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The art of the matter

Updated on: 15 January,2015 06:01 AM IST  | 
Malavika Sangghvi |

Along with many others, we are looking forward to Mumbai Gallery Weekend, which kicks off today

The art of the matter

The gallerists participating in Mumbai Gallery Weekend

Along with many others, we are looking forward to Mumbai Gallery Weekend, which kicks off today.


Launched in 2012, as an initiative by leading contemporary art galleries of Mumbai to consolidate their resources and to enhance the art-going experience of Mumbaikars, its primary objective was to engage existing and potential collectors and broaden the relevance of contemporary art.


The gallerists participating in Mumbai Gallery Weekend
The gallerists participating in Mumbai Gallery Weekend


“We began at the Taj Land’s End,” says Chemould’s Shireen Gandhi, fast becoming one of the most respected figures in the art world, “and the initial idea was to move the art energy out of the Sobo area and encompass the suburbs.”

“This year the focus is back on South Mumbai, specifically the art district of Colaba and with a committed and art-sensitive sponsor like Tata AIG we are expecting a great season.”

So over the next few days MGW’s host galleries namely Chatterjee & Lal, Chemould Prescott Road, Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke, Gallery Maskara, Lakeeren Gallery, Project 88, Sakshi Gallery will be showing artists such as Anita Dube, Anant Joshi, Samanta Batra Mehta, Hetain Patel, CK Rajan, Sharmila Samant and T Venkanna.

And there will be public conversations and films screenings in a scheduled partnership with the NGMA. The perfect run up to the India Art fair that kicks off at the end of the month in Delhi, we think.

That ramp-scorching moment
“It was one of the best moments of my career on the ramp,” says Adrienne (Anna) Bredemeyer, our friend the former supermodel, who after a long and flourishing run as the face that successfully launched a hundred different products, now works as Consultant for Retail - Brand partner tie-ups for the upcoming mixed use development Kohinoor Square in Mumbai’s Mahim West.

Adrienne Bredemeyer walking the ramp at the 1990 fashion show
Adrienne Bredemeyer walking the ramp at the 1990 fashion show

“I was wearing a Abu-Sandeep outfit and it was a multi-designer show in 1990 at the Delhi Maurya,” recalls Bredemeyer, adding, “And the Delhi audience, supposed to be pretty standoffish broke into an applause when I made my entrance.” The subject of a long profile in last week’s Mint, Bredemeyer is one of the few models who has managed a graceful segue in to a post modelling career.

Adrienne Bredemeyer
Adrienne Bredemeyer

“Kohinoor Square is situated at the arterial junction in the heart of Mumbai opposite Shivaji Park with easy accessibility from all directions of the city,” she says of her new passion. “It will feature a seven-star hotel by the end of the year but everything is under wraps at the moment,” she says, adding, “It’s going to be a game changer.”

In a new avatar
“My friend Ketan Mehta asked me to do a small cameo for a Marathi movie he is directing,” says actor-writer-producer Viveck Vaswani about this picture featuring him in uncharacteristic turban and upturned mooch.

Viveck Vaswani
Viveck Vaswani

Known as the man whose initial support bequeathed that peerless talent to the film industry who passes by the initials SRK (the young actor is rumoured to have crashed at the Vaswani pad when he was a Bollywood ingénue), Vaswani now spends his time teaching at Shiamak Davar’s academy when he is not obliging his many friends with cameos.

Of course, this turbaned avatar is a departure for the man best known for his reprisal of Sindhi characters.“Not only did I dress up this way, but I also danced in a number choreographed by none other than Saroj Khan for Ketan’s film!” he says.

Love’s collateral damage
The collateral damage when major industry A-listers fall in love cannot be underestimated. Today, it would not be incorrect to say that two major relationships involving top stars are convulsing Bollywood like never before and that everyone appears to be caught up in their thrall and taking sides.

But this story concerns another alleged affair, which sources say is being conducted with stealth and restraint, though why it ought to be so is baffling, as both individuals concerned are single. Neighbours of the actor swear that they have seen his actress paramour’s car parked outside his new residence, purchased to complement the new chapter in his life.

And confidantes of the actress swear that she has spoken about the relationship and her hopes for it to culminate in marriage. But why the secrecy? “His mother,” say the sources, “she’s a tough cookie and since he’s very much a mama’s boy he’s waiting for her to give his newest relationship the go-ahead before he announces it with pleasure.”

And hopefully, this coupling will not be as contentious as the other two and will not add more friction to an already riven industry.

Record-breaking show
“After it’s fabulously successful premiere in December, with 5 houseful shows, Jesus Christ Superstar is back for 5 more shows this January,” said its producer, the indefatigable Raell Padamsee, whose father Alyque has directed the musical for the second time after four decades, a feat perhaps unrivalled any where in the world.

X Cast- Nicholas Brown as Jesus with the Roman guards. pic/Ryan Martis
X Cast- Nicholas Brown as Jesus with the Roman guards. pic/Ryan Martis

With artwork by Padma Bhushan Akbar Padamsee, and choreography by Shiamak Davar, its premiere run at the St Anthony’s auditorium in Bandra, which we had attended, had broken all box office records with the 5 packed premiere shows that enjoyed standing ovations. But our interest in the show is not just academic.

Because along with its many record-breaking statistics the most thrilling for us is the fact that JCS features an original cast member from its 1974 run, who is none other than our very own sister Devieka Bhojwani, playing Mother Mary, and whose strong melodious voice rising to the ceiling with pathos and poignancy is one of the highlights of the show.

What’s more, to add to the theatre-going experience, the producers of this moving musical have introduced a unique feature, a ‘Meet and Greet’ with the cast of JCS and the Godfather of English Theatre, its Director - Alyque Padamsee.

Nice!

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