Open fields with lush crops, a village soaked in tradition, a posh bungalow in Chandigarh, the third phase of Rock Garden…to the sand dunes of Dubai, waterfalls in Canada, amusement parks in England, Disneyland, skyscrapers of New York…the local (Hindi and Punjabi) film industry has moved out to chic locations outside the country.

And it does not matter if the script is based in rural Punjab; one song with the ice-capped mountains of Switzerland in the background is still a must! Or, the actor can be packed off to Canada (topping the exotic locales chart with the Punjabi cinema) to work in a swanky restaurant!

Off late, however, the lure of 'exotic locales' is falling. Chandigarh has witnessed more than one shooting in a day, which validates the point. And here arises the need for more, better and well-equipped studios in Chandigarh. At present the city has only two — Jaspal Bhatti's Mad Arts Film School and Dara Studios. With moviemakers from Bollywood panning out towards Punjab, we can of course do with many more.

Offers Amrik Randhawa, manager, Dara Studios, Mohali, who looks at revival of Punjabi film industry as a good time to work on film studios. "With movie-makers zeroing in on Chandigarh and nearby areas, studios can play a major role in facilitating them in terms of space and equipment," he puts in, adding that the government should understand the entire movie-making process and allow the studios to upgrade themselves.

"Dara Studios ran for a good three-four years after it was opened in 1978 by my father Dara Singh. We shot our in-house Punjabi movies here. But after the death of Punjabi actor Virender, the studio's functioning came to standstill. Also, Punjabi films didn't have the standard for shoots in studios at that time," says Amrik.

Amrik Randhawa and his brother Vindu Dara Singh are now revamping the studio's image after almost 15 years. "The studio has all kinds of facilities - lights, make up rooms," shares Amrik. And this isn't it. He adds, "We need to equip this place with a restaurant and staying facilities so that it is a 'one stop' place for movie-makers coming from outside. Recently, many singers have recorded their songs, and movies like Ek Noor and Lions of Punjab have been shot in the studio. We need studios on the lines of the ones in Delhi and Mumbai. What's the point of investing in a studio when we do not have certain permissions?"

The Film City project fizzled out, but Chandigarh still remains, in fact, has grown as a favourite choice for movie- makers from Punjab as well as Bollywood.

Another studio promoting movie-making is Jaspal Bhatti's Mad Arts Film School. What started as a 'Joke Factory' in Mohali has now taken the shape of Mad Arts Film School, which offers all kinds of facilities for indoor shoots. "Air- conditioned sound-proof rooms, lights, cameras, make-up rooms, costumes, video-editing lab…we have it all here," says Jasraj Bhatti, who heads the creative department at the school. "Miss Pooja's videos, our production Thankyou Jija ji, and some movies have also been shot here," he adds.

But Jasraj differs when asked about the need for more studios in and around the city. "Filmwallas coming from Bollywood carry their own infrastructure and they mostly like to shoot in the outdoors. Those who want space want a set of their choice, which can be managed pretty well in Mumbai too. We want to promote local talent and help people here. Otherwise, we have enough space for shooting purpose."

Even though movies like Veer Zaara, Namastey London and Singh Is Kinng have been shot in and around Chandigarh at outdoor locales, the need for a well-equipped state-of-the-art studio cannot be ruled out. Nods actor Sonu Sood. "With Chandigarh and Punjab growing as wanted movie destinations, we definitely need some good places to shoot. Something on the lines of the kind of studios we have in Mumbai. This will pull in more directors and producers from all over, which will help generate more revenue for the city," he says.

jasmine@tribunemail.com

What's with the rock night? Name a student fest that doesn't have the "head-banging event" to usher in the crowds.

The posters are in place, so is the other promotion material; the events decided, sponsors lined up, venues reserved, schedule listed, even a singer night advertised, but something's amiss. Not till a couple band names make it to the promotional posters.

The latest one to have one was University Institute of Chemical Engineering and Technology for Cyanide '10. Didn't everyone chorus, "It was a hit." Along with the event, here's a brief introduction (for the uninitiated) to the groups that performed.

