Ash apes Big B

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is a lady of many skills. The perfect home-maker and of course the professional actress.

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She also oversees her husband Abhishek’s professional diary. However, one hidden aspect of this light-eyed beauty came into fore the other day, when she did a perfect take off on her father-in-law, Amitabh Bachchan’s baritone. Ash aped her superstar dad-in-law’s deep voice and simultaneously paid him a huge compliment saying, “It is a voice that is unmistakable.” Of course Big B’s baritone has also been the voice of Indian cinema for the last 40-years. But Ash is too modest to say that.

It's Andheri in US

Not everyday do you hear of a Juhu lad who’s bagged a PhD in Economics from Stanford going on to pursue film-making. But then, when last did you

Susant Jain

hear of a short film with a Mumbai suburb as the backdrop doing the rounds of film festivals such as Clermont-Ferrand (France), Indian Film Festival of LA, Gulf Film Festival (UAE), South Asian Intl’ Film Festival (New York City), Edinburgh Film Festival (UK), among others.

Sushrut Jain’s Andheri is creating waves on the festival circuit.

The movie shows the strong impact Andheri has on a maid’s life. What influence do such suburbs have on the residents’ lives?
Urban life in most big Indian cities has become intensely oppressive, especially for the poor. The working underclass has to move mountains daily just to get through the day. The emotional impact is grave.

What kind of feedback has Andheri received?
Fantastic. At the Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival, locals (who saw Andheri with French subtitling) would confess how moved they were. A French lady begged me to make more films like this and not the typical song-dance stuff she always sees from India.

How does your economics background and moviemaking complement each other?
Economics helped me appreciate the socio-economic challenges of India. Being able to analyse concepts such as labour, class, economic opportunity etc makes you see your own society realistically. It also helps me stay realistic about my options as an artist.

How has Andheri, the suburb changed over the years?
During the 1980s, you could play cricket on the Juhu-Versova Link road. Today, that’s impossible. Even the idea of going for a walk seems silly!

What challenges did moviemaking pose?
A big challenge was convincing the BEST to let us have a bus and not charge us a huge amount. The GM of BEST helped us out. Getting the police and BMC permissions seemed too confusing initially, but we realised that finally, people do help you if they like you and like what you’re doing. We didn’t pay a single bribe in the process

Do the movie’s characters bear any resemblance to people you know?
Yes. Everything one writes usually is based on and inspired by what one has seen and experienced.

What next?
I intend to keep making movies set in India. My aim is to do in India what Walter Salles did in Brazil or Innaritu in Mexico - tell the world dramatic stories from my country, but maintain a firm grounding in reality.

Neil has no rules on Sunday

Actor Neil Nitin Mukesh loves his no exercise Sundays and likes spending it with family and

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friends...

Sundays off ... are not for me as I am mostly shooting. But if I get a Sunday off, I prefer packing in as much action as I can since it is my only day off. My day is divided into two parts. The first half, I spend with my family and the evenings are to have friends over for coffee or board games.

No working out ... on a Sunday. So waking up late is definitely on the agenda since I work on Saturdays. This is one day when I am allowed to indulge in ice-cream and chocolates.

Brunch is ... mostly at home. I wake up by noon and head straight for the brunch which my mother puts together. It has an assortment of items like fruit salad, crackers, pav bhaaji, dosa, all my favourites. Sometimes, I make a trip to Swati Snacks and dig into their delicious Gujarati fare.

I am currently reading ... A Face In The Dark by Ruskin Bond. I always prefer to read a book from start to finish and I only start a book when I know I can finish it. One book which has always inspired me is Shiv Khera's You Can Win. I always keep going back to this book.

I avoid ... meeting people on a Sunday. I like some space and the only people I prefer meeting are my friends. I go out for dinner in the evening but tend to wrap it up early. I like to start my Monday early.

I watch ... all genres of movies. I also watch a lot of television. I am eagerly waiting for the next season of Prison Break. I also finished watching the Lost
series.

Weekend getaways ... are mostly a drive to Amby Valley and Lonavala. But I prefer to stay overnight than just drive back and forth on the same day.

My best Sundays ... used to be my school days when we would stay up all night on Saturday with no restrictions of going to bed and waking up early the next day. Now, I look forward to meeting my friends on Sundays. We laugh, pull each other's legs and go for long drives.

Kat a modern day marvel: Amitabh

Megastar Amitabh Bachchan, who caught up with actors Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif on the sets of reality show "Bigg Boss 3" recently, is all

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praises for the latter and says she is a "modern day marvel".

"Katrina is a modern day marvel. From a non-Hindi speaking young shy and uncertain lady of 'Boom', she has grown and grown to become one of the most desired actresses in our fraternity," Amitabh posted on his blog.

While Amitabh hosts the reality show, Ranbir and Katrina had appeared to promote their film "Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani", which released Friday. "They (Ranbir and Katrina) were charming and involved and sweet. Ranbir as you all know is related to me. His cousin - Rishi Kapoor's elder sister's son is married to Shweta, my daughter. "I wished them happiness and success," he said.

In the meanwhile, Amitabh is himself busy charting the marketing plans of his forthcoming movie "Paa", being touted as his best work so far. He plays a 13-year-old suffering from progeria, a rare disease which causes premature ageing.