Good intent, poor festival
Empty halls and haphazard schedules dampened the Chandigarh Film Festival as invitations never reached cinema buffs, says Nirupama Dutt
It is indeed heartening that the Chandigarh Administration has decided to put City Beautiful on the film festival map but the first attempt this weekend showed that this is certainly not the way to go about it. Granted that the intentions were good but the execution left a lot to be desired. Let’s hope that the organisers learn their lesson now that Administrator S.F. Rodrigues has announced that a mega international festival will be will be held in January 2008 when the city would have several multiplexes. Alas! It is not multiplexes that make for the success of a film festival but love of cinema, good planning and wooing movie lovers. All this was sadly absent in the maiden attempt when several government and non-government organisations have been successfully holding well-attended film festivals over the past three decades or so.

Rani le aayi baraat…
Scriptures say wedding is the union of two souls but the razzmatazz that accompanies this union is anything but spiritual. However, two youngsters Baljit Singh Brar and Simarjit Kaur, decided to remind us of the love and harmony that marriage is all about. Not in a big or happening town but in a sweet little village Khuddi Khurd in Barnala on Sunday December 10. Here the shy bride tiptoed into the groom’s house to marry him and make him her’s for life!

Thoda Bret, thodi Asha
Haan main Tumhara hoon, tumhara hi rahunga…… in broken Hindi, is how the famous pace bowler Bret Lee replies to Asha Bhonsle’s Kya tum Mere Ho ,mere hi rahoge? No prizes for any guesses. These are the opening lines of the duet sung by Asha and Bret Lee from her latest album Asha & Friends produced by Mauj and launched simultaneously across Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai, Delhi and Chandigarh through video conferencing.

FUSION MANTRA: Asha Bhonsle and Bret Lee

MATKA CHOWK
Signs of progress
I had finished shopping at the local fruit market and was about to get into my car, when I saw the sign – a bright, copper sign with a red Ashoka Chakra emblem embossed on it and bright letters stating – “Sarpanch – village Darau.” The sign was above the number plate of a new Maruti Zen parked nearby.

WRITE TO RENEE
Free your being
I am 32-year-old and married for the past eleven years. To people who see me on the outside I have this perfectly happy marriage, two wonderful kids, a very devoted husband and a good life. But deep inside of me, I feel extremely unhappy and discontent with my situation.

Yo.... here come the rappers
If we look into some of the most popular radio formats of the world, then we will surely come across Hip Hop which is in fact, nothing else but, an advanced version of a trend that swept America in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. Yes, it has its origins from ‘rap’ and from the word ‘rapid’.

Master of all
He is not a regular Page 3 guy. Go to the dance parties in clubs or even farmhouses across the city and you will seldom find him there tripping the light fantastic. Yet, Dr Tariq Imran’s name goes around the social circles every now and then. For, the young geography teacher makes news for one excellence or another.

MARCHING AHEAD: Dr Tariq Imran. — Photo by Pradeep Tewari

Sense and sensuality Pamper your senses,” says the brochure for the new Bourjois Spa that opened in sector 35-C on Saturday. Walking up the rose strewn staircase to the second floor, the first sense to be pampered is the sense of smell as a beautifully refreshing fragrance wafts up your nostrils. Upon entering the spa, the reception area that is done up in light and gentle colours, gives a very calming sensation after the hustle and stress of finding a space in the crowded parking below. The gorgeous Frainy Ahuja, second runner up in this year’s Mrs India pageant, inaugurated the spa. It boasts a range of luxurious relaxation and medical packages. Sitting pretty: Frainy Ahuja

FILM REVIEW
Sandy thrills
The third week of December 2006, brings one of the most awaited film Kabul Express, which opened at Neelam Chandigarh and Fun Republic Manimajra on Friday. Aditya Chopra for Yash Raj Films has produced it. The film is written and directed by well-known documentary film director Kabir Khan. A political thriller set in sandy locations of Afghanistan is based on Khan’s personal experience in Afghanistan. It brings out the heroics of two Indian journalists Jai Kapoor played by John Abraham and Suhel Khan by Arshad Warsi with Salman Shahid, Hanif Hum Ghum and Linda Aresenio to the sliver screen.

Linda Aresenio in Kabul Express

Health tip of the day

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