The Raut Act

As supermodel Ujjwala Raut readies for motherhood, younger sister Sonali, 20, may well step into her shoes. Ace photographer Atul Kasbekar has signed her for his agency, Matrix. While Sonali is not tall enough for the ramp, it hasn't stopped her for aiming much higher-she wants to work with Ram Gopal Varma. "He makes great small-budget money-spinners," she says. Theatre training with Nadira Babbar should help. We are rooting for this Raut..

Ad-Vantage

Ads are usually the stepping stones to Bollywood, or so says the starlet's primer on success. But for Raima Sen, Parineeta's box-office run has unwittingly translated into ad offers. So much so that besides the Lakme and Cadbury ads, Sen is appearing in the publicity stills of Amrapali Jewellers-an endorsement she says she hasn't even signed. "I'm going to get to the bottom of this," she says, adding that the pictures were clicked for photographer Partho Ghosh's book and have mysteriously found their way to the promotional images. Nothing succeeds like suspense, we say.

Fiddle Fetish

She is an Indian, calls her group Raga Afrika and is busy wooing the West. Classical violinist Kala Ramnath recently played with her group at the Bath International Festival and will perform at Womex, the World Music Expo, at Sage-Gateshead, England, in October. "I want to be synonymous with the violin," says the disciple of Pandit Jasraj, who is also called the "Mozart of the Indian subcontinent". Music to our ears.

In Tune with Films

Singing may be a hereditary byproduct, but Lisa Lawyer would rather hum a different tune. Singer Gary Lawyer's daughter, Lisa is currently penning a script for a "small-budget English film". When she is not writing, the 26-year-old, who has studied filmmaking and acting from New York, is busy auditioning for film roles, modelling and singing with dad. "I love singing, but I'm better at films," she says. So even though she eventually wants to open an academy for western music with dad, she may be acting on impulse for now.

-Compiled by Kimi Dangor

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