Connor Ball, Tristan Evans, James McVey, and Brad Simpson together make up the popular British boy band, The Vamps.
With Boman Irani and Farah Khan
Connor Ball, Tristan Evans, James McVey, and Brad Simpson together make up the popular British boy band, The Vamps. The teen heartthrobs have had a remarkable rise to fame recently, with many number one hits, and a fan following resembling the likes of One Direction and Justin Bieber.
Earlier this year they collaborated with India’s own Vishal Dadlani and Shekhar Ravjiani on the Bollywood pop track ‘Beliya’. Now word comes in, that the twenty something year olds are in Mumbai, and are set to perform at a special concert. And on arrival, the group has spared no time for sight seeing and has been clearly bitten by the Bollywood bug, having already met Ajay Devgn to discuss an upcoming project.
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With Boman Irani and Farah Khan
Devgn posted a picture along with the band and cryptically captioned it “Guess where this association is heading??” And that’s not all, they also met director Farah Khan and actor Boman Irani at the suburban five-star hotel that the group is staying at. Farah, whose young triplets are fans of the band, tweeted this photo of them together. How long before we see the good-looking boys on the big screen?
The Vamps with Ajay Devgn
Whining about Torrent
The recent crackdown by the Indian authorities on illegal Torrent sites seems to have affected many. One such is Sula Wines founder and man about town, the recently married Rajeev Samant, who by the looks of it, is spending time with his wife catching up on his favourite Hollywood movies and TV shows. Samant took to social media this week, “Pirate Bay gone.... Kickass Torrents gone.... feeling a bit bereft...anyone got any ideas?” He posted plaintively, unprepared for the backlash. “Pay for content man. There’s great stuff out there and not produced cheap,” read one comment with someone even comparing the piracy of movies to the privacy of wine. “Imagine people started pirating your wine! How would that feel?” and another saying, “One bottle of wine equals to a monthly membership on Netflix.” Finally realizing he had hit on a touchy subject in the digital world, Samant gave up. “Ohhh babas I promise not to download Bollywood ok?” he said.
How about some Netflix and Sula now?
His best creation yet?
He’s best known for the colourful characters he creates, but something tells us that his annual making of his beloved Ganpati statues, which he’s been doing for the past thirty years, is one of foodie and funny man Kunal Vijayakar’s best characters yet. “It’s a family tradition,” said the member of the Pathare Prabhu community, residents of Mumbai since the 13th century. “I make it out of clay unlike most Ganpatis which are made of plaster of Paris. We celebrate the festival more out of a sense of fun than strictly religiousness,” he said, when we asked him about this worshipful streak in the noted iconoclast, who has pinned the likes of Vijay Mallya, Lata Mangeshkar and Mayawati so perfectly on the sword of his wit.
Kunal Vijayakar, a true Pathare Prabhu
As for a picture of him in the act of clay modeling for disbelievers, who doubt if Vijayakar has such sculpting talents, “The idol is only 4 inches tall, so trying to fit both of us in one frame is a bit difficult,” he said.
Vijayakar’s Ganpati
Pammi aunty teams up with Gurinder Chadha
We hadn’t called up Internet sensation Ssumier Pasricha to scoop the story of his imminent celluloid venture with ‘Bend It Like Beckham’ director Gurinder Chadha. No sir, we had called him up to commend him on his venom spewing, vainglorious and utterly delightful creation Pammi aunty, whose regular appearances in rollers, head towel and outsize spectacles have had us marveling. “I never thought I would get such positive response,” says Ssumier, who, when he is not impersonating your average battle-axe from Karol Bagh, is a theatre and radio star, who bears a striking resemblance to SRK (gulp). “I’m looking forward to a project with Chadha,” reveals Ssumier, who recorded the twenty-ninth episode of Pammi Aunty’s outrageous conversation with Sarla ben this week. “Also, a soon to be announced play with Quasar Padamsee.” As for who Pammi Aunty is based on, he says, “It’s from my childhood growing up inDelhi.”
Ssumier Pasricha (right) As Pammi aunty
Nice!
tweet talk
With due respect, should we be taking up the Supreme Court’s time over issues such as Dahi-Handi? What else will they adjudicate on?
— Posted by Suhel Seth
The Communication Question
Our friend Vikram Khanna, the Cambridge educated Singapore-based economist, who had done a stint in Washington with the IMF, has penned an interesting profile on his former colleague, Urjit Patel, in a business newspaper this week.
Urjit Patel. PIC/PTI
“Mr Patel was originally from Kenya, the scion of a prosperous Indian business family in Nairobi. He had always been interested in India. Over many meetings and lunches, I remember being struck by the depth of his knowledge and curiosity about the country, despite his never having really lived there,” says Khanna.
But his praise comes with a caveat, declared in the article’s headline: ‘India’s new central bank governor has big shoes to fill’: Will Patel be able to manage the media better than his high profile predecessor?
‘Mr Rajan has spoken on many subjects, including the need for more social and religious tolerance, the venal quality of India’s politicians’ writes Khanna, ‘While Mr Patel has views on all of the above, he is unlikely to voice them publicly,’ he opines, ending his column with ‘communication …is of critical importance, and something to which Mr Rajan paid close attention. This is an area in which Mr Patel is relatively untested.”
Common perception is that it was the dashing Guv’s media prominence (in particular references to his ‘rockstar looks’) that had irked the powers that be and led to his untimely exit.
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