'Bengal in my home'

Having spent 7 years before joining films in Kolkata and then over 40 years and on with Bengal in my home it does rub off said Amitabh Bachchan tongue firmly in cheek when we asked him what informed his spirited rendition of the cantankerous old Bengali hypochondriac Bhashkor Bannerjee in PikuAlso having worked with several Bengali directors allowed me to keep some observations within Hrishikesh Mukherjee Basu Chatterjee Shakti Samanta Pramod Chakravorty Dulal Guha and more helped in recreating some moments in Piku said BachchanDid you know any one like him while you were there we enquired gentlyAmitabh BachchanErrr NO said Bachchan a tad too emphatically distancing himself further from Bannerjees obsession with the alimentary track with The scatological inputs were from the writer and the directorWhats the next challenging role you are working on we asked the starI am doing Wazir a Vinod Chopra production in which I play a character without legs confined to a wheel chair throughout the film said Bachchan who appears to be hugely enjoying this chapter of his career going by his masterly performances in films like Shamitabh Paa and Piku But I cannot say whether it is challenging or not he addedThe world on his platterWord comes in that the fourtime Michelin starred USbased chef Vikas Khanna whose book Utsav A Culinary Epic was launched yesterday at the India Pavilion in Cannes has roped in no less than US President Barack Obama to contribute a note The US President will be writing a special handwritten note in gold ink for the limited edition copy that will be auctioned by Sothebys said Khannas spokespersonBarack ObamaThe Amritsar born chef named in 2011 as one of People magazines Sexiest Man Alive and Obama go back a long way with Khanna catering for several parties at the White House He also prepared a Gandhian static meal for the US President when he was in IndiaVikas KhannaUtsav we are informed is a paean to Indian festivals and weighs almost 16 kilosHe will be showing it at Buckingham Palace The White House and to world leaders in Sweden and Japan before he returns to show it to PM Narendra Modi says the spokespersonDubsmashers in BollywoodDid narcissistic Bollywood really need another way to demonstrate how clever and cute it can be Were referring to Dubsmash the new mobile phone app thats taken the world by stormAlia BhattInspired by the selfie craze the app has a database of popular snippets from international songs classic Bollywood dialogues cult advertisements and almost everything else in between which allows users to lip sync to these clips resulting in hilarious renditions Ranveer SinghAnd whereas Hollywood and show biz celebrities like Hugh Jackman Sofia Vergara and Rihanna have demonstrated their histrionic talent through it Bollywood has recently jumped on the dubbing bandwagon with actors like Priyanka Chopra Sonakshi Sinha Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt dubsmashing their way to social media glory in full throttleSonakshi SinhaSome of the performances we liked were Alia playing the grumpy kid from the comic strip garbage bin Sonakshis take on her fathers famous dialogues and Ranveers version of his costar Anil Kapoors dialogue from the upcoming film Dil Dhadakne DoAnd with its prowess at dubbing you could say this is one app thats made for BollywoodAll wired up The site launched last Monday It had great buzziness and we were trending on twitter It was our friend and former colleague Sidharth Bhatia who along with other journos notably former editor of The Hindu Sidharth Vardarajan had recently launched a web zine The Wire to compete with sites like Scroll and the Huffington Post for Indian eyeballsSidharth BhatiaOn the first day we had an article by former foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon on China we had a story about the use of the Gondi language in Naxal areas and I wrote about Mumbais two great tourist attractions Salman Khans home and the scene of the accident at the American Express Bakery said Bhatia adding Our approach is damn good writing and reporting Professional journalism with no corporate pressuresSidharth VardarajanUnderstated and strong While the attention has been focused on Johnny Balraj the protagonist of Bombay Velvet played by Ranbir Kapoor and the films main antagonist Kaizad Khambatta played by Karan Johar another pivotal character deserves some of the limelightSiddhartha BasuSiddhartha Babu Basu head of production house Big Synergy and perhaps better known as the man who helped in resurrecting Big Bs career by producing Kaun Banega Crorepati who plays a pivotal role in the film that of the scheming mayor of BombayAnd whats more this Delhi stage veteran who first came to public attention as the host of DDs classic quiz show Quiz Time has turned in an understated but memorable performanceExclusive for night owlsIt could become the Studio 54 of the suburbs The place where revellers really let their hair down Were talking about this recently opened glitzy nightspot located in a hotel near the international airportNamed after its flamboyant young owner the scion of a wellheeled Delhi family the club has been attracting the young and restless from across the city with its promise of nonstop actionThere is a big VVIP section constructed behind the main dance floor and adjacent to the bar says a source Inside is another exclusive club replete with a full DJ booth a large bar area and unisex restroom manned by bulky bouncers that is only open to people on the owners guest list which fills up once the regular club closes at 3 am and goes on till just before breakfastGreat marketing or just the young mans private weekend playground we wonder