Cynosure, Eyesore And More

Our Lady of Tantrums did Jayalalitha proud. Petrol hike? “Rollback

or I’ll quit.” Rail accident? “I quit.” The fiery Trinamul leader who counts painting and music among her hobbies could’ve added “cribbing” to her list. Through the year, mahajot and after, Mamata-di was relentless in her criticism of arch rival Jyoti Basu. Every wrong in Bengal viewed through her bifocals was courtesy the grand old man of the cpm. Imagination on overdrive, she even saw a commie plot in the floods that ravaged West Bengal. When she finally quits the nda and politics, it’s rumoured she’ll take up writing. She’s already shown her gift for eloquence (didn’t we know?) with such titles as ‘Struggle for Existence’ and ‘Crocodile Island’ and a train called Pather Panchali!

Gift of the gab or high on ham? With Shekhar Suman, you never know. After a string of indifferent flops followed a steamy art flick debut, a soothsayer told the Patna-born actor that he would end up as India’s biggest TV star. That turned out to be fatal. Today, Suman is one of the telly’s original bores with his silly rapidfire banter and queer body language in the late-night desi Jay Leno-clone Movers and Shakers show. With afternoon shows now on the air, even housewives are no longer safe. Spare us.

In the year after Kandahar, when everybody and his uncle wanted the nation to stand up to terrorists, who would have looked to a frail 76-year-old Mysorean called Abdul Kareem to show us how? When the Karnataka government decided to release tada detenus to secure the release of filmstar Rajkumar from the clutches of Veerappan, Kareem—whose son Shakeel Ahmed was slain by the moustachioed brigand—decided enough was enough. Undeterred by defeat in a lower court, Kareem approached the SC which not only agreed with him but slammed the State for caving in so easily.

When he has the shirt on, the girls go crazy; when he takes it off, the boys go green. At 6’ 2” and 180 pounds, the year saw Hrithik Roshan emerge as Bollywood’s most wanted, in more ways than one. The treacly Kaho Na Pyaar Hai launched what everybody agrees is the next superstar. Now all India is in love with the nifty actor with dreamy eyes. But success didn’t come easy: Hrithik, a self-confessed shy guy in school and college, overcame a stammer and worked hard to build those biceps. Add Elvis sideburns and Lennon-style glasses, and bingo!