Tasteful nuptials

Akshay and Krutika BhansaliLast evening the ongoing celebrations of the recently concluded nuptials of the New Yorkbased Akshay Bhansali to a bride from the erstwhile royal clan of Karnataka were held at Mumbairsquos Turf Club where the groomrsquos father the renowned cardiologist based in New Orleans Dr Siddharth Bhansali originally from Mumbai hosted a reception replete with a jazz band from back homeLeft to right Parul Sharma Yashodhara Raje Scindia Sreya Seth Swapan Seth Anusuya Ritu Urvashi KhemkaThe wedding which saw movers and shakers fly in from abroad and across the country had been held over three days in Bangalore over the weekend ldquoThey are very close friends of oursrdquo says the Delhibased Star TV executive Parul Sharma who had attended along with husband Tony Jesudasan of Reliance ADAG ldquoIt was done in great but understated style kept very intimate and thankfully not OTTrdquo she adds Seen partaking of the festivities were the likes of Mumbairsquos Nisha JamVal Delhirsquos Sanjay Kapoor Kalyani Chawla brothers Suhel and Swapan Seth and the colourful guru du jour Baba RamdevAnd given that the groomrsquos mother Yashodhara Raje a minister from Madhya Pradesh hails from the royal clan of Gwalior there was a sizeable representation of the erstwhile royal families with the groomrsquos aunt Vasundhara Raje CM Rajasthan and her son Dushyant Singh being part of the ceremonies ldquoI returned last night and am at office todayrdquo says Sharma ldquoAnd the first thing I did was get a massage to recoverrdquoSweetheart of the SixtiesldquoIrsquove known Asha for agesrdquo says film critic and director Khalid Mohamed about lsquoThe Hit Girlrsquo an autobiography of yesteryear star Asha Parekh that hersquos collaborated on soon to hit the stands ldquoAsha along with Saira Banu and Sadhana were the sweethearts of the film industryrdquo he says about the star who contacted him about a year ago when hersquod penned a tribute to Sadhana for a local daily on the occasion of her passingKhalid Mohamed and Asha ParekhldquoAsha had been a great chum of my grandmothers but wersquod lost touch with each other along the way Having reacquainted with her the book just happenedrdquo he says ldquoShe was always known for her vivacious laugh her dancing prowess and her warmthrdquoAs for the difference with todayrsquos leading ladies Mohamed is philosophical ldquoI guess therersquos a lot more cutthroat competition today which is why todayrsquos heroines are not so close Earlier Waheedaji Helen Sadhana Nanda Asha were all closerdquoldquoAlsordquo he adds ldquoEach one had a distinct personality unlike today where they all seem to be from the same cookie cutterrdquoAnd the piece de resistance of lsquoThe Hit Girlrsquo The fact that itrsquos replete with archival pictures of the star and that the foreword has been penned by todayrsquos superstar Salman KhanHow soldquoAsha is close to the Khan clanrdquo says Mohamed ldquoAnd so when we requested Salman to pen the foreword he willingly agreedrdquoStately wheels in a stately placeThe Cartier Travel with Style Concours DrsquoElegance which took place over the weekend in Hyderabad has been played out before in Mumbai and Delhi but never to such stunning effect as at the Falaknuma Palace in the City of the Nizams sources say A hundred and twelve of Indiarsquos rarest classic cars and motorbikes took over the stately grounds once the Palace of the Hyderabad Nizam whose love for the good things in life was legendaryShaliniacircu00c2u0080u00c2u0088Sharma and Yasmin Le BonWelcoming the judges who had flown in from different parts of the globe to the Falaknuma Palace was the Turkish Princess Esra former wife of the Nizam along with her children Prince Azmet Jah of Berar and Princess Shehkyar Jah Excited members of Hyderabadrsquos aristocracy who donrsquot often get to mingle with these royals as they live in Europe were spotted animatedly taking pictures and exchanging family newsldquoThe graceful way the Europeanbred Indian princess Shehkyar Jah wore her saree the beautiful Yasmin Le Bon who told me that her husband Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran was all set to come to Hyderabad but had slipped and fractured his hand a few days back and guests like actor Naga Chaitanya Akkineni Shoba Kamineni of Apollo Hospitals cricketer Mohammad Azharuddin Rachel Goenka of Sassy Spoon and Arjun Oberoi of Oberoi hotels made it the most magnificent of all so farrdquo says the editor of a celebrity magazine Shalini Sharma a native of Hyderabad who has attended most of the Cartier Concourse events in IndiaPranksters for a causeldquoItrsquos a prankrdquo said author Rosalyn DrsquoMello about a post shersquod written on social media which stated that shersquod been accepted on MasterChef ldquoItrsquos for autism awareness and the way it works is that you get a series of 14 or so outrageous claims to choose from to post as your statusrdquo she explainedRosalyn DrsquoMelloldquoI chose the MasterChef onerdquo The irony of course is that Drsquomello is known to be an accomplished chef and her fiery Goan curries culled from timehonoured family recipes have been much appreciated ldquoI guess the favourite has been my Goan chicken curry made with green coriander which was even written about in Mayank Austen Soofirsquos column along with its recipe not too long agordquo she saidAs for the timing of her MasterChef post it couldnrsquot have been better DrsquoMello is on a residency in Goa currently busy writing her second novel which just happens to be centered around food ldquoItrsquos too early to say morerdquo she says quite unsurprisinglyAs for the other statements that various people have been sent for autism awareness the other that caught our eye was a gentleman friendrsquos post ldquoAll of my bras are missingrdquo We can safely say hersquos not writing a book about underwear though At least not at the time of going to pressA match made in Bollywood heavenWhat can one say about these star kids whose recent friendship appears to be a match made in heaven With both in possession of good looks and equal Bolly pedigree their developing friendship is currently said to be one of the industryrsquos best kept but most cherished secretsldquoThe fact that shersquos been signed up by one of Bollywoodrsquos most successful production houses to be launched by its hit director and that his recent debut which though might have not set the box office on fire certainly won him much critical acclaim for his acting chops makes them one of the star couples to watch out forrdquo says a sourceldquoWhatrsquos more theyrsquore also both quite cerebral and known to enjoy intelligent conversation and reading Besides of course no one can deny that they make a very good looking pairrdquo says a source Nice