Mumbai Diary: Friday Dossier

StatueWith what seems is a fresh round of more weight loss a svelte Bhumi Pednekar hopes to be as statuesque as the inspiration behind her as she poses for the cameras at Mehboob studio with Sushant Singh to promote their film PicSayyed Sameer AbediSabyas show of strengthDesigner Sabyasachi Mukherjee cancelled his Instagramonly show scheduled to launch yesterday at 9 pm and instead dedicated posts to Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman held by the Pakistani army after his plane crashed across the LOC For over 34 million Insshytanuts Sabyas exclusive IGonly campaigns are nothing less than a visual treat a staged communion of couture and digitalA heady concoction of young and confident India is what one has come to expect of Sabya and the sneak peek of Fiza his SpringSummer 2019 collection teased the idea of NamasteEasy The campaign was scheduled to launch last night but instead of hautebohemian images there was a black screen with the poignant words Send Abhinandan Varthaman back with dignity Hoping for a dignified resolution without war Jai HindYuvi has a fantasyFantasy sports in the country got a boost when Yuvraj Singh was recently announced as the brand ambassador of a sportstech startup known for its skillbased sports predictor gaming platform across cricket football and kabaddiNot many people know that Singh is a fan of fantasy sports and has loved football since he was a kid cheering for Manchester United My friends and I would predict the winners of the English Premier League matches In fact I told them all that France would win the World Cup and they did Its fun to fight about who is going to win and who isnt And fantasy sports are a great way to further engage fans the cricketer saidThe numbers bookLeading notforprofit childrens book publisher Pratham Books has been a platform to discover the most innovative titles mdash they just launched three books in GIF format on Childrens Day last yearAnd yesterday the publishing house announced that its digital repository of opensource multilingual stories called StoryWeaver has crossed 150 languages The latest title Era Lua i era Casqueta is in Gascon a language spoken in parts of France and Spain The title is based on the story The Moon and The Cap by Rohini Nilekani translated by Seacutevan Rakoumln and illustrated by Angie and Upesh The digital library stands at 12000 books today and we wont be surprised if they hit a new milestone in the near futureArora takes one for the Indian teamIn November last year chef Garima Arora of Bangkokbased establishment Gaa fame turned a lot of heads as she earned her first Michelin star Aroras culinary lineage is a formidable one too Having trained under Nomas Reneacute Redzepi as well as Gaggan Anand Aroras gastronomical sorcery is hardly little knownNow the chef has been honoured as elitTM Vodka Asias Best Female Chef 2019 by Asias 50 Best Restaurants Speaking about the accolade Arora told this diarist This ones not about me its for my country Its about taking the focus back to Indias rich culinary heritageNo language barrier hereFor Colombian Pablo Naranjo Agular executive chef at Le15 Cafe watching Bollshyyshywshyood movies is his way of picking up the local language and settling into the city And thats what hes been doing for the past three years As a foreigner when you come to India you get a culture shock But watching local films is a beautiful way to get to know more about the culture and artistic side of the city the 30yearold told this diarist He started with Dabangg and Neerja with Pooja Dhingra owner of Le15 and his movie partner translating the dialogues for him And on Wednesday night he watched Gully BoyPutting up posts about how much he loved the rap in the movie the hiphop fan said that he could also relate to the message of how difficult it is to follow your dreams mdash something he himself has done I thought Chalo lets go for this movie Im here because I believed in my dream of becoming a chef when I was just 14 And though my parents supported me I had relatives who questioned my decision My father even fought with a relative who was against my becoming a chef The movie reminded me that its toughto be able to do what you love but you can do it if you try Agular saidCatch 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