It was a star-studded event that found its way towards the MMRDA Grounds at the Bandra-Kurla complex last evening. Hosted by the International Association for Human Values, the Marco Ricci Each One Reach One benefit concert was a fundraiser for the World Youth Peace Summit (India) that is going to be held in December).
A veritable whos who of the film industry turned up for the event that was initiated by Sanjay Dutt and his wife Rhea Pillai. Sunil Dutt, Jaya Bachchan, Shah Rukh and Gauri Khan, Govinda, Salman Khan, Sunil Shetty, Akshaye Khanna, Bobby Deol, Saif Ali Khan, Preity Zinta, J P Dutta, Karan Johar and Katrina Kaif, were just some of the few who turned up for the event in support of Dutt and the cause of peace.
A familiar face spotted in the crowd was that of Police Commisioner R S Sharma who seemed to be enjoying the show. Shah Rukh said that while running after material gains he had forgotten what peace was all about.
His speech on peace was short but extremely touching. Govinda read out a short poem in the name of peace while Kareena Kapoor (was called the ambassador of peace), Esha Deol, Fardeen Khan, Shahid Kapoor, Tusshar Kapoor, pop groups Viva and Asma, Sameera Reddy and Priyanka Chopra performed on stage. Rani Mukherjee and Sajid Khan peformed a witty skit on stage that had Sajid hunting for a bridegroom for Rani.
It was a pleasant surprise to see NDTV anchor and newsperson, Abhigyan Prakash, stepping out for a good cause to compere the event. The night ended with an audio-visual on peace, a blaze of noisy fireworks and white balloons floating up into the sky...
Fired up: Sanjana Kapoor hugs Asim Ghosh, managing director of Hutch Group,
as Maya Rao looks on at the performance of A Deeper Fired I Am at the
Orange office in Lower Parel. Pic: Vijayanand Gupta
Music mania: Sonu Nigam with Abhijeet and Akshay Kumar at
the music release of the film
Police Force An Inside Story.
Pic: Pradeep Dhivar
Last night saw the music release of producer Kulbhushan Guptas much-delayed film Police Force An Inside Story starring Akshay Kumar, Raveena Tandon, Amrish Puri, Raj Babbar, Govind Namdeo and Mohan Joshi and directed by Dilip Shukla.
Heroine Raveena Tandon, after calling up the producer several times saying she would come, didnt turn up. Its heard that she gave the producer the run-around during the making of the film.
Akshay Kumar being the professional that he is gave his dates on time but its alleged that because they had broken up at that time Raveena gave trouble about her dates and at times even refused to shoot with him. The highlight of the evening was Sunil Dutt who came all suited-booted and seemed to be in good spirits. He gave a short speech on national integration.
The film will be released in December.
Mirror, mirror, on the wall: Shilpa Shetty, Shamita Shetty and Rocky S with a friend party at the new Athena Merlot. Pic: Ashish Raje
They came, they partied and they lounged on the huge beds just off the dance floor. In fact, for many of the guests at Athenas re-launch party on Saturday night, it was not just another wild evening.
After over a month of renovations, Vikrant Chougule threw open the doors of a decadent new Athena to his friends and members going as far as to send them a key (as an invitation) to their new home.
Gone are the comfy couches in the members area and in the Buddha Bar. In their place, are large round poufs and personalised mini refrigerators all of which are mean to make you feel like you havent stepped out of the house. In fact, the Buddha Bar now has foam-padded walls and lava lamps set into little niches (there were formally big white candles there) making it look like a room in the starship Enterprise.
And if thats not enough, the restaurant area now has a waiting room where you can read a magazine or two while you wait to get seated and even a walk-in wine cellar from which you can pick your own bottle from Chateau Indages wide range. However, the restaurant will be formally launched next week and will be called Merlot.
Expectedly, some guests liked the new-look and some didnt. But a new place always takes a bit of getting used to.
Nonetheless, partying into the wee hours were actors Shilpa and Shamita Shetty, Divya Palat, Preeti Jhangiani, Ritesh Deshmukh and Aftab Shivdasani, business barons Niranjan Thakur of Shaw Wallace, Shantilal Somaiya and Gautam Singhania, designers Neeta Lulla and Rocky S and glam-gals Achla Sachdev, Kavita Khariyat, Mridula Chandrashekhar and Arzoo Govitrikar showing off her recently pierced belly button.
Bhandarkar to get married
Tall, dark, dashing National Award-winning director of Chandni Bar and hard-hitting films like Satta, Madhur Bhandarkar is getting married in December. And the girl who has won his heart is interior designer Renu Namboodri.
They met seven years ago through a friend and became good friends. Renu is not a film buff, but shes watched all Madhurs films.
A couple of years ago they both realised that the friendship had blossomed.
They met when he was a struggling director and she stood by him. Storms and upheavals came and went in his life but Renu remained at his side. Madhur was linked to Raveena Tandon, Tabu and some others. But, he understood that Renu was his source of strength and decided she was the right girl.
Madhur was supposed to get married in August, but because of his schedule he had to postpone it to December. The marriage is going to be a private affair with only close friends and relatives attending.
Right now hes busy wrapping up the Shatrughan Sinha-Akshay Kumar-Sunil Shetty-Raveena Tandon starrer Aan Men At Work. Renu Namboodri has designed Madhurs new office at Andheri.
