Will underworld dons trust such a hot reporter?

Mail Today, the tabloid newspaper from the India Today group, has a report today that Gul Panag, the former Miss India Universe, has been signed up by the maverick film maker Ram Gopal Varma to play a crime reporter in an upcoming film.

The buzz in film circles is that Gul Panag may play the role of Jigna Vora, the Asian Age crime reporter who was arrested for her alleged involvement with the underworld in the murder of J.Dey, the investigations editor of Mid-Day.

But true to her movie metier, Gul Panag—a regular on the Sunday night television circuit with a number of journalists among her  followers on Twitter—is offering no confirmation.

“I play a crime reporter in the film, a woman who has made her mark in a field that is otherwise dominated by men…. All I can say right now is that the film deals with the underworld and its various connections including the media.”

On her website, Gul Panag’s bio reads “actor, activist, animal lover, adrenalin junkie, adventurer, avid traveller, automobile enthusiast and biker” all rolled into one. At least the on-screen hack has one thing in common with the rest the pack: she is a jack of all trades.

The media is a recurring theme in Ram Gopal Varma’s oeuvre. He made an Amitabh-starrer called Rann on the television industry not too long ago.

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Asian College of Journalism PG diploma course

The Asian College of Journalism (ACJ) in Madras is inviting applications for its post-graduate diploma course for the 2011-2012.

For some journos, acting is second string in bow

It looks like it is the season for small screen stars to graduate to the big screen.

Sashi Kumar (top frame, left), the Doordarshan newsreader of pre-satellite television days, stars with the Malayalam superstar Mammooty in the new release Loud Speaker. In the movie, Sashi, who now runs the Asian College of Journalism in Madras, plays a US-returned astrophysicist.

In Bangalore, Ranganath Bharadwaj, an anchor at the 24×7 news channel TV9, is set to put on the greasepaint for the lead role in the slightly less scientific Kannada flick, Cheluvina Gelathi. Predictably, Bharadwaj who is happily married to co-anchor Radhika Rani, will run around trees and sing a few ditties.

Kannada print journalists are not known to squirm from movie and television roles.

Ravi Belagere, the editor of the tabloid Hi! Bangalore, has starred in several films, including the controversial Mukhya Mantri I Love You. And a host of them, including the film critic R.G. Vijayasarathy and photo editor Saggere Ramaswamy have appeared in a number of movies and TV shows.

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