Superstar
Shah Rukh Khan’s six-pack abs in ‘Om Shanti Om’ gave a complex to many
including 20-year-old Aditya Narayan, best known for hosting ‘Sa Re Ga
Ma Pa Challenge 2007′. He says he was ashamed of his paunch after
seeing King Khan’s toned body.

‘When I saw Shah Rukh’s six-packs in ‘Dard-e-disco’ song in ‘Om Shanti
Om’, I felt so ashamed. At 42, he is so fit, so popular and has so much
money. And at such a young age, I had a paunch. I was so ashamed, ‘
singer-actor-anchor Aditya told over phone from Mumbai.

Aditya is set to host the new season of popular music reality
show ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa 2009′ that starts July 4 and he will be sporting a
new look.

‘I will look sexier this season. I have lost a lot of weight and I am
also sporting a new hairstyle – a slight mohawk, ‘ he said.

Aditya, son of well-known playback singer Udit Narayan, debuted as an
anchor with ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2007′ and later went on to host
‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa L’il Champs’ as well. He also won several television
awards for his stint as a host.

And now he feels he doesn’t even need a script to anchor a show.

‘I am 100 episodes old now and hosting is no longer a job for me. I
don’t even feel the need of a script now. I have grown with the show
and I am used to the way things happen on the sets, ‘ he maintained.

Aditya is currently in his final year of graduation, and he says he has already been offered about 60 films.

‘I will begin shooting for the first one around November-December, but
I can’t disclose any details about it. Besides that, I have been
offered about 50-60 films, but I have decided on only a couple of them.
Actually, I’ve been getting more acting offers than singing, ‘ he
quipped.

As a child, Aditya sang alongside his father in ‘Akele Hum Akele Tum’
in 1995 and then with Asha Bhosle in ‘Rangeela’. He shot to fame for
his song ‘Chotta bachcha’ in the 1996 film ‘Masoom’.

He also appeared in movies like ‘Pardes’ and ‘Jab Pyaar Kisise Hota’ as a child artiste.

Now set to become a full-fledged hero, Aditya is quite sure of the kind of films he wants to do.

‘I want to do love stories, maybe college romance stories or some new
genre. I don’t want to do offbeat films in the beginning; so commercial
cinema is what I want to do first, ‘ he said.

Whether commercial or offbeat, Aditya says he will sing for himself in his films.

Deepa Mehta who has just completed another celluloid treatise on the
subjugation and repression of women, can’t stop that sense of pride in
her voice when she’s told that the Gay Parade on Sunday began at Regal
cinema in the Capital where the screening of her lesbian film Fire was
forcibly stopped and disrupted.

“I remember I was in Dubai in 1996 watching A R Rahman’s concert. I had
put the release of Fire behind me. I just thought it would come and go
in India without creating a ripple, like all films on unconventional
themes.

I should’ve been warned. I got a call in the middle of
the Rahman concert asking me to come to Delhi fast. They had just
halted the screening of Fire. I was aghast.

It was my first brush with

the moral police. Later of course I got used to be bullied by extra-constutitional censors in India.”

And to think Fire had been passed without a single cut when it was
submitted to the censor board. “Not a single shot was cut. Not even
Shabana and Nandita’s love making.

And this was a decade ago. And I

was lulled into a false sense of security. I guess India has progressed. But a section of the moralists won’t accept it.”

Deepa recalls with much fondness the vigil that Delhi’s gay community
had kept at Regal cinema. “And they carried placards saying, ‘We’re
Indian, And We’re Lesbian.’

Till
then some Indian moralists believed homosexuality specially lesbianism
didn’t exist in India. Fire was a turning point for me as a filmmaker.
I saw what responsibility was being put on my shoulder. To me Fire
wasn’t a film only about lesbianism.”

About the parade in Delhi on Sunday Deepa says, “I wish I could be
there. My heart swells with pride when Fire is mentioned as a favourite
film on alternate sexuality. If Fire has inspired the homosexual
community I guess I have much to be proud of.”

For years after Fire there was no significant film on lesbianism. But
now there’s films like I Can’t Think Straight and When Kiran Met Karen.

“I think Lisa Ray who’s done a number of films with me is part of I
Can’t Think Straight. I feel happy to see other filmmakers going into
the theme. But I repeat, I wasn’t making a film on lesbianism. It was
about subjugation and repression. My new film Heaven On Earth is also
about the same film.”

