We have always been a fan of the former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan, and had hoped to see his term extended
The former governor of RBI being fitted for the suit and (right) wearing it
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We have always been a fan of the former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan, and had hoped to see his term extended. So recently a post on social media intrigued us: it had the dapper Rajan giving his measurements to a tailor for a bespoke suit.
And which fashion brand does the celebrated economist favor? No it is not a famous tailor on Saville Row or one of the big Italian fashion houses like Armani or Canali. Rajan was being dressed up by an Indian fashion company called Bellani S in Kala Ghoda, and was photographed getting measured by the founder Sunil Bellani.
They even posted a thank you message to Rajan for visiting their store, which read, “Thank you sir for being an inspirational figure to our nation.” So there you have it: the ex-governor’s new clothes!
On Sunday with his jaans
This Sunday saw Hrithik Roshan dine en famille at what appears to be his go-to eatery when he’s in Mumbai – Joss at Santa Cruz. Shashi Kapoor had started the Sunday strictly for family day way back in the Sixties and though most stars like to spend the day of Sabbath in their PJs watching back to back episodes of GOT, and Narcos, Roshan is known to be particularly close to his family and spends as much time with them as he can. So they were all there; parents Pinky and Rakesh Roshan, his sons and friends for the restaurant’s celebrated Tataki of Hamachi with truffle, Edamame dim sum and the Whisky flambé prawns.
Hrithik Roshan with his kids and family
However, Joss’ owner Farrokh Khambatta was not present to welcome his star guest this time as he is currently in Dubai where he is putting the final touches to his newest offering ‘Jaan,’ which will be up and running by the end of the month and will offer such delights as Masala Edamame and Salmon Kejriwal, (the latter not alluding to the beleaguered CM of Delhi as Khambatta had clarified, but the famous eggs served at the Willington Club in Mumbai!)
Amitabh’s Olympian plans
NITI Aayog’s dashing CEO Amitabh Kant, said to be the man who put the lion in Modi’s tank, is in a playful mood. The Stephen’s alumnus has come up with a 20-point Action Plan called ‘Let’s Play,’ which promises a target of 50 medals for India in the 2024 Olympics.
Amitabh Kant
These include 12 short-term and eight medium and long-term actions, he explained. “The UK cracked this from 13 medals in 1968 to 67 medals in 2016 thru a Sports Business Plan,” says Kant. Will the present regime play ball? Watch this space.
Suits against filmy clans?
Like most others, we’d been following the chatter about the gloom and doom in the film industry, and how the cause of it was the suits (read the national and international corporates) that had entered the biz and wrecked it, on account of their just not understanding the movie business. The point mostly being that they would not recognise a genuinely great script if it grew teeth and bit their heads off.
Karan Johar, Sajid Nadiadwala and Ronnie Screwvalla
Ronnie Screwvalla, who had been one of the architects of the corporatisation of Bollywood, and a quintessential outsider who’d come in from the world of advertising and theatre, had responded to the recent criticism with an all guns blazing 3,000 word rejoinder on an online site. “I recently took a look at what happened with Bombay Velvet, Tamasha, Shandaar and more recently - Baar Baar Dekho... to realize the model is really broken,” he’d written, mentioning some of the recent turkeys produced by some of the industry’s leading film clans with surnames like Nadiadwala, Khan and Johar.
Is this an ‘us against them’ territorial war between suits and old filmy clans we asked the South Mumbai Parsi, who’d gone on to make such path breaking ventures as Rang De Basanti, A Wednesday, No One Killed Jessica, Dev D, Kaminey and Swades. “Nothing gets served in being critical - but having been in the thick of it I felt one needed to share a view,” he said. Over to the ‘insider’s’ response now.
Akerkar’s next
While talking about new ventures by Mumbai restaurateurs, how could one forget the man who started the stand-alone fine dining trend, Rahul Akerkar? The non-competitive clause he signed when he departed his creation deGustibus Hospitality, lapses by the year’s end.
Rahul Akerkar
“I’m currently looking for interesting spaces in Mumbai,” he said, when we spoke yesterday. “Like in the case of Indigo at Colaba, I found the bungalow and the restaurant grew organically from there,” he said. “I don’t want to do a restaurant in a matchbox,” he said, perhaps alluding to the breakout of a rash of eateries in office blocks that the city has recently experienced.
As for the cuisine Akerkar says, “I have a bunch of ideas but I guess because my mum’s American, and my dad Indian, I have a particular genre.” But about the location of his next venture, the first after his long hiatus, Akerkar is non committal. “No, I wouldn’t say South Mumbai is dead as far as the restaurant scene goes,” he replied to our query.
Our guess is, Mumbai is going to soon see an upscale fine dining European restaurant in a stunning locale in South Mumbai early next year. Hopefully we will not have to eat our words.
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