Look what KJo started

Of the many things Karan did he more or less invented the big fat Punjabi wedding he brought fashion awareness to Bollywood he broke down the barriers between SoBo and NoBo and society and Bollywood one of the most significant is that he taught his industry colleagues the importance of networkingBecause of his affable personality and the regard his parents commanded KJo found he had friends in all kinds of camps from the Bachchans to SRK from YRF to the Kapoors Johar was welcome into the homes and hearts of everyone who matteredKiran Rao and Aamir KhanAnd not only did this cross pollination enrich his films it also resulted in many barriers being broken between the various Bollywood camps thanks to the common affection they held the producerdirector in And few appear to have picked up the art of making friends and influencing Bollywood as well as KJorsquos proteacutegeacute and friend Ayan Mukherjee who appears to have taken a leaf out of his mentorrsquos bookNot only is the talented young director a close friend and confidante of Ranbir Kapoor and through him of his mother Neetu but his circle of friends also includes such hitherto aloof denizens as Kiran Rao and through her Aamir Khanfrom left Ranbir Kapoor and Ayan MukherjeeAnd what is even more interesting that just like in his wake KJo had brought together unlikely personalities Ayanrsquos rapport with Kiran and Aamir has encouraged a deepening of friendship between Aamir and KJo whose world views and films until now could hardly be called convergent They often spend evenings at Aamirrsquos home amongst friendsIndiarsquos most successful director and its most saleable actor Will their rapport fructify into a film And which Khan will sulk into his coffee cups as a result Just sayingAamirs Me timeAnd on the subject of Aamir word comes in that hersquos resolutely enjoying some lsquome timersquo a departure from his usual driven and intense approach to life ldquoHersquos allowing himself that extra helping of food and drinkrdquo says an insiderldquoAnd itrsquos doing him a world of good Exceptrdquo Except what ldquoWell therersquos still a song sequence left to be shot for Peekay and the perfectionist says he needs another four months before he can face the camera to be in shape againrdquoSocial ExpediencyItrsquos a trope thatrsquos been shared only by those in the inner circles of this upper crust Soborsquos gang of friends It harks back to the time when this long limbed Bollywood star was dating the scion of an aviation and spirits empire and hersquod made the mistake of admitting to his star girlfriend that the glamourstruck wife of a highflying businessman had propositioned himAngered by the womanrsquos indiscretion the actress is said to have publicly confronted the husband of the woman in question and warned him to tell his wife to keep lsquoher hands off my guyrsquo while on a Far East jaunt The ensuing awkwardness was papered over hastily and when the scion and his Bollywood star broke up and went their separate ways the incident was all but forgottenUntil last week at the IPL in Dubai when members of the group were stunned to see that not only were the actress and the husband partying together as if they were the best of friends but they all also posed happily for a series of cosy pictures together ldquoHow star struck can you getrdquo said one onlooker Itrsquos called social expediency darlings grow up and smell the espressoGuha and StewartThey are both icons of the liberal set respected for their wisdom wit and ability to call a spade a bloody shovel So last Thursday when noted Indian historian writer and social commentator Ramchandra Guha appeared on Comedy Centralrsquos Daily Show with its popular host standup comedian and acerbic critic of all thatrsquos wrong with the American Right Jon Stewart the expected sparks did flyRamachandra Guha andJon StewartGuha who spoke about his new book lsquoGandhi Before Indiarsquo made a compelling case for failure when he said that the history of Indiarsquos independence might not have been written at all if the young barrister had succeeded in passing his law school exams To which Stewart put on his lsquodroll facersquo and said ldquolet this be a lesson for all Jewish mothers if your son does not make it as lawyer or doctorrdquo NiceColours of LifeAnd this weekend we had the opportunity to reenter the world of poetry again thanks to our friend the Chennaibased beauteous Anita R Ratnam dancer and scholar who asked that we read a few of our poems along with those of other poets we admired for her creation lsquoCircles of Loversquo as part of the NCPArsquos Dance FestivalAnita R RatnamWe say lsquoreenterrsquo because poetry has been our first calling Before we even knew to read and write we were hearing the works of the Great Romantics read to us by our father and by the time we were ten had already been on stage reciting our own lsquopomesrsquoThe poetry scene in those days was lively Nissim Ezekiel was its godfather and committed mentor Adil Jussawalla had published his anthology of Indian poets and had set up Clearing House to champion the cause of good local poets Kamala Das marooned on her settee at Bank House was writing her beautiful verse under a canopy of trees and hosting Bahutantrika a salon for poets to which the likes of Pritish Nandy would occasionally show up and recite his love poems to attractive women in the audience And every now and then a bright young poet would combust into brillianceAlas those days have long past gone and poets have got better things to do like write award winning novels yes Jeet or make advertising shorts So when Ratnam asked us to read a few poems we responded with enthusiasm We chose three of our own one of Ezekielrsquos The Night of the Scorpion and four of Ramanujanrsquos translations of classical Tamil worksThe performance included Ratnamrsquos ethereal dancing and narration evocative music by the talented Vedanth Bharadwaj and our verse Will we participate in more such proceedings We hope so We could do with some poetry in our lives Poetry does not have a 56inch chest or indulge in shady land deals in Haryana or shout during TV talks shows Bring it