Malavika’s Mumbaistan: Mama Mia

“I know it’s Mother’s Day and daughters are supposed to wish their mothers,” actress Soni Razdan, who is currently receiving rave reviews for her performance in Raazi, posted on Sunday, along with portraits of her stunning daughters Shaheen and Alia Bhatt.

“I know it’s Mother’s Day and daughters are supposed to wish their mothers,” actress Soni Razdan, who is currently receiving rave reviews for her performance in Raazi, posted on Sunday, along with portraits of her stunning daughters Shaheen and Alia Bhatt. “But without these two angels that came almost by magic into my life, I wouldn’t be a mother would I. So thank you @shaheenb @aliaabhatt for making me your mother.” Razdan, one of the few professionally-trained actresses who made her mark in theatre and on the small screen before Bollywood, had been naturally thrilled to find herself cast with her daughter in the Meghna Gulzar directed film. (“When your home & heart comes to work with you!”was how the movie’s producers had aptly greeted her yesterday.) But she was not going to miss giving credit where it was due. “While we’re at it, I think I’d better thank @maheshfilm too after all he did have an equal role to play innit?” she’d added.

Nice.

TRUE LIES

In this prime season of coupling in Bollywood, word comes in of a recent split: the star pairing of this winsome young actress-daughter of a film family and her older actor producer-director and previously married boyfriend is done and dusted, according to the grapevine. “She’s dating a dashing young photographer, a childhood friend of hers, and more age-appropriate to her and has put her past relationship firmly behind her,” says a Bollywood insider. “Guess the age difference was a factor.” As for her erstwhile boyfriend, the insider insists he’s currently single. “But for how long,” added the industry insider “is anyone’s guess”.

MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE RANCH…

News of the two leading national parties in Delhi yesterday was not surprising: both were preparing their spokesperson for today’s much-awaited Karnataka poll results. “Both parties have prepared answers to defend the prime minister and Rahul Gandhi if elections are lost by either,” said our Capital jasoos about the closely-watched race, said to end in a tight finish, adding, “In the Congress camp, the happiest man is former railway minister and MP Mallikarjun Kharge.” (in pic) How so? “He is the only person in Karnataka who can get Gowda’s JD(S) on board,” said the political source about the man known in political circles as the “CM in waiting” who has won Assembly elections an unprecedented nine consecutive times along with the recent General Elections from Gulbarga. “After the statement of Siddaramaiah that he would welcome a Dalit CM if the Congress wins, Kharge’s office is witnessing the most activity of any Congress leader in Delhi. Said the political source, “It’s interesting to see if the man who came close to becoming Karnataka CM twice in the past makes it this time.”

HIS FAMILY AND OTHER CHICKEN

Gautam Benegal and his cartoon series.

“Around 2006, I was the cartoonist for a popular city supplement; at that time there was a bird flu scare and people had stopped eating chicken and the poultry business was suffering,” says artist-writer, animator, Mumbai-based Gautam Benegal, about the origin of this delightful running cartoon series that emanates from his pen known as A1 Chicken Sope. “A minister smuggled in a tandoori chicken leg into the Lok Sabha and started eating it to prove it was perfectly safe. There was huge furore and I drew a cartoon of a chicken shop where one of the chickens boasts to another showing the headlines, ‘Hey guys check this out, my second cousin, twice removed, made it to the Lok Sabha!’,” he said.

Comprising just a cage, a few chickens, a light bulb, a signboard, and an intriguingly familiar looking lugubrious owner called Salimbhai, the darkly satirical cartoons are political in nature and have developed a cult following on social media, where Benegal posts them. “I don’t publish them in any mainstream media, because they are practically underground,” he says. “It is amazing how much one can do with just a few props.” When people had started bidding for their favorite Chicken Sope cartoon, Benegal began framing them and sending them by courier. Now, later this month, he threatens “a full-scale invasion of chickens at the Chemould Art Gallery Bombay, where Salimbhai and his aviary will be setting up shop for 10 days, and fans can pick up their very own winged wonder. “I do say a lot through these cartoons that would probably have people taking offence if I spelt them out in words,” Benegal signs off.

Indeed.