Rock star

Farhan Akhtar seems to be taking his role in Rock On! rather seriously. The actor-director — who’s crooned a few songs for his films — was in Bangalore this week to perform at a rock concert at the Presidency College festival. He has also formed his own band — Farhan Live. “It’s time young college students listened to different kinds of music,” he told the assembled youngsters. Good to see Akhtar turning out to be a man of many parts.

Baddie icons

This book would have certainly made Mogambo khush. Amrish Puri’s character, complete with orange wig and a pool of acid where he dropped his hapless underperforming minions, in the 80s movie Mr India, is of course one of the best-loved villains of Bollywood. These and other bad guys people Calcutta-based writer Tapan K. Ghosh’s book, Bollywood Baddies – Villains, Vamps and Henchmen in Hindi Cinema. The author discusses not just on-screen villains and vamps, and the actors who played them, but also analyses the characters from a socio-political perspective. Starting from Ashok Kumar’s negative role in Kismet (1943) and ending with Sanjay Dutt’s Kancha Cheena in Agneepath (2012), the book is a delightful exploration of what makes murderous villains tick in Bollywood. And that’s an important exercise — after all, it’s the villains, vamps and henchmen who make Bollywood heroes look larger than life.

Comic king

It seems Arshad Warsi, the actor with perfect comic timing, has decided that the time is now right to strike out on his own. Close on the heels of his role in Jolly LLB as a struggling lawyer making a desperate bid to hit big time, Warsi is pinning his hopes on his forthcoming film, Calling Mr Joe B. Carvalho. In this comic caper, he departs from the character of the lovable side-kick — a role one has got accustomed to seeing him in — and essays the role of the protagonist. He plays a bearded “bumbling detective” who has to hunt down a young woman who has eloped. That’s great news, sure. But hope he doesn’t stop playing Circuit in the next Munnabhai film.

Little man

Sometimes, being a celebrity means running into a hardcore fan in the oddest of places. Ask Bengali bombshell Bipasha Basu, who was on the sets of Zee TV’s children’s reality show Dramebaaz last week to promote her latest movie, Aatma. A precocious five-year-old contestant called Zenith Patel turned out to be a major fan of Bips. The kid couldn’t do anything but give ear-to-ear grins and stare at her. What’s more, when Vivek Oberoi, a judge on the show was speaking, Patel cut him off to compliment Basu on her beauty and told her that he found her eyes especially attractive. Though celebs are a glutton for adoration, Basu managed to look a bit embarrassed. But she did let her little devotee kiss her on the cheek. My, do they start early these days!

Adventure gals

An all-women Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara? Sounds like fun. But it’s not a film we’re talking about. Recently, five adventurous divas came together in South Africa for a Fox Traveller show called Life Mein Ek Baar. And after 18 days on the show, Spanish beauty Barbara Mori (in pic) of Kites fame, Yaana Gupta, Archana Vijay, Diandra Soares and Kirat Bhattal claim to have had the time of their lives. Indeed, from flying in a gyrocopter to playing with cheetahs; from seal-diving to skydiving, the girls did every far out thing possible. “The scariest was when we were dropped in freezing waters inside a shark cage. A shark was just five inches from my face. I couldn’t breathe for a while,” recalls Calcutta girl Vijay. Oh, the thrill of living dangerously!