Mumbai Diary: Saturday Dossier

Trick ShotManan Narkar in dark grey tee practises tricking mdash a combination of martial arts and breakdance mdash with his students at Five GardensStirring up BandraFrom James Bond to Shrek martini is one of the most favoured cocktails across the world And now a new bar in Bandra is serving over 20 versions of the drink apart from more than 70 shooters and other cocktails The Dirty Martini is an ode to wellmade cocktails particularly the martini that founder Dheeraj Melwani first opened in HyderabadThe Bandra outpost which launched recently is an extension of the love for his favourite drink ldquoIrsquove travelled a lot around SouthEast Asia where the cocktails stood out for me I always wanted to bring my experiences back With The Dirty Martini we want to be synonymous with innovative cocktails and shootersrdquo he addedSeeing greenAndherirsquos Riddhi Siddhi Ganpati Mandal is celebrating Bappa in a unique and ecofriendly manner this year The idol is made from natural materials like biodegradable tissue paper alum and gum made of natural plant extracts The mandal which is in its 46th Ganeshotsav year has made the environmentconscious switch for the first time and plans to continue the cause going ahead ldquoWe thought it was about time to change gears The message we are trying to drive home is to go back to nature The idea is to give coming generations something positive to sustainrdquo Dinesh Chindarkar one of the organisers of the mandal told usThis list is litTM KrishnaThe New Indian Foundation NIF has announced their longlist for the fourth edition of the Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay NIF Book Prize 2021 an award that recognises nonfiction titles with diverse narratives on contemporary India from writers across nationalities This yearrsquos longlist of 12 books features titles like Sebastian amp Sons A Brief History of Mrdangam Makers by TM Krishna Jugalbandi The BJP Before Modi by Vinay Sitapati Naoroji Pioneer of Indian Nationalism by Dinyar Patel and moreNiraja Gopal JayalldquoWersquove chosen books that draw attention to subjects that have not been written about previously or draw upon new research and archival materials to enhance our understanding of a topic that has been studied before or propose a new interpretation of familiar issues These books are elegantly written We value diversity of all kinds including topics timeperiods and perspectivesrdquo shared political scientist and prize jury member Niraja Gopal JayalRallying support for a choral causeThis Sunday the StopGaps Cultural Academy is all set to host a virtual fundraising concert titled In His Time to raise money for COVID19 relief activities for the Centre For Social Action Mumbai Along with Indian artistes the event will also feature talents from across the globe like Allegra DrsquoSouza Enrico DrsquoSouza Suzanne DrsquoMello and more ldquoWe thought that we must do our bit to pitch in so we have put together this concert with singers from the city as well as talents from the global choir as part of this performance The whole idea was created as a way to care for each other through these tough times and help those who need our supportrdquo said Alfred J DrsquoSouza in pic director of the academyMore ShaktiThe Lonavala International Film Festival India will start on September 24 and the organisers have chosen to pay tribute to a man who directed numerous yesteryear classics Shakti Samanta in pic The list of films to be screened includes hits like Aradhana and Kati Patang ldquoDue to the pandemic we cannot organise a physical edition this year either though we have put together an interesting selection that can be enjoyed from homerdquo clarified festival director Madhav Todi Download the Plexigo app to watch these movies and turn back time