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Shreyas Talpade set to go places
By Saibal Chatterjee, Indo-Asian News Service

Panaji, Nov 28 (IANS) Shreyas Talpade may not be a household name yet despite the success of Nagesh Kukunoor's "Iqbal". But, going by the response he has been receiving from fans and critics alike at the ongoing 36th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), he is well on course to becoming one. 

The young man is enjoying every minute of his moment in the Goa sun without letting it go to his head. 

"I do want to do mainstream Hindi cinema, but more important than that, I want to do good films. At this stage of my career, I can afford to experiment," he says, belying his inexperience in the business. 

Talpade, a Marathi stage actor, has two films in the festival - "Iqbal" in the competition and English-language NRI-produced film "The Hangman" in the Cinema of the World section. 

Expect more from the guy.

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The Mallika myth

The Mallika Sherawat myth has been well and truly busted. The much-hyped Stanley Tong directed film from Hong Kong, "The Myth", starring Jackie Chan, has proved to be no more than a lot of hot air. It was screened at IFFI, but many disgruntled viewers were seen walking out halfway through the film. 

That probably had more to do with the fact that it was a rather insipid film than with the revelation that Mallika, despite all the tall claims that she has been making all this months, has precisely three and a half scenes in "The Myth". 

Moreover, in the eight minutes of footage that she hogs, she isn't quite the ravishing Indian princess that she had us believe she was. She plays the role of an ordinary daughter of a Kerala martial arts expert. 

And that's that.

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Baddie's new start

Bad man Gulshan Grover seems to be turning over a new leaf. In "The Hangman", he plays an out-and-out positive character. On a scribble board in the foyer of Inox multiplex, he wrote: "I am happy that 'The Hangman' has brought me to IFFI." 

Indeed, Grover, despite having been in the industry for well over two decades, had never been to India's annual film festival. 

"I had never been invited," he laments. "Nobody gives me my due at home. I seem to be in greater demand on the international film festival circuit," he adds tongue firmly in cheek. 

It is clear that he is happy to be in Goa for the film festival, but there isn't much love lost between him and the organisers.

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Jaggu dada of style

Jackie Shroff is a cool customer. All that it took the actor to make up his mind about making it to Goa for IFFI was just one invite from the Directorate of Film Festivals. He had to undertake the long haul from London to get to Inox Panaji just in time to catch the end of Rituparno Ghosh's Bengali film, "Antarmahal". 

The widely acclaimed film has Jackie playing a debauched, heartless and power-crazed zamindar in 1870s Bengal. Although another actor has clearly dubbed his voice, he doesn't lose control over the role, pulling it off with great panache. 

At the end of the screening, the jetlagged actor hit the sack in the evening itself. But trust him to wake up after 10 at night and after a quick shower rush to a festival party on the Cidade de Goa beach. 

The bash was close to winding up but there were enough people to mob him for autographs and keepsake photographs.