Mumbai Diary: Monday Dossier

A star rises
Actor Kriti Sanon enters a Juhu cinema hall through an unusual route, after going there to gauge the audience reaction to her latest film. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

Such a long wait
Much like Rohinton Mistry's award-winning novel, Such a Long Journey, which was removed from the Mumbai University syllabus for English literature after protests from the Shiv Sena in 2010, the film based on the novel too had no digital trace until recently. The 1998 movie is now available on a popular online streaming platform - something we learnt from its screenplay writer Sooni Taraporevala.

"All these years, it had disappeared. There were no DVDs or digital versions. It is now available in other countries, but not in India yet. However, it is important that the film saw the light of day online, and hopefully, it will be accessible in India, too," she told this diarist.

Shibani shows that she's got the moves
Shibani Dandekar is a person who wears many hats, including those of a singer, actress, anchor and model. But in a new video based on a remix of the international chartbuster, Calma, she shows how she's got the moves as well. Dandekar has made the video on a Mumbai rooftop with the city in the background, and sashays effortlessly to the tune of the single released by Puerto Rican singer Pedro Capó. There are two other girls who are matching steps with her, and one person, we are sure, will be pleased with her skills - Farhan Akhtar.

Stupendous feet
There's good news for dance enthusiasts in the city. The Kings, a Mumbai-based crew, recently won the bronze medal at World of Dance, a reality show that airs on American television. Their routine was set to a remixed version of Dhakka Laga Bhukka from the movie, Yuva. And their jaw-dropping skills were so impressive that the three judges - Jennifer Lopez, Ne-Yo and Derek Hough - threw their shoes at them when it ended. That's not meant to be an insult. Instead, it's a mark of respect.

A festival that's a gourmet affair
Mumbai regularly gets its fair share of visiting celebrity chefs. And later this month, five more such renowned chefs will fly down as well. They are Jason Tan of Corner House in Singapore; Thitid Tassanakajohn of Bangkok's Le Du; London-based Rohit Ghai of Gymkhana, Jamavar and Kutir fame; Kirk Westaway from JAAN in Singapore; and Delhi's very own Manish Mehrotra (in pic), who runs the highly acclaimed Indian accent. They will each be helming a bespoke dinner at a global gourmet festival that will be held in the city on March 14. Ghai told this diarist, "My travels across India have found a place in my cooking and so taking my recipes back home to the people of my country feels like a homecoming of sorts."

This brother stays behind the scene
Of all the illustrious families practising Indian classical music, Ustad Alla Rakha's has to rank right up there. Evidence of that lies in the fact that the tabla maestro has three sons who are all musical legends in their own right. Zakir Hussain needs no introduction. Taufiq Qureshi is a master percussionist. And it's the middle sibling, Fazal Qureshi, who has stayed away from the spotlight the most, preferring to let his music do the talking. Qureshi spends most of his time on tour, playing with his world music band Mynta, which is based out of Switzerland. But, he's now teamed up with a bunch of home-grown musicians like Purbayan Chatterjee to play straight-up Indian classical concerts across the country.

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