On the celeb route

Emraan Hashmi and Ashmit Patel want to go a long way in the film industry

THEY ARE two youngsters on the bloc with an ambition to figure in the headlines. Emraan Hashmi and Ashmit Patel (brother of Amisha Patel) may be just two films old which did not fetch them acclaim but they have put behind memories of failure. . Emraan and Ashmit are co-stars in Murder and were in the city for the film’s promotion.

“I liked the role in Murder. I could relate to the character which was 20 something. Also some personal experiences helped me to play that character,” says Emraan. “I would have never done such a role (a married man) but for Mahesh and Mukesh Bhatt. Many of my friends advised me against doing it. I did not want to be typecast after Inteha. So I went ahead,” says Ashmit.

Doing Murder was a good experience for both. For Emraan “it was like a party. My performance here was easier. In fact I had to put in a laboured performance in Footpath. As I was a newcomer I had to get the hang of things. But in Murder I had to just concentrate on acting.” “It was an excellent experience. I was scared of pulling it off but at the end I feel happy about my performance.” says Ashmit.

Emraan’s next film will be Tumsa Nahin Dekha from the Bhatts’ stables. “It’s a romantic love story full of fun. The heroine has not been decided.” Ashmit has signed a love story Hum Tum aur Geenie, a film to be directed by Soumitra Ranade (director of Jajantaram Mamantaram) starring Hrishitaa Bhatt which is scheduled to go on the floors in April first week. “It’s a cute love story. This will also have a lot of animation and computer graphics.” Another film with Ahmed Khan “is an emotional-action film with a football backdrop. The others in the cast are Aftab Shivdasani, Sohail Khan, Celina Jaitley with Suniel Shetty and Anil Kapoor playing guest roles.” While Emraan has grown up on old Hindi classics and Hollywood flicks, Ashmit loves Hollywood films. Music is a passion with both. Both are fitness freaks as well following a regular regime to have that chiselled and well-toned look.

“I had a warped image of Hindi films. After my business degree in the U.S. I joined my Dad’s business and left it, as the idea of making magnetic audio tapes didn’t appeal to me. So I joined an investment bank but realised working from 9 to 5 was not my cup of tea. I used to visit my sister on the sets and found the process of film-making intriguing and interesting and then decided to join films. Hrithik Roshan’s dedication also motivated me to do so.”

Like a brother he is proud of his sister. “Amisha has done brilliantly and gone the right way without compromising on what parents have taught us.” What about comparisons and sibling rivalry? “As children we had our share of arguments and fights. Comparisons are bound to happen but it doesn’t bother me as long as it is good. We are very protective about each other,” says Ashmit, who loves partying. He has also been a sportsman in school and has tasted adventure sports like bungee jumping, rafting and rock-climbing as well. “I love the rush of adrenalin when I do these.”

Emraan nurses an ambition to get to the top slot. “I would do anything to get there,” and so it is just work, work and work on his agenda. Ashmit hopes to have a good long career and be appreciated for his work. “I hope it is not cut short,” says Ashmit, who wants to model his career on actors like Johnny Depp, Sean Penn and Brad Pitt. “I have liked the characters they have portrayed.”

Emraan and Ashmit have stars in their eyes and let’s hope their stars allow them to shine.

RADHIKA RAJAMANI

Hindu On Net

OODLES OF OOMPH

Eager to burst into exotic bloom, they are, at the moment, feasting on the splendid shades and colours of life. P. Sujatha Varma delves deep into their hearts to explore their zest for the life ahead.

THEY ARE passionate about everything in life. Their gourmet to wardrobes to friends to the more serious academica and, of course, careers.

There is warmth, happiness and elation in whatever they do. They are the ones who are absolutely in awe of the truth and contradictions of life. The gregarious MBA girls of Parvataneni Brahmayya Siddhartha College of Arts and Science are fun-loving, bindaas and game for any amount of adventure in life.

Life, for some, is an enigma that they had been trying hard to understand, while some others seem to have succeeded, at least to some extent — to comprehend their feelings.

This has been possible because they had the right kind of people around them just when they needed their help. Almost at the end of a journey that was full of fun, friendship and excitement, they’re all set to conquer the world with a straightened spine, their shoulders pushed back and heads help up.