Area 231

They are the winners! For the Cyanide rock night, that is. So here's beginning with them. "We have won several other competitions as well. Last November at PecFest, we were the finalists," Adhiraj, the drummer lists the achievements. Which are, by the way, quite a lot for a seven- month old band. " He adds, "Actually, we all are from the same school." He's talking of Ramit, the bassist, Vidur, the vocalist and Mihir, the guitarist as well. As for the night in question, some of their own compositions and a couple of covers "on the audience demand" did the trick for this alternate/funk band.

4 Days After

Quite an interesting lot. There are four of them. The best part, it is just four days old and that's where they got the name from. The rest, as they say, is history and also self-explanatory. Shares Samaj, the bassist, "We are all chemical engineering students and one of us is from UIET and it was our joint idea, we were like we have to form the band and perform at the event." Vivek, the lead guitarist, Shwetang, the vocalist and Gaurav, the drummer are the other people of this classic rock group. He adds, "We just performed two cover songs and it was our first event."

The first performance, the maiden rush, the debut pangs…what did they have? He laughs, "It was amazing, we did a couple of mistakes but that was not due to the lack of practice but because we were so overtaken with excitement and sudden rush of being among the audience." That happens!

Am I Right?

Yeah, that's right, that's the name. Laughs Sushant, the bassist, "We are basically a two-month old band. All of us were sitting and discussing what name to give the band till one of the members comes up with it and everybody says cool." Cool. He adds, "We've already performed at Cyanide, Chitkara fest, at an institute in Tangori…"

And yes, they too are standard four in number, with Taijas on the vocals, Abhijeet, the guitarist and Neeraj, the drummer. "We are all in different colleges across the city and we are a live punk band. Punk is an aggressive genre and we mix a little bit of technicalities into it. We want people to enjoy our music."

manpriya@tribunemail.com

A new study by Surrey University researchers has found that the centuries-old tradition of putting male names before female names in writing is a remnant of sexist thinking.

According to researchers, letters beginning with 'Dear Sir/Madam' and references to 'Mr and Mrs' is sexist hangover from past centuries when men were considered superior to women.They point out that the practice of referring to a couple as 'David and Sarah' instead of 'Sarah and David' and phrases like 'his and hers' date back to 16th century sexism.

Scientists discovered that the habit of using such phrases was in-built, and was even followed by same-sex couples where the name thought to be more masculine was used first.Researchers say the tradition began in the 16th century when men were thought to be 'worthier' than women.

While most people today do not identify with this line of thought, they still continue in a pre-programmed fashion to name the male partner first.Dr Peter Hegarty and his team carried out a series of tests for the British Journal of Social Psychology. First they made up 20 heterogeneous couples using the most popular male and female names.

Thereafter, they searched the Internet for both combinations, such as 'David and Sarah' and 'Sarah and David'.Of all the mentions they found, 79 per cent were for combinations where the boy was named first and 21 per cent where the girl's name appeared first.In a further test, 121 volunteers were given information about two fictitious couples, one created to be traditional and conformist, the other more radical and offbeat, and asked to give them names.

The majority of the 'traditional' couples were given the male name first, whereas there was an even split with the 'non-traditional' couple.In a third test, 86 participants were asked to think of names for same-sex couples and then to describe the persona of each partner, such as sporty or fashionable, muscular or feminine. When the names were matched with the personality traits, the researchers saw a clear majority had written the more masculine of the pair first.

"In the 16th century, naming men before women became the acceptable word order to use because of the thinking that men were the worthier sex. While the original sexist ideas behind this grammar are no longer accepted, gender stereotypes still affect the written language," the Scotsman quoted Dr Hegarty, as saying. — ANI 

Cyanide, last day…it's still on and students from the University Institute of Chemical Engineering and Technology are at it again. All set with the pavilion, the stage, the venue.

Pretty early in the afternoon and the stalls are still a little empty, crowds yet missing. The scene is yet to pick up and the hooting, shrieking, yelling, usual characteristics of a student carnival, yet to begin.

Never mind, the events are lined up for the day, the list runs long and the schedule is heavy. There's Antakshri, the blend of singing songs-cum-scrabble competition, there's lan-gaming continuing from the previous two days, a solo dance competition, business quiz and that's not it.

