Eyecatchers

India Today, March 22, 1999
March 22, 1999

Ladies Only

Thank goodness someone's thinking about the ladies. Cosmopolitan -- the magazine that tells women to be "the best that you can be" -- held its popular only-for-girls show again last week. The Sunsilk Cosmopolitan Show at Delhi's Hotel Inter-Continental was a chance for women of all ages to just let go. The latest in clothes and cosmetics at The Cosmopolitan Shopping Mall, beauty tips from Colleen Khan and Cory Walia, model-spotting, delightfully naughty beefcake shows, a Silk Route concert ... and much more. "It's a chilling out zone," gushed Mandeep Bevli, emcee for some of the programmes, "a place where you can go and just do the girl thing." No men allowed beyond a point, so sorry guys, you'll never know what she meant.

Baichung Bhutia Hitting it Off

Madonna, Richard Gere, everyone's looking Eastward. Time the football clubs did so too. Aston Villa -- one of England's top Premier League teams -- is giving India's very own Baichung Bhutia a trial. If they pick the 21-year-old, he'll be the first Indian to play in the Premier League. "Villa are keen to have a look at him," says Bhutia's agent Gordon Smith. And he needn't worry about being homesick. As a Villa fan said, "C'mon Bhutia, there are lots of curry houses here." What if the East Bengal star prefers machher jhol?

Karnad Ravi Shankar and Anoushka Loves Him Jasraj Does Not

What's with these artistic types? First Vilayat Khan accused Ravi Shankar of promoting daughter Anoushka. Then Jasraj charged him with lobbying for the Bharat Ratna. Now Girish Karnad defends Shankar, saying, "Jasraj's howls are characteristic of the jealousy and viciousness that define our public life today." Vishwamohan Bhatt also stood up for Shankar, but mentioned it would be nice if he too got an award. Like a Padma Bhushan or Padma Vibhushan, to be precise.

Family Feud

Zeba Bakhtiar and husband Adnan Sami Khan Remember her? the pakistani actress who starred in Randhir Kapoor's Henna? Zeba Bakhtiar is back. Not in films but in the news. The lady's family packs such a politically influential punch in Pakistan that when husband-turned-foe, singer Adnan Sami Khan, took off to Canada with their four-year-old son Azaan, they got Canadian authorities to arrest him there on charges of kidnapping the child. And now, things have got so hot for him in Canada, that he might be asked to leave the country altogether. No comments from the couple, but since Khan's dad is a former senior chief of protocol in the Pakistan government, you can bet you'll hear more on this front.