Beliebe this

Shailendra u00c2u0080u00c2u0088Singh, Harindra Singh and (Right) Justin Bieber. Pic/AFP

Gather around ye Beliebers. Justin Bieber is coming to perform at a concert in India. The teen heartthrob will perform in Mumbai as part of his Purpose World Tour. And the mega concert will be held at the DY Patil Stadium on May 10 this year (yes, we finally have a date!)

And whereas non-disclosure contracts do not allow the organizers to make an official announcement just yet, monies are said to have been exchanged, the suits have shaken hands, and it is expected to be the biggest concert in terms of numbers and scale that India has ever witnessed.

"No question about it: Bieber is this generation's Michael Jackson," said a palpably charged up Shailendra Singh, when we spoke to him about stories of the imminent arrival of the worldwide teen magnet. "He has sold an estimated 100 million records, making him one of the world's best-selling music artists."

"But why Justin Bieber?" we groaned, "And how on earth can you compare him to Michael Jackson...?" Singh stopped in his track. "Because he's the one of the biggest acts in the world! Because we need to bring acts like him here!! Because his story has inspired a generation!! Because he can create a youth explosion!! Because he can make India sexy," said the man responsible for bringing the likes of Ed Sheeran, Deadmau5, Swedish House Mafia and Afrojack etc to the country.

Of course, this was not the only thing we discussed with the perennially buoyant impresario. There was the matter of the recently concluded Sunburn 2016, held for the first time in Pune, where amongst other disasters, a stage had caught fire.

"I had always been against hosting Sunburn in Pune. It just doesn't have the infrastructure," said Singh. "But when Harry (Shailendra's older brother and CMD Percept, with whom he is currently engaged in a high-profile family feud) went ahead, I wished him luck and went off to Benares with my wife.

Next thing you know, I was being trolled about the Sunburn disaster when I was not involved with this edition at all," he said, adding, "Which is why at this point all I can say is that the Bieber project has to be handled very, very carefully." So as we were saying, Belibers get your groove on and await thy pimply superstar.

Devita Saraf

It's super girl
Devita Saraf, the Richard Branson inspired CEO of, as she often reminds us, a ‘R400 crore electronic company,' certainly walks her talk. The feisty SoBo entrepreneur found herself playing feminist vigilante, when she chanced upon a street brawl while driving home around 2 am this Saturday night at one of the busiest junctions of Marine Drive. "Crazy drama last night," she says.

"A 20-something six-foot-tall guy was hitting a girl while his two friends looked on," she said, adding, "I stepped in and tried to stop him, and she kept asking for her purse back. I figured they are from Delhi [you know the nasal accent that sounds like a buffalo got into an argument with a goat that is so Dilli]. And then the guy says, "If she behaves like this, obviously I am going to slap her, no?"" she said still indignant when we spoke to her about the incident many hours later.

"So I ask the girl who he is and she says he is her boyfriend!" says a horrified Saraf, who fortunately decided to be a brave heart not too far away from her own neighbourhood where she has grown up, and is known. "But even without this I would have stepped in. I wanted to prove to the guy that this is Mumbai, we stand up for our women," says Saraf, who adds her timely intervention resulted in ‘More drama, more slaps, more match refereeing on my side till I called the nearby police.' "What kind of a successful modern Indian would I be if I didn't have the balls to protect someone!?" she says.

Shaken and stirred
Whoever coined the phrase ‘from penthouse to repent house,' obviously has not met this genial SoBo billionaire, who even as he undergoes a series of regulatory measures that would fell a mere mortal, has escaped being so much as nicked himself. Revellers at a newly opened Goa resort for the well heeled and young at heart, swear that the said tycoon's mean moves behind the DJ console with a few luscious lovelies were pretty impressive, as was the joy and bonhomie he exuded. "Especially if you consider the number of zeroes in the sum he owes creditors," said one onlooker. Indeed.

Italian, with an Indian Accent
We've written about Manish Mehrotra many times on this page. The soft-spoken chef is the maestro behind the successful modern Indian cuisine serving brand Indian Accent, which had a humble beginning in New Delhi, and is now a global brand with an outpost in New York and a soon to be launched restaurant in London (more on this soon).

Chef Manish Mehrotra and Chef Sabrina Gidda

And now, word comes in that Mehrotra has teamed up with Chef Sabrina Gidda, the head chef of London's Bernardi's, which is fast becoming the go to grazing ground for visiting Indians. We are informed that for three days next week both chefs will come together in Delhi to put together a 6-course meal, which they are referring to as an ‘Italian menu with an Indian Accent'.

Which when you come to think of it may be the only Italian with an Indian accent that holds sway in the Capital these days (if you know what we mean.)