Priyanka at large

If you think itrsquos easy being a global superstar take a look at Priyanka Choprarsquos work schedule for the past few days shared with us by her associateldquoPC was shooting in Montreal for Quantico she then flew to India to complete her pending professional commitmentsrdquo she says ldquoLast week she travelled to London Paris and New York for the launch of Quantico in these cities after which she left for Spain to attend and perform in IIFA 2016rdquo Fair enough we said ldquoToday she landed in Mumbai and went straight to shooting for her brand commercials over the next 3 days Nice we saidPriyanka ChopraldquoAfter which she will spend the entire next day overseeing her production housersquos upcoming Marathi filmrdquo we were informed ldquoThen she flies to Delhi where she attends a UNICEF eventrdquo says the source sounding tired herself ldquoand leaves the very next day for the shoot of Quantico Season 2 in New Yorkrdquo WhewEnchanting royal weddingFriends writing in from the wedding of the erstwhile Maharaja Yaduveer Wadiyar of Mysore to Trishika Kumari Singh daughter of the erstwhile Maharajah of Dungarpur appear to be enchanted by the proceedings The couple is in its early 20s and is said to make a handsome pair The ceremonies at the historic Mysore Palace part Chateau de Versailles and part traditional have been solemn and ritual centricYaduveer Wadiyar and Trishika Kumari Singh at their wedding PICPTIldquoThis is THE wedding of the year in significancerdquo says one of the guests but even so itrsquos being conducted in a simple and understated way Incidentally the Mysore Palace where we had once spent a fair amount of our teenage years while assisting on the IndoUS film Shalimar starring Rex Harrison Dharmendra and Zeenat Aman is very familiar to us But thatrsquos another story for another dayBackstage from IIFAFrom our back stage sources at the recently concluded IIFA in Madrid come these delightful vignettes of Bollywoodrsquos reigning heroines Deepika Padukone and Priyanka Chopra patiently teaching Salman Khan the steps of their chartbuster lsquoPingarsquo from Bajirao Mastani backstage before his act so that they could join him in the finale the palpable joy on Deepikarsquos face after she saw Ranveer Singhrsquos appreciation for her dancing his lsquoMalharirsquo as a tribute to him the easy camaraderie between the Bajirao trio demonstrated with Priyanka spontaneously climbing onto the stage to be part of the moment when Deepika and Ranveer were presenting Sanjay Leela Bhansali with the Best Director awardDeepika performs on Malhari at IIFA right Ranveer Singh at IIFA PicsGetty ImagesAdded to this Fans from across Europe standing vigil outside the eventrsquos official hotel all through the day and night performances by other Alist stars Hrithik Roshan Sonakshi Sinha Tiger Shroff and a grand finale with Salman Khan and you can see why IIFA 2016 is creating all that buzzAlpha males ahoyBoth are poster boys for the Indian diaspora two dashing alpha males from India who have reached the pinnacle of their professions abroad and so last week when news of President amp Chief Operating Officer of SoftBank Corp Nikesh Arorarsquos sudden resignation made headlines we could not help but think back to CoCEO Deutsche Bank Anshu Jainrsquos highprofile exit last yearAnshu Jain and Nikesh Arora PicsGetty ImagesDifferent circumstances of course but given that both were being seen as a whisker away from pole position their departures had led to much chatter Now it appears that not only are both men good friends but also share a common competitive streak ldquoAt Arorarsquos wedding in the South of France to Ayesha Thapar Jain and he were on competing cricket teams during a friendly matchrdquo says a guestldquoAnd boy things got hot as both fought to win tooth and nailrdquo she laughs So are two of Indiarsquos most successful international executives drawing solace from each otherrsquos company right now After all thatrsquos what friends are forAnother PulitzerAuthor Siddhartha Mukherjee whose lsquoThe Emperor of All Maladiesrsquo won the Pulitzer Prize in 2010 will be in town this weekend for the release of lsquoThe Gene An Intimate Historyrsquo an illuminating biography of the building blocks of human beings which is already creating waves and touted as another Pulitzer Prize winnerSiddhartha MukherjeeldquoWhen I heard of his new book I got in touch with Siddhartha Mukherjee whose first book lsquoThe Emperor of All Maladiesrsquo we had featured in our literary festivalrdquo says Anil Dharker The event will be held at a SoBo five star ldquoItrsquos incredible how beautifully he writes He Atul Gawande and Abraham Verghese make up the triumvirate of great doctorwriters from Indiardquo says the writer and literary impressarioInterestingly talking to the Indianborn American physician scientist and writer who manages to turn out deeply thoughtful and painstakingly researched masterpieces on science and medicine even as he holds down a demanding job as assistant professor of medicine at Columbia University and staff physician at Columbia University Medical Centre will be Rohan Murty Founder of the Murty Classical Library of India and son of Infoysys founder Narayana Murthy whose interest in ancient Indian philosophy and sciences led him to fund the ambitious Indian Classics a project spanning 500 texts of Indiarsquos best over a centuryAnd with such heavy weights featured Dharkerrsquos friendly and oft repeated ldquoDo try and come well before the starting time Seating as usual will be on a first come first served basisrdquo appears endearingly inadequate this time around