Steamy Dish

Here is the Kama Sutra girl in her Bengali avatar. Debali Ghosh's act with model Upen Patel in the condom company's new ad puts her in the league of steam sirens like Pooja Bedi and Viveka Babaji. The ad is apparently so hot that Patel has forbidden his girlfriend, actor Amrita Arora, from watching it. But Ghosh says the attention-grabbing ad is not a career move. Come January, and she will chuck it all for a degree in restaurant management at the Arts Institute of Illinois, US. "I want to open my own chain of restaurants." No steamy dish on the menu for a while then.

Seen There, Sung That

Aamir and Kher

What is a sign of a playback singer's star status? A cameo in films. Joining the likes of Pankaj Udhas, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy is Kailash Kher. The playback singer who has worked in Meenaxi and Swades will be seen singing a qawwali in Aamir Khan's 1857-The Rising. Kher, 30, says he is influenced by his gurus Sudhanshu Bahuguna and Madhup Mudgal. Among his fans, he can count the difficult-to-please Aamir, who repeatedly requested him to sing on the sets.

Costume Crossover

Be prepared for a shock. This remix girl is fully clad. Roshni Chopra makes a break from the skimpily clad starlet by going period in the video of Chalte Chalte-The Haveli Mix, a remix of the Pakeezah song. It is not that Chopra-who is now batting it out on TV with Charu Sharma for Doordarshan's cricket coverage-hasn't donned a mini before. Her look in Let's Enjoy was in contrast to that in the video. "While I am funkily dressed in the movie, this video is a stylised mujra," says Chopra. In this age of material-challenged item girls, it is a refreshing change.

Oriental Coup

First Dipannita Sharma, then Monikangana Dutta. Assam's invasion of the fashion world is now complete with Aryan Baruah winning the Oriental Model Contest in the men's category at Shanghai. Baruah, 23, walked off with the prize even as fellow Elite model, the over-rated new Indian face of Dior, Sonalika Sahay, got the second runner-up title in the women's category. "Assam has huge prospects fashion-wise," says Baruah. "It is just that people from the Northeast were not coming to Mumbai or Delhi to try their luck." Great going, Guwahati.

-Compiled by Kanika Gahlaut

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