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www.kamalhaasan.com

Kamal Haasan. Click for bigger pic!

Hey, that's for real. Kamal Haasan's been on the Net since October 1 and we didn't even know it. This item is essentially to inform those of you who haven't been there, considering he's already had 22,258 visitors since then, going by his counter.

It's also the right place for fans to learn that he is planning an English version of his Marudanayagam and that a foreign company is looking into the casting for the film. Rumour has it that Kate Winslett may star in the film. But that's just a rumour. Kamal is reverting back to his original idea of a bilingual film, a plan he'd dropped.

But if one film personality takes the cake for cyberfriendliness though, it is Kamal's niece Suhasini, who sets off with a Java applet that clarifies that she is not an actress, director, producer, dialogue writer or activist but "a cyberjunkie... Like you."

Exuberant, that would be the mot juste, don't you think? There's more off the stuff within, about how her passion for computers grew after she saw her three-year-old son play Solitaire, how she bought a laptop for herself and Mani (director husband Mani Rathnam) on their anniversary... The works.

Arjun Sarja too has put himself up on the Net, but, like Kamal Haasan, it's essentially about business. The films he did, his biography if fans would like to read it... Well, things like that.

Interested? Go on... But after you read this through.

Wax factor

Twinkle Khanna. Click for bigger pic!

Twinkle Khanna's really burning the candle at both ends. She's got her job to handle -- fortunately, it's not too strenuous -- and she's managing her own candle factory.

While a candle with a Twinkle is an odd sight, that even Dimple is involved is even stranger.

The rumour is that whenever one calls for Twinkle, the novel excuse provided is that "Madam candle bana rahi hai."

Since she was twiddling her fingers for a long time after Itihaas, rolling some wax between them wouldn't be a bad idea.

Now why is mom Dimple too encouraging her to emboss her name in paraffin instead of blazoning it across the marquee? Especially when award-winning-film-makers like Rituparno Ghosh and Kalpana Lajmi have been coaxing her into doing roles for them?

No idea, all we know is that it isn't yet because she can't pay the electricity bills. Though she might be putting up something to compete with Madame Tussauds.

Juhi's a bad girl now

Juhi Chawla. Click for bigger pic!

Juhi Chawla becomes the next heroine to play vamp. Come to think of it, there haven't been many, barring the odd Amrita Singh and Lalitha Pawar.

Apparently it's an effort to cast off her sweet, girl-next-door image. Would add variety to her reminiscences when she retires from films, it appears.

The terrible role is opposite Sunny Deolin Guddu Dhanoa's next film. The heroine is yet to be finalised. Chance, mebbe, of another good/bad double role, you think?

Nagma returns to Bollywood

Naghma. Click for bigger pic!

There were a rash of reports recently that that Nagma was getting married. She didn't, and she went to clarify the point with anybody who raised it.

The heroine, who shifted successfully from Hindi films to southern movies, told us the same thing.

"Sorry to disappoint you but I am not in a hurry to get married now. I need quite some time before I become a housewife and start doing domestic work," she said.

For now all Nagma's done is to shift base back to Bombay. In her first innings in the city, she worked with stars like Sanjay Dutt, Salman Khan, Ajay Devgan and Akshay Kumar.

"Give me a fortnight and I will be able to give you the details of the new films I sign here. As you can see, I have worked hard on my appearance and have shed all the extra kilos that are required in the south."

Bites in the twilight zone

Neha. Click for bigger pic!

She's either Neha or Shabnam -- we aren't quite sure yet what is her screen name and what her parents dubbed her sometime around the time she bounced out into the world as a squalling bundle -- but the lady was not present at the party organised for the music release of her first film, Kareeb. And Bobby Deol hogged the limelight.

So why didn't she turn up? Because director Vidhu Vinod Chopra bit her hand.

If those eyebrows rise, use those internal hydraulics to bring them down. For it's not quite what you'd think.

Happens the director wanted to shoot a particular shot at Parashar Lake at twilight, where the light is right for just 15 minutes. But Neha/Shabnam messed up, sticking out the wrong hand during one of those very effusive bits. Twice. Wiping out two days of work.

The third day, before she could repeat her mistake (as confirmed on http://www.vinodchopra.com/perfect/magic.htm) VVC went and bit into the hand he wanted to go horizontal.

"The one that hurts," he told her. She stuck it out all right though she clearly wasn't pleased.

When sound ain't music

Hema Sardesai. Click for bigger pic!

Hema Sardesai, the girl, who made her name with the Awaara Bhawra number from Sapnay, has still to learn how not to shoot off her mouth.

The trouble was about Ashok Ghai's Shyam Ghanshyam, two songs of which were composed by Tabun. When Ghai tossed Tabun out, he claimed the songs were the products of replacementVishal Bharadwaj, though VB tacitly avoided comment on the matter.

Then Hema let the cat out before a massive audience when she said that the song Aandhi Hai Jaandhi Hai which she had sung for Tabun in Shyam Ghanshyam would work wonders for her career.

That was when the press discovered something was up.

Last heard, the girl is still trying to untangle foot and tongue.

Bollywood Flash!

Manisha Koirala. Click for bigger pic!

Aditya Chopra has signed on Manisha Koirala opposite Shah Rukh Khan in his next film.

-- V S Srinivasan