His previous book, A Fine Balance, was propelled by an endorsement from an unlikely source: talk show host Oprah Winfrey. Now Rohinton Mistry is walking down a path he has trudged twice before without reaching the ultimate destination: the Booker Prize. With Family Matters, Mistry makes it to the long list of the Booker. However, even though it's early days yet, the author who is being touted as the favourite for the award is Howard Jacobson for Who is Sorry Now. If, however, Mistry becomes third time lucky, he would probably sigh either "Such a Long Journey" or "A Fine Balance". It's a matter that will be resolved on October 22 when one of the six shortlisted names will be chosen as winner at the British Museum. Watch out.

Close Encounters
If Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan is known to be brutally honest, filmmaker Nasreen Munni Kabir is familiar in Britain as the documentary filmmaker who does not mince words. So when the two collide at a q&a session at the Edinburgh Film Festival, sparks are expected to fly. Khan can look forward to some inventive journalism. Sample this: "When Spencer Tracy was asked by Richard Woodmart on the best advice he had received on acting, he had replied, 'Remember lines and don't bump into the furniture.' What is the best advice you have received?" Phew! "I am really looking forward to the q&a," says Munni, whose personal favourite is legendary actor-director Guru Dutt. "I would have loved to do a q&a with him but can't do that." Not in this life.

Repeat Value
That singer Hariharan is a man of immense talent was never in doubt. But somehow as a recording artist he failed to earn the kind of international fame he has been getting as a fusion crooner and a ghazal singer. Now, as further testimony of his popularity-and melody making-comes an encore. Last week he performed in Maryland and is set to return to the Washington area once again due to the overwhelming response from desi music lovers.

Intense Affair
It refuses to die down, this new found global love of Indian cinema. In fact, a year after Lagaan created a flutter at the Locarno Film Festival, India was a veritable leitmotif in its 55th edition recently. Consider this: a retrospective of its 30 films in over 25 years called Indian Summer; a rapturous reception-including the Audience Award-accorded to Gurinder Chadha's top grosser Bend It Like Beckham; and an entry in the competitive section in the form of Aparna Sen's Mr & Mrs Iyer, that stars her daughter Konkona Sen Sharma (left). "The violence and horror two lovers witness in a bus they are travelling in brings them closer, allowing them to put aside their religious differences," said Sen. As if all the outpouring isn't heartening enough, hear what an Italian film critic had to say: "The most interesting part of this year's festival is the Indian Summer section. The rest of the film package has not been so exciting." From the look of things, the affair between Indian cinema and the world will last yet.

-Jai Kumar

Custom Made
Silence is not golden. Which is why Harjinder Singh and Jasvinder Marwala decided that they will not keep mum when faced with discrimination. Two years ago the duo was denied entry to a Birmingham club, Bar 2 Sixty, ostensibly for wearing turbans. Now it so happens that Asians are often discriminated against in the bars and clubs of Birmingham-a matter brought to the attention of the Commission for Racial Equality time and again-but they usually refrain from complaining. Not Harjinder and Jasvinder. They went back to the club wired up and later produced the recorded conversation in court. It has now earned them £11,000 in an out-of-court settlement offered by the club.

Forward March
Madhuri Dixit is, well, Madhuri Dixit. But if she was not sufficient reason, then it was the fact that the expats were celebrating their country's 55th year of Independence. Whatever the reason, over 10,000 desis took over Manhattan for the India Day Parade. It was not just the odd VIP that got the elbow but even Dixit's husband who was held back by over-eager nypd personnel. He can take succour from the fact that singer Anup Jalota met the same fate.

Love of the Land
Sundaram Tagore Gallery in SoHo played host to a different kind of art exhibition recently. "Navigating the Present" consisted of works of six artists deeply immersed in Indian philosophy: Darryl Pottorf, Nathan Slate Joseph, Susan Weil, Joan Vennum, Betty Weiss and Oded Halahmy. While none of them is Indian, all have the Indian influence running through, imbibed either by travelling through the country or studying its literature.

—Bureau reports