The city — sliced, diced and served with a dash of sauce
The Phalke and Ray connection
On May 3, 1913, Dadasaheb Phalke’s Raja Harishchandra, the first Indian feature film, was screened at Coronation Cinematograph and Variety Hall in Girgaum.
Satyajit Ray. Pic courtesy/Nemai Ghosh Collection
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This diarist recently accompanied film historian Rafique Baghdadi on a trail as he shared nuggets of information from years of research about the area, the advent of cinema after the construction of the Sandhurst Road, and a slightly modern story about Satyajit Ray, born today in 1921.
The publicity poster for Raja Harishchandra
He shared that Ray often visited the city for production of his films. While making his first film, Pather Panchali he was down here to meet Kishor Kumar who helped him raise finance for it.
I’m not here to scare you!
Last weekend, the four-member Chikaraks, India’s first Rock band for kids — featuring Chint2 Bhosle (in pic), Manav Dhanda, Pratichee Mohapatra and Fiona D’Souza — enthralled a young audience by fusing nursery rhymes with peppy sounds at a kids zone in Ghatkopar. Bhosle also conducted a workshop where kids learnt Math concepts and word associations through music.
Let the show begin
A new coffee table book by Padma Shri Shobha Deepak Singh compiles 250 photographs of some of the finest names in the Indian music fraternity. The black-and-white images capture the maestros in action during various performances and vividly reflect their joys, highs and deep involvement in their art form.
The book, Musicscapes (Roli Books) is the final in a trilogy. Singh, who is the director of Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra, a Delhi-based cultural organisation which promotes music and performing arts, through its schools and stage shows, has earlier published Theatrescapes (2014) and Dancescapes (2013).
With photographs of veterans like Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty, Pandit Bismillah Khan and Girija Devi to younger artistes like Anoushka Shankar and Ayaan Ali Khan, the book manages to capture the essence of a love act beautifully.
Where’s Mario?
As most of Goa celebrated one of their favourite sons, Mario de Miranda’s 90th birthday yesterday, Mumbai’s Mario Gallery on Bandra’s Linking Road seemed to have missed a trick or two.
Pic/Pradeep Dhivar
Our photographer spotted this Mario fan drop by to buy a few souvenirs only to notice a locked door. Who knows, perhaps the owner took a quick break to meet Rajni Nimbupani?
The saree got beached
Spunk is her middle name, and Mandira Bedi loves to throw in a dash of it, whether in her look or her designs. Remember the spaghetti-strapped blouses that created more buzz inside TV studios than on the cricket ground in the 2000s? Recently, she launched her patent collection of beach sarees, titled Salt.
(Left) Mandira Bedi; (above) Musician and writer Nirmika Singh sports a creation from the beach saree collection
Giving the saree a hip, sexy makeover, it kisses goodbye to voluminous yards of the fabric and instead, has experimented with a shorter silhouette that can be sashayed by the beach and the pool. Mandy sounded excited, “Is it a saree or a sarong? I don’t know! I’m still trying to figure.
But what I know is that it’s versatile and can reveal or cover however much you want, depending on how you’re feeling that day. It goes with a swimsuit, a T-shirt and a cropped top too.” Sabyasachi did the mini saree way before she did, but this is a whole new exercise in drippy glamour.
Concepts with Ashish Soni
Known for his luxe, classic lines, Delhi designer Ashish N Soni launched his Concept Store in the capital last weekend. With a focus on bespoke and tailored menswear, the store reinvented the retail experience into a customer’s private funhouse. The opening saw the who’s who of Delhi’s fashion industry drop by.
Designer Ashish Soni with beautiful bodies at the launch in the capital last weekend
FDCI President, Sunil Sethi, restaurateur AD Singh, designers Rajesh Pratap Singh and Rohit Bal, actors Rahul Dev with wife, Mugdha Godse, model Fleur Xavier and others friends of the designer were spotted at the high-brow fashion rendezvous.
Gul likes her bikes
Gul Panag loves to experiment with big bikes. Yesterday, she posted this on her Instagram account of her test riding the new Bonneville T120, and that she can’t wait to own one. You go, girl!
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