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We’re the party
“Nobody knows the art of partying as well as us,” declares Dheeraj Kumar Thakur, showing his fire-flaring, juggling, skills at city clubs for five years now. Yes, he’s the guy you turn to when you order ‘lots of juice, little bit of vodka’ or ‘Scotch on the rocks’. Continues bartender Dheeraj, from Voodoo-26, “When we party, we do it the regular way, pretty much just like other guys at the club only, but we make it more intense, extreme.”
DJ Surya from Score-8 has a revelation: “We go to other cities to party, generally we don’t do it in our city.” His circuit of other cities absolutely includes Mumbai every three-four months. “For, they are playing a little different from you and this way you get to learn also.” Never mind the method or the manner, the boys have to give in to the fact; their workplace is the whole world’s party place. No ‘out- of-the-ordinary’ feelings. “No. Why would it feel unusual? It’s our job, we cater to people, we manage the party and all we wish for is the whole ‘do’ to go well,” says bouncer Puneet Kapoor, popularly called Bawa. He adds, “The fact that we aren’t exactly acting like others because we keep observing, standing, don’t drink or dance, plays a role too.” Dheeraj, however, plays the leveller. “If others are enjoying cent per cent, then we also end up revelling at least 10 to 20 per cent.” Agrees DJ Surya, “While working am I not partying with them? We don’t stand there like a statue. When you play for the crowd, you also act like the crowd.” None’s crazy about the whole ‘idea of clubbing’ though. “Earlier, there was a lot of craze but now it isn’t the same, at least not of the same intensity,” says Puneet. The love for the work or work-profile stretches to beyond the obvious. Come New Year’s, Valentine’s, Christmas, there’s just non-stop work, no regrets. Questions Mehtab, “Why don’t you look at the positives? Others are shelling out two-three grands for getting into the same venue, while I, in fact, get paid for being there.” In the profession for a decade now, DJ Surya shares, “In fact, it feels good. Like once, I was in Goa and I was playing for a gathering of 3000. It was amazing.” Yeah, should look at the positives! manpriya@tribunemail.com
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Another awaaz
Roshan Prince is another actor in the making, courtesy, the reality shows. Winner of Awaaz Punjab Di, a singing talent show on MH1, Roshan is debuting with Lagda Hai Ishq Ho Gaya, directed by Sukhwinder Dhanjal.
All excited about the release of the flick this coming Friday, Roshan shares: "The movie is special to my heart as it's my first one and I have worked really hard for it." Lagda Hai… is a romantic movie in which Roshan acts opposite Shveta. Though singing remains Roshan's forte, he took care to hone his acting skills in Mumbai: "When approached by Dhanjal, I was anxious as I had no experience in this field. So, I decided to go to Mumbai and took classes in acting and dancing." Lagda Hai… was a double treat for Roshan, as he has also sung five songs in the movie: "It comes naturally to sing songs that are filmed on me. And this way, I am enjoying both acting and singing." Roshan is acting in another movie Kabaddi Once Again, a Punjabi flick and Hum Do Bhai NRI, a Hindi movie. — Mona |
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West is West, India's best
Bestselling Indian author Vikas Swarup and veteran actor Om Puri are not physically present at the ongoing Cannes Film Festival, but they are nonetheless receiving their share of media spotlight by virtue of being part of prestigious upcoming international movie projects.
