There are some people who manage to look aesthetically arresting in every photograph, almost as if they were pieces of art themselves. None as much as our friend, the leading wedding decorator and aesthete, the Delhi-based Sumant Jaykrishnan
Sumant Jaykrishnan and Manish Arora
There are some people who manage to look aesthetically arresting in every photograph, almost as if they were pieces of art themselves. None as much as our friend, the leading wedding decorator and aesthete, the Delhi-based Sumant Jaykrishnan. Currently in Australia to collaborate on MELA, a festival curated for Swarovski by uber designer Manish Arora, this portrait of the two attractive poseurs posted on social media brought forth an avalanche of likes. But, what was most striking were the references to the Sound of Music. Almost everybody made some reference to the iconic film in their comments. From 'Lay ee odl lay ee odl lay hee hoo, High on a hill were some lonely goat herds...' to, 'the hills r alive with the sound of music…(sic)' The thumbs ups came in thick and fast, proving just how profoundly the film on a young Austrian woman studying to become a nun in Salzburg in 1938, who brought love and music as a governess to a retired naval officer, and his seven children, had affected baby boomers!
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Rahul and Malini Akerkar
And Bob's your uncle
Ever since he sold his company and then had to sit out a non-competition clause for a few years, there have been many who have been wondering about the plans of pioneering restaurant owner Rahul Akerkar. Yesterday, indication came in that the hiatus is over, when his wife, the designer and artist Malini Vachani Akerkar posted news about the new holding company he'd launched. Interestingly it's called 'Bob and Daughters LLP'. "For some reason our daughters started calling Rahul 'Bob,' and the name just stuck, so when the eldest graduated and joined her father, that was the obvious name," she says. As for the first (much awaited) venture? "Early next year" she said. Bob's the word.
And one flew over...
Even as India Inc is riveted by the latest occurrence in the high-profile insolvency proceedings by regulatory authorities against the 12 Indian debt-ridden companies, in which one of them has challenged its inclusion quite forcefully in court, news comes in that the promoters of another on the list have been heard going around town, chortling about how they have managed to remove themselves from the list altogether. Something about a high-level and friendly functionary being 'persuaded' to comply. Oh dear.
Salman Rushdie, Sooni Taraporewala, Zubin Mehta, Anish Kapoor and Waris Hussein
Mumbai's talented sons (and daughters)
We have often marvelled at the wealth of talent that Mumbai has bequeathed the world through her brilliant sons like writer Salman Rushdie, conductor Zubin Mehta, philanthropist and pharma tycoon Yusuf K Hamied, sculptor Anish Kapoor and TV director Waris Hussein. Not only have all of them spent their childhoods in the Maximum City, but all of them embody a certain internationalism and world view. Amongst them, the Bafta-winning Hussein has been the most low key. The son of a diplomat father and a novelist mother whose critically acclaimed works include Doctor Who, A Passage to India, and the movie A Touch of Love, Hussein has assiduously shunned the publicity game.
Now word comes in that his film Sixth Happiness, whose screenplay was written by another talented son of Mumbai, Firdaus Kanga, (author of the semi-autobiographical novel Trying to Grow) will be screened at the NFT Southbank today, as part of the LGBT films and events series, and will feature a Q&A with the director. We had met Hussein way back in the '80s at his sister Shama Habibibullah's well appointed apartment, off Warden Road on one of his infrequent visits to Mumbai, for a profile on him for a Sunday newspaper. What had been serendipitous was the choice of our photographer to shoot his portrait: It had been none other than Sooni Taraporewala, who later went on to become an internationally celebrated film maker in her own right. Perhaps Mumbai's list of its talented daughters will be even longer.
Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla
More on the Big Fat Indian Wedding
Next week will be witness to one more milestone in the trajectory of the big fat Indian wedding, when designers Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla team up with a five-star, to host a runway extravaganza in Delhi. What have the duo planned for the occasion? "We see this event and all that it entails, from fashion to décor, to mood and ambience, as setting the standard for the ultimate wedding," they say, adding, "We want to transport people through this evening for them to find themselves in a fantasy shaadi full of magic, beauty and celebration."
And what's the future.. er ...trend in the big fat Indian wedding game? "A return to romance. A reverence for reinvention. Tweaking tradition without losing the charm and unique character of the Indian wedding," they say. "It's about infusing the old with brand new exuberance and creating a richly layered sensory experience that spells absolute fantasy."
In other words, most likely, next week will see a coming together of the duo's ('the boys' to their inner circle) long-time friends from society, and films including the Khannas (Dimple and Twinkle), and possibly the Kapoors (Sonam) being trotted out in outfits that cost as much as the price of a luxury car (and weigh as much), to no doubt the redoubtable Lubna Adams' choreography, and in the presence of many star struck and eager to loosen their purse strings Delhiites. Nice.
Javed and Farhan Akhtar
From Mughal-E-Azam to Bahubali
It is known as the greatest Indian historical drama and to be sure, few films evoke the reverence that Mughal-e-Azam, directed by the legendary K Asif and produced by none other than Shapoorji Pallonji, does. Starring Prithviraj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Madhubala, and Durga Khote, it featured the love affair between a Mughal prince and a court dancer, and it has often been said that viewing it is an education in itself. And next week, London will be witness to what promises to be a scintillating dialogue between Javed and Farhan Akhtar, and Shabana Azmi titled 'Indian Cinema: Yesterday & Today (From Mughal-e-Azam to Bahubali)' in tribute to the film's director, who had tragically died at the young age of 48, before he could follow up with another masterpiece.
A scene from Mughal-e-Azam
Shabana Azmi and Farhan Akhtar have not been known to share the podium together before, but perhaps what is of equal interest is that the occasion is being hosted by K Asif's 20-something granddaughter, the London-based Haya Asif, who sources say, has every intention of following in the footsteps of her illustrious grandfather by entering the film industry, and who will be launched soon in what is most likely an international project. Interesting how the acorns don't fall too far from the tree...
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