How about taking in a free Hindi movie next Wednesday? And all for a good cause: ``To express solidarity and moral support for the Indian jawans defending the country's borders at Kargil.'' The offer was put up by Prakash Jawdekar, BJP's spokesperson on June 14 in Mumbai, while announcing that patriotic Hindi movies would be screened by the BJP in Pune's theatres, free of cost, on June 23 when Kashmir Day is observed by the party.

But before you queue up at the cinemas check this offer out, remember the city's theatre managers are absolutely clueless, and have received no information from the State Government in this regard. What's more, the city's BJP unit has taken no decisions and announced no plans towards implementing their spokesperson's announcement. ``I have no idea. I read about it in the papers,'' said BJP secretary Vikas Matkari.

While the cinema halls have not even read about it, and the city's BJP unit have done nothing after reading, the matter intriguing thesurprised cinema hall owners is not `moral support' and `solidarity' but, ``Who's going to foot the bill?''

The Real Expert

Forget the panel of cricketers posing as experts whose opinions commentator Harsha Bhogle seeks out after every World Cup cricket match in ``dark, gloomy England''. The chemical engineer-turned-IIM Ahmedabad MBA-turned-adman-turned-radio broadcaster-turned-Indian commentator on satellite television has so far given the most accurate predictions for the Cup himself.

Consider this: During a conversation with The Indian Express on his visit to Pune, before leaving for England in April, Bhogle was quite vehemently non-optimistic about the fate of both England and South Africa, despite the fact that one was playing with the home ground advantage while the other were clear favourites worldwide with fans as well as experts. The reason, he says: ``Hosts and favourites never win the World Cup.''

And both teams seem to have gone almost out of their way to prove him right.What better explanation could there be for the Protean disaster on Thursday, other than Bhogle's cry of `tradition rules'. A fitting response for the critics who claim that modern-day commentary rooms should only be occupied by international cricketers?

The Navy's Advantage

Soon after the Chief of Naval Staff's press conference on board the INS Delhi at the naval dockyard, Mumbai, press persons were told they had to walk down to the main gate.

The sole transport had broken down. And just when the Fourth Estate was faced with a long trudge towards to the gate in inclement weather, to borrow military phraseology, along pulled up Admiral Sushil Kumar's flag car.

He assessed the situation in about a minute. ``The cars that brought in the commanding officers, turn them around,'' he swiftly redirected the fleet of chauffeur-driven staff cars parked on the quayside. ``Resource management is half the battle won,'' the Admiral replied with a twinkle in his eyes when he was complemented for his quickthinking. We assume the overwhelming advantage the Indian Navy enjoys over it's Pakistani counterparts would be the unsaid other half.

Teaching Tactics

Bhangra KING Daler Mehendi has entrusted Calcutta-based Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty, one of the country's foremost classical singers and first recipient of the prestigious Kumar Gandharva Award, with the music training of his 10-year-old son Gurdip. ``Daler came to my school Shrutinandan about a week back when he was on a tour of Calcutta and told me that he wanted his son to learn music under my guidance,'' the music maestro said. And the young boy, who stayed in Calcutta for four days regularly attended classes in classical Indian music. ``I will have to work out later how the boy can be guided and taught. He is a nice boy and seems to be talented,'' Chakrabarty said.

He also revealed that Daler had donated Rs 100,000 for his school which will celebrate its second anniversary on July 28 this year. On the same day, the guru's book on music calledShrutinandan will be launched.

Only Kargil Makes News

Kargil is the only topic which makes headlines these days. So, when the media got together at the home of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to welcome Santosh Yadav's team back from having successfully completed the expedition to Mt Everest, they saw it as a golden opportunity to quiz Vajpayee on the Kargil issue.Vajpayee, they were sure, would comment on the situation. ``He always does. Especially these days,'' they confided to each other in hushed tones. And they asked their camera crew to be ready when the opportunity came. They patiently waited through the entire ceremony in which the prime minister took the report from Yadav and felicitated the team on their achievement. Even Yadav, as if judging the mood, chose to compare their ordeal with the fierce high mountain blizzard to combating the missiles by the soldiers in Kargil. Vajpayee could barely miss the irony in the two situations. And later when he walked back towards hisresidence, they scrambled towards him with their cameras, microphones all set to shoot questions on the battle-front, only to be diplomatically evaded. ``We have to wait and see,'' he said for the situation in Kargil and of the Indo-Pak dialogue. Similarly, he dodged the question on the suggestion about the formation of a consensus government. ``I have yet to hear of such a suggestion,'' he retorted cryptically.

Sabyasachi Bandhopadhyay in Calcutta, Reshma Patil and Anubha Charan in Pune, Sandeep Unnithan in Mumbai and Navneet Kaur in Delhi