Indian career diplomat Swarup, who hit big time, thanks to the worldwide success of Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire, an adaptation of his bestselling Q&A, has made another breakthrough for Indian writers in English. His new book, Six Suspects, which revolves around the killing of a playboy, is being developed by BBC Films into a new feature. Interestingly, according to media reports here, the proposed film has an indirect link with Danny Boyle — it is being scripted by John Hodge, whose screenwriting credits include Trainspotting and Shallow Grave, among other films directed by the Irish filmmaker. BBC Films has also announced a sequel to the 1999 hit East is East with Om Puri returning as the Pakistani fish and chips shop owner George Khan, who struggles to ensure that his brood stays within the strict confines of culturally appropriate behaviour. It has been revealed that the new film, titled West is West, begins after George Khan has relocated to Pakistan with his family. While West is West will be directed by newcomer Andy DeEmmony, it will be scripted by Ayub Khan-Din who wrote East is East. Most members of the original cast, including Jimi Mistry, will reprise their roles in the upcoming film. The unlikeliest of Indian actors on the radar here is Mumbai-based Ayush Mahesh Khedekar, who played the youngest Jamal Malik in Slumdog Millionaire. Khedekar has been signed up by Swiss producer-director Deborah Mangola for Shyam's Secret, to be shot entirely in Goa. Mangola, who is in Cannes to announce the new project, has already set up her production headquarters in Mumbai. "The film will roll in Goa by the end of the year," she says. Shyam's Secret co-stars Kabir Bedi and his daughter-in-law Nisha Harale-Bedi. — IANS
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Cook cook hota hai
Stunning South African model Gabriella Demetriades wants to learn from Bollywood superstar and Kolkata Knight Riders boss Shah Rukh Khan how to cook a korma, though she will represent opposition team Deccan Chargers in the next round of the Miss Bollywood IPL at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on Saturday. And Chennai Super Kings finalist Dune Kossatz fancies Kings XI Punjab as the favourites, while her top cricketer is Graeme Smith of the Rajasthan Royals. The two women are among the top three of 16 finalists from 48 contestants decided by Internet voters for a package of prizes that includes a Bollywood tour, including a possible movie role. The winner will be decided at the Indian Premiere League II finals this weekend. As a model, Demetriades, 22, who garnered nearly 14,000 votes to clinch the third position, has travelled to several international destinations, including India. "I'm fascinated with the country, there are extremes in terms of wealth and poverty, but the country is diverse, and has great shopping," she said. When not working, Demetriades loves to cook and shop and would love to meet Shah Rukh Khan: "I want him to teach me how to make a really great lamb korma." Model and actor Kossatz of East London has been to Hollywood and now she hopes her good looks, talent and personality will take her to Bollywood. The 35-year-old won the top spot with 15,888 votes. "I've travelled to many countries because of my modelling work but not to India. It would be great to visit such a magnificent country," Kossatz said. — IANS
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Prize concern
Maharashtra Government plans to present the Raj Kapoor Lifetime Achievement Award to actress Rekha and honour Aamir with the Raj Kapoor Memorial Award for Special Contribution, in a ceremony to be held in Pune on May 30. "Rekha has assured us that she would be present at the awards night and we are keeping our fingers crossed that Aamir also attends," the official said. The V Shantaram Award, instituted by Maharashtra Government, would be presented to veteran lyricist Jagdish Khebudkar and actor-director Mahesh Kothare. —
PTI |
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I Sore
Farhan Akhar's song for Tony D'Souza's underwater thriller Blue that composer A.R. Rahman has decided to record at the last minute might get stalled a bit as the director-actor-singer is suffering from a sore throat.
