Mumbai Diary: Monday Dossier

Books, Bollywood and lit fests
With each passing year, we get increasingly intrigued by the growing presence of faces from the film industry at literature festivals. While the peg usually is an autobiography or a memoir by someone from the desi tinseltown, this time, it's the announcement of Sagarika Ghose's book on Indira Gandhi being made into a film that has shaped up a conversation at an ongoing literature festival in Chennai.

Vidya Balan and Sagarika Ghose

The senior journalist had recently tweeted that she has signed a contract for movie rights for her book with Vidya Balan and Siddharth Roy Kapur's production house. So, not surprisingly, she is going to engage in a tête-à-tête with Balan, who we hear, is keen on playing the role of the Indian Iron Lady.

Chick lit
Social media has for long been touted as a powerful tool for freedom of expression. However, sometimes, even a miniscule emoji can create a flutter in the virtual world, as it turned out over the weekend when JK Rowling posted a chicken emoji as a reaction to US President Donald Trump's cancellation of his visit to the UK.

JK Rowling

The American premier called off his much-debated tour, blaming the Obama administration for having sold the 'best located and finest embassy in London for "peanuts" only to build a new one on an off location for 1.2 billion dollars,' he posted, adding that he was flatly against cutting the ribbon for this new address. The celebrated author, known for her acerbic wit while commenting on Trump in the past, reacted this time with a single emoji. Emojis speak louder than words in our times, clearly.

Donald Trump. Pic/AFP

Cricketing ambassadors in bandhgalas
The Indian cricket team might have disappointed everyone back home with its loss in the recent test match in South Africa. However, they did paint a handsome picture on a visit to the country's high commission in Johannesburg last week.

Dressed in well-stitched bandhgalas by a leading Indian menswear label, the team seems years ahead of the days when our sporting ambassadors were seen in either jerseys from the kit or ill-fitting suits made on low budgets (remember the Indian contingent at the 2010 Commonwealth Games opening ceremony?) Let's hope the winning streak continues on the pitch too.

Ballet and the Bachchans
This diarist was pleasantly surprised to spot Bollywood at the Paris Opera Ballet that was showcased at a SoBo venue over the weekend. Amitabh Bachchan was the guest of honour at the stellar performance.

Amitabh Bachchan with wife Jaya

Wife Jaya as well as France's ambassador and its Consul General accompanied him. Big B wished everyone for Lohri, Pongal, Bihu and Sankranti, and went on to speak about ballet's historic connect with France.

Post of good times
Social media has its good and bad days. Recently, we came across its heartwarming side, thanks to a chat between an American journalist, Liam Stack, and The Washington Post, almost serendipitously with the release of the film, The Post, starring Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks, which centres on the happenings around the media house.

Stack tweeted how he found out that his cousin's 11-year-old daughter had somehow downloaded the paper's app and has been an avid reader for two years, showing a journalist streak too. In reply, the folks handling the paper's Twitter handle invited the girl to its newsroom. That girl's career is off to a heady start.

Another day in the spotlight

Something seems to have caught the eye of actor Yami Gautam at an event in Malad last week. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

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