The story of Devdas has become like a format. Rich boy loves poor girl next door but is unsure of himself. Girl marries someone else. Boy meets prosti... errrr Commercial Sex Worker and yet pines for first love while doing a brisk jog on the eight lane highway with big bold signs showing the exits to drugs, booze and Elvis Presley like end. Check out some wild photographic effects depicting what goes on in the mind of a drugged and boozed out Abhay Deol which were shot using a camera that Danny Boyle of Slumdog Millionaire fame loaned to Anurag.

Yes, all the stories are based in Assam. Although now I have lived more than half my life outside Assam, I found when I began to write I returned to the landscape of my childhood, of my origin, as if it were the most natural thing to do. Place, for me, is a powerful influence; it shapes and moulds a person in a way at once subtle yet all pervading. The landscape of Assam is for me the landscape of affection, of memories; against its wide sweep of misty blue hills and majestic river most of my family’s lives (and mine) have played out and that is where I wanted to set my stories.

I have been eagerly waiting to watch Slumdog Millionaire. Is the movie really good or is India just the flavor of the moment and the film is lucky to hit good timing? Is this the film version of slum tourism? The short answer is no.Last week a delighted AR Rahman walked up to sign his name as the first Indian to win the Golden Globe. He won it for the song Jai Ho written by Gulzar. When Rahman dedicated the award to the country, he just floored the nation of a billion who were waiting with vicarious pride in having someone carve out a place for them in a club where membership is by invitation only.