09 June,2017 06:00 AM IST | Mumbai | Malavika Sangghvi
Amit Bhatia, the son-in-law of London-based steel tycoon LN Mittal, shot into the international limelight in 2004 when he married Vanisha Mittal in an OTT celebrations at the Palace of Versailles
Amit Bhatia and Vanisha Mittal with Justin Bieber in 2013
Mr Worldwide
Amit Bhatia, the son-in-law of London-based steel tycoon LN Mittal, shot into the international limelight in 2004 when he married Vanisha Mittal in an OTT celebrations at the Palace of Versailles. Bhatia, is also an entrepreneur in his own right, and is the founder of Swordfish Investments and The Global Relief initiative, and also owns the popular English football team QPR amongst other interests. But word comes in that the low profile erstwhile Delhi lad might have also played a role in bringing down Justin Bieber to Mumbai last month in a gig produced by a group Delhi boys.
Bhatia and Vanisha with Kourtney Kardashian in Cannes recently
"They have been close friends for quite sometime and were spotted partying together in London in 2013. The story had made the tabloid pages during that time as Bieber was going through his 'bad boy' phase and media interest was high," informs a London-based source. And the friendship obviously endured over the years, as this tweet by the lip-syncing teen sensation prior to his arrival indicates. "Dubai is incredible... India you are next. Amit Bhatia u ready?" (To which Bhatia had replied with a resounding "Cannot Wait!) What's more, Bieber is not the only international sensation known to be close to Bhatia. We are informed that a couple of weeks ago, Amit and Vanisha had flown to Cannes on their PJ along with Kourtney Kardashian, who shared a picture with them on social media!
Online and everywhere
Lalit Modi is a one-man social media army. Not an hour passes without some update about the beleaguered IPL founder and economic exile. Last week the bon vivant's tweets and posts found him in locales as wide ranging as London, Portugal, Madrid and Italy's Lake Como district, and his subjects were as wide ranging too.
P Chidambaram
From his snide 'what next will they make?' about reports that Vivek Oberoi would be playing a character based on him in an upcoming movie, to a thumbs up to his son Ruchir Modi who is emerging as a chip of the old block, to a 'wish you were here', while watching the Real Madrid vs Juventus game with a gaggle of glam pals, Modi appears to be all over the globe.
But what stood out from all this epic gallivanting was his cryptic comment on what he perceives to be his twin nemesis: Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram and current Fin Min Arun Jaitley : 'Two #brothers - Different parties - same objective Get @lalitkmodi' he posted with an animated GIF on his timeline this week, following the CBI raids on the former's son. 'One has met his fate, one left to go'. He cackled ominously, describing the tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum, bespectacled legal and political luminaries, 'Two best friends'.
The ladies of Calcutta
They hail from the land of Durga and Kali, which might account for their perceived stridency and epic cool. So when a twitter troll recently bunched together a swathe of Bengali women, including Sagarika Ghose, Arundhati Roy, Sunetra Choudhury, Pallavi Ghosh and Shoma Choudhury, who are celebrated equally for their grey cells as for their outspokenness, calling them 'deadly poisonous venom spewing creatures,' it attracted much notice.
Karuna Nundy
Mamata Banerjee
Of course, this generalisation, like all generalisations was odious, but when you consider that the troll had left out another dozen or so more of the tribe, like fiery author and columnist Nilanjana S Roy, constitutional and media lawyer Karuna Nundy, and Bangladeshi Supreme Court lawyer Sara Hossain, the allusion didn't seem so flippant after all. Especially when the subject of Mamata di's name was not even broached.
Tara Alisha Berry and Nandini Sen
Of enterprising mothers and their loving daughters
Recently when young actress Tara Alisha Berry aka Tasha called her grandmother Bubloo Sen in Bangalore to enquire how she was and what she was doing, the feisty octogenarian responded aptly with 'Growing old Gracefully'. The octogenarian is mother to Nandini Sen, one-time super model and TV actress, who, even as she guides her daughter's nascent Bollywood career, is deeply engaged with her mother on a day-to-day basis.
"My beautiful mother has always been very enterprising," she says of the lady who was born in Calcutta, and went on to have a flourishing career on radio before settling into a 25-year stint as principal and director of Jacob Sassoon High School in Mumbai. "From being the principal of a school, to planning and cooking the best food ever, to writing a book, she's always been the best," says Sen, adding, "Her latest enterprises include a vegetable garden in her balcony, a book club, an active Facebook account, and designing boho chic kurtis and skirts with matching shawls from her old saris!" Nice!
Easy come, easy go
This venerable and leading hotel chain which has been witness to a stream of high level exits at its upper echelons recently, appears to be even more riven with politics than ever, as executives scramble to keep ahead of shifting tides and loyalties. "The impact of so many hirings and sackings is playing havoc with morale," said one high-profile harried insider, who, having managed to keep afloat through two regime changes, is looking eagerly forward to his retirement in a couple of months. Meanwhile, the grapevine has it, that after the exit of its top guy, who had been brought in from the outside to 'shake things up', the old guard that he had replaced is going to be back in the saddle again!
