Way to a man’s art

There is one thing about the Kapoors: they don’t give up. Take Sanjana, Shashi and Jennifer’s daughter. Having inherited the Kapoor-Kendal love for theatre, Sanjana has been doing her best to ensure that crowds throng the Prithvi drama festival that she has been organising for several years now. This year, Kapoor is contemplating setting up stalls selling Delhi’s street food at the theatre venue in the capital. The only problem is that Sanjana wants to have a kiosk offering Nihari, traditionally a breakfast meal of a hot and energising meat curry. Some well-wishers have, however, advised her against it. It won’t be an easy task to get Delhi’s chatterati — however dramatically or gastronomically inclined — to brave the city’s December fog and freezing temperature for an early morning meal. Kapoor, however, hasn’t yet given up the idea. Clearly, there are some people who believe that the way to a man’s art is through his stomach.

Game plan

Noodles have not been the same ever since the cricket world discovered Mandira Bedi. Bedi, whose comments on cricket on television were not quite as memorable as her noodle-strapped blouses, is a tough number to follow. But fashion diva Shonali Nagrani is not worried. Roped in by a television channel for the ongoing cricket tri-series in Malaysia as a commentator, Nagrani believes that she is just right for the job. But her clothes, she stresses, are going to be ‘sporty’. Nobody is quite sure what that means — but television viewers are keeping their fingers crossed. After all, sporty can be another word for Anna Kournikova.

In exile

In the autumn of their lives, few would like to live in exile. But Maqbool Fida Husain, who turned 91 last Sunday, has no choice. Home beckons — but it’s the home ministry that’s keeping him away. The ministry has been seeking to take legal action against him for his paintings of nude goddesses. Members of the country’s lunatic fringe have been mouthing rabid threats against him as well, forcing Husain to remain holed up in England. He has been there for nearly nine months now, and his son, artist Shamsad, says he is pining for India. “We were with him on his birthday, but his thoughts were back home,” says Shamsad.

The oomph factor

Old man Willie never met Mallika Sherawat — or he wouldn’t have made that careless comment about the worth of a name. The Bard would have known that the name Reena Lamba doesn’t have an iota of the oomph that’s packed in the pseudonym. Reena became Mallika because the young girl from Rohtak thought the latter sounded like a queen. This little nugget is to be found in the actress’s official website, called www. mallikasherawatwow.com. And that, again, tells us something about Mallika. Only she can add a ‘wow’ to her name — and get away with it. If Willie had met her, students of English literature would have one quote less to remember.