Date:06/07/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/mp/2009/07/06/stories/2009070650330600.htm

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SHOWBITZ

Now that’s mean

HARSHIKAA UDASI

Vishal Bhonsle, the mean dada in the reality show “Dadagiri 2” on UTV Bindass, is a hotel management graduate, who quit and went on to become Vijay Mallya’s personal trainer (no palpable effect seen!). Now, Bhonsle has moved on to films. His first, “Kaminey” with Vishal Bharadwaj, has him playing a street smart con man and Shahid Kapur’s friend called Steve. “I am happy but a little disappointed with some vital emotional scenes with me being scrapped!” says he. Bollywood can be mean even with the meanest.

Training ground

The Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute is coming to India. We are sure that’s time to rejoice for a lot of Indian actors. Ritesh Deshmukh studied in this institute in New York and so did Ranbir Kapoor. Also, Katrina’s little sister Isabel is getting educated there in acting. Seeing the demand, it was only logical to bring it to India. Hyderabad and Mumbai are the chosen places.

What’s in a name?

We have heard of actors getting under the skin of their characters. But what we have gathered from a certain unit member in San Francisco really takes the cake. Apparently Shah Rukh Khan, who is shooting there for “My Name Is Khan” with Kajol, is taking great pains to prepare for his character, a victim of Asperger Syndrome (a form of autism) who arouses suspicion for his behaviour post the 9/11 attacks. Besides the usual research, SRK has asked unit members to refer to him as Rizvan (his character’s name) and has even put the name on his makeup van. All in a day’s work!