Vamping it up

Connor Ball Tristan Evans James McVey and Brad Simpson together make up the popular British boy band The Vamps The teen heartthrobs have had a remarkable rise to fame recently with many number one hits and a fan following resembling the likes of One Direction and Justin BieberEarlier this year they collaborated with Indiarsquos own Vishal Dadlani and Shekhar Ravjiani on the Bollywood pop track lsquoBeliyarsquo Now word comes in that the twenty something year olds are in Mumbai and are set to perform at a special concert And on arrival the group has spared no time for sight seeing and has been clearly bitten by the Bollywood bug having already met Ajay Devgn to discuss an upcoming projectWith Boman Irani and Farah KhanDevgn posted a picture along with the band and cryptically captioned it ldquoGuess where this association is headingrdquo And thatrsquos not all they also met director Farah Khan and actor Boman Irani at the suburban fivestar hotel that the group is staying at Farah whose young triplets are fans of the band tweeted this photo of them together How long before we see the goodlooking boys on the big screenThe Vamps with Ajay DevgnWhining about TorrentThe recent crackdown by the Indian authorities on illegal Torrent sites seems to have affected many One such is Sula Wines founder and man about town the recently married Rajeev Samant who by the looks of it is spending time with his wife catching up on his favourite Hollywood movies and TV shows Samant took to social media this week ldquoPirate Bay gone Kickass Torrents gone feeling a bit bereftanyone got any ideasrdquo He posted plaintively unprepared for the backlash ldquoPay for content man Therersquos great stuff out there and not produced cheaprdquo read one comment with someone even comparing the piracy of movies to the privacy of wine ldquoImagine people started pirating your wine How would that feelrdquo and another saying ldquoOne bottle of wine equals to a monthly membership on Netflixrdquo Finally realizing he had hit on a touchy subject in the digital world Samant gave up ldquoOhhh babas I promise not to download Bollywood okrdquo he saidHow about some Netflix and Sula nowHis best creation yetHersquos best known for the colourful characters he creates but something tells us that his annual making of his beloved Ganpati statues which hersquos been doing for the past thirty years is one of foodie and funny man Kunal Vijayakarrsquos best characters yet ldquoItrsquos a family traditionrdquo said the member of the Pathare Prabhu community residents of Mumbai since the 13th century ldquoI make it out of clay unlike most Ganpatis which are made of plaster of Paris We celebrate the festival more out of a sense of fun than strictly religiousnessrdquo he said when we asked him about this worshipful streak in the noted iconoclast who has pinned the likes of Vijay Mallya Lata Mangeshkar and Mayawati so perfectly on the sword of his witKunal Vijayakar a true Pathare PrabhuAs for a picture of him in the act of clay modeling for disbelievers who doubt if Vijayakar has such sculpting talents ldquoThe idol is only 4 inches tall so trying to fit both of us in one frame is a bit difficultrdquo he saidVijayakarrsquos GanpatiPammi aunty teams up with Gurinder ChadhaWe hadnrsquot called up Internet sensation Ssumier Pasricha to scoop the story of his imminent celluloid venture with lsquoBend It Like Beckhamrsquo director Gurinder Chadha No sir we had called him up to commend him on his venom spewing vainglorious and utterly delightful creation Pammi aunty whose regular appearances in rollers head towel and outsize spectacles have had us marveling ldquoI never thought I would get such positive responserdquo says Ssumier who when he is not impersonating your average battleaxe from Karol Bagh is a theatre and radio star who bears a striking resemblance to SRK gulp ldquoIrsquom looking forward to a project with Chadhardquo reveals Ssumier who recorded the twentyninth episode of Pammi Auntyrsquos outrageous conversation with Sarla ben this week ldquoAlso a soon to be announced play with Quasar Padamseerdquo As for who Pammi Aunty is based on he says ldquoItrsquos from my childhood growing up inDelhirdquoSsumier Pasricha right As Pammi auntyNicetweet talkWith due respect should we be taking up the Supreme Courtrsquos time over issues such as DahiHandi What else will they adjudicate onmdash Posted by Suhel SethThe Communication QuestionOur friend Vikram Khanna the Cambridge educated Singaporebased economist who had done a stint in Washington with the IMF has penned an interesting profile on his former colleague Urjit Patel in a business newspaper this weekUrjit Patel PICPTIldquoMr Patel was originally from Kenya the scion of a prosperous Indian business family in Nairobi He had always been interested in India Over many meetings and lunches I remember being struck by the depth of his knowledge and curiosity about the country despite his never having really lived thererdquo says KhannaBut his praise comes with a caveat declared in the articlersquos headline lsquoIndiarsquos new central bank governor has big shoes to fillrsquo Will Patel be able to manage the media better than his high profile predecessorlsquoMr Rajan has spoken on many subjects including the need for more social and religious tolerance the venal quality of Indiarsquos politiciansrsquo writes Khanna lsquoWhile Mr Patel has views on all of the above he is unlikely to voice them publiclyrsquo he opines ending his column with lsquocommunication hellipis of critical importance and something to which Mr Rajan paid close attention This is an area in which Mr Patel is relatively untestedrdquoCommon perception is that it was the dashing Guvrsquos media prominence in particular references to his lsquorockstar looksrsquo that had irked the powers that be and led to his untimely exit