Mumbai Dairy: Sunday Shorts

In positive lightLAST Friday was day 85 of the ongoing strike by the Film and Television Institute of India FTII students and an almost cancelled screening of their worksRepresentation picA selection of 10 shorts mdash comprising diploma submissions class exercises and films on the strike mdash were initially meant to be screened at the Films Division FD in Mumbai For reasons not on record but easy to conclude FD cancelled the screening two days prior to the event The FTII bred FD curators continued to support the students some of whom belonged to the 2008 batch that is currently under the scanner The screening finally took place at Bhupesh Gupta Bhavan where in 2004 Anand Patwardhan had organised a screening of politically sensitive documentaries rejected by a reputed city film festival Surabhi Sharma a curator said ldquoWe wanted to curate a programme that goes beyond the sloganeering These are layered and nuanced movies and we want to value the space thatFTII isrdquoThis chef is on a rollCHEF Rakesh Talwar known for his motichoor cheesecake at Spare Kitchen Juhu and juicy pizzas at Playlist Pizzeria Bandra has opened many restaurants this year Starting with two outlets of Wok This Way along with Oh cha Curry Leaf and Cafeacute Cabano in Mumbai he also opened two restaurants in Malaysia mdash Boomerang Bistro and Rolling PinRakesh Talwar with his food truck in BengaluruThe latest addition to the list will be a food truck in Bengaluru ldquoI saw the truck and I knew I had to fulfill a 10yearold dream This one will be launched within two months I will serve handmade icecream in flavours like salted caramel banofie pie and motichoor cheese cakerdquo For Mumbai food lovers he plans to open Spare Kitchen and Playlist Pizzeria in Worli and Kemps Corner in thecoming monthsGoing under the hammerALL eyes are on Hugo Weihe who is preparing to steer his debut auction as Saffronartrsquos CEO The seasoned auctioneer who was formerly international director of Asian art at UK auction house Christiersquos is the name behind some landmark sales such as the one in 2013 when a VS Gaitonde became the highest fetching work by an Indian artist R237 crore Wielding the gavel should be second nature to Weihe but he admits to thorough team rehearsals for the auction on September 10Hugo Weihe CEO of Saffronart with FN Souzas Man and Woman Laughing estimated at R15 20 croresPICATUL KAMBLEOf the 75 works that will go under the hammer buyers can speculate from a range of Bombay Progressives and contemporaries such as Subodh Gupta and Thukral and Tagra Weihersquos attention however is on FN Souzarsquos Man and Woman Laughing 1957 estimated at R15 20 crores This artwork brushes past MF Husain and Akbar Padamsee to become the lead sale of the auction ldquoLook at Souzarsquos figures These are wounded people who are still laughing Souza has not been given his fair share of recognition in the countryrdquo says WeiheWersquoll have to wait till Thursday to find out if Souza got his ldquofarerdquo shareHe has moved SouthHEY wherezatt The Sachin Tendulkar metallic sculpture by sculptorartist Jaideep Mehrotra installed at a traffic island near the Sasmira Institute in June last year is conspicuous by its absenceThe visual tribute was an RPG Art Foundation initiative Now we hear the work has moved to Marine Drive diagonally opposite Marine Plaza hotel Mehrotra confirms ldquoYes but it is under wraps because the place where it is to be installed is being beautified I think they are also looking for a cricketer to inaugurate itrdquo Sumeet Chatterjee head of Brand Communications RPG group says ldquoThere are going to be two works on Sachin along the Marine Drive promenade one is for Worli and another new one They will be inaugurated shortlyrdquo Now watch for Sachrsquos ldquoimpish smilerdquo that Mehrotra said his work captured when zipping down Marine Drive From wherezzat to howzzat