Farhan developed a sore throat while shooting for his latest Kartik Calling Kartik in a dry humid studio here. "And I'm hugely allergic to dust. My throat has gone bad at a time when I least needed my voice to go bad. Working in dusty studios and singing just don't go hand-in-hand. I guess I'll just have to live with it," Farhan, who debuted as a signer and actor with Rock On!, said. "'Kartik Calling Kartik' is my most gruelling role to date. It requires a lot of physical action," he added. There were no plans to use Farhan's vocals in Blue. But then Rahman, who really liked Shankar-Ehsan-Loy's tunes in Rock On!, wanted to incorporate his vocals in the movie. "Rahman has approached me and yes, I'm singing for him. It's a club-based song and I guess my voice goes well with the smoky mood," he said. Farhan admits it's a leap ahead for him as a singer. In 'Rock On!, I sang for myself. Now I'll get to sing for someone else and that too a song composed by Rahman. Yeah, I guess it's a leap forward." But for that Farhan will have to first wait till his throat is normal. Blue stars Akshay Kumar, Sanjay Dutt, Zayed Khan, Lara Dutt and Katrina Kaif. It also features Australian pop singer Kylie Minogue in an item number .—
IANS |
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Can and unable
"I was here not only to read excerpts from my book but meet directors or producers. Nobody has phoned. Not one...actually that's inaccurate... One phoned Lijin (his assistant in India) and he had never directed a film in his life and one phoned me and said, “I think we could do this for quarter of a million'...God, got rid of him pretty quickly," Archer said during an interview in New Delhi on Tuesday. "I haven't approached anyone ... and no one's approached me. Nobody. I wouldn't know who to approach, to be honest. I don't know that world (Bollywood). Nobody's talked to me...what is their problem? Why aren't they getting in touch with me?" he added in disappointment. Archer was here as a part of the five-city 'Landmark Jeffrey Archer Tour' from May 11-19 to promote Paths of Glory and scout for an "ideal director or producer who could very convincingly and skillfully transform" his novel into a movie. The novel is based on the real-life story of George Mallory, who some say was the first person to climb Mount Everest, the world's highest peak, even before Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary. Ignored by Indian filmmakers so far, the 69-year-old king of racy fiction said he does have some leads in Hollywood. "I've written the screenplay for Paths of Glory and Bruce Beresford, whose film Driving Miss Daisy (1989) won an Oscar, wants to make the film. I'd like to find a producer, I'd like to find the money...but I'm not having a lot of luck so far. I'd love to make it," he said, chewing the ear hooks of his prim glasses in thought. Archer, who had been a Conservative MP before he was jailed, revealed his plans of a Hollywood-Bollywood "collaboration" for a film based on Paths of Glory. "It's a natural Hollywood-Bollywood film...a collaboration would be ideal...all natural Hollywood razzmatazz and you get to go to India. It'd be better to go to Everest than another mountain," explained the man who has also penned novels like Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less, Kane and Abel and The Prodigal Daughter. So will the movie be bilingual? "No. Not interested. It is an English film. It is an Englishman we are talking about. We can't have a Hindi-speaking George Mallory climbing the mountain,” he said. Did he follow Bollywood? Archer replied with a prompt ‘no’. He later acknowledged he had heard of Shah Rukh Khan, but admitted complete ignorance about Amitabh Bachchan. What are his other plans? Archer has on his plate a revised version of Kane and Abel, a collection of short stories called "And Thereby hangs a Tale" and an untitled novel. — IANS |
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Parting ways
The worst reconciliation is better than the best divorce, proclaimed Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, the Spanish writer, notable for his work Don Quixote. While it’s a common knowledge that divorce affects one emotionally, financially and spiritually, yet, the dreaded ‘D’ word is only making its presence felt strongly than ever before. What makes the couple that has entered the bond of matrimony, with a commitment to spend a lifetime together, part ways? Though the divorce rate in India is still amongst the lowest as compared to the world over, it is rising steadily. While the current stats put it at 1.1 percent (around 11 marriages in a thousand end in separation), it’s still a sharp rise as compared to 7.4 per cent in 1990. The section break ups are even more astounding. Recent survey shows that in Delhi the divorce rate has doubled in last four years. In the financial capital of the country, Mumbai, for every five weddings registered