It was the best possible anniversary gift they could have got. Thursday, December 21, is their first marriage anniversary and Tina and Hussain (picture above) bagged the Nach Baliye 2 trophy and Rs 20 lakh prize money to celebrate their big day. On Monday night, the couple outvoted Yash and Gouri Tonk to win the second edition of the popular STAR One dance competition.

“It still hasn’t sunk in, to be honest,” says Tina, who didn’t want to take part in the contest fearing that she would “pull down the brilliant dancer” in Hussain. “We also can’t believe that it’s all over.”

Hussain, the more familar face of the two and the lead of popular TV shows like Kumkum, attributes their win to the out-of-the-box concepts ideated by their two designated choreographers. “We just copied their expressions,” he says. “Of course, the audience support helped us right through.”

Both Tina and Hussain pick their Romance Round performance, where they grooved to Berang zindagi hai, as their favourite. “We changed our cute-cute image with that one performance,” says Tina. “I also liked the Bahon ke darmiyan performance, where we danced with ropes tied to our bodies.”

Having taken a breather from his daily serials, Hussain now has to fulfil his pending commitments while Tina decides whether she wants to take up acting or dancing as a profession. “At the moment, all we are looking forward to is a holiday in mid-January,” choruses the couple!

Adlabs in town

After monopolising the processing and post-production market in Mumbai and storming the scene in Chennai, Adlabs Films is now venturing into the Tollywood scheme of things.

Adlabs Films, a member of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, has already opened doors to its film-processing laboratory in Salt Lake and a high-end post-production set-up in Tollygunge’s Moore Avenue.

“There are only three regions which actually and consistently produce film content — the west, the south and the east,” Kapil Bagila, corporate head of strategic planning of Adlabs Films, tells Metro. “So coming to Calcutta was a natural step. And we have already got a very positive response.”

The Adlabs post-production facility will have telecine, Final Cut Pro and Avid editing suites. The services suite will also comprise dubbing and audio recording, a sophisticated sound recording studio with Dolby recording and mixing facilities, and also a Neve mixing console. The processing lab would also host a state-of-the-art Dolby preview theatre, again the first in Calcutta.

“We had many film-makers from here actually travelling to Mumbai to process their prints there since the government-owned unit at Rupayan is not really effective,” reveals Bagila. “Now with our Calcutta processing branch coming up, the makers, who work on tight budgets, will save a lot of money.”

Foster forum

VERY UNAMERICAN: Foster Hirsch

Foster Hirsch, film historian and academician with countless books on American films to his name, was in town recently talking on American melodrama at the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute. The tour organised by the American Center included stops at Chennai, Calcutta, Bhubaneswar and Thiruvananthapuram.

The differences in reactions of various cultures fascinate him, Foster said. The SRFTI students were reacting “the way the director would have wanted them to react” to the 1959 film Imitation of Life, unlike the modern-day American audience.

“People are embarrassed if they are caught crying in cinemas. Bollywood films make no sense to them because they can’t handle all that emotion.” Even Lagaan and Rang De Basanti can only attract the diaspora. The only Indian director to have had a lasting impact was Satyajit Ray. “Pather Panchali left me fantasising about India and I am glad I came,” said Foster.