured the essence of the poems in a voice filled with feeling.
-S. Sahaya Ranjit
FUN QUIZ
Q 1. Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray could not cast his vote in the
recent civic polls because
a. his name didn't figure in the voters' list
b. he remains disenfranchised
c. he wasn't in town
Q 2. After Pakistan's refusal, Iran has agreed to extend transit
facility to Afghanistan-bound
a. ammunition
b. apples
c. wheat
Q 3. Actor and BJP MP Vinod Khanna criticised the use of Bollywood
stars in election campaigns, calling them
a. rented jokers
b. hired entertainers
c. borrowed politicians
Answers: 1(a) 2(c) 39b)
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CURRENT
ISSUE FEB 25, 2002
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