Mumbai Diary: Saturday Dossier

SRKs hatke fansShah Rukh Khan completed 26 years in the industry recently and the revelries havent stopped Apart from the usual cakecutting and moviescreening ceremonies organised by his fan clubs across the country this is one celebration that caught this diarists eye SRKs fans in Berhampur Odisha organised an event at an NGO for differently abled children yesterday where they were treated to a hearty meal The fans also sang and danced to their idols hit numbers with the kids SweetSounds like the futureMusic purists look away now Mumbaibased producer Tejas Nair aka Spryk has dropped Strange Movements a new album that is as far removed from straightup band music as heavy metal is from Indian classical The genre might well be described as minimalist bass and the tracks are full of soft industrial sounds that would sit well at a somewhat sober warehouse partyHis influences seem to include the French electronic giant Air since the track Inward Lake starts on similar lines to Venus from the latters album Walkie Talkie Spryk has collaborated with audiovisual artist Aniruddh Mehta who goes by the stage name of bigfatminimalist to create a truly sensory experience But again this album isnt everybodys cup of tea Its only for listeners willing to accept the evolving nature of 21st century music and not for people who get their fix from retro tunesAntinationalcomAs the city braces up for relentless rains we spotted something that might unleash a torrential bombardment of online trolls A recently launched channel on YouTube called SKEP has begun posting docufeatures on the idea of India and being IndianThe series titled Decoding India has already posted videos of journalist and anchor Ravish Kumar standup artiste and actor Sanjay Rajoura and activist Kanhaiya Kumar discussing the myriad issues plaguing India They are the undisputed favourites for Bhaktbashing and we can only guess whats comingAdulting with comicsOn January 1 this year Bharath Murthy filmmaker artist and cofounder of Comix India a comics publishing label announced his new project mdash a magazine called VeacuteriteacuteThe first issue of the comics anthology is out now and apart from being a platform for Indian independent comic artists it is also an ode to the pioneers of Japanese alternative manga for adults It is a twosided book with manga at the back because the format is read from right to leftThe idea is to also introduce Indian readers to other forms of storytelling from around the world says Murthy who is also the editor of the anthology He adds that the magazine will come out every quarter and the plan is to make it a monthly The themes take a detour from caricaturelike comics and present an unflinching portrait of life he says Murthy had also organised an indie comics fest in Mumbai last month Together with graphic novels this is one burgeoning genre of literature that we are keeping a close watch onA new chapter for Pandit Nehrus fave publisherEstablished back in 1958 Hind Pocket Groups went on to publish some of the most popular literary fiction to have been written in Hindi and Urdu in the Indian Subcontinent Founded by DN Malhotra the publishing house had represented some of the most iconic names in literature including Amrita Pritam Khushwant Singh RK Narayan Dr Radhakrishnan Dominique Lapierre and OshoIn fact such was its popularity that Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru remarked I am very happy at the success of Hind Pocket Books because not only are the books economical to buy but have been published very nicely and in attractive formats Now we hear that Penguin Random House India has acquired the publishing house In 1956 my father DN Malhotra met with Sir Allen Lane founder Penguin Books the year Penguin was celebrating its 21st anniversary and here began a great association between two imminent visionaries says Shekhar Malhotra With an engaging author list wed love to see their regional titles reach more readers in IndiaGirls just want to have funActor Neetu Singh steps out of a Juhu cafeacute with what looks like a stylish girl gang on Friday PicSameer MarkandeCatch 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