Informer

Andar ki baat

We spotted Kangana Ranaut at a recent event flaunting her white panties. The normally well-styled actress forgot to cross her legs tight. Next time Adhyayan Suman's girlfriend will remember how to sit, especially when there are scores of photographers buzzing around.

The Movies I Loved Growing Up

I have been a movie buff for as long as I can remember. During my teenage years, I would often go alone to catch up on every film that was on, especially at Regal and Sterling. I used to watch both English and Hindi films. The movies that made me think and laid the foundation for me as a filmmaker include...

DUEL: This is the first film that Steven Spielberg directed; he had made it for TV. When I saw it, I had no clue who Spielberg was or the kind of cinema he was known for. The film affected me a great deal. I can say that it laid the foundation in knowing what a film's screenplay and other technicalities meant. Duel is an outstanding piece of work, it made me realise what was good and what was bad. I still watch it once a year.

ZANJEER: I was very young when I saw it but the memory still lingers. The script by Salim-Javed, the characterisation of Vijay (Amitabh Bachchan) are overwhelming. The scene which is still etched in my memory is when Vijay tells Pransaab in jail, "Yeh tere baap ka ghar nahin hai!" I was inspired by it for the confrontational scenes in Dhoom. Zanjeer had a very big influence on me.

when harry met sally: The Meg Ryan-Billy Crystal starrer is a film that I have watched several times. It is simply brilliant for its screenplay and dialogues. This is what is meant by writing for cinema.

AMAR AKBAR ANTHONY: Manmohan Desai showed what entertainment was all about. It was crazy, illogical and far from realism, but anything and everything possible under the garb of entertainment. He threw caution to the wind. After every nine minute reel he had a highpoint. It could be a fight in the basti or a song what we today refer to as an item!

DILWALE DULHANIYA LE JAYENGE: It took the love story to a new step. Earlier we had several young romances like Maine Pyar Kiya, Rocky, Betaab and Ek Duje Ke Liye. They were all about parental opposition and how the young lovers eloped. But with DDLJ, Aditya Chopra rewrote the grammar of love stories. It was a story of a girl and boy alright. But the boy does not want to run away, he wants to win the approval of the girl's family before marriage. Adi has left a new benchmark for love stories.

Child love

Ajay Devgan and wife Kajol spent the day spreading cheer amongst the underprivileged kids from Smile Foundation.

The children had specially requested to meet the star couple as their Valentine treat they were bought to the sets of Toonpur Ka Superhero produced by Kumar Mangat and directed by Kireet Khurana. Kajol and Ajay fielded questions on what their favourites were.

One kid even performed to Ajay's favourite song from his film Ishq. While Kajol had another girl complimenting her on her looks and acting skills and being told that she wanted to grow up to be like Kajol.

Ajay and Kajol were given roses by the children before Ajay left for Bhopal to shoot for Prakash Jha's Rajniti.

PONY se topi tak: After returning to Mumbai from the shoot of Veer in Jaipur, Salman Khan shot for the Zee show Dance India Dance Show yesterday as the special guest.

Love not war!

Farah Khan and hubby Shirish Kunder spent Valentine's Day watching Dev D followed by a dinner. So the OSO director does not believe it to be a western tradition? Farah retorts, "Valentine's Day may be a western tradition but so are post-offices, computers and cinema! It's a day that propagates love and I would celebrate love any day over days where the moral police beat up women!"

AB DILLI DOOR NAHIN: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Sonam Kapoor and Abhishek Bachchan at the flag-off of the Delhi-6 caravan from Mumbai to New Delhi. It will meet the cast and crew on February 19 for theu00a0 premiere in the capital. En route, the caravan will promote the film by playing its music and gifting CDs to members of the public.

Same time

You have heard of clashes at the box-office and catfights over footage and billing, but now in B-Town there is a clash of weddings in the same week! Amrita Arora weds Shakeel Ladhak on March 4 while Ayesha Takia ties the knot with Farhan Azmi on March 2. Both have planned several pre and post nuptial celebrations. Wonder whose event will be most talked about? We will keep you posted.

RAZA'S BOLLYWOOD

Q What would the Bafta have been called if it a policeman won the award in stead of A R Rahman?

A The 'Hafta' Award.

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