TEEN TEMPTRESS

Ram Gopal Varma has found his Lolita. Eighteen-year-old London girl Jiah Khan will make an unconventional debut playing a younger woman in love with an older man in Varma's forthcoming Nishabd. And when the older man in question is Amitabh Bachchan, it's no wonder that this film studies and literature student-daughter of yesteryear actress Rabia-is very excited. "He made me feel very comfortable," says Khan of her "incredibly sexy" co-star. Now whether Varma succeeds in making her the next Urmila Matondkar is anyone's guess.

Designer Role

The Turbanator

Here's our very own turbaned desi in Hollywood. Waris Ahluwalia did a cameo, albeit a memorable one, in Spike Lee's Inside Man. Acting alongside Oscar winners Denzel Washington and Jodie Foster, he plays a bank staffer who suffers a case of mistaken identity during a heist and is assumed to be an "Arab with a bomb". For Ahluwalia, who has worked as a writer, an aids activist and a jewellery designer, this is not the first brush with Holly glitter. He has also acted in movies like The Life Aquatic and America Brown. Way to go, Waris.

JOKES APART

Saransh Bharadwaj is not just another eight-year-old. This Gwalior boy has got them rolling in the aisles. Bharadwaj is not only a master comedian but he also writes his own jokes, with a little help from his father. Selected to appear on The Great Indian Laughter Challenge, when it comes to getting his own laughs he swears by Rajpal Yadav and Johnny Lever, hoping to follow in their footsteps. Looks like the show-stealer is laughing his way into popularity charts.

-Compiled by Kimi Dangor

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