Mumbai Diary: Tuesday Dossier

But first, the twirl

While the ever-glam Kareena seems ready for a picture, hubby Saif Ali Khan takes a moment before posing at a venue in Khar on Monday. Pic/Shadab Khan

A star-studded show

The weekend marked Zahan Kapoor's theatre debut with Pitaji Please, a play by Makarand Deshpande that grapples with religious identity. And to boost the young actor's morale, grandparents Ramesh Sippy and Kiran Juneja - Zahan is the son of Sippy's daughter Sheena and Prithvi Theatre director Kunal Kapoor - were present in the audience, even as Kapoor senior dropped by for some time to steal some proud glances. That wasn't all. Cheering on the cast, which included well-known lyricist Swanand Kirkire, were musician Ankur Tewari and presenter-entrepreneur Roshan Abbas.

Harish Hariani with the scripts

Scripting a legacy

Something that theatre artistes in Mumbai acknowledge as a matter of concern in the field is the lack of documentation of scripts. Veteran theatre director Sunil Shanbag (below) chanced upon a treasure trove of 18 such scripts recently when he sent out a call to his former theatre company to locate a script from the 1980s. The search led him to Harish Hariani, one of his colleagues from that time, who had carefully preserved what he was looking for along with scripts which are a part of theatre history in Mumbai, including those by Milan Kundera, Vijay Tendulkar, Mahesh Elkunchwar, Dharamvir Bharati and Vasant Dev.

The rediscovery of sorts has piqued the interest of the community, including that of Drama School Mumbai's founder Jehan Manekshaw who plans to keep a copy of the collection in the school's library. We are hoping the next step is seeing these scripts make their way to the stage.

Going places

Recently, Le Cordon Bleu London announced its first ever summer festival, which is scheduled for June 29. It is interesting to see that the festival features workshops much like the ones Mumbaikars are warming up to. But what's heartening to learn is that for its debut edition, the folks at one of the world's most respected culinary institutions have roped in two Indian chefs - Asma Khan and Rakesh Nair. A reassuring development, which tells us that the world is opening up to the many facets of our cuisine beyond kebabs.

A pitch for MAMI in Cannes

Author and film critic Anupama Chopra may not be in the news for her OTT outfit at Cannes, but she's making all the right noises as far as filmmaking is concerned. For, when she bumped into Oscar-winning Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron, who recognised her because he had served on a jury with Vidhu Vinod Chopra, she made a pitch for him to conduct a masterclass at MAMI Film Festival for which she is director. Calling him a genius, she uploaded a picture with the Gravity and Roma director, and urged everyone to send a prayer for it to materialise. Not even 24 hours later, it had already garnered the excitement and support of those from the industry including Rasika Dugal, Ishaan Khatter and Sahil Salathia. Here's hoping it works out.

Because marks aren't everything

Bhuvan Bam is known for making videos that tickle your funny bone. In fact, the comedy content in BB Ki Vines - the YouTube channel he started - is what helped him become a viral sensation. But Bam takes a serious turn in a new video titled The Brighter Side. In it, he tackles an issue that is a recurring problem in Indian families - children being humiliated in society for getting poor marks in their exam. Bam questions this obsession with scoring well at school through the eyes of a father telling his son that exams aren't the be all and end all of life. It's a hard-hitting video with a message that needs to be spread.

Catch up on all the latest Mumbai news, crime news, current affairs, and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates