Mumbai Diary: Friday Dossier

Warm beginnings
The fashion careers of three students got a nudge in the right direction when they won a design competition by an international wool company in the city recently.

(Second from left) Actress Vaani Kapoor with the winners

The students - who had to use at least 80 per cent wool for every outfit they designed - have not only won financial support, but also internships with leading international textile brands and a fashion magazine. Dressed in a wool outfit designed by Nachiket Barve, actress Vaani Kapoor presented the awards to the four winners.

The art of demonetisation
Of all the reactions to the demonetisation drive, this is perhaps among the most subtle and profound ones. Artist and interior designer Munawwar Sharifi has created an installation, Inaspetatto (unexpected) - his visual narrative about the current socio-economic situation in India. The 9x6x4 feet installation is at The Capital Building, BKC, till Sunday.

Each element in the artwork has a story - the notes and the gold bars signify the growth in wealth; the blood stains on the barbed wire and the limb shows that it has been harsh on some; the lowest layer of gold and cash signify the post-demonetisation expectation of reduced hoarding and a digital economy; the tattered trunk containing the old currency notes, a bottle of liquor and pack of cigarettes symbolise the leaving behind of old habits.

Prydz to headline premier EDM fest
Vh1 Supersonic, the premier Electronic Dance Music festival that shifted base from Goa to Pune for the upcoming season in 2017, announced Eric Prydz as the headlining act. The Swedish artiste is a household name and fans in India have been craving to watch him in performance. He created Pryda Snare - a sound production technique using a compressed snare sample - that is widely followed by names like Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike and Martin Garrix. He has worked with Axwell, Sebastian Ingrosso and Steve Angello; the group that came to be known as Swedish House Mafia. But Prydz had not joined his friends, he only collaborated with them under monikers.

Eric Prydz

Call On Me remains his most popular single and earlier this year, he released his debut studio album titled Opus. Festival curator Nikhil Chinapa is delighted to have him on board. "Eric's an artist we've been trying to bring to India forever. I've heard him several times in different continents and I can truly say, there is nobody like him in all of electronic music's landscape," he says.

Musical surprise at the airport
For passengers flying in and out of the city's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, the usual rushed experience turned into a rather memorable one when a group of musicians broke into flash mobs at various locations one after another, across Terminals 1 and 2.

A tie-up between the company that administers the airport and a live entertainment venture, the musical celebration added to the Christmas festivities. The musical convoy had artistes from across the country, ranging from singers to guitarists and percussionists.

Jerry Pinto and the big city
'Em and The Big Hoom is a profoundly moving book: I cannot remember when I last read something as touching as this. I don't know what Jerry's plans for it are, but I hope it appears soon and has the success it deserves.' These were acclaimed author Amitav Ghosh's words for what was then Jerry Pinto's manuscript. As it turns out, the book did hit the bookshelves, and also got the success it deserves - first, the prestigious Windham-Campbell Literature Prize earlier this year and now, the Sahitya Akademi award.

Jerry Pinto

The 2012 work, which is the story of a boy growing up in Mumbai with a mother suffering from a mental ailment, has been praised for its memorable characters and a style of writing that does justice to a sensitive topic. As the plot unfolds, the title also chronicles Mumbai set in the last decades of the 20th century.