28 March,2016 08:29 AM IST | | Team mid-day
The city — sliced, diced and served with a dash of sauce
Nachiket digs Dutch art
When it comes to fashion and art, boundaries have always merged - be it Chanel's watercolour brushstroke patterns in the Spring 2014 line or Angelina Jolie's wedding dress with her children's drawings embroidered on it.
Another name added to this list is designer Nachiket Barve, who will showcase his Autumn/Winter 16 collection called Tulipmania at a show that opens today.
The moodboard of the collection
The line has been inspired by 17th Century Dutch still life paintings of tulips and Tulipmania. Also showcasing are Gaurav Jai Gupta, Rahul Misra, Troy Costa, Rajesh Pratap Singh and Omer Farooq.
Lucky star
Musician Lucky Ali acknowledges the crowd held at a gig in the courtyard of a Lower Parel mall over the weekend.
Coming soon: Desi Netflix
Call it the Netflix effect or a sign of our times, but Indians will soon have access to a new video-on-demand service for their devices, with seven new shows in the offing.
One of these will see Bollywood baddie, Gulshan Grover appear in a mockumentary called Bad Man. A popular TV network will launch this new video-on-demand service, called Voot, in the city tomorrow at a big fat promotional event in the city.
The platform, we are told, will have 17,000 hours of original content including spin-offs of popular shows like Roadies.
Five years of flipping pages
Fort's cosy bookstore-cum-cafe, Kitab Khana, is in the middle of celebrations for its fifth anniversary all month. "Our anniversary falls on March 5, and we have been holding small events with people we have been associated with in the past. We also giving away 5% discount in addition to the existing 20%," says Amrita Somaiya, owner.
Gulshan Grover is to act in the mockumentary, Bad Man
While the road maintenance work right outside the store has pushed back their plans to have a joint event featuring authors, publicists and publishing houses, they intend to host a poetry-reading session that's open to all on March 31 at 5.30 pm. If you find bliss in those towering shelves head there on Thursday.
Crossroads for Mumbai's feminists
Majlis turned 25 on Saturday, but the milestone was dampened with news that co-founder, Madhushree Dutta had tendered her resignation. Majlis has steered many conversations on urban issues, cinema and women's rights.
Flavia Agnes and Madhushree Dutta
Dutta stepped down on Friday, sending out a detailed open letter in which she listed several reasons, one of which was about the need for NGOs to be intelligently subversive while working alongside government bodies. With Dutta, four key trustees have also resigned. Majlis is yet to confirm these resignations.
The city's feminists and women's rights activists believe that the Kalina-based NGO, and the greater women's movement in the country, are at a critical juncture. A women's rights activist told this diarist that Majlis has been at odds with other women's organisations in the last decade, from important petitions to amendments concerning the Manodhairya Scheme to counselling sexual assault survivors.
Working closely with the government, Majlis, founded by Dutta and lawyer Flavia Agnes, seemed to be compromised, is the opinion of many. However, some others wish not to isolate Majlis, and hope that the women's rights movement will pause to think about multiple voices, and the fine line between support from the government and critical thought.
"Dutta's letter is not meant to shame Majlis, but rather to indicate a moment of self-reflection - not just for Majlis, but for all of us. It is a difficult walk - being institutions and maintaining criticality," said Chayanika Shah, from the Forum Against Women's Oppression.
However, sources also indicated that the resignation might have something to do with shifting roles in Majlis. It is known that Agnes's daughter, Audrey D'Mello, who works as programme director at Majlis, could take up a larger role in the organisation. As a new generation rises, will they learn from the struggles of their mothers?
Laugh lines with Colin and Brad
They wowed us for years (and continue to) with their impromptu humour on TV. For us in India, the stars of Who's Line Is It Anyway? introduced us to the funny world of stand-up comedy.
Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood at the show
Naturally, when funnymen Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood were in town last weekend for a solo show, it was a packed house at the NCPA. Spotted in the audience were the likes of Soha Ali Khan, Ranvijay Singh, Tanisha Mukerji, Sana Sayed and Konkona Sen Sharma.
Soha Ali Khan with Colin
The chuckle-a-minute act by the witty duo ended with them singing an ode to Mumbai, titled Stand up in Mumbai. They also gave away autographed tees to participants. What was interesting to see was, post the show, our desi celebs were happy to queue up for a photograph with the comic legends. Role reversal.
