Mumbai Diary: Friday Dossier

Babys day outSunny Leone and Daniel Webers daughter Nisha seems to be getting a hang of flashing a smile for the media as Weber picks her up from school in Juhu PicSneha KharabeWhen two thespians metEarlier this week this newspaper had carried the news of New Yorkbased actordirector Daniel Irizarrys two weeklong visit to India as part of which he conducted a workshop for citybased actors that resulted in a production of the classic play The Inspector General Watching plays being made in Mumbai and meeting those who create them was on his itinerary too And so Raghav Aggarwal of Actors Craft who had invited Irizarry to Mumbai and Sneha Maloo of the National Academy of Media amp Events arranged for him to watch plays by Naseeruddin Shah and Ratna Pathak Shahs Motley which is celebrating 40 years and meet senior theatre artiste and Rage Productions cofounder Rajit KapurFrom left Daniel Irizarry Rajit Kapur Raghav Aggarwal and Sneha MalooThe duo spoke about the difference between the international and Indian theatre scenes and how actors here need to open up about the kind of risks they are willing to take with their performance While Kapur couldnt make it to the final show as he was acting in a play that evening he did drop by for a rehearsal where he silently observed left quietly and shared his thoughts later Fellow thespian Makarand Deshpande we hear was scheduled to come for the show too but couldnt make it because of an extended shoot scheduleIn step with lifeWhen noted Odissi dancer Shubhada Varadkar was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 40 she took to writing down her experience in the form of poetry in her mother tongue Marathi These were personal ruminations I couldnt share with anyone because if news went out I would not get opportunities to perform recalled the Mumbaibased artisteIt was when she was cured of the disease and she happened to share her battle with cancer with another survivor mdash who told her that her story had inspired her mdash that Varadkar felt that it was perhaps time to pen her story in an autobiography While Varadkar first published her memoir in Marathi she has now written one in English The Celestial Plume The Write Place will release today While writing the book I realised that when you surrender to your emotions your ego takes a back seat she saidBonding in BKCIt looks like the foreverinlove Reteish and Genelia Deshmukh cant get enough of the food hub that Bandra Kurla Complex is turning out to be Earlier this week the couple was out for brunch at an Asian finedine in the business district where Mrs Sunshine posed for the papsAnd yesterday this diarist spotted them lunching at a popular Goan restaurant in the neighbourhood which was so full for a weekday afternoon that it made us wonder if thats where all BKC suits have their working lunch Talking about business lunches and given that they were joined by a third person we also wonder if the two are working together on something Well keep you postedThe panIndian problem of anxietyThat anxiety is now a bigger mental health concern in India than depression was a known fact among therapists but we got an idea of its scale when we saw that citybased clinical psychologist Sonali Guptas YouTube video on anxiety has received one million viewsThere are so many people writing in after watching the video that its becoming difficult to respond to them Gupta told this diarist adding For five years or so 80 per cent of my work has been anxietyrelated And it isnt just people from the metros who are battling panic attacks Those from tier II cities with limited access to mental health care have been writing in Gupta attributes the development to our fastpaced lives where technology never gives us a breakGet well soon SarahIt was only last week that celebrity chef Sarah Todd was over the moon after she found out that she would be cooking Indian food as part of a female lineup of food icons for the AO Chef Series at the Australian Open 2020 But now we hear that she has injured herself Five weeks ago she was playing a sport with her son when she twisted her ankleIt is quite severe and Todd wrote on social media Reminiscing back to days not so long ago that I could wear heels like this Wont be doing this for a long time Stitches are now out and Im in a moonbootstill on crutchescounting down We hear however that Todd is recovering and is expected to be up and about in another two weeks thankfully well in time for the grand culinary showcaseCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates