Santa Claus is coming to B-Town

Tomorrow’s Christmas. Most of the big stars in the entertainment world are letting their hair down, on a mini-break over the holiday which falls happily on a weekend. For that matter, the 1st day of the New Year will also fall on a week-end, a safety net in case we’re feeling all partied out after a frenzied 31st Friday night!

Some of us though, will still be at work over the weekends — as are those involved with the whopper releases that will hit the marquee today. Two big ones from B-Town — genres: animation and masala, and one from Hollywood with two droolicious A-listers as main leads: Depp and Jolie.

The movies are bringing on the high wattage stuff, majestic effort to ensure the cash registers keep steadily ringing over the festive season as schools shut and winter vacations spell eyeballs and audiences. The entertainment world may call itself ‘entertainment’ but taking care of business ranks right up there on the holiday agenda!

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And speaking of B-Town, society’s latest scandal (it seems there are still those interested in Liz Hurley and Arun Nayar’s tempestuous love life or the lack of it) is actually resembling a Bollywood movie in its plots and sub plots. Actually the masala appears more than in any Bollywood movie. Boy meets phoren girl, falls in love, weds, despite all hurdles: past marriage (his), famous past loves (hers), different cultures. They marry in a gala royal-type style.

Then, enter a few dark clouds: apparent public spat between new wife and relatives at the wedding. Storyline building to the shell-shocking climax: fairy tale unravels amidst rumours of wife cheating on husband, that too with a high profile international cricketer, who has his own salacious marital story. All this against a tech-savvy backdrop, where Tweets, and uploaded photos add to the trans-continental society drama. And in true melodramatic B-Town style, the wife now apparently wants to kiss and make up! Panoramic love story, international locales, world interest — Hatke, indeed, fact, as they say, is stranger than fiction. B-Town undoubtedly approves. But could it do better?!

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Finally, Tinseltown may be on a mini-break, but Mumbai society will surely be attending all the traditional parties that surface around this time. And though the price of onions may have us all weeping, ’tis the season to be jolly so let’s just try and look at the bright side, follow society’s example — bring on the cheer!