Subhash K Jha
My fiance has nothing to do with the film industry!
Pooja Batra has always been a non-controversial, hassle-free actress. After her latest film, Suneel Darshan's Talaash, she is ready to tie the knot on February 9 to boyfriend Sonu Ahluwalia, a US-based surgeon. 
The wedding will take place in Delhi.
"He has nothing to do with the film industry, thank God!" chuckles Pooja, who intends to continue with her career after marriage. "Lekin role bhi to aani chahiye!" she cries.
E Niwas admits failure
It takes guts to admit failure. But E Niwas, whose ambitious film Dum opened on Friday, admits the film is not doing well. "I have no idea where it has gone wrong," he shrugs helplessly.
The tense film seems to have been rejected completely. For a film that starred the hot-and-happening Vivek Oberoi to be a non-starter seems odd. In Mumbai Dum didn't even get a decent opening.
The failure of this hard-hitting cop movie signifies bad news for the khaki films that are on the way this year.
One person who has come out smiling from this experience is Atul Kulkarni who, after the Tamil blockbuster Run, scores again in a negative role. Kulkarni's Satta is lined up for release two weeks from now. He says, "I was hoping that this [Dum] would be a launch for me in into the hardcore mainstream Hindi cinema. Chandni Bar was a success and, luckily for me, I got widely noticed for it. But it wasn't designed as commercial product. 
"In Dum, I had the crowdpulling dialogues and punchlines. I couldn't have hoped for a better role."
In Satta, he is cast as the corrupt politician. "But it isn't as though I am only doing negative roles," says the theatre actor who was first seen in Kamal Haasan's Hey! Ram, which fetched him the National Award. "In Kushan Nandy's 88 Antop Hill, I am pretty much the protagonist. In Rajkumar Santoshi's Khaki, I have a positive, very interesting role. I am the only actor who's not in khaki. That is one way of standing out," he laughs.
He has also bagged the role in Madhu Ambat's debut directorial film 1: 1.6, An Ode To Lost Love. A well-known cameraman in the South. Ambat shot M Night Shyamalan's Praying With Anger. Kulkarni plays a film director who has an affair with a mother and daughter, played by Rati Agnihotri and Masumi respectively. Incidentally the role was first offered to Rahul Bose, who declined it. Kulkarni also has an interesting role in Mahesh Dattani's Mango Souffle, where he is teamed with Rinke Khanna.
Sachin Khedekar is the right Netaji
After trying everyone from Madhavan to Jackie Shroff, Shyam Benegal has finally settled for Sachin Khedekar to play Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. Everyone seems unusually happy with the actor.
Divya Dutta, who just returned from the film's shooting plays Netaji's niece Ila. She says, "He looks so much like the real man and is such a brilliant actor."
Divya, who has a sizeable a role in the film, is now looking forward to the release of Mahesh Manjrekar's Pran Jaaye Par Shaan Na Jaaye, where she is supposed to have done one of the most authentic lovemaking scenes in Hindi cinema.
The scene was canned in one shot under the supervision of producer Manjrekar. Remarkably, the Censor Board has been liberal. They only asked for a few closeups of Divya to be included.
Now, Divya is holding her breath to see how the audience reacts to the longest and most non-erotic love scene ever filmed.
