Mumbai Diary: Sunday Dossier

Gossip over graphic prints
Actor Neena Gupta, ravishing in yellow, seems to be telling Tapsee Pannu to switch her striped saree-meets-tie ensemble for one like hers, designed by daughter Masaba. The actors arrived at an Andheri venue to promote their film. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

When Latika's art made a point
Tanvi Lonkar, who we last met as young Latika in Slumdog Millionaire, is now using art to talk about gender and women empowerment. We love her quirky interpretations of women and their issues - be it body or self esteem issues. Lonkar lives in Atlanta and is working as a paralegal these days. "I am very passionate about empowering women. Born and brought up in Mumbai, there have been times in my life where I've experienced discrimination and harassment. Through my art, I try to show women who are powerful enough to do anything they want," Lonkar said. As for movies, they have taken a backseat for now. "My goal is to paint more women for my "Women of the World Series", and publish my own book.

An inside story
Television actor and anchor Gunjan Utreja will soon be seen hosting a web show called Bubble Baat, where celebrity guests will be interviewed in a very private setting, of the bathroom. Talking about the show, that will see singers Benny Dayal and sisters Sukriti and Prakriti Kakar as guests, Utreja says, "I was in a hotel cloakroom, where I saw a lot of guys getting ready and talking about random things. When we thrash ideas for the show, I realised many of us spend a lot of time in the bathroom; planning our day, watching online content, reading books and so on. The bathroom is a world away from everything, where an artist can truly be himself. It seemed like the perfect setting," he says. The show will launch later this month.

Women power
While the Jehangir Nicholson Art Foundation has just concluded a major exhibition of Rekha Rodwittiya at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, it is set to showcase another talented woman artist, Jayashree Chakravarty. This will be a collaboration with the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi, from whose collection the works will arrive. Chakravarty is known to be a rather low-key artist, and the works in this exhibition will have a lot of organic materials drawn from nature. We are happy to note that these partnering institutions are giving the spotlight to more contemporary women artists from India, and look forward to more such endeavours in the coming months. For now, mark your calendars for Chakravarty in September.

A new Gandhi project for Guha
It's a known fact that veteran historian Ramachandra Guha is also a foremost scholar on Mahatma Gandhi's life. Guha has always had a closet full of trivia to share. Now, we hear that he is set to release a new exhaustive biography on his favourite subject, titled, Gandhi: The Years That Changed the World (Penguin Random House). Set for a September release, the book will be very specific in its historical graph, telling the story of Gandhi's life from his arrival in India from South Africa in 1915 to his assassination in 1948. While Guha will touch upon Gandhi's major political campaigns, what we are looking forward to is how Guha will approach Gandhian history through a new lens.

The Nevjibhai Hitkarini School, Nagpur team with their new hockey shoes

New shoes for the gifted ones
CHARITY begins at home, they say. In this case, it begins in Bandra. Noticing that a bunch of young, impressive hockey players from Nagpur's Nevjibhai Hitkarini School were playing in their tournament with either torn or under/oversized shoes, the St Peter's Youth Centre (SPYC) decided to present the lads hockey shoes.

The SPYC-organised nine-a-side under-15 tournament is being held at the Fr Donnelly Sports Complex's artificial turf in Bandra. The boys, who hail from Bramhapuri, a small village on the outskirts of Nagpur, can barely afford hockey gear, but they are rich in skills. On Friday, they beat Military School (Murbad) 3-2 in a league match and will always be proud of their triumph over the mighty Don Bosco (Matunga) school side a few months ago.

At the heart of the decision to reward these kids with shoes is Olympian Joaquim Carvalho. "I'm glad that we (SPYC) could do something for them and for hockey in our own small way," Joaquim tells us. It's been a while since Joaquim quit playing the game so he doesn't get any compliments for his play. But this is a fine example of sporting generosity and we can't help saying, "well played."

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