There's haath ki safai, a kind of handwriting competition, signature movement, mystic poets, cyanide idol, desi roadies, click-n-grab, tap-o-rhythm, adjineers (ad-making competition), mock the rock. Shares a student, "In mock the rock, you are just supposed to imitate the rock stars while the music is played in the background." Moving on, there's the Sarcasm Society, where the teams are supposed to insult each other; and nukkad natak and suicide note writing.

Shares Bhavika Syal, second-year student, "This is just to add fun element to the event. Initially it was supposed to be love letter writing, but on popular demand they twisted it to suicide note writing."

The fete area events include, couple cricket, kick wicket, graffiti tiles, hit the dart, break the stack, spoon race, catch the egg, sack race, drink mania, tug-of-war, tarot card reading etc etc.

The crowds are, somehow, still missing. Says Bhavika, "All our stalls are sold but somehow they haven't turned up as yet. It'll pick up a little later in the day." She adds, "All our evening events are fully attended and are a hit, it's only during the day that it's a little subdued. That could also be because our entire event this time is being held on working days." — Manpriya Khurana 

People of a wealthy nation may be addressing more miseries amid fattening economy, say experts. Curtis Eaton, University of Calgary, and Mukesh Eswaran, University of British Columbia, pointed out that while the rich with busting bank accounts may be able to afford the latest, the chunk of the population, without similar fortune, were more unhappy by their inability to match the same standards of living.

The economists explained objects are attached with greater significance in bulging economies and people with limited sources, in their bid to keep up with the wealthy, are left less happy even if there has been an increase in their wealth, the Telegraph reported.

The researchers argued this could take a toll on the nation's sense of "community and trust", making a nation collectively worse off.

They said: "These goods represent a 'zero-sum game' for society: they satisfy the owners, making them appear wealthy, but everyone else is left feeling worse off."Conspicuous consumption can have an impact not only on people's well-being but also on the growth prospects of the economy." The term "conspicuous consumption" was penned by the 19th century Norwegian-American economist Thorstein Veblen, who explained it as a method by which people seek to set themselves apart.

The Canadian research has been published in the Economic Journal. — ANI

A senior Chinese translator has warned that common use of English words in everyday Chinese is ruining the language. Huang Youyi, chairman of the International Federation of Translators, has criticised usage of words such as okay, bye-bye, nice, modern and guitar.

"If we do not pay attention and we do not take measures to stop Chinese mingling with English, Chinese will no longer be a pure language in a couple of years," he says.

"Some of our people think that using foreign words is a sign of being open-minded and international. I do not think so. Instead, we should have confidence in our own language."

However, Gu Yuego, a researcher at the Institute of Linguistics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, does not agree to Youyi's argument.

He said: "If we cleaned out all the borrowed words, less than half of modern Chinese will be left. Borrowing words from other languages is a global phenomenon. It is a positive sign of cultural exchange and assimilation. There is no way that China can close the door on this." — ANI 

Year 1948, venue Empire Stadium, Wembley, and here's replaying the ultimate match ever. The Indian hockey team enters the Olympic roll of honour and all they played was the sport; all they played for was the nation.

Sorry to say, but no mincing words, comparatively, the majority of sportspersons in any field today are jukebox performers!

"We're talking of 1948 when India was hardly out of partition. Add to it Punjab in the middle of turmoil. And playing around that time in the Olympic finals and that too not in your hometown but theirs, and then winning, speaks volumes about their dedication for the sport and the country," Sunil Yash Kalra, sports consultant, sports film-maker talks of the idea and the inspiration behind his latest docu-drama 'Nerves of Steel, Hearts of Gold'.

He questions, "Did you know that half of the Britishers started cheering for the Indian team?"

Six years of research, five years of shooting, three different countries, seven different cities and the 52-minute documentary, itself a result of sheer passion, aims to put across the world the real heroes, the rare pearls. "Around seven years ago when I started with hockey marketing, I discovered that these guys were not just skillful players but daredevils, and brilliant human beings."

The film focuses on four surviving members of the victorious Indian team. It recounts their experiences in England, their stay at London, the grand opening ceremony, the finals against the Great Britain and, yes, the euphoria of the Olympic gold.

"Balbir Singh from Chandigarh was one of the members of the team. He's 87 and still absolutely perfect," Sunil touchwoods, and adds "Shooting them was sheer joy…You see, the concept of celebration of sportspersons, the real heroes is not there. In America, they have sports colleges, scholarships, a culture…they have movies on coaches."

Unfortunately, it was way steeper than an uphill task for his self-funded passion. "Getting the facts right and researching took a lot of time; it's a very time-investing thing, no wonder not many venture into the genre." "In the official book of Olympics, one of the names was not right and nobody from India raised an objection," Sunil casually shows his thick pile of research papers.

And what does he think of the performance of the Indian hockey team in the recent World Cup? "Whatever the problems, India has come up from 11th to the 8th position. Personally and professionally, I can do things for them. Like I got them to endorse handicrafts. Now, as a filmmaker, it's for me to tell a story."

As for the film and the forgotten past, the film will be previewed in India during the Commonwealth Games. Come, relive and rediscover the glory.

manpriya@tribunemail.com

Noted film editor Deepa Bhatia, whose latest work includes My Name Is Khan, says Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan chooses to act in "mediocre" films despite being a gifted actor.

Deepa, who has been awarded for editing films like Aamir Khan's Tare Zameen Par and Rock On, said it was a discovery for her to see the real actor in Shah Rukh while editing My Name Is Khan.

"Honestly I am no SRK fan but then he was so sincere in MNIK which was amazing to see. It was a discovery for me to find the actor in Shah Rukh Khan. I fail to understand why he chooses to act in mediocre film," Deepa said.

" Whether he is just not interested or there is something else because he has also given some spectacular performances in films Chak De! India and Swades," she added. Deepa, wife of writer-actor Amol Gupte, said the filmmakers today have finally started to wake up to the tool of editing which puts the heart of the film at the right place.

She has chosen a variety of films to be shown on UTV world movies as she is the 'Editor of the Month' for the channel. — PTI

Bollywood actor Dia Mirza, who will be next seen in Hum Tum Aur Ghost said she could not believe when friend and co-star Arshad Warsi kept his word and cast her as the female lead in his upcoming home production Hum Tum Aur Ghost."I was content with guest appearances and was convinced that only such roles would come my way, if not wholesome characters. But when Arshad and Maria offered me the lead role in their upcoming home production Hum Tum Aur Ghost I was overwhelmed...I could not believe.. he kept his word," Dia said."When we finished working with Lage Raho Munnabhai, Arshad told me even though my role was small, I did a fantastic job and that he would surely love to cast me in his home production. 

I thought he just said it and will forget it," Dia said."Arshad told me he thought I have not been given my due and that he loved my work," she said.Dia has done a lot of guest appearances in films including Shootout at Lokhandwala, Lage Raho Munna Bhai, Om Shanti Om, Heyy Babyy (special appearance), Kurbaan and Luck By Chance recently.Hum Tum Aur Ghost, which also stars Boman Irani and Sandhya Mridul in significant roles, releases on March 26 and is directed by Kabeer Kaushik. — PTI 

Bollywood bigwigs from Amitabh Bachchan to Salman Khan have come together to present Star CINTAA Superstars ka Jalwa, an entertainment extravaganza, which will raise money for the welfare of Cine and TV artistes.

Star India Network along with Cine and TV Artistes Association (CINTAA) have come together to present the charitable contribution which will provide the association's members with medical services, rehearsal halls and preview theatres.

"I am very happy to be here and be a part of this spectacular event that will not only entertain the audience but will also encourage a noble cause. I have been a part of Bollywood for over 20 years now and I owe every bit of my success to this Industry," Salman said.

"Through this show, I want to express my gratitude to the cine artistes and do my bit in raising funds for the welfare of CINTAA members," the actor added.

Actor Mithun Chakraborthy, chairman, Cine Artists Welfare Trust, said, "We thank all our Cine artistes and STAR Plus in making this event possible and contributing towards this cause." Spanning over a period of six weeks the show will feature biggest superstars of cinema such as Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Aamir Khan and Akshay Kumar along with television stars. It will be telecast on Star Plus every Sunday from March 21. — PTI