from 2002 to 2008, family courts received two applications for divorce. Bangalore saw 1,246 divorce cases filed in IT sector alone in 2006. Punjab and Haryana, both agricultural states, saw an increase of 150 per cent in the last decade. The figure for the most literate state of the country Kerala stands at 350 per cent. Is this the sign of rupturing of traditional Indian society fabric or the new sense of freedom, the women folk is experiencing? We talk to a cross section of city crowd to know more. Kanchan Sharma, a designer from Panchkula, attributes the spurt in divorce cases on the fast-changing society. “Today’s generation is extremely self-centred. Sacrifice and adjustment are alien to them. Add to it, the rising economic independence. The physical bond that tied the couple together is no more exclusive to marriage. I have seen people breaking up marriage on the flimsiest of excuses,” she says. “I understand the fact that a relationship becomes a burden once it starts taking its toll on your physical and emotional being. But the focus should be on maintaining the relation rather than walking out,” she adds. Lack of faith in each other is compounding the woes of couples, feels Surinder Verma, chairman of Citizen Awareness Group. “We are living in times where there is no trust. Husband doesn’t have faith on wife. Similarly, she is not ready to trust him. In such a scenario, lifelong relationships are impossible,” he says, adding that the negative trend has an adverse psychological impact on kids. Bhavna, a resident of Sector 44, agrees. “Divorce definitely has a detrimental effect on kids. They grow up with a vengeance against society and have difficulty adjusting in a role of a spouse,” she asserts. Bhavna feels it is very important to instill values among kids so that they are able to respect and understand importance of relationships in their lives. However, Dhruv Thakur, a software professional with Vertex, considers divorce a better option than staying in a bad marriage. “Times have changed. Earlier, in joint families the elders used to ensure that the couple stays together. But with the nuclear family becoming a norm, couples don’t want to compromise on their individuality. If they feel a relationship is getting cumbersome for them, they don’t mind moving ahead,” he adds. Consulting psychiatrist Dr Simmi Waraich refers to the rising divorces a result of changing social structure: “Society has undergone a tremendous change where in the role models are John-Bipasha, Saif -Kareena. The media eulogises them and for youngsters whatever they do is the ‘done thing’. So marriage is losing its charm in a world where living together is norm and divorce no stigma.” But still divorces cannot be justified. We as counsellors always suggest to give marriage another chance. If that’s not possible the effort should be to make the process as amicable as possible for the sake of children who undergo the ordeal for no fault of their own.” mona@tribunemail.com Divorce rate Country %age U S A 54.8
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Stressed times
The Ranchi Institute of Neuro Psychiatry and Allied Sciences (RINPAS), one of the oldest mental hospitals in the country has recorded a sharp rise in the number of mental patients. In the last eight years, the number of such mental patients has increased thrice. According to the experts, mental patients are mostly among the poor sections of society, farmers and rural people. They say that the sole reason lies in anxiety and pressure, which occurs due to excess intake of alcohol and drugs. “When a person is sitting idle, his mind starts working a lot and he keeps on thinking which increases tensions and problems. During the time of merrymaking for the farmers after the cutting of crops, celebrations are done with food and drink. People indulge themselves in alcohol and drugs and thus it becomes the prime reason behind the increasing number of patients,” said Amul Ranjan Singh, Head of Psychiatry Department, Ranchi Institute of Neuro Psychiatry and Allied
Sciences. Most of the patients come from Bihar where unemployment and dissatisfaction are the prime cause of anxiety and tension among the farmers. Students hardly have any facilities for higher studies and youth are unemployed. Ironically, Bihar does not have a single hospital for such mental patients. The director of the RINPAS feels that government should start concentrating on the medication of mental patients as their numbers have started increasing in Ranchi. “Mental patients can be treated but it needs a long period of medication. In that case, there should be one unit in every hospital of an area or district from where these patients can get medicines. Government should now also concentrate on the medication of such mental patients the way it concentrates on other chronic illness,” said A K Naag, Director, RINPAS.Mental illness is still considered a taboo in India.
