BIRDIES AND DRIVES

We hope it’s true that Deepika Padukone is starring in the Bollywood remake of Tamil hit Ghilli. Something needs to go right for her. Last week she was replaced as the face of Maybelline by innocuous Diana Penty. The story doing the rounds is that Padukone is too expensive for recession-hit Maybelline. Wonder how expensive that is. Meanwhile Anisha Padukone, Deepika’s 17- year-old sibling, is making some teeny-tiny waves as an amateur golfer. Golf has long been her game. Not a bad choice since it is unlikely to be affected by the whims of cosmetic companies.

BROWN STRIPS

Are we witnessing a mini-wave of Indian web comics? Besides the super-hot and entertaining Savita Bhabhi, a very different sort of Indian girl makes her appearance in Brown Girls. The online comic strip, conceived by USbased Deepa Sood and Monica Mehta, is funny, political and for now a little Obama-obsessed. The strip kicked up a storm by suggesting that NRIs would rather die than let their children date African-Americans. Delhi-based Saad Akthar’s comic Fly You Fools too has a wicked spot on the net. Just as political but far less politically correct, Akthar takes on everything from terrorism to Rock On. We want more!

MEMENTO FOR JIAH

Is Jiah Khan back? Oh, apparently she has never been gone. She is in Ghajini! And she is mad that no one is paying attention to her. Dear Jiah, there is Asin for us to obsess over and then we are trying to make up our minds about Aamir Khan’s new look. Do we giggle or do we gawk? Is it allowed to do both?

ILLNESS AS METAPHOR

Is no illness safe from Bollywood’s warm embrace? Following the arrival of Anil Kapoor’s genius disorder (in Yuvvaraaj) we have a new one to look forward to. Prawaal Raman, the director of Darna Mana Hai is making one about bipolar disorder. Happy Teacher’s Day traces the relationship between a professor and his student. Farooq Shaikh plays the professor. So far we don’t know which poor character (the teacher or the student) is to alternate between laughing hysterically and weeping pathetically, because we all know that those are the symptoms of all mental illness.

Compiled by NISHA SUSAN