It’s
almost been a year since Italian beauty Rosa Catalono parted ways with
Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan. But Rosa says she is making no effort to
shed the image of being ‘Saif’s ex-flame’ even though she has moved on
in life.

‘I haven’t tried hard to get out of this image and I am not even trying
hard at it. People need time to move out of a relationship and so do I.
Right now I am happy, ‘ Rosa told here.

Her former boyfriend Saif, with whom she is not even on talking terms
now, is currently dating actress Kareena Kapoor, but Rosa is still
single.

‘Love is the most powerful and beautiful experience and I would be very
comfortable if I fall in love again. There are lots of special people
who are special to me but right now my mom tops the list because she
cooks great pizzas!’ she quipped.

Rosa, who was in the capital for the music launch of her forthcoming
film ‘Deshdrohi’, says that though she came to India to be with Saif,
her mission has changed after her break-up.

‘Now I want to act, and right now every day is a new learning
experience for me. It’s not like I am 20 and have the enthusiasm of
doing everything at one time. I want to go easy and grow in Bollywood,
‘ she said.

The actress is foraying into Bollywood with ‘Deshdrohi’, where she is
doing an item number ‘Bewajah yun’ choreographed by dance maestro Saroj
Khan.

‘When I heard the song, I refused to do it as it would have required a
lot of Indian touch to it, which I couldn’t imagine myself doing. It
shows a village girl dancing.

‘But Saroj Khan, who is so experienced, motivated me and it wasn’t very
difficult to do the song. We shot the whole song in two nights and
whenever I would get tired, Saroj used to pep me up by asking me to
drink Red Bull (an energy drink), ‘ she recalled.

She has two item numbers in her kitty right now, including one for
Sunny Deol’s ‘Chamku’ starring yesteryears actress Zeenat Aman.

‘I’m only going through scripts which are in Hindi. I don’t know how to
speak in Hindi but I know how to sing in it. I really want to learn the
language though, ‘ Rosa said.

The former Italian model says she is very comfortable with her life in India, though it hasn’t been all that easy.

She said: ‘Even though it’s not my country, I don’t feel alone here.
It’s been four years since I have been in India and I have learnt to
appreciate the beautiful and spiritual part of the country.

‘If people come one hour later than the decided time, I have
learnt to be patient and accept the way people work here. I do have to
make a lot of adjustments.’

Bipasha just got herself another dream. The home that she always dreamt
of. And she doesn’t have to step out of her current home to make it
come true.

No. All she has to do is dismantle demolish and reconstruct the entire top floor of the highrise in Khar where she lives.

“After I finish shooting the last of my current films I’m taking a
large chunk of time off to build my home just the way I would want it
to be. It would be my birthday gift to myself.”

Bipasha would be traveling to remote corners of the world to get just
the right colour and quality of the wood, tiles, furnishing, upholstery
and other accessories.

“While I’m traveling my parents who live a stone’s throw away from me will supervise the construction.”

In fact Bipasha plans to move in with her parents down the road while her home gets re-constructed

The sheer impracticality of ‘impulsive Basu’’s dream project hits you
hard. Wouldn’t it make more sense to buy new land and build an entirely
new place rather than break down a beautiful place?

“No no!” she demurs. “I love the space that I live in and wouldn’t want
to leave it for anything at the world. I agree there’s nothing wrong
with my home as it is.

But
when it was being constructed I couldn’t give it the time and attention
I should have. Now I miss the specifications that I had in mind but
never got around to implementing. I need to modify my space to suit my
energy.”

The re-construction of Bipasha’s dream house begins right after the
current monsoons. “I know it’s going to be tough to get down to doing
something so drastic in my life. But I’m forever adventurous.

And
I’ve set a deadline—7 Jan—my birthday for all the construction guys,
designers and decorators to finish and move out of my Taj Mahal. I’ve
to set a deadline. Otherwise it could go on forever.

Interestingly Bipasha’s building Muktangan on Sarojini Road in Khar,
has a history of demolition and reconstruction. It used to be the
location of Raakhee Gulzar’s bungalow.

When
she sold it and moved out (to just two building away) she had only one
pre-condition. That the highrise would continue to be called Muktangan.
When another Bengali actress Bipasha moved into the newly-constructed
Muktangan she occupied the top floor.