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ANI
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Shower gain
The study found that employees takin ur businesses - ad agency Home, in Leeds, restaurant The Chancery, in L ondon, architects and designers, in London, and Simone Perele UK, a lingerie company in Surrey - saw an overall boost in productivity and creativity of 42 per cent and 33 per cent respectively. Lucre said that during a control period of four weeks, staff recorded how they were feeling throughout the working day. Then, workers spent a further month taking a minimum of one shower break a day, while filling in questionnaires rating among other criteria if they felt more productive or creative. Sam Walsh, an employee at Home who participated in the study, said: “I found that showering gave me some peace and quiet, being away from the ringing phones in the office was great for mulling over ideas. “I even came up with a great new TV ad idea for one of our clients while I was in there. As well as helping me get a fresh perspective on things, I also found it a great pick-me-up on the days when I felt tired.” Nicholas Patterson, general manager of The Chancery, said: “Our staff members are on their feet for long shifts in what is a hot and hectic environment. “Shower breaks made sure they took time away from the restaurant to refuel and freshening up their feet with a shower also offered them physical benefits ” Lucre conducted the survey for client Mira Showers. — ANI
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How come some of us really enjoy the company of people while others seem so detached and independent? Cambridge University researchers have discovered that someone’s warmth or sentimentality may depend on the structure of their brain. Maël Lebreton and colleagues from the Cambridge University department of psychiatry, along with Oulu University, Finland, examined the relationship between personality and brain structure in 41 male volunteers. “Patients with certain psychiatric conditions often experience difficulties in feeling emotional closeness.It could be that the cause of these difficulties is at least partly due to brain structural features of those disorders,” said Murray. —IANS
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Relatively Speaking
Choose well
S.K. Khosla Practice restraint
Gurmit Singh Confide in parents
Iqbal Kaur |
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You know everything there’s to know about how Paris Hilton parties, where Rooney went clubbing or the caviar, canapés menu of Michael Adams’ anniversary bash to even whom did Queenie Dhody leave out from her list! While the ‘current affairs and general knowledge’ in question can be credited to Google, paparazzi and wiki-world, there’s something they didn’t tell you. Here’s flipping the diaries of guys who ensure you have a good time, grand memories and a great party. From playing the console, security concerns to chucking out those ‘too tipsy to hold the drink,’ they do it all! C’mon admit it…you never thought of them. At least not: hey, how do they party? Their idea of unwinding? How they live it up? Let’s find out!
Extreme it will be, and understandably so. Describing the other end. “We don’t want to go anywhere near the disc or party, don’t even feel like looking that side because it feels like work,” shares MC Mehtab. He’s been into compering, hosting and doing events in the Capital for, as he calls it, “decades now.”
Aamir Khan is known for shunning awards functions but the state government is expecting the actor to make an exception for the Maharashtra State Awards ceremony.
The actor has given his consent to the award but has conveyed to us that he has film shooting commitments for May 30, a senior State Government official said.
Every book of his has been on bestseller lists in the last 30 years and he has been one of the most read contemporary English authors in India, but when it came to adapting his latest novel Paths of Glory into a film, Jeffrey Archer says he is surprised to not to have found any takers in India.
Increasing number of cases of people suffering from psychological ailments has been recorded Ranchi. Mounting tension of studies, limited number of technical and professional institutes, unemployment, consumerism and cutthroat competition are causing enormous pressure on people from different walks of life. Such pressure is increasing the anxiety and tension among people.
Want to make your employees more productive and creative? Well, then allow them to take shower during the working day. That’s the conclusion of a new study, which involved four businesses - a restaurant, an architect firm, an advertising agency and a lingerie company. All the firms took part in the eight-week study. In addition to their usual daily wash, staff took a shower break - and results showed improvement across a range from mood to productivity
Dating is a common trend today. When both sexes are mingling at work or colleges, it is bound to happen. But not many of such relationship see positive outcomes. In such scenario, first of all an individual is responsible towards self. Any failed relationship leaves its negative impact. Choosing a partner should not be a spur of the moment decision. One needs to take in to consideration factors like qualifications, career, family background, personality as they matter a lot when it comes to spending a lifetime together. Taking parents in to confidence only helps as they have undergone the experiences of life and can guide one well from time to time.
Dating is a culture alien to Indian society. There is no record of any mention of any dating either during the period of Mughals or during British India. It does not mean that it is its weakness or backwardness, rather a plus point as the people had pristine pure thoughts and respect for their respective faiths which teaches us to be sincere, loyal and obedient to our parents and practice abstinence. However, now dating is a common practice amongst the youth. All I can say is that it not being consistent with our culture if not much the youth should refrain from any public display of affection. I would recommend youth to abstain from romantic relationships till get
married. 
In today’s time of globalisation, it’s natural to get influenced by different cultures. However, I would sill recommend that kids take parents in to confidence. Instead of the prejudice that the older generation would not understand them, young people should try and open up. This will not help them choose the right direction but also ensure their safety and provide emotional support in this mad bad world.