"I was looking at her dancing and thinking ... Where did this dynamic little bundle of energy come from! I thought she killed it that night. And I was actually so tense cause she had sprained her ankle a few days prior to the show," says actress and director Soni Razdan on her daughter Alia Bhatt
Soni Razdan with daughter Alia Bhatt and friends
"I was looking at her dancing and thinking ... Where did this dynamic little bundle of energy come from! I thought she killed it that night. And I was actually so tense cause she had sprained her ankle a few days prior to the show," says actress and director Soni Razdan on her daughter Alia Bhatt, who not only walked away with this year's Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress for her performance in Highway, but also impressed with some particularly mean moves during a song-and-dance routine.
Soni Razdan with daughter Alia Bhatt and friends. Pic/Twitter
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Who does she get her energy from, we asked Razdan. "Both of us I suppose. She reminds me of me cause I love to perform and I can see that in her so clearly. And of course Mahesh is a born performer isn't he!" says the proud mum, adding, "She's natural and normal and I hope she always stays that way!"
Serafina at Kala Ghoda
Yesterday we had the pleasure of dining at the newly opened Serafina's all-day casual dining restaurant at Kala Ghoda. We had gone because it had been a favourite haunt of ours in New York and we were happy that it had moved out of its previous location at the Palladium at Lower Parel.
Sunil Kapur and Deepak Chopra. Pic/Getty Images
After all, the iconic restaurant, known as one of New York's finest Northern-Italian eateries, which boasted of dishes such as ravioli al Tartufo Nero, Focaccia alla Nutella and Pizza Bianca, founded by Vittorio Assaf and Fabio Granato deserved better than being stuck in a mall. Not that we have anything against malls, of course.
But to get back to the newly opened Serafina at Kala Ghoda, it's everything that had made the New York eatery such a favourite of ours: rugged North Italian handed down for generations cuisines, the restaurant's signature effortless chic, lots of great natural light streaming through the big windows and what's best of all-very attractive prices.
"We will consciously offer many of our iconic dishes at phenomenal prices to encourage people to try these items," says Sunil (Joy) Kapur, Chairman of K Hospitality and Global Kitchens, who has brought the eatery down to the city. "We recently had a successful opening in Kolkata and there is a lot of excitement about the brand."
Incidentally, while doing the food tasting we made it a point to order the salad named after our friend, the West Coast-based spiritual guru and author Deepak Chopra (perhaps the consequence of his friendship with Sant Chatwal who has interest in the NYC Serafina).
And if you must know what goes into the salad named after the world's premier new age spiritual savant-here it is: a handful of holistic mixed green lettuce, a portion of Age of Aquarius cherry tomatoes, some alternative corn, a few theosophical asparagus, some comparative lemon vinaigrette dressing and the key ingredient to hold it all together: some prime nuts! Toss well with many existential stirrings and serve!
The Big Fat Indian Wedding relocates
For four days Shangri-La's Barr al Jissah Resort & Spa's Al Waha Hotel was named 'Virani Castle'.
No, the Virani family, which runs a diamond and gemstone empire across India, Hong Kong and Belgium, did not take over the hotel, but flew in about a thousand guests from around the world for the wedding of the family scion Smit Virani with Chandni Amin,' thus began a gushing piece entitled 'The Big Fat Indian Wedding' in Sunday's edition of the Muscat Daily.
The wedding venue. Pic/Muscat Daily
'Lavish sets with different themes were set up for each ceremony …with dazzling performances by international artistes as well as Bollywood celebrities,' said the article about the nuptials of the Mumbai-based diamond merchant Virani family that was held from January 23 to 26.
Smit Virani with Chandni Amin
And in, what looks like a pitch for Omani tourism, the report underlines that it was a through and through 'Gujarati wedding in the true sense, it saw a celebrated singer from Gujarat perform on the first day, followed by a mehndi (henna) ceremony, which included the garba and dandiya dance forms.
Dia Mirza
In the evening, Indian Idol participant Rahul Vaidya performed live, while the next day guests had a fun time at a pool party where five Russian drummers performed.' What's more, the next day was 'a dazzling affair with Bollywood celebrities Dia Mirza, Aarti Chhabria and Mouni Roy performing their best moves,' and, 'Vishal and Shekhar ended the evening celebrations belting out their favourite Bollywood numbers.'
"Destination weddings have grown over the years for Indian marriage celebrations, and international markets like Thailand, Hong Kong and others in Southeast Asia have been over exposed," said one of the event organiser's about the extravaganza.
"Over the last couple of years, Oman has emerged as a fresh destination, with only a couple of hours flying time and its modern infrastructure." So will more Indians bite the bait and follow suit? Let's see...
Ken with the diamond earrings
Of the unfortunately tawdry battle currently being slugged out in Bollywood between a bottle blonde Ken and our friend, a well-regarded but controversy- attracting actor's wife, who also happens to be the mother of a shining star, the piece that had us most ROFL was when Ken, accused of cheating the star wife of five cool ones, was caught red-handed at the gym, sporting 'not only the expensive watch meant for the son, and the expensive car bought for the husband, but the pair of earrings meant for the daughter!'
As for all this 'submitting damaging pix in court' there's a word for it-blackmail, and how soon before the industry, ever alert to similar threats closes ranks on the earring-wearing offender and protects its own?
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