Talk of the town

- `BASANTI' WAS in town, this time to endorse Sitagita.com, the women's portal inspired by ``the duality of the characters-the modern and the traditional''.

Hemamalini or Hemaji as people kept calling her in the course of the press meet, was her usual bundle of energy, be it rattling away half a dozen interviews at a time, posing for photographs or delivering a formal address endorsing the portal.

But isn't `Basanti' her most remembered screen-name? ``Yes, Basanti has become the most remembered. At one point of time, I was scared that people would forget my real name, because everybody kept calling me `Basanti','' she confides.

Insiders say that the superstar of yesteryears, apart from being on the Advisory Board of the portal, is also a close associate of the promoters.

After a hectic two hour tryst with the media, the actress- danseuse-director-producer finally got to get her hands on the plate and catch up with food, before she flew out of the city on Tuesday afternoon.

Needless to say, cameras just didn't stop clicking as shutterbugs feasted on the `Dreamgirl' of yesteryears.

* * *

- IF INDIANS are famed the world over for their tardiness, well, stars and tzarinas of Kollywood will set new records.

It was a really long wait for film lovers on Monday before they could get to watch the movies of the French Film Festival organised jointly by The Madras Film Society, French Embassy, Federation of Film Societies of India and Alliance Francaise, Chennai. We've heard `too many cooks spoil the broth', but it wasn't this batch of cooks that delayed Monday's broth.

The organisers had all turned up and so had the main guests G.Venkateswaran, producer and President, Madras Film Society and Keyaar, President, South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce. So what kept them you may ask? The non-arrival of actress Kushoo, who was, incidentally not mentioned in the invite. So the audience kept waiting and wondering...

When she finally turned up to light the traditional lamp along with other guests, it was explained that she had left home at 5- 30 p.m. to reach the South India Film Chamber Theatre building on Mount Road, but was `unavoidably delayed by heavy traffic'. Well, why not, after all in Chennai, you can keep people waiting for hours, blame the traffic and get away with it. Especially if you are a star.

* * *

- IT WAS a rush of a different sort of commuters the Arakkonam and nearby Tiruttani stations witnessed the other day. About 500 persons, each armed with a certificate issued by an erstwhile DMK MLA who lost the latest Assembly elections, rushed to Arakkonam and Tiruttani stations to purchase the `low value monthly season tickets' issued by railways to workers in the unorganised sector.

Though the legislator's tenure was coming to an end, he had issued the certificates. When the message reached the Railway higher-ups, they instructed the station staff not to issue the tickets.

* * *

- HEAD CONSTABLE Mr. P. Saravanan, Railway Protection Force outpost, Perambur Railway hospital, Chennai, has overnight become a very sought after man. It all began Monday evening at 5-30 p.m.

Overnight the constable's status has improved. He is Minister, Mrs. P. Saroja's son. Mrs. Saroja was one of the five who was sworn in on Monday along with the Chief Minister, Ms. Jayalalitha.

Many wonder if Mr. Saravanan will remain as a mere RPF constable or quit the post to assist his mother in her new assignment.

Some old timers recall that even actor Napoleon was an RPF man to start with - before he quit.

By Sudhish Kamath, S.Vydhianathan, Ramya Kannan and K. T. Sangameswaran.

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