Mumbai Diary: Monday Dossier

Mandira's recco
Mandira Bedi was recently in Singapore with her son, Vir.

So impressed was the actor and TV presenter with the country that when a production house approached her to be a part of a short film for kids and she learnt that they were still scouting for locations, she had her recommendations ready.

"The producers were hunting for good shoot locations, and I suggested Universal Studios and other popular spots in Singapore," Bedi told this diarist. The film, we hear, is based on the generation gap between parents and kids.

Pic/Sneha Kharabe

Scare Tactics
Actor Kalki Koechlin gets into the skin of her character before taking the stage for a spoken word performance about facing fears, at a festival held over the weekend at Bandra-Kurla Complex.

Heritage fashion
Not many know that Villar Ville, which houses designer Tarun Tahiliani's store in Mumbai, is also his birthplace.

So, it seemed fitting that Tahiliani designed an outfit inspired by the Taj Mahal hotel that stands a few metres down the road. Created as a showstopper outfit for a fashion show to launch a wedding property by the hotel chain, the outfit is a hand-painted and printed lehenga, using the lotuses and classic ojee jaals.

It also includes a printed cape drape, with illustrations of the dome. We wonder who will don the number that's a tribute to modern heritage, at Tahiliani's show for the glitzy launch party tomorrow.

Fine way to honour CK
Colonel CK Nayudu was India's first Test captain. Yet, we hear so very little of him. Two books have been written on Nayudu - one by historian Vasant Raiji, 97, the oldest living Mumbai first-class cricketer and the other one by CK's daughter Chandra.

A painting of Colonel CK Nayudu in a hall named after him at the Cricket Club of India, Churchgate

But somehow, the great cricketer, known for his flamboyant, aggressive batting apart from his astute captaincy, has not been hailed enough. Hopefully, Aditya Bhushan's biography of Nayudu whose cover will be released by former Test opener Madhav Apte on the great Indian's 122nd birth anniversary at the Cricket Club of India today, will get people talking about Nayudu again.

Cricket lovers are generally good with their dates and Bhushan, 31, a Bengaluru-based Change Management Consultant, realised last year that 2017 marks 50 years for Nayudu's November 14 death. That's how A Colonel Destined to Lead took shape. The shelves of cricketing history are waiting for another embellishment.

Proofing error?
We are still reeling from the typos in lyricist Javed Akhtar's tweet, marking the passing of Girija Devi. But for this post by Chiki Sarkar, it's not the autocorrect option to be blamed.

Over the weekend, the publisher tweeted a mini obit of author Annie Zaidi, when she is alive and kicking. Sarkar quickly realised the faux pas and apologised, but not without inviting the wrath of Tweeple.

"Why this rush to tweet RIP when you didn't even know full details?" said comedian-screenwriter Varun Grover, while others suggested she hire a good copy editor.

Celebrating the art of dissent
Last weekend, popular rap artiste Sofia Ashraf, filmmaker Fathima Nizaruddin and Urdu poet-musician Mohammad Muneem Nazir came together for an evening that explored the use of art in dissent and protest.

Sofia Ashraf

Organised by Godrej India Culture Lab, the event witnessed a packed house, with several audience members wearing breathing masks. These were offered as a tongue-in-cheek gesture by Nizaruddin during a short theatre performance that followed the screening of Nuclear Hallucinations, her satirical documentary on the struggle against the Kudankulam Atomic Power Project in Tamil Nadu.

An audience member breaks into a jig to Mohammed Muneem Nazir's tunes. Pics/Sneha Kharabe

While Ashraf showcased her viral campaigns, Kodaikanal Won't and Dow vs Bhopal, she also shared her thoughts on viral activism, the existence of non-mainstream woke content and that the first time she started getting rape and death threats was when she spoke against a sexist song, not a government. Nazir, who is also part of the band Alif, enthralled the audience with Kashmiri and Urdu tracks. One even had a member get up and match his riffs with cool, break dance moves.