Malavika Sangghvi brings you your daily dose of gossip and happenings from the city that never sleeps
>> With most of Mumbai’s high profile and multi-crore real estate projects put on hold because of a change in DCR championed by the CM as part of his transparency package, we hear Laxmi Mittal’s younger brother Vinod’s ambitious multi-storey residential tower for his family at Napean Sea Road has also been stalled.
Slated to be another feather in Mumbai’s luxury high-rise market, its delay would have put a lesser man’s spirits out of joint.
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But not so the spunky tycoon who we learn has now rented a sprawling apartment at Mumbai’s second most coveted address — One Altamount Road, which happens to be bang opposite Mukesh Ambani’s Antilia.u00a0
Incidentally, prices of rentals and sales of apartments have gone through the roof, we hear, ever since the Ambanis moved in to the neighbourhood.
Making a rumour large!
>> With conjecture and rumour knowing no bounds following the alleged linkup between SRK and Priyanka Chopra, those looking for masala seem to be coming up with more and more outrageous evidence to support Bollywood’s latest star coupling. So the fact that Shahrukh, who hasn’t been too enthusiastic about endorsing liquor companies (the only spirit promotion he did was for Masterstroke in 2007), has signed on as Seagram’s latest brand ambassador (sign off: Make it Large) is seen as ‘solid proof’ (their words, not mine) that there is more to the relationship than meets the eye.
The reason? Well, Priyanka has been the brand ambassador for Blenders Pride Premium, Seagram’s other brand (Royal Stag Whisky) and is alleged to have used her proximity to the star to persuade him to come on board. We told you how people are looking everywhere for ‘evidence’ but this is really the dregs at the bottom of the bottle we think!
Pillow talk!
>>They were part of the city’s air kissing circle: the dashingly handsome consul general of a small European nation and his charming Asian-born wife, who took their default position amongst Mumbai’s Beautiful People the moment they set foot in Sahar, wining and dining, partying and frolicking and making merry with the best of them. So who would have imagined that after one such merry evening, the dashing diplomat would attempt to smother his charming wife with a pillow, who according to our source, ran screaming out of their apartment and right in to a cop’s station, shouting blue murder?
Given the sensitivities involved, the matter was hushed up before it reached the press and the diplomat was hurriedly whisked away to home ground as part of crisis control. The cause of the couple’s quarrel? The husband’s philandering ways that had got out of hand in the company of a few ambitious Mumbai women who fancied a diplomat’s wife’s position for themselves. Didn’t help though that once the fire fighting had been done to hush up the incident, the diplomat was spotted at the Delhi Art Summit swanning around in business-as-usual mode.
Champion of Mumbai’s street dogs
>> Pritish Nandy never stops amazing us. From his earlier avatar as a desi Leonard Cohen kind of romantic figure (the object of attention of many beautiful female lovers of poetry) to hot selling magazine editor to Rajya Sabha MP to Bollywood film producer. I can’t keep up with the man. And now word comes in that he’s won the International Humanitarian Award in appreciation of his support for the cause of beleaguered street dogs of Mumbai at the 26th Genesis Awards held at Los Angeles recently.
Past recipients of the same award have been Anderson Cooper, Peter Gabriel, Michael Jackson, Oprah Winfrey, Prince, David E Kelley, Sir Paul McCartney, Arthur Miller, Ellen DeGeneres, and Jane Goodall. So it’s obviously not something to be sniffed at. “For the last 26 year, the Humane Society of the United States has been honouring the contribution from the news and entertainment media for raising awareness on animal issues. The event will premiere as a one-hour special on Animal Planet on May 5,” Nandy tells us. Oh and amongst Pritish’s many titles, we forgot to add: Owner of hot SoBo gyms… see what we mean!
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