Specialised in marketing and finance, the bunch of enthusiastic galz are itching to grab power and find a niche for themselves in the corporate world. The gorgeous Y. Sarada looks forward to becoming a marketing executive before making a big leap into a multi-national company. And what does she do in her leisure time? Pat comes the answer, “Play shuttle badminton or watch TV-9 or Discovery channel.” N. Snetha is raring to storm the marketing scene. She’s a book-worm. Understandably, she realises the paradigm of difficulty in balancing office work with personal life. Equipped with a specialisation in Finance, Jyothi Kumar, Jeevan Jyothi and Bhagyalakshmi, are bubbly bankers in the making.

A perfect blend of beauty and brains, K. Swapna, is bound to make a promising marketeer while the sober and dainty Chamundeswari is confident of making an impact in the highly competetive advertisement sector.

The immaculate charm of the Big-B attracts Swapna and she finds Shah Rukh ooooh! choooo chweeet! Chamundeswari is in awe of the more suave, debonair but flamboyant Nagarjuna. In the past, a woman’s idea of money management may have been to shop, cut fuel costs and sew her own clothes. Sadly, even today, some of them mess things up a little when it comes to finance, feel most of these girls who are eager to change that scene once they take over.

Simple but extremely appealing, O.Shruthi is a dynamic go-getter. Eager to hone her marketing skills and blissfully ignorant of the impact of her infectious smile, she says: ”I am very impatient and can’t wait for success to come my way. I want instant results.” She loves to watch the versatile Kajol flooring her fans with her histrionics on the silver screen.

P. Nirisha is yet another youngster waiting in the wings to take on the challenges of life head-on. ”I like listening to songs that touch your heart,” she chirps saying that though she yearns to be working in the insurance sector, social service as a part-time is something which she would revel herself in.

It is hard to delineate if the girls are naive and rebellious or simply want to take matters into their own hands. But one can be rest assured that truly empowered, they are not willing to wait for others to tell them what to do but are eager to explore the new avenues of life, in style.

Hindu On Net

What a Girl Wants

“What A Girl Wants”… a feel-good film.

HOLLYWOOD PRODUCER: Let’s make a movie for young people. You know the kinds who think Britney rules and Christina rocks.

Prospective scriptwriter: Huh? Producer: PYTs (Pretty Young Things) have an emotional appeal around the world. Chick flicks work, man.

Scriptwriter: Well, okay, Sir. How about something on their life and what they really want.

Producer: “Crossroads.” Britney Spears. Been done before. We need a twist to that. Maybe a different setting to give it some extra punch and substance.

Scriptwriter: Er… how about some Brit wit “Notting Hill,” “Bridget Jones’ Diary,” “Love Actually” style.

Producer: Well, that’s too stiff for a young film. The girl needs to be American, she needs to be cool.

Scriptwriter: Well, lets have a bohemian American Mom who’s cool and maybe a British Dad who leads a staid lifestyle. Maybe he’s a part of royalty or aristocracy or something. Some misunderstanding between them separates them, which the girl could set right later when she goes in search of her Dad from America to London. And she finally finds him, running for Prime Minister or something. A touch of “Maid in Manhattan.” So Dad and his men want her to behave. She tries to …

Producer: And falls in love with some young man there, I suppose? Scriptwriter: That can be arranged, Sir.

Producer: Let me call casting director. Lets see if we can get Hugh Grant or Colin Firth.

Casting Director: Did you say Colin Firth, Sir? And I presume you want Kelly Preston, Jerry Maguire’s ex-girlfriend girl playing the sexy Mom?

Producer: Perfect!

Casting Director: And Amanda Bynes to play the bubbly cute teenager who can also look hot?

Producer: Sounds cool.

Casting Director: I’m afraid the movie is already made, Sir.

Producer: Huh?

Casting Director: Warner Bros Pictures “What a Girl Wants.” Dennie Gordon directed it. He’s done a lot of TV before — “Ally McBeal,” “Picket Fences,” “Chicago Hope,” “The Practice” … Based on William Douglas’ play and 1958 screenplay.

Producer: Oh! Er… How is the movie?

Casting Director: Very feel-good. Should do well in India now. But yes, the movie is surely watchable. Young people will surely love it. “Freaky Friday” explored the Mom-daughter bond. This one has Father-daughter getting to know each other. It’s very predictable but worth the time. It’s got its moments.

