Mumbai Diary: Monday Dossier

Pic/Shadab Khan

Quit playing games with my heart

Seems to be what Sara Ali Khan is trying to convey to Kartik Aryan as she looks on in resigned amusement, at an event in BKC last weekend. Pic/Shadab Khan

Todd takes her act live

The recent wedding of childhood sweethearts Anissa Malhotra and Armaan Jain, has been in the news for their elaborate celebrations. Jain, who is related to the Kapoor clan, had his cousins Kareena and Karisma perform at the festivities. But, that's not all.

Todd making the cake at the function

The wedding cake was made on the spot by celebrity chef Sarah Todd, a gift as a close friend of the family. A concept by Todd, it was a layered grand mariner and orange cheesecake, combined with Callebaut chocolate and hazelnut filling in between a short crust flakey biscuit. Decorated with macaroons and edible flowers, some of the ingredients that went in were sourced from Australia.

"I wanted to create a special wedding cake for Armaan and Anissa. Something unconventional as they are the warmest couple I have known and they deserve the best. Armaan is a foodie and having the wedding cake being prepared live at the function was something I was excited about. Tier cakes are passé so I made something flatter and bigger," she told this diarist.

Mumbai chefs bond in London

The life of a chef is quite hectic, with back-to-back cookouts or the task of running a kitchen. Season time also means pop-ups abroad. This month, besides O Pedro, Mumbai chefs Saransh Goila and Prateek Sadhu are also in London, with their pop-ups at Carousel, Fortnum and Mason respectively.

While Goila has paired up with consultant and food stylist Bhakti Mehta and is playing to his strength by serving dishes such as Mangalorean ghee roast and Assamese black sesame grill, Sadhu whipped up a riot with oysters and seafood. It was heartening to see Sadhu drop by Goila's pop-up, and the two take time out to catch up.

Paying it forward

The grand Dara Singh thali at Mini Punjab (in Bandra West, Powai, Sion, Thane, Kalyan and Juhu) is known for its size. As the outlet completes two years of serving it, they are offering a pay what you like policy valid for today on this thali.

"Proceeds will be given to Guru Nanak's Rasoi 550, which serves food to patients and attendants at Tata Memorial Hospital," Harmeet Singh, co-owner, Mini Punjab Group, told this diarist.

For Sundays mean clean-ups

This Sunday saw a group of Mumbaikars get together to tackle the problem of plastic pollution in the city with the beach cleaning drive by Dadasaheb Phalke International Film Festival (DPIFF) in collaboration with MP Group. Volunteers, including Afroz Shah who was responsible for the Versova beach clean-up, gathered at Malad's Danapani Beach for the task.

This was DPIFF's CSR activity under the go green initiative, that hopes to clean Danapani beach, Versova beach, SGNP forest and the Mithi river, besides Colva beach in Goa. They will also train people living in the human-ocean conflict zone on the banks of Mithi river, as well as Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Borivali.

Now showing: The single screen cinema

Last month, the non-profit Art Deco Mumbai organised a public lecture on India's single screen cinemas. Now, they have embarked on a photo series on social media that captures the various facets to these cinemas in the city. Their most recent post is about Fort's Empire Theatre which opened in February 1908 as a live theatre venue that could accommodate 1,000 people in the orchestra stalls, circle and gallery.

It was only in 1948 that architects MA Ridley Abbott, JB Fernandes and WM Namjoshi transformed the space in the Art Deco style thereby giving it its name New Empire Cinema. Founder trustee Atul Kumar told this diarist, "Single screens created a special and unique social space that served Bombay's multicultural diaspora with English, Hindi and regional cinema. We'll be running the photo series for two to three weeks."

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates