Big B’s big heart

MUMBAI: Superstar Amitabh Bachchan has taken charge of a drought-affected village in Sangli district in India. The small Kumthe village having a population of around 10,000 has been drought-affected for quite some time now. Bachchan when approached by a youth forum voluntarily agreed to help out the villagers and bear all the relief expenses amounting to around Rs 2 lakhs. The relief operations will begin from May 11 wherein free meals will be provided to the villagers and educational activities will be initiated for the children. Bachchan will also personally visit the village.

Jackie the genie

MUMBAI: When a group of five students decided to make a short non-fiction film on street children and went out to ask for sponsorships, they returned disappointed most of the time. Finally when a friend told them to approach Jackie Shroff, they decided to give it a try.

Not only could they directly call him and fix an appointment, but also when they met him in person, he had a look at their proposal and asked like a genie - “What do you want? My camera, raw stock, studios, lightmen...” he would not stop. Since the bookings for the technicians and equipment were already made, the group asked Jackie to allocate funds.

The man stood by his word and whenever the group called him up to tell him how they were progressing, Jackie would encouragingly say “The very thought of doing something good for the street children is more than enough!” Not only that, Jackie even came in and did the voice over for their film taking time off his busy schedule. The film is a short documentary on the lives of street children titled ‘Half Ticket’ which does not rub their wounds or talk about their past sob stories but celebrates the spirit of their living and captures their smiles, instead of tears.

Designers’ new venture

MUMBAI: Manish Malhotra has set his sights at film direction. The designer has just finished scripting his new film that is likely to star Shahid Kapur and Kareena Kapoor in the lead.

Another dress designer following in Manish’s footsteps is Kanwaljit Singh, who has been in the industry for more than 20 years and has been associated with several big names and projects. Kanwal is working on his first film, titled ‘Rainbow — Colours of Life ‘, which he describes as a love triangle with a difference. “It’s about a guy, his wife and the ‘who’ in the man’s life — the ‘who’ is not a woman, but a man,” Kanwal reveals. However, Kanwal denies being inspired to start the film after Karan Razdan started ‘Girlfriend’ — which, again, is a love triangle with a difference. Kanwal clarifies, “I had been toying with the idea of starting my film much before Karan Razdan started ‘Girlfriend’. My film is more of an emotional journey. It’s all about delicate moments in three people’s lives. There aren’t ‘bedroom scenes’ please. I want families to watch my movie!”