<h2>Planting Seeds Of Love</h2>
<a href="https://www.mid-day.com/entertainment/bollywood-news/article/jackie-shroff-celebrates-37-years-of-tridev-starring-madhuri-dixit-sunny-deol-23638770" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Jackie Shroff </a>brings his green thumb to a black-tie affair, at Anshula Kapoor and Rohan Thakkar&rsquo;s wedding reception in Bandra on Tuesday night.&nbsp;
<h2>An Unfiltered Triumph</h2>
When I walked through Atul Kasbekar&rsquo;s photography exhibition, Honest, at<a href="https://www.mid-day.com/entertainment/bollywood-news/photo/jio-world-plaza-opening-deepika-padukone-katrina-kaif-to-alia-bhatt-heres-what-bollywood-celebrities-wore-on-the-red-carpet-97987" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"> Jio World Plaza </a>ahead of its June 5 opening, I had a feeling it wouldn&rsquo;t be packing up in a hurry. Sure enough, what was meant to end on July 5 has now been extended until July 10 &mdash; a happy problem to have.
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2026/jul/Atul-Kasbekar_e.jpg" alt="Atul Kasbekar" width="1280" height="720" /> Atul Kasbekar
Atul has done something refreshingly unfashionable with this show: he&rsquo;s stripped away the filters. His portraits of actors including Naseeruddin Shah, Kalki Koechlin, Johny Lever, Neena Gupta, Boman Irani, and Sunil Grover are entirely free of retouching, allowing personality &mdash; not Photoshop &mdash; to take centre stage.
Word has clearly travelled. Over the past month, the exhibit has welcomed everyone from Riteish Deshmukh and John Abraham to artists Paresh Maity and Jayasri Burman. Even Atul concedes the response has outpaced expectations, buoyed by the backing of <a href="https://www.mid-day.com/mumbai/mumbai-news/article/isha-and-akash-ambani-on-fortune-s-most-influential-40-under-40-list-22967237" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Akash Ambani</a> and his team at Reliance. &ldquo;People have genuinely appreciated the honesty in the approach, the zero retouching, and the choice of subjects,&rdquo; he says, adding that invitations from other cities &mdash; and even an art gallery &mdash; have already landed in his inbox.
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2026/jul/Rakesh-Bedi_e.jpg" alt="Rakesh Bedi" width="1280" height="720" /> Rakesh Bedi
Nothing captures the exhibition&rsquo;s premise better than the story of Rakesh Bedi, whose current buzz with <a href="https://www.mid-day.com/entertainment/bollywood-news/article/dhurandhar-movie-review-ranveer-singh-akshaye-khanna-sanjay-dutt-aditya-dhar-23606425" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Dhurandhar </a>gives this celebration of character actors an especially timely resonance. Fittingly, he is expected to view the show today. Follow suit in a hurry, so you don&rsquo;t miss out.
<h2>The Warmest Gesture</h2>
Some memories outlive careers, accolades, and even time. For Genelia Deshmukh, one such memory comes courtesy Sridevi &mdash; as we discovered when the actor chose the Chandni icon for our Timeless Beauty feature last week. &ldquo;Sridevi ji was just unbelievable,&rdquo; Genelia recalls.
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2026/jul/Sridevi_e.jpg" alt="Sridevi" width="1280" height="720" /> Sridevi
While shooting for a South film in <a href="https://www.mid-day.com/news/world-news/article/prime-minister-modi-to-make-first-official-visit-to-new-zealand-next-week-23638003" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">New Zealand,</a> she found herself shivering in the bitter cold as Sridevi, who was holidaying there, happened to visit the set. &ldquo;I was frozen because it was very cold. It didn&rsquo;t take her a second to take off her gloves and give them to me.&rdquo;
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2026/jul/Genelia_e.jpg" alt="Genelia Deshmukh" width="1280" height="720" /> Genelia Deshmukh
There were no flashing cameras, no audience, and no reason for the superstar to notice &ldquo;a nobody,&rdquo; as Genelia describes her younger self. Yet Sridevi did. &ldquo;Till date, the gloves are my most prized possession,&rdquo; Genelia says. &ldquo;For me, she will be this beautiful woman who was kind to a young girl.&rdquo; Greatness is measured in warmth, not words &mdash; in this case, quite literally.
<h2>Blighty Birthday</h2>
Is everyone who&rsquo;s anyone in Mumbai spending the summer in Blighty? It certainly feels like a mass exodus! The latest addition to our London diary is Border 2 producer Nidhi Dutta, who celebrated daughter Sitara&rsquo;s first birthday at dad JP Dutta&rsquo;s gorgeous North London home on July 7.
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2026/jul/Nidhi-Dutta_e.jpg" alt="Parents Nidhi Dutta and Binoy Gandhi with Sitara" width="1280" height="720" /> Parents Nidhi Dutta and Binoy Gandhi with Sitara
Making the most of the English sunshine, Nidhi hosted a picture-perfect garden party, transforming the backyard into a pastel paradise complete with a pop-up pool and a profusion of balloons. The star of the show, of course, was little Sitara, looking adorable in pink, with a tiny crown perched on her head and her fingers happily smeared with cake.
Despite the elaborate setup, the celebration was an intimate affair, with just over a dozen guests &mdash; a lovely mix of Mumbai friends and London-based family. Still recovering from the fabulous jamboree, mum Nidhi tells yours truly, &ldquo;It is Sitara&rsquo;s first summer here. We&rsquo;ve been to a petting farm and parks all around London!&rdquo; A debut English summer done right.
<h2>Of Couture and Croissants</h2>
Isha Ambani wasn&rsquo;t the only desi girl illuminating the City of Light this week. Matthieu Blazy&rsquo;s fairytale-inspired Chanel showcase transformed Paris Haute Couture Week into a veritable garden on July 7. And while the ramp was rich with sartorial treasures, it was Hyderabad-born model Bhavitha Mandava who truly captured our collective imagination as she glided down the runway.
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2026/jul/Ananya_e.jpg" alt="Ananya Panday" width="1280" height="720" />Ananya Panday
Naturally, the front row also kept the social circuit buzzing. <a href="https://www.mid-day.com/entertainment/bollywood-news/article/ananya-panday-shares-drool-worthy-food-moments-from-her-paris-trip-23598056" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Ananya Panday </a>&mdash; the maison&rsquo;s first Indian ambassador &mdash; served an absolute masterclass in modern luxury in a light-blue quilted double-denim skirt set, layered effortlessly over a crisp white tee.
But beyond the high-octane runway glamour, Ananya confessed her off-duty Parisian itinerary is strictly dedicated to the simple pleasures: devouring buttery croissants, sipping endless coffees at pavement caf&eacute;s, getting lost in a charming bookstore, and, of course, indulging in some serious shopping. After all, what is Paris without a little couture and a lot of carbs?

Sure enough, what was meant to end on July 5 has now been extended until July 10 — a happy problem to have

Sonali`s Society: Planting Seeds Of Love

Sonali's Society: Planting Seeds Of Love

Planting Seeds Of Love

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