International Day of Friendship: Mumbaikars reveal favourite addas to hangout with friends

Homies for lifeThe duo met for the first time on the sets of a childrenrsquos play in 1991 recalls Vijayakar ldquoWe found common interests in food and comedyrdquo he adds From driving through the town on nightouts to relaxing at each otherrsquos places they have grown old together ldquoOf course notrdquo Broacha jokes ldquoKunal has issues You must ignore what he saysrdquo he says with mock sincerity ldquoHe still hangs out at my house too much He just wonrsquot leaverdquoBroacha laughsOur fave addas The Ghetto at Breach Candy Copacabana in Juhu for the vibe Cafe Olympia in Colaba for its bheja fryCyrus Broacha and Kunal Vijayakar television personalitiesBanter all aroundFor Aditi Mittal Jeeya Sethi has been among her oldest friends in the industry ldquoWe are brutally honest with each other We often spend time just pulling each otherrsquos legsrdquo she says No comedy talk Sethi reveals adding ldquoWhen we hang out we are a couple of normal friends having funrdquoOur fave addas Long walks at Carter Road Ministry of Crab in Khar for its food Ikea in Worli for a bit of timepassAditi Mittal and Jeeya Sethi standup comicsA comfortable vibeFor restaurateur and owner of Cafeacute Madras Devavrat Kamath college years were about finding a space of your own He still finds time for his old friends Vikram Nanawadikar Francis Mel Gautam Bir Singh Porus Satwe and Nikhil Moorthy AKA Nikso amongothers ldquoWe would always hang out in familiar spaces such as Cafe Mondegar Food was important but it was all about the comfortable vibe of the placerdquo he sharesFrom left Porus Satwe Devavrat Kamath and Francis MelOur fave addas Cafe Mondegar left in Colaba Totorsquos and Soul Fry in Bandra for weekly karaoke sessionsDevavrat Kamath restaurateurCinephiles all the wayFrom left Loy Mendonsa Ehsaan Noorani and Shankar MahadevanFor Hindi cinemarsquos melodic triumvirate of ShankarEhsaanLoy the studio is the eternal hangout space ldquoOnce out of the studio we are all in a different zonerdquo admits Noorani Of the trio Mahadevan remains the foodie With Mendonsa Noorani shares a common love for science and history ldquoWe occasionally catch movies in theatres Even this weekend we were trying to get tickets for Oppenheimer We just couldnrsquot get itrdquo he revealsOur fave addas Palladium in Lower Parel for a casual movie and shopping eveningEhsaan Noorani composerTheatre callFrom left Nadir Khan Vivek Madan Arghya Lahiri Vivek Rao Toral Shah and Quasar Thakore Padamsee ldquoWe make friends across sectionsrdquo admits theatremaker Quasar Thakore Padamsee From schoolmates to theatre peers his circle is a large one including theatremakers Nadir Khan Toral Shah and Arghya Lahiri ldquoThe standard hangout place back in college was my motherrsquos Dolly Thakore drawing room Some of our best ideas have come thererdquo he reminisces Then there were the old haunts of The Ghetto Prithvi Theatre and NCPA ldquoPlaywrights rarely chat about work Our conversation is about everything elserdquo he revealsOur fave addas Road House Bluez in Azad Nagar Andheri for the vibe Harkat Studios and Kitabkhana Fort for some literary takeawaysQuasar Thakore Padamsee theatremakerCircles of literatureJehangir Art Gallery Pics CourtesyWikimedia Commons inset Ranjit HoskoteFor poet Ranjit Hoskote Mumbai has always been a city of literary circles ldquoFrom Arundhati Subramaniam and Sampurna Chattarji to Mustansir Dalvi we all were part of a convergence Some I have known for a long period from my student days to others from literary connectionsrdquo he reveals adding ldquoYou would have a reading wander off to a cafeacute and sit there for hours It was often an urban eventrdquo he laughsOur fave addas Jehangir Art Gallery The Artistrsquos Centre at Kala Ghoda Stadium in Churchgate and The Wayside Inn Kala Ghoda now shut forthe conversationsRanjit Hoskote poet cultural theorist