Talk of the Town

- BOLLYWOOD'S SHOWERING stars on to Chennai. We just saw Amitabh Bachchan, Manoj Bajpai, Raveena Tandon, Nandita Das (all in `Aks'), Saif Khan, Fardeen Khan, Aftab Shivdasani, Sonali Bhendre and Twinkle Khanna (in `Love Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega'), Jackie Shroff, Hrithik Roshan, Kareena Kapoor (in `Yaadein').

And now, gear up for more multi-starrers hitting the Chennai screens this month. This Friday, we have Rajiv Rai's `Pyar Ishq Aur Mohabbat' releasing in the city. The film shot largely in Scotland and Switzerland, stars Sunil Shetty, Aftab Shivdasani, model Arjun Rampal (making his debut), Keerti Reddy, Monica Bedi and Isha Koppikar. The film is basically about the three male leads, head over heels in love with Keerti Reddy. The promos don't give away a clue on who gets the girl, Rajiv Rai sure knows to keep a secret (remember `Gupt', when he sprung a surprise on us, making Kajol the vamp of the suspense thriller). Viju Shah's scored the music for this one too.

That's just not the end of showbiz for the month, for we soon have the much awaited Aamir Khan-Saif Khan-Akshaye Khanna starrer `Dil Chahta Hai' releasing next week. It's supposed to be a celebration of male bonding with Preity Zinta, Sonali Kulkarni and Dimple Kapadia in the cast too.

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- THE RESIDENTS of Egmore constituency are sore with their MLA - Mr. Parithi Ilamvazhuthi.

Or to put it in perspective, the MLA is sore with the residents in his constituency as he was elected with a slender two-digit margin.

Those close to the five-time MLA openly express their resentment.

When people meet him for any favour or help, he points out that the constituency did not help him much.

On their part, the residents of some parts of Egmore are not exactly pleased as the MLA ``has not visited the constituency, especially the slum areas in Chetput, after his election''.

Meanwhile, the MLA has shifted to a new house (not in his constituency).

Those close to the MLA claim that they are not happy with the situation in Egmore.

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- CHENNAI DOES not sleep. After the arrest of the former Chief Minister, Mr. M. Karunanidhi, in the wee hours and the ensuing incidents, any police movement or mobilisation of the police personnel sparks off a lot of rumours about another probable arrest.

It was the same story on Monday night when a group of police personnel had assembled near the former Chief Minister's Gopalapuram residence. As news spread a large number of DMK volunteers gathered near Mr. Karunanidhi's house. However, the crowd melted away in the early hours when the police personnel left for their routine duty.

Though a senior police officer said that police personnel were mobilised for a storming operation, the news was ``shock treatment given, as some persons close to the DMK leader had spread a rumour that the city police chief Mr. Muthukaruppan's house was being raided by a central agency.''

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- THE CITY is to have one more magazine soon. Dharmasakthi, a Tamil weekly, is to hit the stands soon. The process of registration of the magazine has been completed and the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate has given the permission. Guess who the Editor and Publisher of the magazine is? The Hindu Munnani founder, Mr. Ramagopalan.

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- WOULD YOU want to make friends with a celebrity, a film star?

The Movies channel of Sify.com recently announced a contest for you to do just that, as a part of its Friendship Week celebrations.

All one has to do is fill up a questionnaire of three clues and guess their mystery celebrity date.

One lucky winner gets to dine and make friends with the film star.

So who is it? Ajit, Madhavan, Vijay, Vikram, Prashanth, Abbas or is it one of the heroines - Jyotika, Simran, Laila... one right guess would make your dream date come true. Log on to the site to participate.

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- A FORMER Minister from North Tamil Nadu, who now runs one of the better-known technical educational institutions in the State, was spotted in the Madras High Court the other day.

Why was he out of active politics for over five years now?

``I am not ready to be a Minister today, frequent courts tomorrow, and cool my heels in jail the day after.''

By S. Shivakumar, K.T. Sangameswaran, Sudhish Kamath and A. Subramani

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Section  : Southern States
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