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Mukesh Khanna aka Shaktiman, who's starring in his first Marathi film, Ardha Gangu Ardha Gondya, mouths dialogue “Maazi takat” - from the movie - flexing his muscles for effect. “ Watch out for this dialogue. It will be on everyone's lips after the movie releases on May 27 th ,” Khanna, dressed in white shirt-trousers with a beige stole draped around his shoulders, tells Sakal Times. Khanna, who is essaying the role of a municipal corporator, and has also produced the movie, says Ardha Gangu and Ardha Gondya is a tribute to Dada Kondke's brand of cinema. “ Dada Kondke's entry in the movie is the hatke factor,” claims Khanna, while digging into butter roti, dal and subji. Telling us briefly about the story, Khanna says, “Dada Kondke's atma is the guiding force for the “duplicate” actors who want to make it big in the film industry. There's a film within a film. Govinda is a struggling actor who makes it big towards the end with the help of Kondke and his mothe

Name: Swayamvara By: David Hair Pages: 313 Publication: Penguin Books India Rebirth and the evil force chasing the good souls is the theme of Swayamvara. How does it end? Predictably, with the good spirit's triumph over the evil force. But, almost 8000 years later from when the chase first started. The Swayamvar is the second book in the “The Return of Ravana” series and since I haven't read the first one, I don't know what exactly happened in Mandore, where the story first begins with Aram Dhoop (Vikram Khandwani), Madan Shastri (Amanjeet), Darya (Deepika), Padma (Sunita Ashok) and Ravindra (Shiv Bakli). What begins in Mandore continues in the 12 th century Rajputana, Delhi, British India and 2010 Rajasthan, Mumbai and Delhi. Aram Dhoop and Madan Shastri keep meeting each other as Chand Barda and Prithviraj Chauhan and in modern day as Vikram Khandwani and Amanjeet. Darya is Prithviraj's Sanyogita and Amanjeet's Deepika. Padma meets Chand Barda as insane Gowara

Nirupama Bhave and her scooter were inseparable till the age of 52. A chance meeting with her husband's colleague, who cycled from his home in Pashan to his workplace at Wadia College, piqued her curiosity. Twelve years later, the 64-year-old feisty woman cycles everywhere – in the mountain passes of Leh-Ladakh, the southern coastline, desert of Rajasthan, Pune-Mumbai highway and of course on roads of Pune. “ I rarely cycled in my school/college days as we lived at a short distance. Once I started working as a professor of Statistics and then Mathematics, the scooter was my preferred mode of travelling,” says Bhave. Her first cycle rally was from Wagah border to Agra, a distance of 650 kms. “ I had just joined Pune Cycle Pratisthan when I heard the members discussing about the cycle rally. I evinced interest in it the rally and started preparing for it by cycling to Bhor and Ranjangaon. During the rally, I was slow compared to others. But I managed to successfully complete the

Intro: In an e-mail interview with Ambika Shaligram, Lamat Hasan sheds light on the Pakistani society, what they think of us and the stereotypical images the neighbours have of each other Box: Lamat Hasan and her husband are Indian Muslim journalists living in Pakistan. Lamat's husband has been posted in Islamabad while she is on a sabbatical. Their blog, www.indiansinpakistan.blogspot.com, talks about the good, bad and the ugly side of our neighbour. 1) When did you move to Islamabad? And, when did you start blogging? We moved to Islamabad in September 2007 after my husband was posted there. We wanted to start blogging about our experience of being Indian in Pakistan, which we think is unique, as soon as we had settled in. However, we ended up sitting on the idea for almost two years as we wanted to blog not just about the good, but also the bad and the ugly. 2) Did you have any stereotypical image of Pakistani society before your posting? Did it undergo any change after l

I had reviewed this book for the Sunday supplement. -- KL Saigal: The Definitive Biography By: Pran Neville Publisher: Penguin Pages: 211 Price: Rs 299 I haven’t heard KL Saigal sing. But, I have heard my mother humming two of his songs: the haunting lullaby — So ja rajkumari so ja and Ek bangla bane nyara. Whnever there were talks about favourite music composers and singer-actor, my mother’s generation swore by the modern-day Tansen’s voice. His repertoire was big: bhajans, ghazals, thumris and film songs. However, Kundan Lal Saigal’s greatest legacy was his rendition of Ghalib’s ghazals. It is therefore with great interest that I began reading KL Saigal: The Definitive Biography by Pran Neville. The highlights of the book are: comprehensive list of Saigal’s songs, translations of his Urdu couplets, information about his mentors and associates at the New Theatres in Calcutta, his heroines, complete filmography and even the reviews published in Filmindia. Although Saigal was a nation

  I am thankful to the FB for this one instance. I am rarely interested in reading other people’s updates like "Click on this fortune cookie," to "Life sucks", and "Hey! My wife made the best paneer butter masala in the world". But this particular update had me jumping out of my chair: "Watched Byomkesh Bakshi on DD. Caught the first episode on Tuesday..." I had missed the first episode of the Bengalee detective in action, but I have been glued to my television set every Tuesday from 10 pm. In fact I have even started updating my FB status to "Watching Byomkesh.." and even calling and texting friends who I know revel in the good old Doordarshan days. I was eight or maybe nine when the series was first aired. Watching it after almost two decades, I can quickly point out the "old treatment" to the series: drab interiors and props, the plainly-dressed protagonists and dialogues delivered with low-key emotions. Basu Chatterjee