People
AMITABH BACHCHAN
Deep throat
The fabled bass vocal chords of the big B are going to tremble in song again. Till now all his musical abilities had been channelised only into singing a few songs for his Hindi block-busters such as Silsila, Laawaris and Mr Natwarlal.
The chairman of ABCL is going to release his latest audio album called AB Baby by mid-August. The album, recorded in London, consists of various Hindi pop numbers sung by Bachchan himself.
The music is by the US-based singer, Bally Sagoo. Sagoo himself shot to fame with his remixd version of the song, Choli ke peeche. ABCL which recently launched its subsidiary audio company, Big B, will release this album.
What a long way Bachchan has come from his earthy ditty, Mere angane mein.
DALER MEHENDI
Top of the charts
Delhiites just had a dose of foot-stomping bhangra pop in a show that featured the new kid on the bhangra block, Daler Mehendi. Giving him company on the stage was Channel [V] veejay Javed Jafferi with his wisecracks and dozen-a-minute impersonations.
But it was bump and grind all the way at the show sponsored by Essar at Indira Gandhi Stadium. The show-stopper undoubtedly was Mehndi’s title track from his debut album Bolo Ta, Ra, Ra which, having sold over a million copies since its release, is now a cult anthem. In comparison, Javed seemed jaded. Maybe Delhiites are more physical than cerebral.
DOM MORAES
A telebreak
Dom Moraes is one of the pioneers of Anglo-Indian writing in India and his pellucid verse captured the imagination of a whole generation of midnight’s children in the country. Now the author is taking a sabbatical from penning Penguin forewords to script a four-part documentary for Channel 4 on Indian architecture.
Produced by Bobby Bedi who financed Bandit Queen, the serial will have also have a heavyweight anchor. Last heard, the choice had narrowed down to Ben Kingsley, Sean Connery and Peter Ustinov.
WISPY PARDIWALLA
A champ in the making
For 12-year-old Wispy Pardiwalla, it was a dream come true. When chess ace Viswanathan Anand needed 40 moves to defeat the young wonder, it was proof enough of Pardiwalla’s talent. Anand, played an exhibition match against five specially chosen chess whiz kids after he received the BPL Achiever of the World Award at the Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai recently. Pardiwalla has already notched up many impressive victories.
Remarked Anand of the fifth standard student, "He played really well. He has a bright future in the game, provided he works hard".
Watch out for Pardiwalla as he works his way across the chequered board.
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