Yesterday, a collection of Mumbaicentric short films presented by the students of Sophia Polytechnicu2019s Social Communications Media ( SCM) Department was screened at CSMVS Museumu2019s Visitorsu2019 Centre, as part of the ongoing Kala Ghoda Arts Festival.
Among these was a three- part documentary on the abstractionist Mehlli Gobhai, who passed away in 2018. The films were made by the batch of 2017- 2018 and served as an introduction to the various facets of the artistu2019s life u2014 paintings, notebooks and childrenu2019s books u2014 as his retrospective curated by Nancy Adajania and Ranjit Hoskote opens next month. The film u2014 titled Dark Mirror, First Thought- books and The Man Who Could u2014 also featured famous city faces like author Jerry Pinto and artist Meera Devidayal.
SKELETOR ON WHEELS Actor Aditya Roy Kapur wears a mask while riding out of a gym complex in Bandra on Thursday. PIC/ atul Kamble Angrezi mein kehte hain ki... A studentsu2019 tribute to A home for opera o Mehlli All this while, if you ever wanted to catch the screening of a western opera in Mumbai, the NCPA at Nariman Point was your best bet.
But now, in an unusual move, Inox, a chain of multiplexes, has revealed that it will also screen operas for the cityu2019s audience on a regular basis, starting this Valentineu2019s Day.
The first one to be screened will be Carmen, an epic love story by French composer Georges Bizet. It deals with the story of a rebellious gypsy who is willing to go to any length for love.
Songs for harmony If youu2019re looking for seafood in Bandra, few places top Soul Fry, the much- loved eatery at Pali Market. The place is packed not just on weekends, but also when it hosts karaoke nights on Mondays and Thursdays. Normally, the best singers get a jar of house- made bombil pickle. But yesterday, owner Meldan Du2019Cunha decided to turn things around a bit. Instead of the best singers, the pickle was given to people who chose songs with a strong social message. Du2019Cunha told this diarist, u201c Our karaoke event is doing so well that I thought, why not take it one step ahead? Thatu2019s why I decided to award people who are spreading a social message.
They first said a few lines about their choice of track before singing it, and then a community table decided the winners. The idea was to spread peace, love, harmony, joy and kindness at a time when it seems to be sorely missing from the country.u201d Great move, we feel.
An old friend Friendu2019s Union Joshi Club is a decadesold eatery thatu2019s an institution when it comes to authentic Gujarati food in the city. Located in Kalbadevi, it serves a no- frills, but delectable thali.
But not anymore. The iconic place has downed shutters. u201c How sad!u201d food historian Kurush Dalal exclaimed when this diarist broke the news to him. u201c It belongs to a period of increasing urbanisation in Mumbai, to a time when the city was growing in a very specific manner. And since it was run by a Brahmin Joshi family, the food was kosher for all vegetarians. So people from all walks of life came to eat there,u201d Dalal added. Kalbadevi has lost its culinary gem.
There seems to be no love lost between Vir Das and Vivek Agnihotri.
The former is a stand- up comedian known for espousing liberal views. The latter is a filmmaker who makes no bones about his right- wing leanings. The clash of personalities was evident on social media recently. Agnihotri posted a tweet in which he said that English comedians in India lack humour and should take a leaf out of the books of their Hindi and regional counterparts.
To this, Das replied, u201c I agree, sir.
So savage. Also, your tweet is in English.u201d Not one to take the sarcasm lying down, Agnihotri wrote, u201c That wasnu2019t a tweet. I was testing a new insect killer spray.
How did I know that you will be the first unfunny comedian to pop up? Mission accomplished.u201d And Das retorted, u201c Sir, please donu2019t be upset at me. Iu2019m a fan. I apologise.
Youu2019re my second favourite rightwing Vivek.u201d We will let you decide who won this war of words.