Producer: Is there any theme that Hollywood has left untouched? Scriptwriter: Sir, I have another idea. This rocks, really. In fact, it’s about rock. I plan to call it “School of Rock.”

SUDHISH KAMATH

Hindu On Net

Mona Lisa Smile

“Mona Lisa Smile” … it travels beyond the obvious.

AS THE first reels of Mike Newell’s (“Four Weddings and a Funeral” and “Enchanted April”) latest offering, “Mona Lisa Smile,” begin unfolding an early 1950s American story, one felt, now, there goes “Goodbye Mr Chipps” or “To Sir, with Love.” A few sequences later, Newell’s film took one back to what seemed like Enid Blyton’s school adventures. But “Mona Lisa Smile” turned out to be something beyond these, though the emotional poignancy in “To Sir, with Love” is a strong feature in Newell’s work too. Look at the final shot where the Wellesley College girls on bicycles accompany their teacher as she cabs away from her own dream of furthering the art of looking beyond tradition.

Julia Roberts (somewhat miscast as the teacher or maybe Newell wanted an academic Erin Brockovich) steps out of the train at the New England campus of the college carrying with her the free Californian spirit and a steely will to encourage her all-woman class to see beyond a Van Gogh or other classic works of art.

It is 1953, and America is enjoying the first flush of a truly post-war ecstasy, which, unfortunately, is confined to tradition. It is a scenario where an engagement ring on a girl’s finger is considered a bigger prize than the pursuit of knowledge or a desire for a post-graduate degree.

When Katherine Watson (Roberts) provokes her students to question archaic values — which glorify them in the role of a housewife — she hits a wall that is not entirely made up of the college administration and the faculty. There are some bright young women as well who treat Wellesley as some sort of a finishing school.

Questions such as why is an original Van Gogh a work of art and a reproduction not one make the movie’s narrative almost gripping. And its message, you can bake a cake and eat it too, may have seemed radically feminist in the 1953 Wellesley, but today it can well mean a certain kind of balance. Interestingly, Miss Watson herself conveys this: she does not quite dispel her dream of being swept off her feet by Prince Charming. Yet, the independence and self-assurance that she displays are enough for her to be termed subversive.

However, “Mona Lisa Smile” must be seen as a film that travels beyond the obvious. In Watson’s art history classes, which inspire the screenplay’s most intelligent writing, she challenges her students to do more than simply identify paintings shown in slides. Let us not forget here that the early 1950s also brought the ascendance of Abstract Expressionism. And, the appearance of a Jackson Pollock canvas on the campus stirs up ripples of controversy.

“Mona Lisa Smile,” despite its syrupy feel-good emotional trap and a degree of shallowness, proves that these can be masked by an interestingly written script and a committed acting style. Roberts may be miscast, but she performs to a fair degree of satisfaction. Three of Hollywood’s bright young stars — Kirsten Dunst, Julia Stiles and Maggie Gyllenhaal — play Wellesley seniors with captivating finesse. There were times when one felt that they were a tad better than Roberts, or was the Pretty Woman being gracious? Of the lot, Dunst was the most impressive as the elitist student bent on marriage and on wrecking Watson’s life.

At a little over 90 minutes, “Mona Lisa Smile” is undoubtedly worth seeing.

GAUTAMAN BHASKARAN

Hindu On Net

PATNA (India) – Authorities in India locked 168 high school students and 24 parents in a detention centre after accusing them of cheating in exams, officials said Tuesday.

More than 500,000 students had been taking the 10th-grade leaving exams Monday in eastern Bihar state under the watchful gaze of 5,000 police and 1,000 civil officials at 850 testing centres.

Each detainee will have to pay a fine of 2,000 rupees (US$45) and none of the students will have a chance to retake the exam, said Hasan Waris, secretary of the Bihar School Examination Board.

He gave no details about how the students were cheating.

School authorities said they found a number of students also were keeping photographs of movie and cricket stars for good luck in their pockets in violation of school rules.

Boys’ favourite pictures were of Bollywood starlets such as Madhuri Dixit and Kareena Kapoor or cricketers Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly, while girls had pictures of film heartthrob Shah Rukh Khan.

Last month in Bihar, police fired on high school students who torched vehicles to protest administrative action against cheating, leaving two people dead, officials said. – AFP

Utusan Malaysia